Crete Tops Kayak’s ‘Best Islands of Europe’ List

Crete is at the top of travel site Kayak’s “Best Islands of Europe” ranking singled out for its affordable prices, fine weather, and sandy beaches followed by Tenerife, Cyprus, Lanzarote, and Gran Canaria.

A leading travel search engine, Kayak looked at weather, accessibility, prices, things to do, child-friendliness, Covid-19 safety and sustainability on 70 islands for its ranking, then sub-divided these categories into a total of 19 factors. The islands with the best scores ranked high across a range of factors.

According to its “Best Islands in Europe” list, the Greek island of Crete is in the lead scoring high for its weather conditions, reasonable prices for accommodation, restaurants as well as local costs (food and transportation). Crete also boasts the highest number of sustainable and sandy beaches of all the islands under review, Kayak said.

Mykonos is ‘most expensive’

Mykonos, on the other hand, is ranked among the most expensive islands to visit in Europe. Under its “Best islands for budget holiday” category, Kayak advises travelers to “think twice” before going to Mykonos, where you “can expect to pay some of the highest fees on average for accommodation that even top some of the Nordic islands”, the study reports.

According to data, the number of searches for flights to island destinations in Europe has already exceeded pre-pandemic 2019 levels by 11 percent while the number of searches for Greek islands by Greeks quadrupled in 2021.

Other Greek islands which featured on the ranking in at least one category were Rhodes, Kos, Naxos, Kefalonia (best island for beach holiday); Kos, Zakynthos, Kefalonia (best islands for families with kids); Samos, Cyclades, Crete, Aegina (best islands for off-season holiday); and Lesvos (best island for budget holiday).