Dodecanese Islands, Greece

The name Dodecanese islands literally means “the twelve islands” in Greek and refers to the larger islands in the cluster. The Dodecanese Islands actually comprise of 15 larger plus 93 Greek islets located in the southeastern Aegean. From their rich historical layers, stunning beaches and vibrant festivals, these islands offer a captivating blend of culture, nature and tradition.

The larger more popular islands include Rhodes, Kos, Patmos, Leros, Kalymnos, Karpathos, Astypalea, Nisyros, Symi, Tilos, Chalki and Kasos as well as smaller islands such as Pserimos, Kastelorizo, Arki, Lipsi and Agathonisi, each offering diverse experiences for your holiday in Greece.

Daily ferry connections link most of these islands to the mainland port of Piraeus in Athens, ensuring year-round accessibility and the more popular destinations like Rhodes, Kos and Patmos offer a well-connected ferry network to their smaller neighboring islands. The duration of the ferry trip from Piraeus-Rhodes and the other Dodecanese islands is quite long and therefore travel is overnight. To ensure a pleasant and comfortable journey, it is recommended to book a cabin when making your ferry reservation.

If you are island hopping in Greece, travelling by ferry between the Dodecanese islands is a piece of cake. During the summer months, when ferry schedules are more frequent and ferry services are provided by even more ferry operators, it is also possible to make a ferry booking from the Dodecanese to Crete, some Cyclades islands such as Santorini, Syros and Amorgos, as well as North Aegean islands like Samos and Patmos.

Due to their proximity to the Turkish coastline, summer ferries connect the Dodecanese islands to Turkey on a daily basis making these an excellent option for a day trip. The ferry routes connection Greece to Turkey include Rhodes-Marmaris, Rhodes-Fethiye, Kos-Bodrum, Lesvos-Ayvalik and Samos-Kusadasi making these an excellent option for a day trip.