Top 10 Things To Do in Greece (City Guides) Wimup

Quick answer · where to go in Greece

Start in Athens, give it two full days, then pick one sea and stay in it. The Cyclades (Naxos, Santorini, Mykonos) are the postcard and the busiest; Crete is large enough to be its own holiday, with Chania at one end and Heraklion at the other; the Dodecanese put a medieval walled town on Rhodes within reach of Turkey. On the mainland, Nafplio anchors the Peloponnese and Kalambaka puts you under the monasteries of Meteora. Island-hop inside one group rather than across two: the ferries are frequent within a chain and awkward between them. May, June and September are the months to book.

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4 Greek city guides

Sorted by what travelers are saving this month.

Fun fact

One number worth knowing

Greece has around 6,000 islands and islets, and only about 227 of them are inhabited, which is why the ferry timetable shapes so many Greek itineraries.

Stereotypes, sorted out

The clichés you have heard, what is actually true, and how to fit in.

"Greece is whitewashed cubes above a blue sea"

The realityThat is the Cyclades, and it is one architecture among several. Rhodes is a walled medieval town the Knights of St John built. Corfu is Venetian and French. Northern Greece is stone, timber and slate. The postcard covers a handful of islands out of thousands.

"Everything shuts down and nothing runs on time"

The realityThe rhythm is different, not absent. Businesses close through the hot part of the afternoon and reopen into the evening, which is why dinner starts at nine. Ferries and coaches keep to their timetables; the thing that moves them is weather, not temperament.

"Athens is a stopover on the way to the boat"

The realityIt holds the Acropolis, the Acropolis Museum and the National Archaeological Museum, plus the best food in the country and neighbourhoods worth an evening each. Two days is the minimum that does not feel like a transfer.

"Greek food is a plate of moussaka and a Greek salad"

The realityThose are the menu items written in English. What gets eaten is a table of small plates shared between everyone, and it changes island to island: fava on Santorini, dakos on Crete, bougatsa in Thessaloniki, gavros anywhere with a harbour.

"Summer is the season"

The realitySummer is the crowded season. The sea is warm from late May, the sites are walkable in spring and autumn, and September has both. August adds heat, full ferries and Greek domestic holidays to the same islands you were heading for.

"One island is much like another"

The realityThe groups are genuinely different countries of their own. The Cyclades are bare, bright and windy; the Ionians are green and Venetian; the Dodecanese look east to Asia Minor; Crete is a mountain range with a coastline attached.

Whitewashed walls and blue domesPlate smashing, which almost nobody doesOuzo with everythingZorba, the dance and the filmYiayia feeding you until you stopThe evening volta up and down the waterfrontWorry beads worked through a conversationCats owning every taverna courtyard

Cultural notes that actually help

Order for the table, not for yourself. Small plates arrive in the middle and everyone reaches in, and ordering one main each reads as odd.
Dinner is late. Turning up at seven puts you in an empty room; nine is normal and ten is unremarkable.
Name days often matter more than birthdays, and the person celebrating is usually the one buying.
The bill comes when you ask for it. A waiter leaving you alone after the plates are cleared is politeness, not neglect.
Cover your shoulders and knees for monasteries and churches. Meteora and Athos-adjacent sites enforce it, and wraps are usually available at the door.
Take the ferry weather seriously. A cancelled sailing in a strong meltemi is normal, so leave a day of slack before an international flight.
Coffee is a seat, not a takeaway. A freddo espresso buys the table for as long as you want it, and rushing it misses the point.
Do not put paper in the bowl where a bin is provided. Older plumbing on the islands is narrow, and the sign means it.

Famous Greek faces

The names behind Greece's philosophy, writing, film, music, sport, art and science. Pick a field.

Socrates

Athenian philosopher, tried and sentenced by his own city in 399 BC

Aristotle

Tutored Alexander the Great, then founded the Lyceum in Athens

Homer

The Iliad and the Odyssey, the two poems Western literature starts from

El Greco

Born Domenikos Theotokopoulos on Crete in 1541, and remade painting in Toledo

Maria Callas

Soprano born in New York to Greek parents, and the defining voice of 20th-century opera

Mikis Theodorakis

Composer of the Zorba the Greek score, and of the songs the resistance sang

Melina Mercouri

Starred in Never on Sunday, then served as Minister of Culture

Giannis Antetokounmpo

Grew up in Athens, and won the NBA title with Milwaukee in 2021

Plato

Founded the Academy, and wrote the Republic

Herodotus

Wrote the Histories, and got called the father of history for it

Hippocrates

Physician of Kos, and the name on the oath doctors still take

Archimedes

Mathematician and engineer of Syracuse, on buoyancy, levers and pi

Sappho

Lyric poet of Lesbos, surviving mostly in fragments

Pericles

Led Athens at its height, and commissioned the Parthenon

Alexander the Great

King of Macedon, and took the Greek world to the Indus

Nikos Kazantzakis

Wrote Zorba the Greek and The Last Temptation of Christ, and is buried in Heraklion

Constantine Cavafy

Alexandrian poet whose Ithaka is quoted anywhere Greek is read

George Seferis

Poet and diplomat, and the first Greek to win the Nobel Prize in Literature, in 1963

Odysseas Elytis

Poet of the Aegean light, and Nobel laureate in 1979

Theo Angelopoulos

Director of long takes and borders, and Palme d'Or winner in 1998

Irene Papas

Actress in Zorba the Greek, Z and The Guns of Navarone

Yorgos Lanthimos

Director of Dogtooth, The Favourite and Poor Things

Costa-Gavras

Greek-French director whose Z turned a political thriller into an Oscar winner

Manos Hatzidakis

Composer who won an Academy Award for Never on Sunday

Nana Mouskouri

Took Greek song international from the 1960s, and later sat in the European Parliament

Vangelis

Electronic composer, and the Chariots of Fire and Blade Runner scores

Demis Roussos

Sang with Aphrodite's Child before a solo career that crossed Europe

Spyridon Louis

Won the marathon at the first modern Olympics in Athens, 1896

Nikos Galis

Guard who carried Greece to the EuroBasket title in 1987

Pyrros Dimas

Weightlifter with three consecutive Olympic golds from 1992

Stefanos Tsitsipas

Tennis player, ATP Finals champion in 2019 and a Grand Slam finalist

Yannis Tsarouchis

Painter who put Byzantine form and everyday Athenian life on the same canvas

Giannoulis Chalepas

Sculptor from Tinos, and the Sleeping Female Figure in Athens

Takis

Kinetic artist who built sculpture out of magnets and signals

Georgios Papanikolaou

Invented the cervical screening test that carries his name

Constantin Carathéodory

Mathematician whose work on measure theory is still standard

Euclid

Wrote the Elements, and set out geometry as a system of proofs

Must-try Greek food

The classics first, then the meze table, the bakery, the harbour and the sweet counter. Pick a category.

Moussaka

Layered aubergine, spiced mince and a thick béchamel, baked and served in squares.

Pastitsio

Tubular pasta and mince under the same béchamel, the Greek answer to a baked lasagne.

Gemista

Tomatoes and peppers hollowed out, stuffed with rice and herbs, baked until they collapse.

Kleftiko

Lamb sealed with garlic and lemon and cooked slowly until it falls off the bone.

Stifado

Beef or rabbit stewed with a kilo of small onions, red wine and cinnamon.

Briam

Summer vegetables roasted in olive oil until sweet, eaten warm or at room temperature.

Tzatziki

Strained yoghurt with cucumber, garlic and dill, and the first thing to hit the table.

Taramasalata

Cured fish roe whipped with bread or potato into a pale, salty dip.

Melitzanosalata

Aubergines charred over flame, then mashed with olive oil, garlic and lemon.

Dolmades

Vine leaves rolled around rice and herbs, served cold with lemon or warm in egg-lemon sauce.

Saganaki

A slab of hard cheese fried in a small pan until the edges blister.

Horiatiki

The village salad: tomato, cucumber, onion, olives and a slab of feta, no lettuce.

Fava

Yellow split peas cooked to a purée and topped with raw onion and oil. Santorini does it best.

Dakos

Cretan barley rusk soaked in tomato, piled with mizithra cheese and oregano.

Souvlaki

Skewered pork or chicken grilled over coals, eaten off the stick or folded into pita.

Gyros

Meat shaved off a vertical spit into pita with tomato, onion, tzatziki and chips inside.

Koulouri

A sesame bread ring sold from street carts, and what Athens eats on the way to work.

Spanakopita

Spinach and feta between sheets of filo, sold by the slab in every bakery.

Tiropita

The cheese version, hot from the case, and the standard Greek breakfast on the move.

Bougatsa

Filo around semolina custard, dusted with sugar and cinnamon. A Thessaloniki institution.

Grilled octopus

Hung to dry in the sun, then charred over coals and dressed with oil and vinegar.

Kalamari

Squid floured and fried, or grilled whole when the taverna has it fresh.

Gavros marinatos

Anchovies cured in vinegar and oil, the cheapest good thing on a harbour menu.

Barbounia

Red mullet fried whole, eaten with fingers, and worth the bones.

Astakomakaronada

Spiny lobster broken over pasta in a tomato broth, split between two people.

Baklava

Filo, walnuts and syrup, cut into diamonds and sold by weight.

Loukoumades

Small yeast doughnuts fried to order, drenched in honey and cinnamon.

Galaktoboureko

Semolina custard baked in filo and soaked in syrup while still hot.

Kataifi

Shredded pastry wound around nuts, then syruped like baklava's rougher cousin.

Yoghurt with honey

Thick sheep's yoghurt, thyme honey and walnuts. The dessert every taverna can make.

Ouzo

Anise spirit that turns cloudy with water, drunk slowly alongside food rather than before it.

Tsipouro

Pomace spirit from the mainland, served by the small bottle with plates that keep arriving.

Raki

The Cretan version, poured at the end of the meal whether or not you asked.

Retsina

Wine resinated with pine, once a punchline and now taken seriously again.

Freddo espresso

Espresso shaken over ice, and the drink that buys you a table for an afternoon.

Assyrtiko

Santorini's white grape, grown in basket-woven vines, dry and mineral enough to age.

Greece travel FAQ

How many days do you need in Greece?+

Seven days covers Athens and one island group without rushing. Ten to twelve lets you add either Crete or a mainland run through the Peloponnese and Meteora. Trying to fit Athens, the Cyclades and Crete into a week means spending most of it on boats.

Should you skip Athens and go straight to the islands?+

No. Athens carries the Acropolis, the Acropolis Museum, the National Archaeological Museum and a food scene the islands cannot match, and two days is enough to do it justice. It is also where almost every ferry and domestic flight starts, so you pass through anyway.

Which Greek island should you pick?+

Naxos for a working island with beaches, mountain villages and the best food of the Cyclades. Santorini for the caldera view, accepting the crowds that come with it. Mykonos for nightlife. Crete if you want somewhere large enough to drive around for a week. Rhodes for a medieval walled town rather than whitewashed cubes.

Do you need a car in Greece?+

On the mainland and on the big islands, yes: the Peloponnese, Meteora and Crete open up with one and close down without. On small Cycladic islands a car is optional, buses connect the main villages, and parking in the old towns is its own sport.

Are ferries or flights better between the islands?+

Ferries within one island group, flights between groups. Naxos to Santorini is a couple of hours by boat; Santorini to Rhodes is a day of connections by sea and under an hour in the air, usually via Athens.

When is the best time to visit Greece?+

May, June and September. The sea is warm, the ferry timetable is at full strength, and the sites are walkable before the afternoon heat. July and August deliver the heat and the crowds together, and the meltemi wind can cancel sailings.

Top 10s across Greece