Which islands to avoid August crowds?
 

Hello! I'm in the midst of planning a trip to Greece that I have been looking forward to for a very long time. Unfortunately, this trip is going to have to be in August!

I have a pretty good idea of what I want to do on the mainland, but I have 5 to 7 days left for the islands and I'm not sure where to go. I want to try to minimize my bad timing as much as possible (like staying in Oia when on Santorini). I don't care one bit about nightlife, unless it's getting in my way. I am very interested in natural beauty, traditional greek towns, and ancient sights (Knossos is a must). Where would you suggest I go? Thanks for your help!

Generally, the harder to reach, the less likely to have August crowds, so look for somewhere off the main ferry routes. Unfortunately for you, with only "5 to 7 days left for the islands" that isn't practical. You mention Santorini and Knossos (Crete), so if you are already going to those two islands, that leaves you little time for anywhere else.

Perhaps other posters can advise of places on Santorini and Crete where you can avoid the worst of the August crownds.

Those crowds on Santorini seem to be the biggest when one or more cruise ships arrive(s). Riding the mules or the "cable car" to the top becomes almost impossible in whichever town that is.

Thanks for the help. You're right, now that I'm really looking at the ferry schedules I've realized that doing more than Santorini and Crete is pretty impractical, and I'm pretty stuck on seeing both of them. I guess I'll just have to deal with the crowds!

We visited Crete and Santorini in mid-late July. Both of these islands are very popular, and were extremely crowded, but you can avoid some of that by sightseeing either early or mid-late afternoon, and by possibly taking a private tour or two ( we did one with a young captain in Santorini and had a wonderful time exploring the Caldera and swimming in sulphur springs).

Perhaps you could consider actually staying in Naxos or Folegandros, and doing a day trip to Santorini? We sailed this past August in the Cylclades, and I fell in love with both Folegandros and another island, Kea, which were much less touristed than Santorini (no big cruise ships). Folegandros is amazingly beautiful and I suspect sometime in the future it will look like Santorini if it starts to be more and more discovered.