Geography of Greece

Greece occupies the southern end of the Balkan peninsula and stretches into the eastern Mediterranean between the Ionian Sea to the west, the Aegean to the east and the Sea of Crete and Libyan Sea to the south. It is a land of mountains and sea: almost 80% of the territory is mountainous or hilly and nowhere is more than about a hundred kilometres from the coast. This fragmented landscape encouraged the rise of many independent city-states in antiquity and drew the Greeks to the sea.

Mountains

The country's backbone is the Pindus range, running north to south from Albania to the Gulf of Corinth and continuing in the mountains of the Peloponnese and, under the sea, in the arc of islands to Crete and Rhodes.

Mount Olympus, on the border of Thessaly and Macedonia, was home to the ancient gods; in 1938 it became Greece's first national park. In Epirus the Vikos Gorge, up to about 900 metres deep, is among the most spectacular in Europe.

Plains and rivers

Plains are few but fertile: Thessaly, the country's breadbasket, the Macedonian plain around Thessaloniki, Thrace, Boeotia and Messenia. Rivers on the eastern side are torrential and may almost dry up in summer; those in the wetter west flow more steadily.

Among the lakes, Trichonida is the largest natural lake, and the Prespa lakes, shared with Albania and North Macedonia, are a refuge for pelicans.

Coasts and islands

With over 13,000 km of coastline, Greece has the longest shoreline in the Mediterranean. There are about 6,000 islands and islets, of which just over a hundred are inhabited all year. Together they make up about a fifth of the territory.

The islands form archipelagos: the green, rainy Ionian Islands in the west; the dry, luminous Cyclades in the central Aegean; the Dodecanese near the Turkish coast; the Sporades north of Euboea; the Saronic islands near Athens; the North and East Aegean islands; and Crete. See all the Greek islands.

Earthquakes and volcanoes

Greece is the most seismic country in Europe: here the African plate slides beneath the Eurasian plate. Along the South Aegean volcanic arc lie the volcanoes of Sousaki, Methana, Milos, Santorini and Nisyros. The Minoan eruption of Santorini, in the 2nd millennium BC, was one of the largest in human history. In early 2025 an earthquake swarm between Santorini and Amorgos led many residents to leave the island for a time.

Geographical regions

See also climate, nature and parks and administrative divisions.