The literal translation of Dodecanese is "Twelve Islands" although there are 16 inhabited ones and up to 27 in total. Dodecanese have a distinct character and architecture due to successive rulers - Venetian, Ottoman and Italian while the formal incorporation of the Dodecanese into Greece came in 1948.

Dodecanese Islands Map

Rhodes and Kos are among the most popular and cosmopolitan islands in the Mediterranean. Kalymnos is the island of the sponge divers, Tilos claims the last paradise in Greece, volcanic Nissyros, Lipsi, Pserimos and Halki are totally untouched by massive tourism.

Symi is a picturesque small island which becomes popular, wild and mountainous Karpathos is dramatically beautiful, Agathonisi and Kassos are hilly and difficult to reach. Patmos is the island where Saint John the Divine wrote the prophetic Apocalypse (Revelations).

Leros, a paradise in the Agean, is relatively quite, Astypalaia's character and geographical position matches Cyclades, while Castellorizo or Megisti is lying on 'the edge of the edges' of Greece.

Direct charter flights are available from European cities to Rhodes, Kos and Karpathos. Daily flights operate from Athens to Astypalaia, Leros, Kos, Rhodes and Karpathos, while inter-island flight service operate between Karpathos and Crete, Kos and Leros, Rhodes, Karpathos, Kastellorizo, Crete, Santorini and Mykonos.