Warm Greek Islands in November & December (2026)

By DiChatz

The warmest Greek islands in November and December are the far south: Crete (19°C in November), Karpathos (21°C), Kos and Rhodes (17°C), all with sea temperatures still near 20°C and about six hours of daily sun. These are also the only islands with proper year-round life, so tavernas, museums, flights and ferries keep running while smaller islands shut for winter. My short answer: Crete for a full week with the most open, Rhodes for medieval-town atmosphere, Kos or Karpathos if you want quiet and sun with fewer moving parts.

Winter travel here is a different holiday. You give up guaranteed beach weather and long daylight. In return you get near-empty archaeological sites, hotel prices at their yearly low, and a real local rhythm instead of a tourist one. Below is exactly where to base yourself, what stays open in November and December, the December festivals worth timing a trip around, and how to move around when ferry timetables thin out.

The warmest islands for November and December, ranked by what stays open

Not every warm island is a good winter base. The deciding factor is not just temperature, it is whether the town keeps functioning: open tavernas, a working port, heated hotels, and daily flights or ferries out. On that combined test, four islands win clearly.

Crete, the safe pick for a full week

Crete is the obvious choice and for good reason. November averages about 19°C in Heraklion, most days are sunny, and the island is big enough to have real winter life in Heraklion, Chania and Rethymno. You can spend a morning at Knossos or Phaistos and the afternoon walking Chania’s Venetian harbour or Rethymno’s old town with almost nobody around. Restaurants stay open because Cretans eat out year-round, not just tourists. Knossos alone drew over a million visitors in 2025, and you can have those same ruins nearly to yourself in November. If you only have one winter island in you, make it this one.

Rhodes, medieval town, mild air, easy flights

Rhodes sits around 17°C in November and keeps daily flights from Athens through winter. The medieval Old Town is genuinely better in the cold: the cruise crowds are gone and you get the fortress walls, the Palace of the Grand Master and the cobbled lanes to yourself. Lindos, with its acropolis and the ancient temple of Athena above the white village, is quieter still, though check the acropolis winter hours before you climb, since seasonal times shorten. Some Lindos tavernas close for the season, but Rhodes Town runs all year.

Kos, flat, sunny, and easy to move around

Kos gets roughly six hours of daily sunshine in November with a sea temperature near 20°C. It is flat and easy, which matters when daylight is short and you want to cover ground without mountain roads. The town is walkable and stays open. Kos also has a Saint Nicholas celebration on December 6 that is worth timing a trip around if you like a local festival with almost no other visitors. Ferries link it to Rhodes several times a week if you want to combine the two.

Karpathos, the quiet sun-trap between Rhodes and Crete

Karpathos records some of the best November weather in Greece, around 21°C with six hours of sun. It is remote and much quieter than the big three, so treat it as a wind-down island rather than a sightseeing base. Fewer things stay open, but the ones that do are entirely local. Come here to switch off, not to tick off monuments.

Honourable mentions: Corfu keeps its Old Town lively through winter and has a strong festive tradition, though it is cooler and wetter than the Dodecanese. Poros is a fast Saronic option, a ten-minute ferry from Galatas on the mainland, if you only have a couple of days from Athens. For a wider look at which islands suit which trip, see my complete guide to the best Greek islands.

What it’s actually like: weather, daylight and closures

Set expectations correctly and a winter island trip is excellent. Get them wrong and you feel cheated. Here is the honest picture.

November is the sweet spot: mild days around 17 to 21°C on the southern islands, roughly ten rainy days across the month, and enough sun to sit outside at lunch. December cools to a 14°C high and 6°C low with 15 to 16 rainy days, so pack layers and a waterproof, and plan indoor fallbacks. Daylight is the real constraint. Archaeological sites shrink to winter hours: Knossos runs 8:00 to 15:00 from November to March, last entry 14:30. The adult ticket is €20, or about €30 for a combined ticket with the Heraklion Archaeological Museum, valid three days. Do your sightseeing in the morning and keep afternoons for towns, tavernas and cafés. Athens sites cut back too, some closing as early as 3 PM, so the same morning-first rule applies if you route through the capital.

Closures are the other thing to plan for. On smaller islands many tourist restaurants and beach hotels shut for the season, while the local tavernas stay open. This is exactly why I steer you to Crete, Rhodes and Kos, where the town itself keeps working. Book a hotel that stays open through winter and confirm it has proper heating before you pay. That one question saves the whole trip.

The real question in winter is whether to base on one big island or try to hop between a few. My rule is simple: pick one island and stay put. With short daylight and thinned-out ferry timetables, hopping burns your best hours on ports and cancelled crossings. Base on Crete or Rhodes, take day trips by car, and you see far more than someone chasing three islands in a week. The trade-off is you skip the variety, but in November and December a slower trip is the better trip.

December on the islands: festivals, cafés and the festive angle

December has a mood the summer islands never show. The cafés and patisseries fill up in the afternoon: hot chocolate, a proper Greek coffee, and seasonal kourabiedes, the powdered-sugar almond cookies that appear everywhere around the holidays. Town squares get their lights and the pace is entirely local.

If you like a real celebration with no tourist scrum, aim for Saint Nicholas day on December 6. As the patron saint of sailors, he gets religious processions and harbour blessings on islands including Kos, Syros and Spetses, where fishing families dress the boats and the whole quay turns out. It is a genuine local event, small and warm, and you will likely be the only visitor watching. If you are more about the eating and drinking side of a Greek winter, my guides to Greek liquors and spirits and Greek sweets and pastry are good primers for what to order.

Where to stay: my picks by island and budget

Winter is when you can afford a room you could never justify in August. Prices are at their yearly low and the good hotels that stay open are half empty. The rule: pick a property that is explicitly open in November and December, in a town centre so you can walk to dinner, and with confirmed heating. Below are picks across three budget tiers for the islands worth basing on. For a national overview across seasons, see my roundup of the best hotels in Greece for every budget.

Crete (Chania & Heraklion)

Base in Chania for the harbour and old town, or Heraklion if Knossos and museums are your focus. Both stay open and connected all winter.

• €€€, Casa Delfino Suites & Spa, a Venetian mansion in Chania’s old town with a spa, ideal if you want a treat while the weather is cool.
• €€, Serenissima Boutique Hotel, restored stone rooms steps from the Chania harbour, best for walkable old-town comfort at a mid price.
• €, Kastro Hotel in central Heraklion, a reliable budget base near the archaeological museum and the Line 2 bus to Knossos.

Rhodes (Old Town & Rhodes Town)

Stay inside or beside the medieval walls so the atmospheric part of the island is on your doorstep.

• €€€, Kokkini Porta Rossa, an intimate luxury guesthouse built into the medieval walls, best for a special winter stay in the Old Town.
• €€, Spirit of the Knights, a restored mansion with a courtyard, great character for a mid-range price.
• €, Marco Polo Mansion, a characterful budget-friendly guesthouse in the heart of the Old Town lanes.

Kos (Kos Town)

Kos Town keeps a working centre in winter and is flat and easy to walk.

• €€€, Aqua Blu Boutique Hotel & Spa, an adults-focused boutique with a spa near the marina, confirm winter dates before booking.
• €€, Kosta Palace, a central seafront option with easy access to the harbour and old town.
• €, Hotel Afendoulis, a long-running family-run budget hotel in Kos Town that regulars swear by.

Hotel	Island / area	Tier	Best for
Casa Delfino Suites & Spa	Chania, Crete	€€€	Venetian luxury with a spa
Serenissima Boutique Hotel	Chania, Crete	€€	Walkable old-town boutique
Kastro Hotel	Heraklion, Crete	€	Budget base for Knossos & museums
Kokkini Porta Rossa	Rhodes Old Town	€€€	Special stay in the medieval walls
Spirit of the Knights	Rhodes Old Town	€€	Character at a mid price
Marco Polo Mansion	Rhodes Old Town	€	Atmospheric budget guesthouse
Aqua Blu Boutique Hotel & Spa	Kos Town	€€€	Adults’ spa retreat
Hotel Afendoulis	Kos Town	€	Trusted family-run budget stay

Check winter rates and availability in Chania

Getting there and around in winter

Winter logistics are the part most guides skip, and they decide whether your trip works. The short version: fly to the big islands, drive once you land, and treat ferries as flexible rather than fixed.

Flights vs ferries

From November to March, ferry timetables run reduced winter schedules focused on the main routes, and inter-island routes are usually published after the mainland ones. Crete, Rhodes and Kos all keep daily flights from Athens, which is usually faster and more reliable than a long winter ferry in changeable weather. Use ferries for shorter inter-island hops, like Rhodes to Kos, where Blue Star (up to seven weekly) and Dodekanisos Seaways (around eight weekly) run the roughly two hour twenty minute crossing. Book ahead in winter, arrive for check-in 45 to 60 minutes before departure, and keep a spare day in your plan in case a crossing is cancelled by wind. Compare and book crossings on Ferryscanner. For the mainland-to-islands picture, my Athens to Greek islands ferry guide covers the ports.

A car makes winter Crete and Rhodes

On Crete especially, a car turns a good trip into a great one: quiet coast roads, half-empty archaeological sites, and villages you would never reach by winter bus. Rates are cheap in the off-season. Compare prices before you land with Discover Cars and pick a supplier with a real desk at the airport. On Kos you can manage without one because the town and sights are close together.

Buses for the tight-budget days

If you skip the car, public buses cover the essentials. On Crete, Heraklion’s Bus Line 2 runs to Knossos every 20 minutes from 7:30 AM, a 20-minute ride for about €1.70. A taxi to the site is €12 to €15 and takes around 15 minutes from the centre. Check current island bus times on the local operator sites rather than relying on old printed schedules.

eSIM and insurance

Winter weather changes plans, so you want data on hand for live ferry and weather updates. A local Airalo eSIM is the easy fix and installs in minutes. And because winter seas and mountain roads carry more risk of a cancelled crossing or a slip on a wet trail, I would not travel without cover: EKTA travel insurance handles the medical and trip side.

See it by boat: winter sailing and short crossings

Big group boat tours mostly pause for winter, but the sea is still part of the appeal on a mild, calm day. Around Crete and the Dodecanese you can arrange a private or small-group charter when conditions allow, and a flat, sunny November afternoon on the water is one of the quiet pleasures of off-season Greece.

If you want to build a private sailing day into your trip, browse and book a charter through SEARADAR and confirm the operator runs in your travel window, since availability is weather-led in winter. For land-based excursions and site tickets that do run year-round, a booking platform like a guided Knossos and Heraklion tour keeps things simple, and you can compare other activities on GetYourGuide.

Quick planning summary

Pick Crete for a full week with the most open and the widest range of things to do. Choose Rhodes for medieval-town atmosphere and easy flights. Take Kos for flat, sunny simplicity, or Karpathos to genuinely switch off. Fly rather than ferry for the long legs, book a heated town-centre hotel that stays open, and do your sightseeing in the morning while the winter light lasts. Do that and November or December on a warm Greek island beats a crowded summer week for anyone who cares more about place than beach.

Frequently asked questions

Which Greek island is the warmest in November?

Karpathos and Crete top the list, with November highs around 21°C on Karpathos and about 19°C on Crete, plus roughly six hours of daily sun and sea temperatures near 20°C. Rhodes and Kos follow close behind at around 17°C. For a warm November base with everything open, Crete is the safest all-round choice.

What’s the hottest Greek island in December?

The far southern Dodecanese and Crete stay mildest in December, typically a 14°C high and 6°C low with 15 to 16 rainy days. Nowhere is beach-warm, so December suits towns, museums, tavernas and festive cafés rather than swimming. Crete, Rhodes and Kos are the most comfortable and stay open.

Are there any Greek islands to avoid in winter?

Avoid small, seasonal islands that effectively close from November to March, when most tourist tavernas and hotels shut and ferries drop to a couple of crossings a week. Cyclades islands built around summer tourism can feel deserted, and Santorini, while budget-friendly, is far less comfortable than the southern islands. Stick to islands with year-round towns like Crete, Rhodes, Kos and Corfu, where life continues off-season.

Where is the prettiest place to go in Greece in winter?

For winter charm it is hard to beat Rhodes Old Town, where the medieval walls and cobbled lanes are near-empty and lit up in December, and Chania’s Venetian harbour on Crete. Corfu Town also keeps a lively, festive winter atmosphere. All three stay open, so you get the beauty without the summer crowds.