Greece Travel Guide: Where to Go, When and What It Costs

A Greece trip needs 7 to 10 days if you want Athens and islands: 2 or 3 days in Athens, then 4 to 7 days on one or two islands in the same group, because ferry routes run out from Piraeus rather than island to island. May, June, September and early October give warm sea, open ferry timetables and prices below the July and August peak. Greece uses the euro, sits inside the Schengen Area, and asks nothing of visa-exempt visitors beyond a passport valid for 3 months after the day they leave.

Greece is a country of two halves that plan differently. The mainland holds Athens, Delphi, Meteora, Thessaloniki and the Peloponnese, and you cross it by bus or hire car in a few hours. The islands, roughly 6,000 of them counting the uninhabited rocks, sit in the Aegean and Ionian seas and are reached by ferry or a short flight, which is why island-hopping takes more planning than any other part of a Greek itinerary.

This guide is written by the Wonderful Wanderings editorial team for independent travellers, and it routes you to our own Athens, Crete, Mykonos and Zakynthos posts wherever they go deeper. Founder Sofie Couwenbergh’s booking habits, from Booking.com and Vrbo to her portable hotspot and SafetyWing policy, are the ones linked below.

Greece quick facts

The Greece quick facts below cover what a trip needs, from currency and plugs to driving, tap water and the emergency number.

The table stops at the practical facts. Trivia such as the origin of the marathon and why Greeks throw water after you sits in our 100+ fun facts about Greece post.

Greece guides on Wonderful Wanderings

The Greece guides on Wonderful Wanderings go deeper than this hub on Athens, Crete, Mykonos and Zakynthos. The 8 guides are listed below, most useful first.

1. Top tips for visiting the Acropolis in Athens: when to climb, what the ticket covers and how to avoid the queue.
2. Street art in Athens: a photo essay of the murals in Psiri, Exarchia and Metaxourgeio.
3. 11 things to do in Mykonos: beaches, Little Venice, the windmills and the boat to Delos.
4. The pink beach of Elafonisi on Crete: how to reach the lagoon and when it is quiet.
5. Cretan food on a Chania food tour: the dishes and snacks a local guide puts in front of you.
6. A cooking class in Crete: making dakos, dolmades and bougatsa from scratch.
7. Snorkelling on Zakynthos: turtle nesting beaches, sea caves and what the boat trips actually show you.
8. 100+ fun facts about Greece: the history, food and language facts worth knowing before you go.

Older posts sit in the archive. Browse all Greece posts for the full list.

Mainland or islands: where to go in Greece

Pick the mainland for ancient sites, mountains and short drives, and the islands for beaches, ferries and slow days, then combine them only if you have 10 days or more. Greece has 13 administrative regions, 9 of them on the mainland and 4 made up of islands, and the choice between them decides your whole itinerary.

Best places on the Greek mainland

Athens, Delphi and Meteora are the 3 mainland stops most first trips include, and the Peloponnese is the natural fourth. The 6 mainland regions worth building a route around are listed below, starting with the one you fly into.

1. Attica: the region around Athens, with the Acropolis and its museum, the Ancient Agora, the National Archaeological Museum and the beaches of the Athens Riviera and the Saronic Gulf within an hour of the centre. Our Acropolis guide and Athens street art post cover the city.
2. Central Greece: Delphi, where the temple of Apollo and the stadium sit on the slope of Mount Parnassus, plus the Corycian Cave above it and the ski slopes at Arachova in winter. Delphi is a long day trip from Athens or a first night on a road trip north.
3. Thessaly: the Meteora monasteries, 6 working monasteries built on sandstone pillars and listed by UNESCO, reached from the town of Kalambaka, and the Pelion peninsula’s beach villages on the coast below.
4. The Peloponnese: the southern peninsula, with the theatre at Epidaurus, the citadel of Mycenae, ancient Olympia, the Venetian town of Nafplio, the stone towers of the Mani and the Byzantine ruins at Mystras.
5. Central Macedonia: Thessaloniki, the second city, with its Byzantine walls, White Tower and food markets, plus the beaches of Halkidiki’s 3 peninsulas and Mount Olympus for hiking.
6. Epirus: the mountainous northwest, with the stone villages of Zagori, the Vikos Gorge, the Dodoni theatre and Ioannina’s lake island, and the fewest visitors of any mainland region.

Two more mainland regions round out the map. Eastern Macedonia and Thrace runs to the Turkish border and holds Kavala, Xanthi and the island of Samothrace, and Western Greece covers Patras, the ferry gateway from Italy, and the rafting rivers of Aitoloakarnania; Western Macedonia, the only landlocked region, has the lakes of Kastoria and Prespa and the country’s lowest population density.

Best Greek islands and how to pick a group

Choose one island group and stay in it, because ferries fan out from Athens rather than running neatly between groups. The 4 island regions and the islands within them are listed below.

1. South Aegean, the Cyclades and Dodecanese: Santorini for the caldera villages of Oia and Fira, Mykonos for beach clubs and the boat to Delos, Naxos and Paros for beaches with normal prices, Milos for the volcanic coastline, and Rhodes and Kos for medieval towns and long sandy beaches. Our 11 things to do in Mykonos guide covers the busiest of them.
2. Crete, its own region and the largest Greek island: the Minoan palace of Knossos, the Samaria Gorge, the old Venetian harbours of Chania and Rethymno, and the lagoon beaches at Elafonisi and Balos. Crete needs a week of its own, and our Elafonisi pink beach, Chania food tour and Cretan cooking class posts cover it in detail.
3. Ionian Islands: Corfu with its Venetian old town, Zakynthos with Navagio bay and the loggerhead turtles of Laganas, Kefalonia with Myrtos beach and the Melissani cave, and quieter Lefkada, reached by road bridge. See our Zakynthos snorkelling post before you book a boat trip.
4. North Aegean: Lesvos with its petrified forest, Chios with the mastic villages, Samos, Ikaria and Limnos, all closer to the Turkish coast than to Athens and far quieter than the Cyclades.

Ferry geography beats map distance every time. Santorini and Mykonos are both in the Cyclades and connected several times a day in summer, while Corfu and Rhodes sit in different seas and are joined most easily by a flight through Athens.

How many days do you need in Greece

Plan 7 days for Athens and one island group, and 10 to 14 days if you want the mainland ancient sites as well. The 3 routes below cover the trips most people actually take.

1. Days 1 to 7, Athens and the Cyclades: 3 days in Athens for the Acropolis, its museum and the Agora, then the ferry from Piraeus to Naxos or Paros for 2 nights and on to Santorini for 2, flying home from Santorini.
2. Days 1 to 10, mainland classics: 3 days in Athens, a day trip or overnight at Delphi, 2 nights at Kalambaka for Meteora, then 3 nights in the Peloponnese around Nafplio for Mycenae and Epidaurus, returning to Athens by hire car.
3. Days 1 to 14, Crete on its own or added: a week on Crete alone covers Chania, Rethymno, Heraklion and the south coast, or split 14 days between Athens, one Cycladic island and Crete, which has direct ferries and flights from both.

Two habits save a Greek itinerary. Never book a ferry and a flight home on the same day, because summer winds cancel sailings, and keep a spare night in Athens at the end. Rooms in Santorini, Mykonos and Chania sell out first, so check hotel availability in Greece on Booking.com as soon as your dates are fixed.

Best time to visit Greece

May, June, September and early October are the months to visit Greece, when the sea is warm enough to swim, ferries run their full timetables and hotels cost less than in high summer. Greece has a Mediterranean climate with hot dry summers and mild wet winters, and the 4 seasons are described below.

• High season (July and August): the hottest and busiest months, with heatwaves that push past 40°C (104°F) and occasionally close the Acropolis in the middle of the day, full beaches, peak prices and the whole festival calendar; book rooms, ferries and car hire months ahead.
• Early season (April to June): warm days, wildflowers on the mainland, a sea that turns swimmable around late May, and Orthodox Easter, which is the single biggest travel week of the Greek year and books out early.
• Late season (September and October): the sea is at its warmest in September, the crowds thin after the first week, and island hotels and restaurants start closing from mid-October.
• Low season (November to March): mild and rainy on the coast, cold and snowy in the mountains, with most Cycladic hotels and many ferry routes shut; Athens, Thessaloniki, Crete and Rhodes stay open all year and cost far less.

How to get to Greece

You get to Greece by plane to Athens, Thessaloniki or an island airport, by ferry from Italy, or overland by bus from the neighbouring countries. The 3 routes in are described below.

Flights to Greece

Flights to Greece land at Athens Eleftherios Venizelos, the main hub, at Thessaloniki Makedonia in the north, and at island airports including Heraklion and Chania on Crete, Rhodes, Corfu, Kos, Mykonos, Santorini and Zakynthos, most of which take charter and low-cost flights from northern Europe between April and October. Aegean Airlines and its subsidiary Olympic Air are the national carriers, and Sky Express covers many domestic routes. Check here for flight options and prices once your dates are fixed, and read our guide to what to do when a flight is cancelled before you fly in peak season.

Ferries to Greece

Ferries to Greece sail from Italy to the western ports of Patras, Igoumenitsa and Corfu, on routes from Ancona, Bari, Brindisi and Venice, and from Turkey to the eastern Aegean islands on short crossings such as Bodrum to Kos and Kusadasi to Samos. Sailings are most frequent from June to September, when you also need to book weeks ahead if you are taking a car. Check here for ferry routes and prices to Greece before you commit to a date.

Buses and trains to Greece

Buses to Greece are the practical overland option, running from Bulgaria, North Macedonia, Albania and Turkey into Thessaloniki and Athens, with the Bulgarian crossings the quickest because both countries are in the EU. Greece has no international passenger rail service: the through trains from Thessaloniki to Sofia, Skopje and Belgrade were suspended in 2020 and have not resumed, so guides that still list them will send you to a station with nothing to board. Rail still gets you most of the way if you are coming from western Europe, by train to Bari, Brindisi, Ancona or Venice and then onto the Patras or Igoumenitsa ferry, and you can check train routes and prices across Europe before you buy the crossing.

Entry requirements for Greece

Check the current entry rules for your passport before you book, because they change. Greece is in the EU and the Schengen Area, so EU and EEA citizens enter with a national ID card, and visa-exempt visitors such as US, UK, Canadian and Australian passport holders get 90 days in any 180-day period across the whole Schengen Area. The US State Department’s Greece page says American tourists need no visa for stays of 90 days or less and a passport valid for at least 3 months beyond the date they leave, and that you may be asked for proof of funds and onward travel. Two EU systems matter at the border: the Entry/Exit System (EES) began its phased rollout on 12 October 2025 and has been fully operational since 10 April 2026, replacing passport stamps with a record of your fingerprints and photo, and the ETIAS travel authorisation is not yet in operation, with the European Commission saying it will announce the start date several months in advance and confirming a €20 (about $23, £17) fee when it does. The official sources are travel-europe.europa.eu for EES and ETIAS and travel.state.gov for the US advisory.

Getting around Greece

You get around Greece by ferry between the islands, by KTEL bus on the mainland, by domestic flight for the long hops, and by hire car for the archaeological sites and mountain villages. The 5 options are listed below.

1. Ferries and catamarans: the backbone of island travel, sailing mostly from Piraeus, the port of Athens, with Rafina serving Mykonos, Tinos and Andros and Lavrio a few Cycladic routes; conventional ferries are cheaper and steadier, high-speed catamarans roughly halve the time and cancel more often in wind. Book ahead in July and August, and take ferries between the Greek islands on booked tickets rather than turning up at the quay.
2. KTEL buses: the regional bus network covers the mainland thoroughly and cheaply, from Athens to Delphi, Nafplio, Kalambaka and Thessaloniki, and each island has its own KTEL running from the port to the villages.
3. Trains: Hellenic Train runs the Athens to Thessaloniki line and the Athens suburban network, and engineering works have repeatedly closed sections since 2023, so check the timetable close to your travel date rather than months out.
4. Domestic flights: Aegean, Olympic Air and Sky Express connect Athens with Thessaloniki, Crete, Rhodes, Santorini, Mykonos, Corfu and about 30 other airports, and a 45-minute flight often costs less than an 8-hour ferry in shoulder season. Compare domestic flight prices to the Greek islands against the ferry before you book.
5. Hire car: the way to reach Delphi, the Mani, Zagori and most of Crete’s south coast, and the wrong choice inside Athens, where parking is scarce and the metro is quicker. The US State Department warns that Greece has one of the highest traffic fatality rates in the European Union, that lane markings are treated loosely and that motorbikes pass on both sides, so drive defensively and avoid mountain roads at night. Look here for an overview of rental car options and prices in Greece and read the excess and deposit terms before you accept the keys.

Quad bikes and mopeds deserve a separate warning. Island rental firms often carry third-party cover only, which leaves you liable for damage to the vehicle, many travel policies exclude quad biking as an extreme sport, and the police fine riders caught without a helmet.

What a Greece trip costs

A mid-range traveller spends roughly €100-150 (about $116-174, £86-129) a day in Greece outside Athens’s peak season, and Santorini and Mykonos in August run well above that. Greece’s prices below are approximate and move with the season.

The table covers a typical tourist day. The café, beer and restaurant figures come from Numbeo’s Athens data for September 2026, the Acropolis and museum prices from the Greek Ministry of Culture and the Acropolis Museum, and the two taxes from the Greek measures introduced in 2024 and July 2025; the accommodation fee is charged per room, not per person, and appears on your bill at checkout.

Money in Greece: cash, cards and tipping

Greece uses the euro, and cards work almost everywhere except small island tavernas, kiosks, rural bakeries and some taxis. ATMs are in every town and most villages, and the 3 money habits that save you money are listed below.

1. Withdraw from a bank-branded ATM inside a branch rather than the standalone machines at airports, ferry terminals and tourist streets, which charge the highest fees.
2. Decline “dynamic currency conversion” when a card machine offers to bill you in your own currency, because its rate is worse than your bank’s.
3. Carry €50-100 (about $58-116, £43-86) in cash for beach tavernas, port kiosks, parking, buses and tips.

Tipping in Greece is appreciated rather than expected. Round up a taverna bill or leave about 5 to 10%, round up taxi fares, and leave €1-2 (about $1-2, £1-2) per bag for hotel porters; our guidelines on what to tip in Greece sit inside the wider tipping in Europe guide.

Where to stay in Greece

Stay in Plaka, Monastiraki or Koukaki in Athens to walk to the Acropolis, in Fira on Santorini for the ferries and buses or Oia for the caldera view, in Chania or Rethymno on Crete for old-town evenings, and in Nafplio for the Peloponnese. Book early for July and August, and expect many island hotels to close between November and March.

Booking sites do the filtering. Sofie books hotels, guesthouses and B&Bs through Booking.com, because its filters turn hundreds of listings into a short list that meets her criteria, so check there first; she uses Vrbo when an apartment or a village house suits the trip better. If you book on Airbnb as well, our how to use Airbnb guide covers its filters and fees.

What to eat and drink in Greece

Greek food is built on olive oil, bread, feta, lemon and whatever the sea or the hillside gave that morning, and it changes island by island. The 10 dishes and drinks to try are listed below, with the Greek name first.

1. Choriatiki: the village salad of tomato, cucumber, onion, olives, oregano and a slab of feta, dressed only with olive oil.
2. Moussaka: layers of aubergine, minced meat and béchamel baked until the top sets.
3. Souvlaki and gyros: grilled meat on a skewer, or shaved from a vertical spit, wrapped in pita with tomato, onion, chips and tzatziki.
4. Dolmades: vine leaves stuffed with rice and herbs, sometimes with minced meat, served warm with lemon or cold with yoghurt.
5. Spanakopita and tiropita: filo pies filled with spinach and feta, or with cheese alone, sold in every bakery before 9am.
6. Keftedes: herbed meatballs fried and served with bread and a sauce, a standard meze.
7. Garides saganaki: prawns cooked in a tomato and feta sauce, finished with ouzo, and served bubbling in the pan.
8. Dakos: the Cretan rusk soaked in oil and topped with grated tomato and mizithra cheese, covered in our Chania food tour post.
9. Baklava and loukoumades: layered filo with nuts and syrup, and honey-soaked dough balls with cinnamon.
10. Ouzo, tsipouro and raki: the aniseed spirit of the mainland, the stronger grape spirit of the north, and the Cretan version poured free at the end of a meal.

The list stops at 10. Our Cretan cooking class post shows how several of them are made, and Greek wine deserves its own order: Assyrtiko from Santorini, Moschofilero from the Peloponnese, Xinomavro from Naoussa and retsina, the pine-resin white, which is far better now than its reputation suggests.

Festivals and public holidays in Greece

Greece’s festival calendar peaks between June and September, and Orthodox Easter moves the whole spring. Dates shift each year, so check the programme before you book around an event.

The table shows the events visitors plan around. Greek law makes every Sunday a holiday and adds 12 national holidays: 1 January, 6 January (Epiphany), Clean Monday, 25 March (Independence Day), Good Friday, Easter Monday, 1 May, Whit Monday, 15 August (Dormition), 28 October (Ohi Day), 25 December and 26 December. Easter follows the Orthodox calendar and usually falls later than the Western one, banks and public offices close, and a holiday landing on a Sunday is not moved to the Monday.

Is Greece safe?

Greece is safe for travellers, including solo women: it ranked 53rd of 163 countries in the 2026 Global Peace Index published by the Institute for Economics and Peace, and the US State Department has it at Level 1, “exercise normal precautions”, in the advisory it issued on 23 October 2025. Greece’s real risks are petty crime and the weather, and the 4 to watch for are listed below, most common first.

1. Pickpocketing on the Athens metro, at Monastiraki and Omonia and around ferry queues in summer: a common trick is one person creating a commotion at the doors while another takes your bag, so keep phones and wallets in front pockets.
2. Wildfires between April and October, which close roads and beaches at short notice: check the Greek civil protection service’s daily fire risk map, never light a fire or barbecue, and dial 112 if you see smoke.
3. Heat between June and September, with temperatures over 40°C (104°F) in heatwaves that have closed the Acropolis in the middle of the day: drink more than you think you need and stay indoors between 11am and 5pm.
4. Demonstrations and transport strikes, which are common in Athens and Thessaloniki, gather around Syntagma and Aristotle Square and can stop ferries, buses and flights for a day: check the news the evening before you travel and avoid the crowds themselves.

Earthquakes happen, tap water is safe in the cities and on the large islands, and 112 reaches police, fire and ambulance in English.

What to pack for Greece

Pack for heat and stone underfoot in summer, and for rain and layers the rest of the year. The 3 seasonal lists follow.

• Summer (June to September): light cotton and linen, good walking sandals for marble steps and pebble beaches, sunscreen with a high factor, a hat, sunglasses, swimwear, water shoes for sea urchins, and a reusable water bottle because the tap water is safe in most places.
• Winter (November to March): a warm waterproof coat, a warm scarf, layers you can shed indoors, waterproof shoes, and the same reusable water bottle; the mountains and the north get snow, and Athens is chilly and wet rather than cold.
• Spring and autumn (April, May and October): layers, a rain jacket, trainers for archaeological sites, and both sunscreen and a jumper, because a warm afternoon at Delphi turns cold as soon as the sun drops behind Parnassus.

Two extras finish the list. A universal adapter covers the type C and F plugs, and a Steripen or a filter bottle is worth carrying if you are island-hopping through the drier Cyclades.

Staying connected in Greece

You stay connected in Greece with your EU SIM, which works at home rates under the EU’s roam-like-at-home rules, or with an eSIM or a portable hotspot if you come from outside the EU. The 3 options are listed below.

1. An EU SIM: no roaming charges for calls, texts or data in Greece; UK plans have varied by operator since Brexit, so check yours before you fly.
2. An eSIM bought before you land: data from the moment you switch your phone on, with no shop visit; our eSIM for travel guide explains how they work.
3. A portable hotspot: Sofie carries a portable hotspot and buys day passes outside the EU, as a backup when her phone plan runs low on data, which suits several people sharing one connection. For a single phone, an Airalo eSIM installs on the handset you already have and saves carrying a second device.

The code HARRY5578 takes €3 off a first order.

Travel insurance for Greece

Travel insurance for Greece covers what a health card does not: cancelled ferries and flights, a stolen phone, a scooter or quad-bike accident and repatriation. EU citizens should carry their European Health Insurance Card (EHIC) and UK visitors their Global Health Insurance Card (GHIC), but neither pays for a missed sailing or an air ambulance, and Greek public hospitals charge for treatment. The insurer Wonderful Wanderings uses is SafetyWing, whose plans can be bought before you leave or while you are already travelling, so check out SafetyWing and compare it against the options in our best medical travel insurance guide. Check that quad biking is covered if you plan to rent one, because many policies exclude it.

Culture, etiquette and basic Greek phrases

Greeks are direct, loud in conversation and generous with time, and a stranger asking where you are from is being friendly rather than nosy. The 4 customs and phrases that matter are listed below.

1. Never make the moutza, the open palm thrust towards someone’s face with the fingers spread, because it is a serious insult rather than a wave.
2. Dress modestly in churches and monasteries, covering shoulders and knees; Meteora and Mount Athos enforce this strictly, and Mount Athos admits men only, by permit.
3. Greet people with “yassas” (YAH-sas, hello, formal) or “yassou” (YAH-soo, informal), say “efharisto” (eff-kha-ri-STOE, thank you) and “parakalo” (para-kah-LOE, please and you are welcome), and use “kalimera” (kah-lee-MER-ah) before noon and “kalispera” (kah-lee-SPER-ah) after.
4. Ask “milate anglika?” (mee-LAH-teh ang-li-KAH, do you speak English?) and “poso kanei?” (POH-soh KAH-nee, how much is it?), and learn “signomi” (see-GHNO-mee, sorry) and “nai” (neh, yes), which sounds like “no” to English ears and causes more confusion than any other Greek word.

Meals run late. Dinner starts at 9pm or later in summer, tavernas do not rush you, and asking for the bill is your job rather than the waiter’s.

A short history of Greece

Greece’s history runs from Bronze Age palaces through the city states, Rome and Byzantium to Ottoman rule, independence in 1821 and the EU. The 6 periods that explain what you see are listed below.

1. Minoans and Mycenaeans (about 3000 to 1100 BC): the Minoan palace culture of Crete, whose largest site is Knossos, and the fortified Mycenaean citadels of the mainland at Mycenae and Tiryns.
2. Archaic and Classical Greece (about 800 to 323 BC): the city states, Homer’s epics, the first Olympic Games traditionally dated to 776 BC, Athenian democracy, the Parthenon, and Socrates, Plato and Aristotle.
3. Hellenistic and Roman Greece (323 BC to 330 AD): Alexander the Great’s empire breaks up after his death in 323 BC, and Rome takes Greece in 146 BC while copying its art, religion and philosophy.
4. Byzantium (330 to 1453): Constantinople becomes the capital of the eastern empire, Orthodox Christianity and Greek become its language and faith, and the mosaics at Daphni, Osios Loukas and Thessaloniki survive from it.
5. Venetians and Ottomans (1204 to 1821): Venice holds Crete, the Ionian islands and coastal fortresses, and the Ottomans rule most of the mainland from the 15th century, leaving the walls, mosques and fountains you see in Rhodes, Chania and Ioannina.
6. Modern Greece (1821 onwards): the War of Independence starts on 25 March 1821 and independence is recognised in 1832, the Balkan Wars nearly double the country’s territory, occupation and a civil war follow the Second World War, a military dictatorship rules from 1967 to 1974, democracy returns, and Greece joins the European Communities on 1 January 1981 and the euro on 1 January 2001.

The debt crisis that began in 2009 is still visible in Athens’s closed shopfronts and its protest culture, and tourism has since become the country’s largest earner: the Bank of Greece recorded 37.98 million inbound travellers in 2025, up from 35.95 million in 2024.

Greece travel FAQ

How many days do you need in Greece?

Plan 7 days in Greece for Athens and one island group, and 10 to 14 days to add Delphi, Meteora and the Peloponnese or a full week on Crete.

What is the best month to visit Greece?

May, June, September or early October is the month to visit Greece, for warm sea, full ferry timetables and prices below the July and August peak.

Is Greece expensive?

Greece costs less than Italy or France for food and transport, and a mid-range traveller spends roughly €100-150 (about $116-174, £86-129) a day; Santorini and Mykonos in August are the exceptions and run far higher.

Do you need a visa for Greece?

Visa-exempt visitors, including US, UK, Canadian and Australian passport holders, need no visa for stays of up to 90 days in any 180-day period across the Schengen Area, with a passport valid for at least 3 months beyond departure; ETIAS is not yet in operation, and the entry rules on travel-europe.europa.eu are the ones to check before you book.

Is it better to visit the Greek islands or the mainland?

Pick the islands for beaches and ferries and the mainland for ancient sites and mountains, and combine them only with 10 days or more, because a single ferry crossing can eat half a day.

Can you drink the tap water in Greece?

Tap water is safe to drink in Athens, Thessaloniki and on the larger islands; on small, arid islands where water is shipped in or desalinated, most people drink bottled water or filter it.

WonderfulWanderings Pro Tips

The 5 tips below come from checking this page against the Greek Ministry of Culture, the Bank of Greece, the US State Department and the European Commission in September 2026, and each is a cost or a rule that catches people out.

1. Never put a ferry crossing and your flight home on the same day. Summer winds cancel Aegean sailings at short notice, so end an island trip with a spare night in Athens rather than counting on a morning boat to make the airport.
2. Budget for two charges that never appear in the room rate. The climate crisis resilience fee runs €0.50 to €15 per room per night by accommodation category and season and lands on the bill at checkout, and cruise passengers pay a further €20 a head at Mykonos or Santorini between 1 June and 30 September, €5 at other Greek ports.
3. Do not plan an international train into Greece. The through services from Thessaloniki to Sofia, Skopje and Belgrade were suspended in 2020 and have not resumed, so a guide that still lists them sends you to a station with nothing to board. From western Europe, take the train to Bari, Brindisi, Ancona or Venice and cross to Patras or Igoumenitsa by ferry.
4. Buy two tickets for the Acropolis rather than one. The site charges €30 for an adult and €15 reduced, and the Acropolis Museum charges its own €20 and €10 reduced. They are separate institutions with separate entrances.
5. Drink the tap water in Athens, Thessaloniki and on the larger islands. Guides that tell you to avoid it everywhere in Greece are overstating a real but narrow problem: on small, arid islands where water is shipped in or desalinated, most people buy bottled or filter it.

About the author. This guide is written and maintained by the Wonderful Wanderings editorial team. Wonderful Wanderings was founded in 2012 by Sofie Couwenbergh, and the first-hand notes in this post come from her trips to Athens, Crete, Zakynthos and Mykonos, from the Acropolis and the street art of Psiri to a Chania food tour and a Cretan cooking class. The team covers Greece for independent travellers, including the island ferries, hotels and apartments, tavernas, car hire, packing gear and travel insurance worth booking, and updates this page when prices, dates and rules change.