394 Greek beaches and 9 marinas made it 2nd place of the 2012 international “Blue Flag” award. With that great number of awarded beaches Greece succeeded in ranking second among 48 countries around the world for the umpteenth time in recent years.

Beaches in Crete won the most Blue Flags (97 in total, of which 25 in Chania, 18 in Rethymno, 14 in Heraklio, and 40 Lasithi), followed by beaches in Corfu, Chalkidiki (35 each) and Rhodes (32).

To view the full list of Greece's 2011/2012 Blue Flag beaches click here:

http://www.blueflag.org/Menu/Awarded+sites/2011/Northern+Hemisphere/Greece/List/Beaches; http://www.eepf.gr/blueflag/awards2012

The International Committee awarded 3,179 beaches and 659 marinas for 2012 giving them world-class prestige.

The Blue Flag, works towards sustainable development of beaches and marinas through strict criteria dealing with Water Quality, Environmental Education and Information, Environmental Management, Safety and Other Services.

The Blue Flag programme is owned and run by the non-government, non-profit organization, Foundation for Environmental Education (FEE), an international umbrella organisation with one national member organisation per country representing FEE on a national level and in charge of implementing FEE programmes nationally. FEE currently has 74 member organisations in 64 countries worldwide, including the Hellenic Society for the Protection of Nature in Greece.