Whether they’re rocky islets off the coast of Italy, popular Greek destinations like Santorini, or the volcanic, sun-soaked Canaries, one thing’s for sure: Europe is blessed with glorious islands. But, as you might expect, plenty of the most famous ones get rather crowded during high season.
So why not go for a quieter alternative? To help you figure out which islands to visit (and which to dodge), car hire company Avis has looked into the popularity of islands across Europe based on search volume and Instagram hashtags.
Topping the busy list? That would be Ibiza – and no, we’re hardly surprised either. The Spanish island, renowned as one of the world’s top party and clubbing destinations, has more than 20 million hashtags on Instagram, and almost 2 million average monthly searches.
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Malta came in second place on the busy list, with over three million monthly searches and 10 million hashtags, and Majorca came in third with 1.5 million hashtags and, like Ibiza, nearly 2 million monthly searches.
Don’t fancy jostling with the crowds at these destinations? Maybe check out Lesbos, (known as Lesvos in Greek), one of Greece’s lesser-visited North Aegean islands, which has just 155,000 hashtags and 135,000 monthly searches.
Porto Santo, a Portuguese island, claimed second place on the quiet list, with just 201,000 hashtags and 110,000 monthly searchers, and Symi, another Greek island, claimed third.
In fact, six of the spots on the quiet list are Greek, so read on to find out which ones. Or, check out ’s roundup of the best Greek islands and Greece’s best beaches.
These are Europe’s 10 most popular islands
- Ibiza
- Malta
- Majorca
- Tenerife
- Santorini
- Madeira
- Sicily
- Gran Canaria
- Sardinia
- Mykonos
These are Europe’s 10 least popular islands
- Lesbos
- Porto Santo
- Symi
- Skopelos
- Cres
- Andros
- Karpathos
- Brac
- La Maddalena
- Thassos
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