Traveling between Turkey and Greece

The Dodecanese Islands are the closest chain of Greek Islands to the Bodrum Peninsula. You can travel from Bodrum or Turgutreis, via Ferry or Fast Catamaran to reach them, and some of them are close enough for a day trip.

Over the past year, many visitors to my site have emailed me questions about using the Bodrum Peninsula as the stepping-stone to travel between Greece and Turkey, so I’ve created this Dodecanese Islands Home Page as a central resource page for the information and knowledge I’ve been sharing.

As more Dodecanese Island information is added, I’ll include links below to point you in the right direction to discover more about exploring this chain of Greek Islands.

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Here’s a list of Islands in the Dodecanese chain:

 

Kos/Cos

• Kos or Cos is next to the Gulf of Gökova. The island measures 40km by 8km, and is 4 km from the coast of the Bodrum Peninsula
• Daily Ferry and Catamaran departures are available from Bodrum and Turgutreis to Kos Town

• Kos Itinerary: Visit Tigaki Beach

• Kos, Rhodes & Symi Video Summer 2013

• Emily and Rob Explore Kos

• Kos Old Town Video

• Video of Bodrum and and Kos

• Day Trip from Bodrum to Kos

Rhodes

• Rhodes is the largest of the Dodecanese islands in terms of both land area and population, with a population of 115,490, and also the island group’s historical capital

• Kos, Rhodes & Symi Video Summer 2013

• Video of Old Town Rhodes

• Video Tour of Rhodes (1 1/4 hours)

Kalymnos

• Kalymnos, is a Greek island and municipality in the southeastern Aegean Sea. It belongs to the Dodecanese and is located to the west of the peninsula of Bodrum, between the islands of Kos and Leros

• Video Tour of Kalymnos

• Video of a Day Return Ferry Trip from Turgutreis to Kalymnos

Pserimos

• Pserimos is a small Greek island in the Dodecanese chain, lying between Kalymnos and Kos in front of the coast of Turkey. It is part of the municipality of Kálymnos, and reported a population of 130 inhabitants at the 2001 census.

Leros

• Leros is a Greek island and municipality in the Dodecanese in the southern Aegean Sea. It lies 317 kilometres from Athens’s port of Piraeus, from which it can be reached by an 11-hour ferry ride. Leros is part of the Kalymnos municipality and is located just north of it.

Kalolimnos

• Kalolimnos is a small Greek island in the Dodecanese chain, lying between Kalymnos and Imia, opposite the coast of Turkey. It is part of the municipality of Kalymnos.

Nisyros

• Nisyros is a volcanic Greek island and municipality located in the Aegean Sea. It is part of the Dodecanese group of islands, situated between the islands of Kos and Tilos.

Tilos

• Tílos is a small Greek island and municipality located in the Aegean Sea. It is part of the Dodecanese group of islands, and lies midway between Kos and Rhodes.

Karpathos

• Karpathos is the second largest of the Greek Dodecanese islands, in the southeastern Aegean Sea. Together with the neighboring smaller Saria Island it forms the municipality Karpathos, which is part of the Karpathos regional unit.

Saria

• Saria Island is an island in Greece. It is a rocky, volcanic island along the northern edge of Karpathos, separated from it by a strait 100 m wide. Administratively, it is part of the community of Olympos.

Patmos

• Patmos is a small Greek island in the Aegean Sea. One of the northernmost islands of the Dodecanese complex, it has a population of 2,998 and an area of 34.05 km². The highest point is Profitis Ilias, 269 metres above sea level.

Imia

• Imia is a pair of two small uninhabited islets in the Aegean Sea, situated between the Greek island chain of the Dodecanese and the southwestern mainland coast of Turkey.

Levitha

• Levitha is a small island located in the east of the Aegean Sea, between Kos and Paros, part of the Dodecanese islands. It is part of the municipality Leros.

Farmakonisi

• Farmakonisi is a small island of the Dodecanese, in the Aegean Sea, Greece. Alternative names are Pharmakos, Pharmacusa, Farmaco, and Pharmakousa.

Symi/Simi

• Symi also transliterated Syme or Simi is a Greek island and municipality. It is mountainous and includes the harbor town of Symi and its adjacent upper town Ano Symi, as well as several smaller localities,

Astypalaia

• Astypalaia, called in Italian Stampalia and in Ottoman Turkish İstanbulya, is a Greek island with 1,334 residents. It belongs to the Dodecanese, an island group of twelve major islands in the southeastern Aegean Sea. The island is 18 kilometres.

Kastellorizo

• Kastellorizo or Castellorizo is a Greek island and municipality located in the southeastern Mediterranean

Leipsoi

• Leipsoi is an island south of Samos and to the north of Leros in Greece. It is well serviced with ferries passing between Patmos and Leros and on the main route for ferries from Piraeus

Halki

• Halki is a Greek island and municipality in the Dodecanese archipelago in the Aegean Sea, some 6 km west of Rhodes. With the area of 28 km², it is the smallest inhabited island of Dodecanese. It is part of the Rhodes regional unit

Kasos

• Kasos is a Greek island municipality in the Dodecanese. It is the southernmost island in the Aegean Sea, and is part of the Karpathos regional unit. As of 2011, its population was 1,084. The island has been called in Italian: Caso, Turkish: Kaşot.

Agathonisi

• Agathonísi is a small Greek island and municipality located at the northernmost point of the Dodecanese in Greece. It is surrounded by many smaller islands and is home to two villages, both inland; Megálo Chorió, and Mikró Chorió

Saria

• Saria Island is an island in Greece. It is a rocky, volcanic island along the northern edge of Karpathos, separated from it by a strait 100 m wide. Administratively, it is part of the community of Olympos.

Arkoi

• Arkoi is a small Greek island which is part of the Dodecanese archipelago. It is situated in the eastern Aegean Sea, close to the Turkish Aegean Coast.

Syrna/Sirna

• Syrna or Sirna is a small island about 4 km² in area to the south-east of Astypalaia in the Dodecanese group of Greek islands near the south-west coast of Turkey. It is mostly covered with juniper and garrigue scrub.

Gyali

• Gyali is a volcanic Greek island in the Dodecanese, located halfway between the south coast of Kos and Nisyros. It consists of rhyolitic obsidian lava domes and pumice deposits.

Strongyli Kastellorizou

• Strongyli Kastellorizou, also called Strongili or Ipsili, is a Greek islet which lies in the eastern Mediterranean Sea, about five nautical miles south-east of the island of Kastelorizo.

Armathia

• Armathia is a Greek island belonging to the Dodecanese group in the eastern Aegean sea. It is part of the municipality of Kasos. In the census of 1951 there were 8 recorded inhabitants but it has since become uninhabited.

Ro/Rho

• Ro or Rho is a small Greek island in the eastern Mediterranean Sea near Kastelorizo, close to the Turkish coast. It is part of the municipality of Megísti, in the South Aegean region

Nimos

• The Nimos or Mountain Vigla is an island of the southern Aegean and belongs to the Dodecanese. Located right on the northern edge of Symi from which it is separated by a small shallow porthmisko called Diapori. Has an area of 4.6 square kilometers.

Zaforas

• Zaforas is a small Greek island in the southern part of the Dodecanese chain, about 40 kilometers south of the island Astypalaia.

Kinaros

• The Kinaros an island of the Dodecanese islands located in the sea area between the Cyclades and the Dodecanese, west of Kalymnos and Leros and east of Amorgos . It is the second westernmost island of the Dodecanese after Astypalea

Alimia/Alimnia

• The Alimia or Alimnia is a Greek island of the Aegean Sea, located in the sea area between Rhodes and Halki, the complex of Dodecanese. The surface of the island is 7.4 square kilometers and has a coastline of 21 km