The Sporades are a small group in the northern Aegean, and they look nothing like the Cyclades. These islands are covered in pine forest that runs down to the water, so the contrast is green against blue rather than white against blue.
There are four you would consider: Skiathos, the busiest and the one with the airport, known for a long list of sandy beaches. Skopelos, greener and quieter, and familiar to more people than realise it, because the Mamma Mia films were shot here. Alonnisos, the quietest, sitting inside Greece’s first national marine park. And Skyros, further out and genuinely off the usual routes.
How you reach them
This is the honest catch, and the reason the Sporades do not appear in most Greece itineraries. They are not connected to the Cyclades in any practical way. You reach them from the mainland ports of Volos or Agios Konstantinos, or you fly into Skiathos, which means the group is a destination in itself rather than a leg of a wider island-hopping trip.
If you are building a route through the Aegean, the island-hopping guide explains why mixing groups costs you days. If the Sporades are the trip, plan them on their own.
We have not yet written individual guides for these islands. When we do, they will be linked here rather than listed as names.
Every island in the group
Each one has its own guide. The line after the name is the reason to pick it.