Greece sells you the ruins. It runs on boats and timetables.
What a day out costs, how long it really takes, what happens when you get there. Read the tour first, then book the one that fits the ferry you are already on.
Four Greek days that decide how the rest of the trip is planned.
One rock, one lagoon, one pillar of sandstone and one afternoon on a catamaran. Take these first and the gaps fill themselves.
01Book it firstAcropolis & up to 5 Archaeological Sites Combo PassFive sites on one pass, Acropolis included. The gate opens at eight and the marble is bearable for about two hours after that.
02The Cretan westFrom Kissamos Port: Boat Cruise to Balos Lagoon & GramvousaKissamos to Gramvousa and the Balos lagoon. A long boat day and the only way in that does not involve a dirt track.
03Off the coastMeteora Monasteries Day Trip with Caves and LunchMonasteries on sandstone pillars, four hours north of Athens. Lunch and the cave houses are built into the day.
04The Santorini oneSantorini Classic Catamaran Cruise with BBQ, Drinks and TransfersA catamaran round the caldera with a BBQ on board. Two swim stops, red beach, and the sunset from the water instead of the crowd.
Catamaran, day cruise or the ferry to a lagoon. This is where the Greek budget goes.
More of this country is reached by hull than by road. Three kinds of boat day, what each one costs to board and which coast it sails from.
Athens: the rock before ten, the neighbourhoods after.
All of Athens →
Climb early, then drop into Plaka, the meat halls at Varvakios and a rooftop with the Parthenon lit above dinner. These three decisions cover most of a first visit.
Single entry, or the five-site pass
One pass covers the Acropolis, the Ancient Agora, Hadrian’s Library and the rest of the classical centre. Worth it over three days, wasted if you sail in the morning.
Varvakios market, then the small plates
Through the fish and meat halls, the spice lanes off Evripidou, then a run of mezedopoleia around Psyri where the wine comes out of a barrel.
The city flat, by electric bike
Hadrian’s Arch, the Olympieion, the old Olympic stadium and the park paths, covered at a pace that beats walking in August heat.
What a Greek day out actually sets you back.
Every tour on the site, cheapest band first. A surprising number of the best Greek days land under the price of dinner in Oia.
Site entries, old-town walks, olive-oil mornings and the short hops out of the ferry ports.
Where most full days sit: the caldera catamarans, the Gramvousa boat, the coaches inland.
Private guides, chartered sailing and the one splurge a trip can carry.
The Greek tours travellers book more than any other.
Every tour we have reviewed in Greece →Demand tells you something about a place. These are the days out that fill first across the mainland and the islands, and what each one gets right.
1
Acropolis & up to 5 Archaeological Sites Combo Pass
Book a timed Acropolis entry, then use the app to visit up to five Athens sites within three days, including the Ancient Agora, Roman Agora, Olympieion, Aristotle’s School, and Panathenaic Stadium. Audio tours cover the Acropolis, Parthenon, Plaka, and Ancient Agora, with an English live guide available on selected options.
From · $48
Read our review →
2
Acropolis, Parthenon & Acropolis Museum Guided Tour
from $40
3
Cape Sounion & Poseidon Temple Sunset Half-Day Trip
from $23
4
From Kissamos Port: Boat Cruise to Balos Lagoon & Gramvousa
from $47
5
Acropolis and Parthenon Guided Walking Tour
from $38
6
From the Port of Kos: Full Day Boat Cruise to 3 Islands
from $35
7
All Day Cruise -3 Islands to Agistri,Moni, Aegina with lunch and drinks included
from $180
8
Greek Food Walking Tour in Athens
from $87
Delphi, Meteora, Mycenae, Knossos: the ruins that need a whole day.
The Acropolis is a morning. These are the ones that take a coach, an early alarm and a packed lunch, and they are the days people talk about afterwards.
Six bases, and the day out that earns its price in each.
Athens for the ruins and the food streets, a caldera that drops into the sea, two Cretan coasts, a walled town in the Dodecanese, the windmills, and the Venetian lanes of the Ionian.
Santorini charges for the view. The water costs less than the terrace.
Oia at seven in the evening is shoulder to shoulder. The caldera from a deck is not, and neither are the Assyrtiko vines on the flat southern half of the island.
All of Santorini →
Crete is less an island than a small country with ferries.
Two coasts, a gorge that eats a whole day on foot, a pink-sand spit at the western end and Europe’s oldest palace inland from the ferry berth. Base in Chania or Heraklion and let somebody else drive.
- 1Day Trip to Agios Nikolaos and Spinalonga Islandfrom $44
- 2Knossos Palace Entry Ticket with Optional Audio Guidefrom $30
- 3Day Trip to Elafonisi Island Pink Sand Beachfrom $38
Three Greek days that have no equivalent anywhere else.
Beach clubs and ruins run all round the Mediterranean. Monasteries on rock pillars, a wreck in a cliff-ringed cove and a temple built for the sunset do not.
Monasteries on the pillars
Six monasteries sit on sandstone pillars above the plain, reached by steps cut into the rock. Monks went up in the fourteenth century for the quiet and the safety and hauled everything else up in nets. Each house keeps a different closing day, so the order you see them in is decided for you.
- 1Full-Day Bus Trip to Meteora★★★★★★★★★★ 4.8 · 3,471 reviews
- 2Meteora Monasteries Day Trip with Caves and Lunch★★★★★★★★★★ 4.7 · 2,964 reviews
- 3Meteora Monasteries Day Tour with Lunch★★★★★★★★★★ 4.8 · 2,196 reviews
Navagio and the blue caves
A freighter ran aground in a cove the cliffs close around, and the only way in is by hull. North of it the limestone is undercut into arches that throw light back up through the water until the colour reads as neon. Morning is the hour, and a stiff swell cancels both.
- 1Shipwreck Beach with Blue Caves Land & Sea Tour★★★★★★★★★★ 4.9 · 3,774 reviews
- 2From Corfu Island: Antipaxos & Paxos Blue Caves Boat Cruise★★★★★★★★★★ 4.6 · 2,963 reviews
- 3Day Cruise to Paxos, Antipaxos, and Blue Caves★★★★★★★★★★ 4.6 · 2,851 reviews
Sunset at Cape Sounion
An hour down the coast road from Athens, the Temple of Poseidon stands on a headland with the Aegean on three sides. It was built where sailors could see it, which is why the light at the end of the day does more for it than any guide can. Byron carved his name into a column here.
- 1Cape Sounion & Poseidon Temple Sunset Half-Day Trip★★★★★★★★★★ 4.8 · 8,241 reviews
- 2Cape Sounio & Poseidon Temple Trip with Audio Guide★★★★★★★★★★ 4.4 · 4,521 reviews
- 3Cape Sounion and Temple of Poseidon Half-Day Small-Group Tour from Athens★★★★★★★★★★ 4.5 · 3,205 reviews
Four Greek bookings that will not wait for you.
Most of this country can be arranged from a taverna table the night before. These four run on entry slots, boat timetables and calendars that take no interest in your arrival.
- 01Acropolis & up to 5 Archaeological Sites Combo PassEntry runs on timed slots with a cap on each. The early ones, the only cool ones, go first.
- 02Shared Mykonos Sail Cruise to Delos and Rhenia IslandsDelos closes at night and no one sleeps on it. The boats run to a published timetable and the last one back is the last one.
- 03Full-Day Samaria Gorge Trek Excursion & GuideThe gorge opens roughly May to October and closes whenever rain makes the riverbed dangerous.
- 04Full-Day Bus Trip to MeteoraEach monastery keeps its own closed day. Arrive on the wrong one and you see it from the road.
The wind cancels Cycladic boats at eight in the morning. Have a land day ready.
July and August bring the meltemi down the Aegean, and a port police decision can end your sailing before breakfast. The answer is inland and indoors: a kitchen, a cellar, a mill, a cool gallery with the Minoan collection in it.
By base: mainland and islands
By kind of day: deck, ruin, kitchen or track
Athens, Mykonos, Santorini, Crete: the run most people do first.
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