Ionian Islands

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This article is about the group of islands west of Greece. For the administrative unit, see Ionian Islands (region). For the ancient region in western Anatolia, see Ionia.

Ionian Islands Ιόνιοι Νήσοι
Region of Greece
Ionian Islands (blue) within Greece
Country	Greece

The Ionian Islands (Modern Greek: Ιόνια νησιά, Ionia nisia; Ancient Greek, Katharevousa: Ἰόνιοι Νῆσοι, Ionioi Nēsoi; Italian: Isole Ionie) are a group of islands in Greece. They are traditionally called the Heptanese, i.e. "the Seven Islands" (Greek: Ἑπτάνησα,Heptanēsa or Ἑπτάνησος, Heptanēsos; Italian: Eptaneso), but the group includes many smaller islands as well as the seven principal ones.

Tourism[edit]

Carnival in Kerkyra byCharalambos Pachis.

The region is a popular tourist destination. The airports of Corfu, Zante and Cephalonia were in the top ten in Greece by number of international arrivals, with 1,386,289 international arrivals for 2012, with Corfu being the sixth airport by number of arrivals nationwide, with Zante and Cephalonia also being in the top ten. While Cephalonia Airport had the biggest increase nationwide by 13.11% compared to 2011, while Corfu had an increase of 6.31%.^[9]'^[10]