Hi there, both my wife and I are finding it difficult to decide on which of the below 3 island locations to visit from Athens in the new year (late July to August 2014)

Ithaca
Fiskardo
Samos
Chania

We like, and have read on all 3 but just cant decide on 1!!

We're both a young couple, 29 and 32 - so the partying days are over, we enjoy relaxing, nature, good food, pebble beaches and not too touristy area (probably hard to avoid considering its peak season)

We intend to spend 4-5 days at "one" of these locations, then we're off to Turkey. Hope to hear from users who have either visited and possibly stayed at these locations. Look forward to hearing from you.

The logical choice is Samos, since it's very easy to get into Turkey from there, no wasting time with complicated ferry connections, and no expensive flights.

Rhodes might be worth considering too for the same reasons.
Where are you going to in Turkey?

Thanks for both replies, I see that Samos is very close hence the easy access to Turkey. But we would still like to hear from those of you who have visited, Ithaca, Fiskardo and Chania.

In Turkey we'll be visiting Izmir, Kas and Istanbul in that order - then back home to Australia.

I have visited Ithaca and Fiskardo (which is on Kefalonia isn't it?) and Chania several times. The most unspoilt of these is Ithaca-you have to sail from Fiskardo or elsewhere on Kefalonia to get there. We spent 4 nights in Ithaca-one in Kioni and 3 in Vathy. We had 36 hours of high winds and rain which delayed us leaving and there was little to do in that time. We enjoyed the island but have no reason to return.
Our visit there was part of a two week holiday to Kefalonia in May about 7 years ago. Fiskardo is at the northernmost tip of Kefalonia and is a major flotilla sailing port in the Ionian islands. It is quite mediterranean because of this-many cocktail bars and quite swish but very beautiful. It is heavily marketed by a British holiday company which is expensive. That said we found a "Domatia" for a reasonable rate.
Kefalonia as a whole was an excellent destination-plenty to do, and good food. I loved Assos where we stayed for the first three nights.
We visited Chania again this year for the fourth time. This is a very different experience from Ithaca. It is a city with a lovely old harbour area and history in spades but it is not remote. I will return here again and again. You are also on a very large island which means you have easy access to the rest of all that that area of Crete has to offer. You can't see all of Crete from there though as it is so big.
I haven't visited Samos-it's not too easy from where I live.