My husband and I spend two weeks in Greece. We went in early October, which ended up being perfect for both the weather and the lack of crowds. Here is an overview of our itinerary:
Day 1: Land in Athens and check into Titania hotel
Day 2: Have breakfast with a view of the Acropolis, hike Mt. Lycabettus, explore Plaka, evening cooking class
Day 3: Acropolis tour, walk on the rock Paul preached from in biblical times, explore the Agora area, lunch at a cafe, ferry to Naxos
Day 4: Explore Naxos port town in the morning, rent an atv. Lunch in Filoti, followed by some beach hopping. Sunset at Apollo’s door and dinner by the water
Day 5: Take the atv up to the seaside town of Apollonas, relax on the beach and have lunch, then drive through the mountains. Take a ferry to Paros that evening
Day 6: Rent bicycles in Paros, explore mountain villages, beach towns, and end your ride in Parikia for a sunset dinner
Day 7: Take a bus to Naousa, swim and explore Kolybithres beach and Paros park. Dinner on the water and walk around the town at night for gelato
Day 8: Walk to the Venetian castle on the water, pack up and take the bus back to Parikia. Have lunch and take a ferry to Crete
Day 9: Hike the Samaria Gorge!
Day 10: Elafonsi beach for the day, and then stay the night near Balos beach
Day 11: Balos beach and paddle boating on Lake Kournas
Day 12: Explore the Reythmo area. Enjoy the beach and sunset
Day 13: Go for a morning swim, hotel breakfast, drive to Preveli beach
Day 14: Fly from Crete to Athens, and then Athens home! This way was convenient to stay in the Athens airport the whole time and not go back into the city since it’s an hour train away
Day 1
Today is an easy day, we landed in Athens and took the metro to the city center and walked to our hotel, The Titania to get some rest for the trip ahead.
The view from our hotel, Titania Hotel
Day 2
We had breakfast on the rooftop with a view of the Acropolis, and then started hiking up towards Mt. Lycabettus. Mt. Lycabettus is the highest point in Athens, and although it was a steep hike, it was definitely worth it. There is a cute little church at the top, and you get great views of the Acropolis as well as the old Olympic stadium where they hosted the first Olympic Games. We hiked down, and then explored the central area of Athens. We met up with friends for coffee at 1:30 in Plaka at Melina Mercouri cafe, and then at 3, we went to the location of our cooking class. We booked it on Get Your Guide, and it was amazing! The class started with a walk through a huge meat/seafood market to pick up some ingredients, and then we walked through a produce market to get some olives. At the class, we learned how to make 5 dishes: tzatziki, spanikopita, dolmades, a stuffed eggplant dish, and an orange yogurt cake for dessert. The whole experience was really fun and it was cool to meet other travelers as well. After that, we went back to the hotel, enjoyed views of the Acropolis lit up at night, and went to bed.
Hotel breakfast
Our morning hike
*insert cooking class pics
Day 3
After breakfast, we walked over to the meeting spot for our 9am Acropolis tour. It was a two hour walking tour and it was really interesting. Our quite was great and had so many little stories to tell us about different things on the Acropolis hill, so I would definitely recommend booking a tour instead of just walking it by yourself, because you miss so much without a guide. The views at the top were amazing! After the tour ended, Jake and I walked over to the rock that Paul preached sermons from to the people of Athens. It was really cool to see, and the views were incredible from here as well. We walked through the town square some more, explored shops, and then had lunch at the same cafe that we went to yesterday. We ordered calamari and a Greek salad and both were delicious! From there, we walked back to the hotel to pick up our bags and took a metro to Piraeus, the ferry port. We grabbed a wrap and two chocolate sesame rings to take on the ferry for dinner. The ferry left at 5:30 and it was so fun, we got to have a great sunset as we travelled, and we got to Naxos around 10:30pm. We walked to our hotel, Depis Place, and went to bed!
Day 4:
Day 5:
Atv day 2! Today started with dropping our bags at Scootermania, as the owner was kind enough to let us keep our bags there. Today, we headed north on the Atv, stopping at an old olive oil press that has been converted to a museum with a tasting room. It is called The Eggares Olive Press. This was one of our favorite things we did and I can’t recommend it enough. The tour was really informative about the olive oil making process and the evolution of it as technology improved. The tasting was great as well, we tried tapenades, green olives stuffed with almonds and one with a whole garlic clove in it, as well as an olive oil infused with curry powder. They also had sweet olives which tasted like candy, and the owner made an olive cake for us to try as well. The whole thing was free of charge, although we loved them and the experience so much that we bought a jar of sundried tomato tapenade and a cross made of olive wood. If we had more luggage space we would’ve gotten a lot more! After the Olive museum, we rode to Apollonas, stopping at Kornas, which had a huge marble statue that’s about 10 meters long! See the picture below for reference. We rode down to the seaside town, walked on the beach and got a water from a small store, and then ate lunch on the water. We ordered octopus in oil/vinegar as well as a Greek salad. It was the perfect lunch for our day out! After lunch, we laid on the beach and then continued on our way. We drove down through the mountains and then looped back to the port town. We walked around and got a waffle/ice cream creation to eat on a bench, and then walked over to the water at the base of the door. We returned our atv, got our bags, and walked to the ferry. Apparently the atv shop closes in the middle of the day, so I had to message the owner and he scootered over to let us in and we still had plenty of time to catch the ferry, but definitely make sure you ask about the hours before you take off on your journey, because the website said it was open all day. We got lucky that he came right away or we would’ve been stuck in Naxos! The ferry was only 50 minutes and we walked from the port to our hotel, Asterias to check in. The hotel was right on the water and we had a sea view from our room. We walked to Pepe’s for dinner, and we split a chicken gyro platter. We walked some more after dinner and then it was time for bed.
Day 6:
*pic from lunch
The bike ride continued through the seaside town, and then up a hill, as we made our way through the final leg of our adventure. As we finished our ride, the sun was setting and we had great views of the ocean. We returned the bikes and then freshened up for dinner. Dinner tonight was just steps away from our hotel, a place called Aroma. We got baked feta as well as a pork kebab platter, and a carafe of rose to drink. Everything was delicious! We walked back to our hotel and got some well deserved sleep after the 26 miles that we biked.
Day 7:
This morning, we checked out of our hotel after breakfast, and then walked down to the port area to catch our bus from Parikia to Nausa. It was about a 15 minute bus ride, with great views of Paros as we went. In Nausa, we found our air bnb, put our stuff down, and then went to explore the town. The town here is super cute, with lots of shops, restaurants, and cafes all along the water. We got gyros for lunch, and picked up two pairs of goggles at a shop. We swam in the crystal blue water and looked at lots of fish, which was a great activity for a warm and sunny day. Right by our air bnb, we picked up a bus that goes over towards a few beaches in the area. We walked from one beach to Paros Park, which was about a one mile walk. The park was amazing- we swam and then hiked up some rocks to get incredible views of the water and of Naousa. From there, we walked back to the first beach (by the bus stop), and we swam some more and laid out on the rocks, before catching a 5pm bus back to Naousa. We showered, got ready for dinner, and then walked back down to the town. We ate on the water at a restaurant called Mediterraneo, where we split an order of shakshuka as well as a burger. We walked around after dinner, grabbing gelato and doing some window shopping before calling it a night.
Day 8:
We walked to town in the morning, which I highly recommend since no one else was around, and it was fun to walk around the castle and climb around, as well as walk over to the dock area and see people cleaning various fish and octopi to get ready for the day. We checked out of our air bnb, and then caught a bus back to Parikia. We found a spot for lunch, and we ate gyros while we waited for our ferry. Today's ferry goes from Paros to Crete, about a 4 hour journey. We arrived in Crete at about 7pm, took a taxi to the rental car place, and drove our rental car to Agia Marina, the location of our hotel for the next two nights. We stopped at Taverna Geronymos on the way for dinner. We ate in a courtyard on a cobblestone street. It is a family owned place and the food was amazing- we got a beef stew as well as a shrimp pasta dish. They offered us raki and dessert, but since we had to drive and wake up early the next day, we had to decline! Once we got to our hotel, we went right to bed.
Day 9:
Today started at 5:45am, with a bus pickup right outside of our hotel. We booked a tour to hike the Samaria Gorge. The bus picked us up, drove everyone to the top of the Gorge where we had coffee and then began the hike. The whole day was filled with amazing views, and the best part was that the hike was flat and downhill the whole way. It was still a long hike, roughly 10 miles, but it was well worth it. At the end of the hike, we walked to a beach town where we had lunch, and then had free time to swim in the ocean and lay on the black pebble beach. A ferry came to get the group around 5pm, and it took us on a 60 minute ride to another town, where the bus picked us back up and drove us back to our hotel.
Day 10:
This morning we enjoyed a walk on the beach by our hotel, and then we packed up and checked out. We drove to Elafonsi Beach, which is a beautiful beach with sand that is almost a pinkish color. For parking, there are several lots that are a short walk away and you'll have to pay about 5ish euros depending on which lot you pick! We hiked down to the beach and enjoyed the water and the views. After Elafonsi, we drove around and ended our day at Balos Beach Hotel. We were happy to get to the hotel right at check in time (3pm), so that we could relax by the pool and walk down to the ocean. The sunset here was beautiful!
Day 11:
Today started with walking down to the ocean for the sunrise. I had the place to myself and it was really peaceful, which is the nice thing about being here in the off-peak season. After the sunrise, I took the car to Balos Beach while Jake got some extra sleep. The road is really rocky, so a 4x4 vehicle would be ideal, but I made it work in our little rental car. The drive was gorgeous, with views of the ocean the whole way, and I passed several mountain goats on the road too. Once I got to the parking lot, I got out and packed a water in my bag. The hike is downhill as you walk towards the beach, and then uphill on the way back. I only had time to walk down and put my feet in the water for a few minutes, but lots of people were packing for the whole day so there are lots of ways to enjoy Balos Beach. The views were insane, and seeing the little islands off the coast was really fun! The hike was less than 2 miles roundtrip, and it was a great start to the day. I drove back and we packed up our things and checked out. From here, we drove to Lake Kournas, stopping at a grocery store to get some more water bottles and snacks. Our Air bnb at Lake Kournas was awesome, and only a few minutes from the lake by foot. At the lake, you can relax on beach chairs, have a meal with a view of the water, and you can rent paddle boats to take around the lake as well! Paddle boating was a perfect activity to see the lake and relax, before getting ready for dinner. Our Air bnb host recommended Georgia's Traditional Taverna, and it did not disappoint. We had stuffed cabbage leaves in a lemon sauce along with Greek bread and tzatziki. The place had a garden-feel and it's family run, so the experience overall was 10/10. After dinner and the complimentary raki, it was definitely time for bed.
Tips for Traveling to Greece
Book Ferry rides in advanced. Use this website to make your bookings!
Plan at least one activity per day. GetYourGuide and Viator are great places to look for activities!
If you go to Santorini or Crete (islands that are a bit farther away from mainland Greece), try to fly at least one of the ways. This cuts back on travel time and makes things easier. I really enjoyed taking ferries from Athens to Naxos to Paros to Crete, and then flying from Crete to Athens. This allows you to get a nice amount of time enjoying the water, without having to backtrack and spend an equal amount of time getting back to Athens.
Look into an eSim for cell phone service, or figure out how to use international data with your provider. This is the eSim that I used in Greece, and on other trips I've gone through Verizon. Airalo is the cheaper option, but Verizon was a simpler process.
Pull out some Euros in Athens to take with you on the other islands. We didn't experience a lot of need for cash, but it's nice to have on hand just in case. Especially if you want a water or souvenir from shops that don't take credit cards, or have a minimum spend amount.
Research the smaller islands to decide which ones are right for you. For example, if you want a party scene, go to Mykonos. If you want adventure, go to Crete. For a mix of activity and relaxing, visit Paros or Naxos.
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