Which Santorini boat. Which Acropolis ticket. Start here.
The caldera cruise that actually stops at the hot springs. The Acropolis ticket that gets you past the queue. The Samaria walk you need a ferry home from. Read before you book.
Kleftiko, Balos, Navagio: the best of Greece has no road to it.
The white cliffs at Kleftiko, the pink shallows at Balos, the wreck on Navagio sand. You cannot drive to any of them. Somebody with a boat is the whole plan, so the boat is what to get right.
Marble, caldera, gorge: the days Greece gets planned around.
Six places do most of the deciding. Here is what each day involves, what it costs, and which version of it is worth the ticket.
By island and mainland base
Athens429 tours
Santorini130 tours
Crete164 tours
Rhodes71 tours
Mykonos78 tours
Corfu63 tours
Milos35 tours
Thessaloniki26 tours- Every base we cover →
You come to Athens for one rock. You stay for the streets under it.
The Acropolis takes a morning. Then Plaka’s stairs, the market on Athinas Street, a rooftop where the Parthenon is lit like a stage set, and the long half-day south to Cape Sounion for the last of the light.
From an Acropolis ticket to a chartered catamaran.
Every reviewed tour, grouped by what it actually costs. A very good Greek day can start at the price of two coffees and a ticket.
Site tickets, walking tours, city food crawls and the short boat hops between beaches.
The standard day out: group catamarans with lunch, Meteora and Delphi trips, gorge hikes with the bus home.
Private guides, chartered boats, and the one splurge day most trips end up planning around.
What travellers in Greece actually book.
Every review →Ranked by how many people have been and rated it, not by what anyone is pushing. The ones at the top have carried tens of thousands of travellers between them.
1
Acropolis & up to 5 Archaeological Sites Combo Pass
Acropolis time-slot entry plus up to five Athens sites, with audio guides, Smartvisit app access, and skip-the-line convenience.
From · $42
Read our review →
2
Acropolis Ticket with Optional Audio or Live Guide
from $42
3
Volcanic Islands Cruise with Hot Springs Visit
from $29
4
Acropolis, Parthenon & Acropolis Museum Guided Tour
from $40
5
Cape Sounion & Poseidon Temple Sunset Half-Day Trip
from $23
6
From Kissamos Port: Boat Cruise to Balos Lagoon & Gramvousa
from $47
7
Catamaran Tour with BBQ Dinner, Drinks, and Music
from $93
8
Acropolis: Premium Acropolis and Parthenon Guided Tour
from $40
9
From the Port of Kos: Full Day Boat Cruise to 3 Islands
from $35
Crete is too big for one base. Pick two.
Knossos and the museum sit behind Heraklion. Balos, Elafonisi and the Samaria trailhead sit behind Chania, four hours west. Nobody does both from one hotel without spending the trip in a coach seat.
- 1Day Trip to Agios Nikolaos and Spinalonga Islandfrom $44
- 2Boat Trip to Spinalonga with Swim Stopfrom $29
- 3Knossos Palace Entry Ticket with Optional Audio Guidefrom $30
Meteora, the flying dress, and the blue caves.
Plenty of countries do ruins and boat trips. These three days only happen here, and each one has a detail that decides whether it works.
Monasteries on Rock Towers
Six working monasteries sit on top of sandstone pillars above Kalambaka, built when the only way up was a rope ladder or a net on a winch. Steps came later. Each one closes on a different day of the week, so the date of your trip decides how many you actually get inside — and shoulders and knees have to be covered at the gate.
- 1Meteora Monasteries Day Trip with Caves and Lunch★★★★★★★★★★ 4.7 · 4,670 reviews
- 2Full-Day Bus Trip to Meteora★★★★★★★★★★ 4.8 · 3,471 reviews
- 3Athens to Meteora: Monasteries, Caves & Seaside Stopovers★★★★★★★★★★ 4.7 · 2,958 reviews
The Flying Dress
A dress with several metres of train, a caldera terrace, and a photographer who knows exactly where the updraught catches it. It started on this island and it is still done best here. Shoots run at sunrise or around sunset because that is when the light is soft and the wind is honest; midday gives you a flat picture and a limp dress.
- 1Santorini 2h Private Flying Dress Photoshoot with Transportation★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 357 reviews
- 2Exclusive Santorini Flying Dress Photoshoot with Pickup★★★★★★★★★★ 4.5 · 336 reviews
- 3Flying Dress Photoshoot with Edited Photos★★★★★★★★★★ 4.9 · 160 reviews
The Blue Caves
On the north-west coast of Zakynthos the limestone is undercut into arches, and the water below throws light back up through them so the rock reads blue. The same run passes Navagio, where the smuggler’s ship Panagiotis has been sitting in the sand since 1980. There is no road to either. Morning water is calmest.
- 1Day Cruise to Paxos, Antipaxos, & the Blue Caves★★★★★★★★★★ 4.3 · 4,800 reviews
- 2Shipwreck Beach with Blue Caves Land & Sea Tour★★★★★★★★★★ 4.9 · 3,774 reviews
- 3From Corfu Island: Antipaxos & Paxos Blue Caves Boat Cruise★★★★★★★★★★ 4.7 · 3,690 reviews
Meteora, Samaria and the Acropolis do not wait for you.
Most of Greece can be sorted the night before from a taverna table. These four cannot. They run on timed tickets, opening seasons, closing days and a protected bay, none of which care what time your flight lands.
- 01Acropolis & up to 5 Archaeological Sites Combo PassEntry runs on timed slots with a daily visitor cap. The early morning slots, before the heat and the cruise groups, are the first to go.
- 02Full-Day Samaria Gorge Trek Excursion & GuideThe gorge is only open for the season, roughly May to October, and it closes outright when the weather turns. There is no winter version of this walk.
- 03Meteora Monasteries Day Trip with Caves and LunchEach monastery closes on its own day of the week. Get the date wrong and you will look at two of them from the coach park instead of six.
- 04Turtle Spotting Cruise with Glass-Bottom BoatLaganas Bay is a protected nesting area with limits on where boats may go and how close. The trips that respect it are few, and they fill through the summer.
The meltemi cancels your boat. Here is the day that replaces it.
The meltemi is the dry north wind that comes down the Aegean in high summer. It can blow for three days straight, and when it does the small boats stay tied up — most often in the Cyclades, which is exactly where everyone books a cruise. Have the inland day ready before the message arrives.
Santorini sells one sunset. The question is which deck you watch it from.
Oia’s castle walls are shoulder to shoulder by seven. On the water it is a different evening: the volcano at the start, the hot springs at Palea Kameni, dinner cooked on the back of the boat, and the cliffs going orange behind you.
Meze comes in waves, and dinner starts at ten.
All food and wine tours →
Santorini Wine Adventure with 12 Wine Tastings, Tapas and Sunset
Read our review →
The Governor’s Olive Mill Tour with Olive Oil Tasting
Read our review →Athens, Corinth, Mycenae, Olympia, Delphi, Meteora.
Corinth
Mycenae
Olympia
Delphi
MeteoraNewest Greece tour reviews.
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Rethymno Old Town: A Traditional Cretan Food Tour
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Guided e-Bike Tour on Mili Gorge and Soft Drinks
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Gramvousa & Balos Lagoon Day Trip with Boat Ticket
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Full or Half-Day Trip to Chania with Audio Guide
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Sunset Cruise with Swim Stops, Dinner, and Wine
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Zakynthos Small Group Tour Shipwreck & Blue Caves Land & Sea
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Private tasting of 6 cretan wines in Fres village
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