My wife and I are going to spend 4 or 5 days in the Greek Isles this July. This will be our first time to Greece. We would like to go to an island that is not full of tourists like we have read that Santorini is. Any hints on a friendly island that would fit that description and we would still soak up the culture of the Greek people?

I went on a sailboat cruise in the Dodecanese islands. The islands were lovely and by no means over run with tourists. I did not feel slighted in the least for not having seen Santorini or Mykonos. Patmos and Samos were the largest islands visited while the smallest I can never seem to find on a map!

You could fly to Rhodes and then on to Kastellorizo (Megisti). Right now Aegean Airlines is having a great airfare sale.

We went to Samos Island, and stayed in Samos Town (At the Pythagoria hotel, a great deal and a nice view)

We rented a car for a couple of days, and drove around the island. It's less dry than the others, so it's much more lush, and the town of Pythagoria is there -- named after Mr. A2+B2=C2 himself -- Pythagoras.

It's a relatively large island, and we had a lot of fun exploring it. AND it's only a 40-minute ferry ride to Turkey's port town of Kusadasi. We loved every minute there -- and it definitely has a slower pace than that of the "party islands" like Santorini.

Happy travels,

Jules

Generally if an island is not full of tourists in July, there is a reason. Perhaps it is hard to reach, or it has little to offer visitors. I'm sure there are exceptions, though.

You have 4-5 days, so you don't want to spend too much time on the ferry getting there and back. The only quick way to get to a far-flung destination like Samos or the Dodecanese is by air. Some of the Dodecanese, eg Kos and Rhodes, are just what you want to avoid.

Having never been there, I can't endorse it, but the island of Evia crosses my mind. It is easy to reach from Athens, and according to what I have heard most of the visitors are Greek.

Can any other readers provide info on Evia?

Karpathos. You go to Crete and turn left.

It is vacation in Europe, so you will find tourists at any place at all islands!

It's over 25 years since I was last in Samos & Patmos. They were quiet then, nice to know they still are.

Two years ago I was in Lesbos visiting a friend. Wonderful. Another big island. There are resort sort of places catering to 2 weekers from Europe, but it is still very "Greek" and you can fly direct from the mainland.

If you want to go somewhere without the hordes then it needs to be a place without an airport (obvious four or five days you real

Sorry, have seriously sticky keyboard.

Yes, if you want to go somewhere really without the hordes you need to have the time to go by ferry and wait for the next one to come by 2-3 days later.

And you don't. If you want somewhere just less well known than most - I guess you have to check out the suggestions so far.

More than 30 years ago my esperience in Samos fit the description of what you're looking for, but I think now it is much more touristy. (Actually more than 30 years ago Santorini was not very touristy, and I wanted to go there, but the ferry schedule there from Rhodes didn't work out, so I switched to Samos and loved it.) I always wanted to go to Karpathos, which may still be less touristy.

Syros is one island that is much easier to get to (distance of hassle) then some referred to here. It has a wealthy history so the town has a grander feel than many of the other island towns. It is not a big foreign tourist island - more Greek tourists and seems to be discovered by Greeks after a certain age where partying is less important - our Greek friends usually found it and really liked it after thay had passed 30. Hotel accommodation is more limited than say Santorini but you still have a couple fo 4 star places, just nothing like Katikies.

As has been said, almost anywhere in Greece will be busy in July, unless it's hard to get to. If you want it quieter, you are better going early or late season.

One area, less travelled by European tourists, is the Pelion peninsula on tha mainland, north-west of Athens. A very scenic area with tree lined mountains, pretty mountain villages and beautiful beaches. In July it will be busy with mostly Greek tourists.

It's been 2 years since I was on Samos -- and it is hardly what I would call "touristy". It's a very lightly populated island, and Samos Town -- while it does have a main strip of business next to the water with nice hotels, is very small (maybe a few thousand people live there).

Pythagoria is on another side of the island -- if I recall correctly, about 30 minutes away, and had a lot more people/photels.

There's a UK travel company called Laskarina, who specialise in this (and seem to win the Guardian Travel awards every year)

http://www.laskarina.co.uk/

It is no use using a package company as above, as that in it itself makes an island touristy. A good example of this is Halki island, which is totally overun by tourists.

With respect, brotherlee, the whole point of laskarini is that they take where other people DON'T go. There are quite a few islands where they have 3 or 4 houses and represent all the tourism on the place.

A friend of mine, a Greek national went to Skiathos last summer. He chose that island because it was not so crowded like some of the others. He found it quieter and overall it was pretty nice.

http://www.greecetravel.com/

This website offers tons of info about Greece. It even has an island guide that gives you an overview of the island. Very helpful. We went last summer and found everything we checked out on this website to be true. Matt Barrett is amazing and will answer any questions you have if you email him. We used fantasy travel to help us arrange our island accomodations. They were great and based in Athens. Anyway, my husband and I had tons of fun and never felt the tourist crunch though many were travelling during the time we were there (Aug.). Happy planning.

Skiathos is a beautiful island, but I wouldn't call it uncrowded, not during the high season, anyway. There are some remote beaches which can be only reached by boat, but most tourist accommodation is concentrated in Skiathos Town and along the road to Koukounaries Beach, a long curving stretch of golden sand.

The island has only one bus route, and in the morning buses are packed with people going to Koukounaries. In the evening everyone heads for Skiathos Town. Sometimes it is so packed with seated and standing passengers that it goes on past the bus stops, leaving people waiting for the next bus, which may be filled as well.

jackstar748 - I'm an Australian, and last year I booked a 7 day holiday with Laskarina Holidays (a UK company) via the internet & phone, and my wife & I had one of the best holidays for ages. We went in September, hardly any crowds. The thing that I liked about Laskarina, was that they pick villages on various Greek Islands that are still TRADITIONAL, and not tourist. Through Laskarina, we booked an apartment in the seaside fishing village of Ormos on the south coast of Samos. Our apartment called Pavlus Apartments were situated on a headland, overlooking our swimming pool, with great views coastal views in either direction. In the afternoon, we sat outside on the balcony, sipping a fews wines, eating our olives, cheeses, etc, watching the fishermen pulling in their nets, then later in the evening we strolled down to one of the tavernas.
During our stay we walked up to a hilliside village (no tourists in sight) ate a local taverna (hardly any english spoken), then enjoyed the stroll back through the olive groves. Others days we hired bicycles and rode 20 kms down the coast to little secluded bays, with no persons on the beach. One day, laskarina organises a beach BBQ, which consists of a small group of people (about 15) going out on a working fishing boat, the owner enroute a uninhabited island, pulls up his fishing nets, explains the various fish, then at the island, its swimming in beautiful water, very white sand bottom, then later to another beach, for bbq fish, salad, ouzo, wine, etc
We were so happy with laskarina, both with the choice of the village & accommodation, that we would travel them again when we visit the UK again.
Laskarina helps the local people on various islands, by donating money for bush fire trucks, assisting the green youths in various pursuits, even down to desexing the cats. Check out their website, and the islands they recommend, I don't think you will be disappointed, especially as you say you want a traditional greek island holiday.
We are thinking of visiting either Halki or Symi on our next trip to Europe, and definitely using Laskarina.
Our flight from Gatwick to Samos was only 3 hours, which I thought was excellent, instead of going through Athens, then flying out to the islands.