Which has more islands, Croatia or Greece?

Both are genuine archipelagos and both count over a thousand. Greece's are more famous and more spread out; Croatia's are closer together and mostly a short ferry from each other or the mainland.

Is Greece warmer than Croatia?

Yes. Greece is further south; its sea is warm from May to late October, Croatia's from mid-June to September.

Can I drive to Croatia's islands?

To Krk and Pag, yes -- both have road bridges. The rest are short ferries. Krk also has Rijeka Airport on the island.

Croatia vs Greece: two island countries, one you can drive to

Greece has more islands, a warmer sea, a longer season and Athens. Croatia has an archipelago a day's drive from central Europe, a calmer sea and islands that are a ferry apart rather than an overnight. Sourced numbers and a verdict.

Choose Croatia for an archipelago you can drive to, with short ferries and a calm, clear sea. Choose Greece for a warmer sea, a longer season, more islands, and the ancient world.

Choose Grčija if

Warmth and season come first: Greece's sea is warm from May to late October, Croatia's from mid-June.
You want the famous islands -- Santorini, Crete, Corfu -- and the ancient sites, which Croatia cannot offer at that scale.
You want sand and a longer, hotter summer, and a flight is no obstacle.

Choose Hrvaška if

You are driving from central Europe, or want islands without long ferries: Krk is a bridge, and Rab and Cres are an hour from it.
You want a calm sea for sailing or small children -- the Adriatic has no meltemi.
You want the islands in a week, not a fortnight: Croatia's are close together and its coast is short.

Compared, dimension by dimension

Dimension	Hrvaška	Grčija
Nights in tourist accommodation, 2024	93.643.696 nights	152.944.662 nights
Nights in tourist accommodation, 2023	92.341.148 nights	147.209.821 nights
Arrivals, 2024	20.239.316 arrivals	37.153.267 arrivals
Population, 1 January 2025	3.874.350 people	10.372.335 people
Bed-places in tourist accommodation, 2024	1.177.999 bed places	1.244.717 bed places
Price level of household spending, 2025 (EU average = 100)	78,4 % of EU average	87,4 % of EU average
Price level of restaurants and accommodation, 2025 (EU average = 100) (Grčija wins this)	89,6 % of EU average	86,1 % of EU average
Sea temperature, August 2025: Split and Rhodes (Grčija wins this)	25,7 °C	28,5 °C
Warmest afternoons, August 2025: Split and Rhodes	29,7 °C	33 °C
Rain in August 2025: Split and Rhodes (Grčija wins this)	90,4 mm	0,2 mm
Getting there from central Europe	A day's drive from Vienna, Munich, Milan or Budapest; Krk has its own airport	A flight, or a very long drive through the Balkans; island ferries after that
Sea temperature and season (Grčija wins this)	Warm from mid-June to September	Warm from May to late October; the Dodecanese and Crete longer
Islands (Grčija wins this)	Over a thousand, close together: Krk, Rab, Cres and Lošinj are minutes apart by ferry	More, more famous, more varied -- Santorini, Crete, Corfu, Naxos
Island-hopping in practice	Short ferries; Krk is a bridge and Rab and Cres an hour from it	Long ferries, overnight sailings, flights between groups
The sea itself	Calm, clear, tideless; the meltemi does not blow here	Clear and warm; the summer meltemi makes the Cyclades windy
Sand (Grčija wins this)	Rare	Plenty, alongside pebble
Ancient world (Grčija wins this)	Roman Pula and Split, a Venetian coast, Greek foundations at Vis and Hvar	Athens, Delphi, Knossos, Olympia
Crowds	Busy in August; the islands spread it	Santorini and Mykonos are among the most crowded places in Europe; the rest is not

Croatia and Greece are the two island countries of the eastern Mediterranean, and people who love one tend to try the other. Greece recorded 152.944.662 nights in tourist accommodation in 2024 to Croatia's 93.643.696, from 37.153.267 arrivals against 20.239.316, with 1.244.717 bed-places to Croatia's 1.177.999. Greece has 10.372.335 people to Croatia's 3.874.350. Similar countries in size; Greece the bigger destination by half again. What follows is the honest difference.

Where Greece wins

The sea is warmer and the season longer. Greece is a long way further south. Its water is swimmable from May into late October, the Dodecanese and Crete longer still; Croatia's is cold until mid-June and cooling by the end of September. If warmth comes first, Greece wins and there is nothing to discuss.

The islands are more famous and there are more of them. Santorini, Crete, Corfu, Naxos, Rhodes: these are the world's islands. Croatia's are Europe's -- Hvar has a name, Krk, Rab and Cres are known to the people who drive down every year. Both are real archipelagos with over a thousand islands each; Greece's are the ones on the posters.

The ancient world. Athens, Delphi, Knossos, Olympia. Croatia has Roman Pula and Split, a Venetian coast and Greek foundations at Vis and Hvar. Real, but not that.

Sand. Greece has plenty alongside its pebble beaches. Croatia's are almost all pebble and rock.

Where Croatia wins

You can drive there. From Vienna, Munich, Milan, Budapest or Prague, the Croatian coast is a day in the car, and Krk is the first island on the road, joined to the mainland by a bridge with Rijeka Airport on it. Greece, for central Europe, is a flight -- or a very long drive through the Balkans -- and then a ferry.

The ferries are short. Krk is a bridge; Rab and Cres are an hour from it; the whole northern archipelago fits in a week. Greek island-hopping means long ferries, overnight sailings and flights between groups. It is a wonderful way to spend a month and a hard way to spend a week.

The sea is calm. The Adriatic is tideless and sheltered, and the meltemi -- the summer wind that makes the Cyclades so bracing -- does not blow here. For sailing with a family, or for small children in the water, that matters.

What this page will not say

That Croatia is cheaper, or less crowded overall. On price, Eurostat's 2025 levels split the answer: Croatia's household prices are lower than Greece's (78,4 against 87,4 per cent of the EU average), its restaurants and accommodation a little dearer (89,6 against 86,1). On crowds: Santorini and Mykonos in August are among the most crowded places in Europe, and so is Dubrovnik; most of both countries is not.

And within Croatia, why Krk

Because it is the island you reach first, and the one you can reach without a boat. Krk is joined to the mainland by a road bridge, Rijeka Airport sits on the island at Omišalj, and the motorway from Zagreb puts you on it in about ninety minutes. It recorded 5.040.825 overnight stays in 2025 from 940.240 arrivals across seven municipalities -- a walled capital, a wine town on a cliff, a fishing village at the end of a valley, family resorts on the west coast -- with 57.711 permanent beds, the largest stock of any Croatian island. Its calendar runs from the carnival in late January to Advent, twenty-six recurring events across eleven months, all on this site. It is the Croatia that Croatians, Austrians, Germans and Slovenes drive to every year, and it is a good place to find out whether the country is for you.

The verdict

Choose Croatia for an archipelago you can drive to, with short ferries, a calm clear sea and islands you can see in a week. Choose Greece for the warmer sea, the longer season, the famous islands and the ancient world. A flight against a drive, and a warmer sea against a calmer one.

Sources

Last verified 2026-09-18T00:00:00.000+02:00.

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