Travel Tips from a trip to Greece

[mageedge]

Just completed our first post-covid international trip - 2 weeks in mainland Greece and 2 weeks in Crete. Thought I'd offer some travel tips from the trip that others may find useful.

First - Covid is still around - it laid me low for a week of Paxlovid upon return to the U.S. Timing suggests I caught it in the crowd in Heraklion airport. So - masks remain a good idea in crowded places.
Second - strong $ makes for great deals. Dinner averaged around $35 for 2 3-course meals with a couple of glasses of wine. The dessert is usually on the house along with a shot of raki (which will clear out your nostrils!). Accommodation averaged $80 a night over the month. Rental cars around $10 per day for manual economy model.
Credit card use almost universal - all contactless options if you want to use your phone. Used around $60 cash over the month. ATM's all over the place including airport arrivals if you need cash. (You will, of course, have your no fee credit and debit cards in hand!)

Athens airport is a long way from downtown - about an hour by bus or metro. After a long flight worth springing for a taxi $45-55 depending on time of day. It was a half hour ride at 2 a.m.! Uber works with the local taxis so you can pay via app.

Tourist Athens is very compact around the Acropolis - we stayed in Monastiraki about a 15 minute walk to "everything". Never needed transit. Nice compact 1-bed apartment with balcony views for $125/night (most expensive place on the trip). Street food is amazingly good - $5 souvlaki and drink will fill you up. For the sites - get a "skip the line ticket" ahead, you'll appreciate it! 3 days is sufficient to do the "tourist stuff".

We then fueled up our Fiat Panda and headed off in a big circle to Delphi through the Peloponnese and back to Athens. Advice - get the smallest car that fits your needs, you'll be happy with the choice once off the main highways! Gas is expensive but our Panda got 50+ mpg so it was a long way between fill ups. Major highways have tolls but accept cash/credit cards at the booths. If you are touring, most of the driving will be on narrower windy rural roads - watch out for sheep and goats and take your time.

Our focus/interest was ancient Greece and day hikes - we were fully satisfied!
Hiking trails are a lot rougher than Americans will be used to - hiking poles were very welcome. Theaters, temples, fortresses in abundance. Delphi, Mycenae and Epidaurus are must-do's if you go. The history is overwhelming.
(all are easy day trips from Athens if you are not touring).

Learning 'please, 'thank you' and 'good morning' will get you a lot of brownie points but English is very widely spoken. Note that 'yassas', like the Italian ciao is good for both hello and goodbye.
Learning Greek alphabet basics is helpful for signs but English is generally offered in addition to Greek.

We found navigation app was a vital aid - but be careful where it may take you in the countryside! WhatsApp seems the universal communication tool for accommodation.
Got a sim card through Amazon ahead of time - 12gb/3000 min/sms for 30 days $19. Worked seamlessly at 4g speeds with broad coverage. These cards will cover the whole EU rather than single country. Many sim card stores around if you want to wait until you are in-country. (prices didn't seem any better than the Amazon deal).

Just a few random thoughts - hope you find them useful.

 

[Montecfo]

This is interesting yes. And helpful. How was Crete?

 

[Scuba]

Great tips and consistent with our experience in Greece. We spent 6 weeks there in 2018.

T-Mobile had excellent coverage in Greece and Waze was a very helpful nav app everywhere we went.

 

[brett]

We love Greece and travel there frequently. Last trip was 7 weeks. We had air to Athens and return air home from London. We were not certain where we would end up. It is easy and inexpensive to get to London or Paris on an LC airline. We have done this from Crete and last time from Cyprus after spending our last 2 weeks there.

Sometimes we include some time in Turkey. Love driving along the Med coast in Turkey and stopping here and there.

We only pack carry on. We keep our schedule very open...especially when Island hopping. If we like a place we stay longer, if not we leave. So much easier when ferry hopping or renting cars.

BTW...Fiat Panda, standard, is our preferred rental in Greece, Turkey, and Italy.

We typically go just after Greek Easter or in Sept/Oct. Never in the summer.

 

[mageedge]

Comments on Crete -

As on the mainland, car rental is cheap and a car is necessary if you plan on sight seeing. One main highway runs along the north coast otherwise small country roads through olive groves and vineyards. High mountains and plateaus between the north and south make for some great hiking and views. Minoan sites dating back 5000 years dot the landscape along with some great caves(all of which seem to have myths attached!)
The island is known for its gorges - Samaria is the best known but very popular during the season. Close by Agia Irini gorge is preferred by locals.

We flew into Heraklion and split accommodation between there and Chania. Chania also has an airport and, in retrospect, I'd fly there rather than Heraklion.
Heraklion is a sprawling concrete jungle with crazy traffic and little charm. Knossos and the downtown museums are the attractions. You can get a joint ticket which saves a few euros. The restorations done at Knossos make a bit "Disney meets Ancient Crete" but is still a must-see. About a 3 hour drive to Chania along that major highway. If recommending, I'd give Heraklion 2 nights, stay on the outskirts near Knossos and take transit/taxi to downtown museums. We got a small 1-bed apartment for $55/night.

Chania is smaller with a Venetian charm around its pedestrian only old town. Some excellent hiking close by - the Avlaki Gorge trail, north of the airport, gives you monasteries, caves, ruins and a beach at the end and the path is better than most.

Food cheap and excellent. Cretan yogurt with honey "to die for". The local wines - not known in the US - were outstanding, particularly rose, and 4 euros for a half liter.
Credit card option, again, seemingly universal even in the backcountry village tavernas.
Drivers - no worse than the US with, seemingly, a lot less road rage! Be careful of 2 wheelers in the city -they come at you from all angles, be aware that road markings are, at best, guidelines and that 'right of way' is open to individual interpretation!
Otherwise, sea to snow to precipitous cliffs on the south - great place to vacation!

 

[Chuckanut]

I enjoyed Greece immensely. My only advice is to minimize time in Athens.

 

[brett]

One tip I would advise is understand the transportation system, pricing, and times to get from A to B.

Aegean/Olympic have some excellent fares. We landed in Athens and had an Olympic flight booked Ioannina. The air fare was less than any other mode of transport and it was fast.

We found that the best way to get from Corfu-Kefelonia was to fly. Cheaper than the ferry AND much faster. We did not loose a day. 6PM flight from Corfu and we were there in less than an hour.

Same when we were on our way back to Athens from Zakynthos. Ferries and busses took too much time plus we had traveled through the area in the past. Air was less expensive and much faster. Also, oddly enough, air booked on Expedia was quite a bit less that air booked on Olympic. Not certain why.

We have yet to try the train service on the mainland.

 

[Montecfo]

I enjoyed Greece immensely. My only advice is to minimize time in Athens.

I have not visited yet but we plan to spend time mainly in the islands. Not really into cities but will go to important spots in Athens that interest us.

 

[brett]

After numerous trips our only reason for Athens is to change planes, to go from the airport to Piraeus or vice versa. If we have an overnight we do not bother going into Athens. We stay in Glyfada for the day or for the night.

We would much rather be on our way to the islands or picking up a car and driving to the Peloponnese.

 

[sengsational]

...

Just a few random thoughts - hope you find them useful.

Thanks for sharing this specifics of your trip. Did you have a model trip you worked from, or just come up with the plan yourself?

 

[wearefinishedworking]

We made the mistake of going to Greece for 2 weeks in the summer and the heat was unbearable for us. Still loved it and have always planned to go back, but for sure will be in Spring or Fall. We did the Peloponnese, Athens and ferried to Naxos and Paros.

 

[brett]

We have had a number of one week stays on Crete.

Our all time favourite time to go is in the spring. Right after Orthodox Easter.

The one slight downside is the water is not as warm for swimming as it is in mid Sept through October.

Two of our favourite islands other than Crete and Cyprus....Kefelonia (Ionian Islands) and Naxos (Cyclades).

We like Santorini but it has become so crowded with cruise ship passengers that we typically sail past it.

 

[explanade]

Only have been one time.

One of the things that I remember most is the nature of sewage piping.

Makes you adjust your bathroom habits shall we say.

But a stunningly beautiful country.

 

[mageedge]

Thanks for sharing this specifics of your trip. Did you have a model trip you worked from, or just come up with the plan yourself?

It was a DIY trip. I enjoy doing the travel logistics and DW does not like organized tours.
We jointly develop overall themes based on our interests - historical sites/museums and hiking - and then flesh out the geographical practicalities based on the trip timeframe. I then work on the nitty-gritty of rentals - car, accommodation, flights etc.
So, in this case, we settled on no island hopping, although we did want to spend time on Crete, and no Northern Greece because of travel times. (Next trip - Meteora, Thessaloniki and some islands).

Then we settled on multi-day stay towns - Athens, Nafplio, Heraklion and Chania and, finally, the transitory towns. Over the years we've found that we prefer 2 night minimums so we have at least a full day to tour in the area and prefer self-catering options allowing for breakfast and sandwich preparation.
These days we also plan "night before flight" stays near the relevant airports for stress reduction purposes!

FWIW, in Europe at least, I've found Booking.com offers the best range of accommodation options followed by AirBnB although I dislike the AirBnB lack of transparency on final cost.

 

[brett]

We spent a few days of a Sept drive trip in Metsovo and Meteora. We really enjoyed the area.

We were aware that was a ski area. The accommodation was incredibly well priced because it was not ski season.

What really hit us was the photos throughout the lodge of skiers and high snowbanks along the road. Plus the tractor/snow plow that was parked in the lower level.

 

[explanade]

We spent a few days of a Sept drive trip in Metsovo and Meteora. We really enjoyed the area.

We were aware that was a ski area. The accommodation was incredibly well priced because it was not ski season.

What really hit us was the photos throughout the lodge of skiers and high snowbanks along the road. Plus the tractor/snow plow that was parked in the lower level.

I remember flying north out of Athens, we flew over this region with beautiful mountains with blue-green lakes.

I searched and found that there's a region called the "Switzerland of Greece," near the town of Karpensi. To the west there's a large lake called Kremasta, which is what I saw from the air.

 

[brett]

One of our best trips to Crete was the week after Orthodox Easter.

We were visiting our son in London. I started shopping one week trips from the UK. They were incredibly inexpensive.

Ended up with air and a week in a very nice balcony suite in a Rethymno hotel beside the fort and overlooking the port/ocean.

Incredible service. We left a message for the tourist agent in London with a question. She called us back a few hours later and it was a done deal.

We often book through agencies outside NA. More often than not we get better information and better pricing.

 

[brett]

One of our best trips to Crete was the week after Orthodox Easter.

We were visiting our son in London. I started shopping one week trips from the UK. They were incredibly inexpensive.

Ended up with air and a week in a very nice balcony suite in a Rethymno hotel beside the fort and overlooking the port/ocean. Roads were quiet, easy to get a good rental car. Restaurants were gearing up and glad to see tourists. By mid to late Oct. they seem to be running short on patience and service in some establishments as staff and owners are thinking about going back to Athens for the winter.

Incredible service. We left a message for the tourist agent in London with a question. She called us back a few hours later and it was a done deal.

We often book through agencies outside NA. More often than not we get better information and better pricing.