Plenty of Europe’s islands, be them famous Spanish party spots or lovely Italian islets, tend to get pretty crowded during the high season – but there’s a handful across the continent that have managed to avoid overcrowding.
Holiday booking platform BookRetreats has analysed data from the European Commission on overnight stays in tourist accommodation per square kilometre, and produced a list of the least crowded islands in Europe.
Included in that list is Svalbard in Norway, which has a tourism density of just 2.4 per kilometre squared, making it the quietest European island by far.
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We reported recently that the country has just implemented a brand-new tourist tax, and the report cites Norway’s strict regulations as one reason why Svalbard is so untouched: two-thirds of the archipelago is protected by nature reserves and national parks.
Despite being Greece’s fifth-largest island and around the same size as Lanzarote, Chios has a tourism density of just 353.81 per square kilometre, and around 21,000 fewer overnight stays than its Canary Island counterpart.
Why? Well, its economy relies not on tourism like plenty of Greece’s other islands, but on local industry like the unique mastic (a natural resin) trade, and when travellers do pay the island a visit, it’s to stay in guesthouses and little villages as opposed to mega-resorts.
The five European islands that have avoided overtourism
- Svalbard, Norway
- Åland, Finland
- Chios, Greece
- El Hierro, Spain
- Azores, Portugal
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