Avoid 3 Of The Most Polluted Beaches In Greece (And Visit 3 Of The Cleanest)

Ah, Greece: the land of sun-soaked sands and whitewashed villages, home to a whopping 6,000 islands, including some must-visit Greek destinations, from the volcanic ridges of Santorini to the beautiful harbor towns of secret Symi. There are few places on the globe so beloved of beach bums. But not all of Greece's myriad beaches are made equal. Research findings highlighted a slew of sands that might not quite live up to your expectations of a Mediterranean paradise, and it's Athens' own Erotospilia Beach, located on the eastern edge of the Attica peninsula only an hour from the country's capital, that's apparently the worst of the bunch (via GreeceHighDefinition).

The conclusions are the result of a multi-year project run by the WWF. As part of its "Adopt a Beach" program, which now runs across Turkey, Tunisia, Italy, and Greece, the organization currently monitors pollution on over 200 beaches with help from over 190 teams in the land of smashing plates and saganaki cheese. Researchers found it was Erotospilia that scored the worst when it came to the number of individual pieces of refuse collected, followed by Vagionia Beach on Poros island in second, and Apollonias Beach on the Athenian Riviera in third.

The good news is that even these pollution-struck sands can look pretty amazing — think glinting pebbles and sky-blue waters aplenty. What's more, the WWF study also highlighted several of the cleanest beaches in Greece, where you can go to chase that coastal perfection the country is known for.

WWF teams at Erotospilia Beach counted over 10,000 fragments of rubbish on their visits, as of April 2025. That was the highest of any beach they monitored, potentially due to the proximity of the sprawling capital, which is now home to over 3.1 million people. But all is not lost for little Erotospilia Beach. It still manages an enviable four-star rating on Tripadvisor, where one user, @excess5, hails it as perhaps the best beach in the region, adding that it's a "Well kept secret amongst the locals" with clear blue waters and spots for diving.

Vagionia Beach on the east coast of the island of Poros comes in as the second most trash-polluted seaside spot in the country. Situated on the opposite coast to the handsome harbor town of Poros itself, it's not often visited and also opens to face the big city of Athens, which is just across the Saronic Gulf.

The third most polluted — Apollonias Beach — is back over on the Attica peninsula, amid the busy beaches of the Athenian Riviera, a 37-mile stretch of coast that connects the capital to Cape Sounio. Despite being ranked among the most rubbish-strewn sands in the country, it remains a part of the lively resort area of Voula, a land of cocktail bars and high-class hotels that's a convenient summer escape for city dwellers.

The WWF's cleanup project also revealed the places with the least amount of pollution, and Psilou Roumi was the winner there. Sat on the southern side of Crete, it slopes into the Libyan Sea, which could help keep pollution levels down since the region doesn't have any big metropolises. So, coming here might mean skipping Athens and the best museums in the country, but on the flip side you'll get super-clean sands and some of the warmest water in the Mediterranean!

For more traditional sand, sun, and sea, consider heading up to the second-cleanest beach: Palio. This one is on the northeastern edges of Greece, horseshoeing across a long bay just west of the port town of Kavala. The lack of pollution here will be music to the ears of travelers who'd like something a bit more accessible, since the spot can be reached in under 45 minutes from the renovated and expanded Kavala International Airport, and in under two hours from the larger regional hub of Thessaloniki Airport.

The third-cleanest beach comes courtesy of sun-scorched Rhodes. Sandwiched between the rocky headlands roughly a third of the way down the east coast of the island, Stegna Beach is a much-loved bay that garners plenty of praise for cleanliness from reviewers on Tripadvisor. User @daniellP5548JK sums it up: "Beautiful. Quiet. Authentic. Not crowded. First sand, clean sand. Then white small stones and blue water just like in the pictures."