Greece travel guide writers face a particular temptation: to make the whole thing sound like a mythology lesson interrupted by beach photographs. I’m going to try to resist that. Yes, Greece is ancient. Yes, the light does something to white-washed walls at 6pm that professional photographers have been attempting to bottle since colour film was invented. But Greece is also the country where I sat in a ferry terminal for four hours in the wrong port because I’d misread the schedule, ate the best souvlaki of my life from a cart operated by a man who spoke zero English and charged €2.50, and ended up on an island I hadn’t planned to visit that turned out to be better than the one I’d been aiming for.
That’s the version of Greece this Greece travel guide is going to try to give you.
I’ve spent about three months in Greece across four trips — Athens twice, Santorini, Crete (twice), Naxos, Paros, Rhodes, the Peloponnese, and one accidental day on Syros. The summary is: it’s extraordinary, the islands vary enormously in character and should not be treated as interchangeable, and the mainland is consistently underrated by people who fly directly to Mykonos.
The Basics
Visa: Greece is Schengen. EU citizens: ID card only. Americans, Brits, Canadians, Australians: 90 days visa-free.
When to go: May, June, and September are the peak of this Greece travel guide’s recommendations — warm (25–30°C), the sea swimmable, the crowds thinner than July and August. July and August are when Greece is at maximum capacity: Santorini sells out its accommodation 6 months ahead, the ferries between islands are standing room in the afternoon departures, and the famous sunsets at Oia have approximately 3,000 simultaneous spectators. October is underrated — quieter, warm enough for swimming well into the month, and the light on the ancient sites is extraordinary.
Getting around: Domestic flights (Olympic Air, Aegean) connect Athens to major islands quickly. The Blue Star Ferries and Hellenic Seaways network connects everything else — book on Ferryhopper or directly with the ferry companies. Athens to Santorini is 5–8 hours by ferry (from €35) or 45 minutes by flight (€50–€120). For the Peloponnese and northern mainland, rent a car — it’s the only practical option and the driving is genuinely enjoyable on roads that are empty by western European standards.
Money: Greece is cheaper than Italy, France, or Spain, but costs have risen significantly since 2019. A taverna lunch on a mid-range island runs €15–€25 per person with wine. Mykonos and Santorini run 60–80% above the Greek average. Budget travelers covering Athens and less-touristed islands can manage €60–€80/day. The moment you hit Mykonos, double that figure.
Athens: Don’t Rush It
The first mistake in most Greece travel guide itineraries is treating Athens as a one-night layover before the islands. I made this mistake on my first trip. I spent eighteen hours in Athens, saw the Acropolis at midday in August heat with every other tourist in Greece, ate at a restaurant on Adrianou Street that charged €22 for a mediocre moussaka, and concluded that Athens was fine but the islands were the point.
I was completely wrong. Give Athens three days.
The Acropolis — the Greece travel guide’s non-negotiable: Yes, it’s crowded. Yes, it’s magnificent. The Parthenon (447–432 BCE) is the most significant surviving building from antiquity — a structure so geometrically refined that every column slightly tapers and curves inward to create the optical illusion of perfect straightness. Go at 8am when it opens, especially April–June or September–October, and you’ll have thirty minutes before the tour groups arrive that will feel like the closest thing to a private viewing. Entry €20; book online at odysseus.culture.gr. The Acropolis Museum directly below (€15; new building; the Elgin Marbles debate context makes the museum’s collection both more interesting and slightly maddening) is essential.
The Ancient Agora — the Greece travel guide site nobody skips twice: The marketplace and civic centre of ancient Athens, directly below the Acropolis — the Hephaisteion temple (449 BCE; better preserved than the Parthenon; almost nobody is here) and the Stoa of Attalos (a reconstructed 2nd-century BCE market building now housing the Agora Museum) combine into a site that’s included in the Acropolis combined ticket (€30; covers the Acropolis, Ancient Agora, Roman Agora, Kerameikos, and four other sites; valid 5 days). This is the best value ticket in any Greece travel guide budget breakdown.
The neighbourhoods — where this Greece travel guide sends you in Athens: Monastiraki (the flea market neighbourhood; Sunday mornings when the antique and junk stalls expand into the surrounding streets; the view of the Acropolis over the market is the best free photograph in Athens). Exarcheia (the anarchist neighbourhood; covered in graffiti, populated by students and left-wing intellectuals, and containing some of the best cheap restaurants in the city — rough-edged, politically charged, and a sharp contrast to the tourist centre). Psyrri (the nightlife neighbourhood; by day, printing workshops and wholesale fabric suppliers; by night, outdoor tables until 3am).
Athens food — Greece travel guide essentials: Taramosalata, tzatziki, and grilled octopus at a taverna with paper tablecloths at Monastiraki — nothing fancy, €12 per person, ice-cold Mythos beer. The Central Market (Varvakios Agora; Athens’s covered food market; open mornings; the meat and fish halls are overwhelming; the vegetable and spice stalls are magnificent). Souvlaki at Kostas (Plateia Agias Irinis; legendary; a 60-year-old hole in the wall; €2.50 per skewer; often sold out by noon). And yes, the spanakopita from any neighbourhood bakery (€1.50) is better than the one you’ll pay €8 for at the tourist taverna.
The Islands: How to Choose
The island question is the part of every Greece travel guide that matters most to go to, and most of them dodge it by listing fifteen options and saying “it depends on what you’re looking for.” This one is going to be more direct.
Santorini — Greece travel guide verdict: You want the caldera view, the blue-domed churches, the world-famous sunset at Oia. It is genuinely spectacular. The landscape — a volcanic caldera with villages clinging to the cliff edge above water that’s 400 metres deep in the centre — is unlike anything else in the Mediterranean. Just know: in July and August, Oia at sunset has 3,000 people watching simultaneously, you need to book accommodation 6 months ahead, and a dinner for two with wine will cost €80–€120. None of this makes it not worth going. It makes it worth going in May or October instead of August.
Mykonos — the Greece travel guide’s honest take: Budget is any consideration. Mykonos has become the most expensive island in Greece by some distance — a beach club sun lounger costs €60–€100, a cocktail runs €18–€22, and the genuinely good parts of the island (the old town’s windmills, the Little Venice waterfront neighbourhood) are overwhelmed by the party infrastructure. I went once. I don’t regret it. I also haven’t been back.
Crete — the Greece travel guide’s best-value island: You want variety. Crete is the largest Greek island and functions as a destination in itself — the Venetian harbour and old town of Chania (the most beautiful town in Greece that isn’t Oia), the Samaria Gorge hike (16km through Europe’s longest gorge; strenuous; €5 entry; the most dramatic walk in this Greece travel guide), the Minoan Palace of Knossos (the 3,500-year-old palace-city; €15; genuinely mind-bending in scale), and beaches that run from organised tourist strips to completely isolated coves requiring a 40-minute hike. Crete can absorb a week. Most people give it four days and leave wishing for more.
Naxos and Paros — the Greece travel guide’s Cyclades alternative: For people who want the whitewashed-village Cycladic aesthetic without Santorini’s prices or Mykonos’s party scene, Naxos and Paros are the answer. Naxos has the best beaches in the Cyclades (Plaka beach; 7km of golden sand; almost empty outside August), the best local food (the island produces its own cheese, potatoes, and citrus; the tavernas are exceptional and cheap), and the Portara (an enormous marble doorway from a 6th-century BCE unfinished temple standing on a promontory above the port; free; sunset here beats Oia for me personally). Paros is slightly more developed, excellent for windsurfing, and has better ferry connections to other islands than any other Cycladic stop.
Rhodes — the Greece travel guide’s most underrated island: The walled medieval old city of Rhodes Town (UNESCO World Heritage; the best-preserved medieval town in the Mediterranean; the Street of the Knights dates to the 14th century) is extraordinary, the beaches on the east coast are excellent, and the island is large enough that you can escape the tourist areas entirely. A rental car for two days exploring the interior and the southern coast (Prasonisi; where the Aegean and Mediterranean seas meet) is the best day I’ve had in Greece outside of the Peloponnese.
The Peloponnese: The Part Nobody Talks About
Every Greece travel guide I’ve read spends 80% of its wordcount on Athens and the islands, and then mentions the Peloponnese in one paragraph. This is disproportionate.
The peninsula south of Athens contains Olympia (the original site of the Olympic Games; 776 BCE; the museum holds the Hermes of Praxiteles and the Nike of Paionios; €12), Mycenae (the Bronze Age citadel of Agamemnon; 1350 BCE; the Lion Gate is the oldest monumental sculpture in Europe; €12), Epidaurus (the 4th-century BCE theatre with perfect acoustics even for a standing spectator at the top of 55 rows; performances still held in summer; €12), and Nafplio — the most beautiful town on the Greek mainland, a Venetian-era port city with a hilltop fortress, pedestrianised old town, and a harbour promenade that makes for the best evening walk in this Greece travel guide.
Rent a car in Athens and drive the Peloponnese for 4–5 days. You’ll barely see another tourist outside the major sites, the tavernas are priced for locals, and the coastal road south from Nafplio to Monemvasia (a Byzantine fortress city on a rock connected to the mainland by a causeway; medieval lanes with no cars; one of the most extraordinary small places in Greece) takes 2.5 hours and is spectacular the whole way.
Food in Greece
Greek food is simpler than Italian food, more olive-oil-forward than French food, and better than its international reputation suggests, which has been damaged by two decades of mediocre Greek restaurants in foreign cities serving generic mezze platters to people who’ve never been to Greece.
The real version: grilled whole fish (ask for the catch of the day; price it by the kilogram before ordering; a 400g sea bream at a harbour taverna runs €15–€22). Fava (a Santorini speciality; yellow split pea purée with olive oil and capers; nothing to do with fava beans; one of the best simple dishes in the Mediterranean). Loukoumades (honey-soaked doughnuts; the street food version at €3–€4 for a paper cup of six; everywhere in Athens; specifically good at Lukumades on Adrianou Street). Saganaki (pan-fried cheese flamed with brandy; €7–€9; the “opa!” in the restaurant is for tourists; the cheese is for everyone).
Retsina (resin-flavoured Greek wine) is worth trying once in a traditional taverna context and not worth ordering twice unless you discover you love it, which some people genuinely do. Ouzo (anise-flavoured spirit; serve with ice; drink slowly; becomes milky white when water is added) is better. Tsipouro (the mainland grape pomace spirit; similar to grappa; drunk as a digestif with a small meze; the correct Greece travel guide ending to a long taverna lunch) is better still.
Budget Breakdown
| Category | Budget | Mid-Range | Santorini/Mykonos |
|---|---|---|---|
| Accommodation | €25 (hostel / simple room) | €90 (guesthouse with view) | €250–€500 |
| Food | €18 (souvlaki, bakery, taverna lunch) | €50 (taverna meals with wine) | €100+ |
| Transport | €5 (ferry deck / local bus) | €25 (ferry cabin + taxi) | €40+ |
| Activities | €15 (one major site) | €35 (combined ticket) | €40 |
| Daily Total | €63 (~$68) | €200 (~$217) | €430+ (~$465) |
What I’d Do with Two Weeks
Athens (3 nights) → Naxos by ferry (3 nights; the slow ferry at dawn is one of the better ways to arrive anywhere) → Santorini (2 nights; Oia for the sunset, once, then Fira and Akrotiri the Minoan ruins for context) → back to Athens by flight → rent a car and drive the Peloponnese: Nafplio (2 nights) → Mycenae → Epidaurus → Olympia → drive back to Athens.
That covers ancient Greece, island Greece, and a version of the country that most Greece travel guide itineraries completely miss. The ferry connections in the Cyclades are reliable enough that you can add or swap islands on the fly — Paros is 40 minutes from Naxos by fast boat, and if you end up wanting to stay an extra day anywhere, the connections allow it.
The one adjustment this Greece travel guide would make about most standard itineraries: spend less time on the most-photographed islands and more time on the mainland. Greece didn’t become the foundation of Western civilisation because of its Instagram locations.
For official planning, Visit Greece has solid ferry schedule and visa information.