Best Tours in Greece
Discover memorable places, historic landmarks and island experiences across Greece. Start with a destination below, then explore the full guide.
Explore Greece: 20 places and experiences
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The Complete Guide to the Best Tours in Greece
The best tours in Greece reach the Acropolis in Athens, the sanctuary of Delphi, the monasteries of Meteora, the caldera of Santorini, the palace of Knossos on Crete and the islands of the Aegean and Ionian seas. This page sorts the best tours in Greece by region and by type, from day trips out of Athens to island cruises, food tours and gorge hikes, and each section ends with a tour that can be booked online.
Greece VIP is run by Yannis Divramis, who grew up between Milos and Santorini and has spent a lifetime exploring the Greek islands and the mainland. The tours on this page reach the sites and islands that each section describes.
Where do the best tours in Greece take place?
The best tours in Greece take place across nine traditional regions, from Macedonia in the north to Crete in the south. Day trips leave Athens for Delphi and the Peloponnese, while island routes reach the Cyclades, the Dodecanese and the Ionian Islands.
Mainland Greece forms the southern tip of the Balkan Peninsula. Toward the south, it narrows into Epirus, Thessaly and Central Greece. Central Greece holds the region of Attica and the capital, Athens, the largest Greek city, with a metropolitan population of 3,744,059 at the 2021 census. Athens is the main base for the best tours in Greece. The same region also contains Delphi, on the slopes of Mount Parnassus.
Thessaly holds the Thessalian Plain in the east. At the northwestern edge of that plain, between the town of Kalabaka and the village of Kastraki, rises Meteora, where medieval Greek Orthodox monasteries stand on top of rock pillars. Further south, the Peloponnese forms a smaller peninsula. The Corinthian and Saronic Gulfs separate it from the rest of the mainland, while the Isthmus of Corinth joins the two. On the mainland, the best tours in Greece focus on Attica, Delphi, Meteora and the Peloponnese.
Macedonia covers the north. It is the largest geographic region of Greece, and its main urban centres, such as Thessaloniki and Kavala, sit on its southern coastline. Thessaloniki is the second-largest city after Athens, and Central Macedonia ranks first among Greek regions for visitor numbers. Beyond the mainland, Greece counts between 1,200 and 6,000 islands, depending on the definition, and 227 of them are inhabited. These islands add a sea stage to the best tours in Greece.
The Cyclades fill the central Aegean Sea with around 220 islands and islets. The Dodecanese form a looser group in the southeast, between Crete and Turkey, with 26 inhabited islands out of 164. Crete is the largest Greek island by area and by population. It spans 260 km from east to west and lies about 160 km south of the mainland. To the west, the Ionian Islands form a group of seven, and Corfu and Cephalonia rank among the large islands of Greece.
- Athens and Attica: The capital region in Central Greece is the starting point for the best tours in Greece.
- Delphi and Meteora: Delphi stands on Mount Parnassus in Central Greece, and Meteora rises in Thessaly.
- Peloponnese: The Isthmus of Corinth links this southern peninsula to the rest of the mainland.
- Aegean islands: The Cyclades, the Dodecanese and Crete belong to the island groups of the Aegean Sea.
- Ionian Islands and Macedonia: Corfu lies in the Ionian Sea to the west, while Macedonia and Thessaloniki cover the north.
Relief and coastline shape these routes. About 80% of Greece is mountains or hills, and the coastline runs to 13,676 km, the longest on the Mediterranean. The country also holds 21 UNESCO World Heritage Sites. The best tours in Greece link these regions by road and by sea, so one trip can join a mainland site such as Delphi with an island group such as the Cyclades.
Which Athens tours rank among the best tours in Greece?
The best tours in Greece that start in Athens cover the Acropolis and the Parthenon, the Acropolis Museum, the Ancient Agora and the old Plaka district. All five sit on or around the Acropolis rock, so one walking route can link them.
The Acropolis is an ancient citadel on a rocky hill above the centre of Athens. The rock rises 150 m above sea level, and its flat top covers about 3 hectares. In the fifth century BC, Pericles led the building work that produced the Parthenon, the Propylaea, the Erechtheion and the Temple of Athena Nike. The Propylaea served as the monumental gateway at the western end. The rock is the first stop on the best tours in Greece that begin in the capital.
The Parthenon is a former temple dedicated to the goddess Athena. Work started in 447 BC, the building was complete in 438 BC, and its sculpted decoration went on until 432 BC. It is a Doric temple with eight columns on each gable end and seventeen along each side. In 1687, during a Venetian siege, a bombardment hit gunpowder stored inside, and the blast caused heavy damage. Small-group walks on the best tours in Greece reach the temple after passing through the Propylaea.
The Acropolis Museum stands on the southeastern slope of the hill, 280 metres from the Parthenon. It opened on 20 June 2009 and displays more than 4,250 objects across 14,000 square metres. The top floor holds the Parthenon marbles. Glass walls let daylight fall on them, and 48 columns trace the outline of the ancient temple. Parts of the floor are glass, so visitors look down on remains of Roman and early Byzantine Athens. The museum is a fixed stop on the best tours in Greece.
The Ancient Agora lies northwest of the Acropolis, with the Areopagus hill on its south side. It began as a gathering place for trade, assembly and residence. On its east side, the rebuilt Stoa of Attalos, a shop-lined hall from the 2nd century BC, now houses the Museum of the Ancient Agora, with exhibits on Athenian democracy. The Temple of Hephaestus stands on the west side. Expert-led walks on the best tours in Greece then enter Plaka, the oldest district of Athens.
- Acropolis: The Erechtheion, with its porch of caryatids, and the small Temple of Athena Nike stand on the same rock as the Parthenon.
- Parthenon: Phidias made the gold-and-ivory statue of Athena Parthenos that once stood inside the temple.
- Acropolis Museum: The entrance on Dionysiou Areopagitou Street sits next to the Akropoli station of the Athens Metro.
- Ancient Agora: The Monument of the Eponymous Heroes once served as a notice board for new laws and public events.
- Plaka: Its Anafiotika quarter, built by settlers from the island of Anafi, shows traditional Cycladic architecture.
Plaka wraps around the northern and eastern slopes of the Acropolis, between Syntagma and Monastiraki squares, and Adrianou Street runs through its centre. People have lived here without a break since the Neolithic. This layout lets the best tours in Greece cover the rock, the Parthenon, the museum, the Agora and the old streets on foot, in one connected route through the historic centre of Athens.
Two Greece VIP pages go deeper on the Acropolis: Acropolis tickets, with the ticket types and the entrances, and the Acropolis tour, with the story of each monument.
Why is a Delphi day trip one of the best tours in Greece?
The best tours in Greece include Delphi because it was the seat of the Pythia, the oracle of Apollo, and the ancient Greeks saw it as the centre of the world. Its sacred precinct on Mount Parnassus is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Delphi was an ancient sacred precinct on the southwestern slope of Mount Parnassus. It lies in Central Greece, the same traditional region as Attica and Athens. The ancient Greeks marked the centre of the world here with a stone monument, the Omphalos, from the Greek word for navel. Since 1938 the archaeological site has been part of Parnassos National Park. Escorted tours from Athens make a Delphi visit one of the best tours in Greece on the mainland.
Ancient visitors purified themselves at the Castalian Spring before entering. From there, the Sacred Way led uphill past treasuries that Greek states such as Athens, Corinth and Thebes built to hold their offerings to Apollo. The path ends at the Temple of Apollo. The ruins seen today belong to a Doric temple of the fourth century BC. Ancient writers record maxims inscribed in its porch, including “know thyself” and “nothing in excess”. Licensed tour leaders on the best tours in Greece follow the same route on foot.
The temple was the seat of the Pythia, the high priestess who served as the oracle of Apollo. Greeks and non-Greeks came from across the Mediterranean to consult her on matters from new colonies to marriage, children and health. She gave prophecies during the nine warmest months of the year. Her purification rites took place on the seventh day of each month, a day sacred to Apollo. The oracle worked until the late 4th century AD, when the Christian emperor Theodosius destroyed the temple.
Higher up the hill sits the ancient theatre, first built in the fourth century BC. From its seats, spectators looked over the whole sanctuary and the valley below. It held about 4,500 people. The theatre hosted the music and song contests of the Pythian Games, held every four years from 586 BC. Above it lies the stadium, which seated 6,500 spectators beside a track 177 m long. Both sites close the walk on the best tours in Greece.
- Museum: The Delphi Archaeological Museum, a regular stop on the best tours in Greece, holds the Charioteer of Delphi and the Sphinx of Naxos.
- Music: The museum also keeps the earliest known notation of a melody, linked to ancient Delphi.
- Treasuries: Siphnos paid for its treasury with a tithe of the yield from its silver mines.
- Excavation: The French School at Athens dug the whole site from 1892 to 1894, and the Charioteer was its best-known find.
- Pythian Games: Winners received a laurel crown cut from a tree by a boy who acted out the killing of the Python.
Delphi completes the mainland picture that Athens begins. The Acropolis holds the temples of one city, while Delphi was a Panhellenic sanctuary that served all Greek settlements. The best tours in Greece pair the two because, together, they explain how ancient Greeks worshipped, competed and asked the gods for advice. A Delphi day trip from Athens adds the oracle, the theatre, the stadium and the museum to that story.
Why do Meteora tours count among the best tours in Greece?
The best tours in Greece include Meteora because six monasteries still stand on top of tall sandstone and conglomerate pillars in Thessaly. Four remain in active use as monasteries, and UNESCO added the Meteora complex to the World Heritage List in 1988.
Meteora is a rock formation in the Trikala regional unit of Thessaly, in northwestern Greece. Its name means “lofty” or “elevated”. The pillars are made of sandstone and conglomerate, not volcanic rock. About 60 million years ago, earth movements pushed the seabed upward into a high plateau. Water, wind and extreme temperatures then wore the rock down along vertical faults. That geology sets Meteora apart from the temple ruins seen on the other best tours in Greece.
Hermit monks moved onto the pinnacles in the 800s CE and lived in hollows and cracks in the rock towers. Monasteries followed from the 1300s, when monks looked for a refuge from attacks. Twenty-four were founded, mainly from the second half of the 14th century. Early access was by removable ladders, large nets and hoisting ropes. Steps were cut into the rock in the 1920s, and visitors on the best tours in Greece now climb staircases and pathways carved into the rock.
At their peak in the 16th century there were 24 monasteries at Meteora. Six survive today, and four still operate as monasteries: the Great Meteoron, Varlaam, Holy Trinity and St. Stephen. St. Stephen became a convent run by nuns in 1961. Rousanou and St. Nicholas Anapausas still stand but no longer serve as monasteries. Meteora is viewed locally as second in importance only to Mount Athos, and that standing keeps it on the best tours in Greece for Orthodox art and history.
Meteora lies between the town of Kalabaka, also spelled Kalambaka, and the village of Kastraki, at the northwestern edge of the Plain of Thessaly. The rocks surround Kastraki and border the north side of Kalabaka. Kalabaka is the seat of the municipality of Meteora, and the town proper had 8,573 residents at the 2021 census. Kalambaka station, on the Palaiofarsalos-Kalambaka line, gives the town a rail link, and the best tours in Greece use both places as bases.
- Great Meteoron: The oldest and largest monastery was founded between 1356 and 1372 by Athanasios the Meteorite.
- Varlaam: The second largest monastery stands above a 373-metre cliff and keeps a museum of relics.
- Rousanou: This former monastery sits 484 metres above sea level in the middle of the site.
- St. Stephen: The convent gained a new katholikon, or main church, in 1798, the newest building at Meteora.
Meteora joins natural rock pillars, working monasteries and a World Heritage listing in one place. UNESCO cited the outstanding architecture of the complex and its religious and cultural significance. Hikers, trail runners, mountain bikers and rock climbers also use the rocks. The Theopetra Cave, 4 kilometres from Kalambaka, holds evidence of human presence going back 50,000 years. Those layers keep Meteora among the best tours in Greece.
Is the Cape Sounion trip one of the best tours in Greece?
Best tours in Greece from Athens include Cape Sounion, the promontory at the southernmost tip of the Attica peninsula. Its Temple of Poseidon sits almost 60 metres above the sea, and 15 of the 34 original Doric columns still stand today.
Cape Sounion lies 8 kilometres south of the town of Lavrio and 69.5 kilometres southeast of Athens. The ruins stand on the headland with the Aegean Sea on three sides. Anyone sailing along the coast of Attica had to round the cape, and the site gave the first and last view of ships using the sea lanes to and from Piraeus. Among the best tours in Greece, this is the trip that pairs a Classical temple with open sea southeast of Athens.
The Temple of Poseidon was built between 444 and 440 BC, under the Athenian statesman Pericles, who also rebuilt the Parthenon. It stands on the ruins of an older temple from the Archaic period. The Greeks saw Poseidon as the “master of the sea”. The plan is hexastyle, with six columns across the front porch and a colonnade on all four sides. On the best tours in Greece, it counts as one of the major monuments of the Golden Age of Athens.
The columns follow the Doric order and were cut from locally quarried white marble. Each stood 6.10 metres high, with a diameter of 1 metre at the base. Two columns collapsed in 1825, and drums from the temple now sit in Venice, at Chatsworth House in England and in the British Museum. The name of Lord Byron is carved into the base of one column, and visitors on the best tours in Greece look for it, though no direct evidence shows Byron carved it.
Sounion forms the southeastern end of the Athens Riviera, the coastal area that runs from Piraeus to Sounio and Lavrio. The Greek National Tourism Organisation lists Glyfada, Voula, Vouliagmeni, Lagonisi, Varkiza and Anavyssos among its main areas. Cape Sounion has drawn tourists from Athens since modern tourism began in the early 19th century, and the sunset over the Aegean Sea, seen from the ruins, is the sought-after sight. Sunset departures from Athens appear on the best tours in Greece for that reason.
- Homer: The Odyssey holds the earliest literary reference to Sounion and calls it “Holy Sounion, Cape of Athens”.
- Salamis trophy: After the Battle of Salamis, the Athenians set a captured enemy trireme at Sounion as a trophy for Poseidon.
- Fortress: In 413 BC, during the Peloponnesian War, Athens walled the site to protect grain ships bound for the city.
- Temple of Athena: A temple of Athena stood on a low hill about 300 metres northeast of the Temple of Poseidon.
Cape Sounion links a Classical temple with a coastal approach from Athens. The site also touches Homer, the Persian Wars and the Peloponnesian War, so one visit spans more than one era. The Venetian name Capo Colonne, or “Cape of Columns”, is recorded from the 17th century because temple columns had stood there since antiquity. That record keeps the cape among the best tours in Greece for travellers based in Athens.
Which Peloponnese tours belong among the best tours in Greece?
The best tours in Greece across the Peloponnese cover Mycenae, the ancient theatre of Epidaurus, the coastal city of Nafplio and Ancient Olympia, home of the ancient Olympic Games. The Corinth Canal, which separates the Peloponnese from the mainland, marks the crossing from Athens.
Mycenae lies near Mykines in Argolis, about 120 kilometres south-west of Athens and 11 kilometres north of Argos. In the second millennium BC it was a major centre of Greek civilization, and the period from about 1600 BC to about 1100 BC bears its name. Later ages thought its massive wall blocks were the work of the one-eyed Cyclopes. UNESCO listed the site with nearby Tiryns in 1999, and the best tours in Greece stop at the Lion Gate and the Treasury of Atreus.
The Ancient Theatre of Epidaurus stands at the southeast end of the sanctuary of Asclepius, god of medicine. According to Pausanias, Polykleitos the Younger built it at the end of the 4th century BC. The theatre seats up to 14,000 people, and its limestone rows filter out low sounds and amplify high sounds from the stage. UNESCO listed it in 1988 with the Temple of Asclepius. The Epidaurus Festival stages ancient drama there each summer, and the best tours in Greece can pair the site with a play.
Nafplio, on the Argolic Gulf, is the capital of the regional unit of Argolis. It served as the first official capital of the modern Greek state from 1827 until 1834, when King Otto moved the capital to Athens. The old town lies mainly on a peninsula jutting into the gulf. The Venetians built the Palamidi castle on a hill north of the old town, the last major construction of their empire overseas. The best tours in Greece use the city as a base for Mycenae and Epidaurus.
Ancient Olympia lies in the valley of the Alpheios River in the western Peloponnese. It was a major Panhellenic sanctuary, and the ancient Olympic Games took place there every four years from the 8th century BC to the 4th century AD. Tradition dates the first games to 776 BC. The sacred precinct, the Altis, held the Temple of Hera, the Temple of Zeus and the Pelopion. The stadium length became the standard stadion, a Greek unit of distance, and the best tours in Greece walk its track.
- Mycenae: Heinrich Schliemann dug here in 1876 and found the gold mask he labelled “The Mask of Agamemnon”.
- Epidaurus: The first modern performance in the theatre was Sophocles’s Electra, in 1938.
- Nafplio: The Bourtzi fortification stands in the middle of the harbour.
- Olympia: The modern Olympic flame is lit by sunlight in a parabolic mirror in front of the Temple of Hera.
- Corinth Canal: Nero broke the ground with a pickaxe in 67 AD, and the modern canal follows the same course.
The Corinth Canal, completed in 1893, cuts through the Isthmus of Corinth and separates the Peloponnese from the Greek mainland. It links the Gulf of Corinth with the Saronic Gulf and has no locks. The channel runs 6.4 kilometres between rock walls that rise 90 metres above sea level. A railway line, a road and a motorway cross it at about 45 metres. This crossing opens the Peloponnese part of the best tours in Greece.
Which Santorini tours are among the best tours in Greece?
The best tours in Greece on Santorini combine a boat trip across the flooded caldera, a hike on the Nea Kameni crater, a swim near Palea Kameni, a walk through Fira and Oia, and a visit to the Bronze Age town at Akrotiri.
Santorini, the southernmost island of the Cyclades, is the largest member of a small ring of islands formed by a volcanic caldera. The caldera measures about 12 by 7 km, with cliffs 300 m high on three sides and water up to 385 m deep. The present basin dates from the Minoan eruption about 3,600 years ago, an event that ranks with the largest in recorded history. The best tours in Greece treat this flooded crater as an open-air lesson in geology.
Boats on the best tours in Greece leave the old port of Skala, below Fira, for Nea Kameni, an uninhabited island of 3.4 km2 at the centre of the caldera. A gravel path climbs to the rim of a crater 130 metres high. Steam and carbon dioxide still rise from the active crater, and the last small eruption came in 1950. Palea Kameni, the old burnt island, lacks a good harbour, so visitors swim across to it; the island also holds a hot spring.
Fira, the capital, spreads its whitewashed houses along a caldera wall 400 metres high. A cable car and a zigzag footpath link the town with the port below. Oia stretches for almost two kilometres along the northern rim, 11 km from Fira, with cave houses carved into the rock and blue-domed churches. From Oia, 300 steps lead down to the port. Every evening, crowds gather at the Sunset Serenade point, and the best tours in Greece run caldera cruises from both towns.
Akrotiri is a Bronze Age settlement that the Theran eruption buried in volcanic ash in the 16th century BC. The ash kept frescoes, pottery, furniture and three-storey buildings in place. Its pipes for running water and its water closets are the oldest such fittings yet found. Only one gold object came to light, and no unburied human remains turned up, which points to an orderly evacuation. The best tours in Greece pair the site with the Museum of Prehistoric Thera in Fira, home to its finds.
- Decade Volcano: The Santorini caldera is one of the sixteen Decade Volcanoes of the world and draws volcanologists as well as tourists.
- Jorgo vent: Locals named an active sulfur vent on Nea Kameni Jorgo, after the first King George of Greece, because it was active the day after his visit to Santorini.
- Akrotiri dig: Spyridon Marinatos began the modern excavation in 1967, and Christos Doumas took charge of the work in 1975.
- Geological heritage: The International Union of Geological Sciences lists the Quaternary Santorini Caldera among its 100 geological heritage sites.
Santorini draws an estimated 2 million tourists a year. Ferries link it with Piraeus every day of the year, with up to 5 direct crossings in summer, and the airport lies about 6 km southeast of the town of Thera. For travellers who want a volcano, cliff-top villages and Bronze Age history in one place, the best tours in Greece on Santorini cover the caldera by boat and the Akrotiri ruins on land.
Why do Mykonos and Delos tours rank among the best tours in Greece?
The best tours in Greece in the central Cyclades pair Mykonos town, with its windmills and Little Venice, with a boat crossing to Delos, a small sacred island listed by UNESCO in 1990 and known in myth as the birthplace of Apollo and Artemis.
Delos lies 2 km from Mykonos, near the centre of the Cyclades, and covers just 3.43 km2. Greek myth names it as the birthplace of the twins Apollo and Artemis, and their mother Leto was worshipped there. By the time of the Odyssey, the island was already famous for this story. Delos was a holy sanctuary for a millennium before the myth, and Mount Cynthus still carries a sanctuary of Zeus. The best tours in Greece open the visit with these legends.
UNESCO added Delos to the World Heritage List in 1990. The listing praises the image of a great, cosmopolitan Mediterranean port, the influence of the site on Greek architecture and its sacred standing across ancient Greece. After the Persian Wars, the Delian League, founded in 478 BC, met on the island and kept its treasury there until 454 BC. In 166 BC the Romans turned Delos into a free port. The best tours in Greece link these chapters on a single walk.
The excavations on Delos rank with the largest in the Mediterranean. Visitors walk the Sacred Way past the Terrace of the Lions, which the people of Naxos gave to Apollo shortly before 600 BC. The sacred lake is now kept dry to stop malaria-carrying mosquitoes. The House of Dionysus keeps a floor mosaic of the god on a panther, and the marble theatre was rebuilt shortly after 300 BC. The best tours in Greece finish at the Archaeological Museum of Delos, which shows finds from the site.
Mykonos town, or Chora, sits on the west coast of an island 150 km east of Athens. In Little Venice, houses that once belonged to rich merchants and captains hang their balconies over the sea; the first dates from the mid-18th century. On a hill over the sea, the Kato Mili windmills stand in a row to catch the northern winds. Venetians built them in the 16th century to mill flour. The best tours in Greece link both sights on one walk through town.
- Boat link: Tour boats cross from Mykonos to Delos on a regular basis, and Delos belongs to the municipality of Mykonos.
- Terrace of the Lions: The terrace once held 9 to 12 marble lions, and seven of the originals remain.
- Panagia Paraportiani: This church in the Kastro quarter took around 200 years to build, from the 15th to the 17th century.
- Island of the Winds: Mykonos takes this nickname from the very strong winds that blow across the island.
Delos counted 24 inhabitants in 2011, while Mykonos had 10,704 at the 2021 census and is estimated to receive at least 1.5 million visitors a year. A visit that moves from the ruins of Delos to the lanes of Chora covers myth, ancient trade and island life in one trip. That range explains why the best tours in Greece place the two islands side by side.
Which boat trips and island cruises are among the best tours in Greece?
The best tours in Greece by sea include day cruises from Piraeus, the port of Athens, to the Saronic islands of Aegina, Poros and Hydra, plus boat trips around volcanic Milos, where the white rock of Sarakiniko lines the north shore of the island.
The Saronic Islands take their name from the Saronic Gulf, just off the mainland, and fall under the administration of Attica. Ferries from Piraeus serve them on a regular basis. Aegina, only 27 km from Athens, is the closest of the three islands on the best tours in Greece by sea. An extinct volcano forms two-thirds of the island. Its Temple of Aphaea, from about 490 BC, is the oldest surviving temple in Greece, and the Monastery of Agios Nectarios draws pilgrims.
Poros lies about 58 km south of Piraeus, and a channel only 200 m wide separates it from Galatas on the Peloponnese. It is two islands joined by a bridge: volcanic Sphaeria, which holds the town, and larger Kalaureia to the north. The best tours in Greece enter the harbour through this strait, a passage Henry Miller compared to sailing through the streets. The town rises in tiers up a hill, and its best-known landmark is a clock tower built in 1927.
Hydra lies 37 nautical miles from Piraeus, and fast boats call at Poros on the way. The island bans wheeled vehicles, from cars and scooters to bicycles, so mules, donkeys, horses and water taxis carry people, and rubbish trucks are the only motor vehicles. Mansions of sea captains ring the crescent-shaped harbour. Hydra sent about 150 ships to the Greek War of Independence, and Leonard Cohen wrote “Bird on the Wire” there. The best tours in Greece stop here for a harbour walk.
Milos sits at the southwestern end of the Cyclades and is volcanic; its natural harbour fills the hollow of the main crater. On the north shore, Sarakiniko is a beach of greyish-white volcanic rock that wind and waves have carved into shapes compared to a moonscape, and locals call it Lunar. Its eastern side holds the wreck of the ship Africa, which crashed there in 2003. The best tours in Greece by boat include this coast on trips around Milos.
- Aegina: Paliachora, the abandoned main town of Byzantine and Venetian times, keeps over 35 churches.
- Poros: The remains of a Doric Sanctuary of Poseidon from about 520 BC stand in the north, where Demosthenes took poison in 322 BC.
- Hydra: The Miaoulia Festival in the last week of June peaks with a re-enactment at sea of the burning of an Ottoman fleet.
- Milos obsidian: Volcanic glass from Milos was a traded commodity as early as 15,000 years ago, well before farming began.
The sea links these islands in history as well as on the map. Salamis, the largest Saronic island, gave its name to the battle of 480 BC in which the Greek fleet defeated the Persians. Aegina won the prize of valour there, and Milos sent two warships. Day cruises and boat trips retrace that naval story, and the best tours in Greece by sea join the Saronic Gulf with the Cyclades.
Which Crete tours are among the best tours in Greece?
The best tours in Greece on the island of Crete visit the Minoan palace of Knossos, the Heraklion Archaeological Museum, the old town and Venetian harbour of Chania, the Balos lagoon near Gramvousa and the pink sand beaches of Elafonisi in the southwest.
Knossos lies about 5 km south of the historic centre of Heraklion. It was the largest centre of the Minoan civilisation and is widely considered the oldest city in Europe. Settlement on Kephala hill began around 7000 BC, and the first palace was built around 1900 BC. Arthur Evans started large-scale digs in 1900 and rebuilt parts of the palace in reinforced concrete. The Throne Room, with its gypsum seat and painted griffins, is one of the busiest stops on the best tours in Greece.
The Heraklion Archaeological Museum keeps the bulk of the finds from Knossos and other Minoan sites on Crete. The collection began in 1883, and its exhibits cover more than 5,500 years, from the Neolithic to the Roman era. Its halls display the Phaistos Disc, the Snake Goddess figurines, the bull’s head rhyton from Knossos and the Harvester Vase. The Hall of the Frescoes shows wall paintings from Knossos and Hagia Triada. The best tours in Greece pair the palace and the museum in one visit to Heraklion.
Chania sits on the north west coast of Crete, about 145 km west of Heraklion, and it was the capital of the island until 1971. Its old town grew around the old harbour, inside Venetian walls begun in 1538. Just the eastern and western stretches of those walls remain. The Chania Lighthouse, built in 1864, stands on the old Venetian harbour. Small-group walks on the best tours in Greece cross Kasteli, the hill of ancient Kydonia, and the Topanas and Splantzia quarters.
Off the Gramvousa Peninsula in north-western Crete, the Balos lagoon lies between the coast and the island of Gramvousa. Nearby Imeri Gramvousa holds the ruins of a Venetian fort built between 1579 and 1584. Elafonisi lies close to the southwestern corner of Crete. In fine weather, visitors walk to it through shallow water. It is a protected nature reserve with pink sand beaches. Gramvousa and Elafonisi both lie in the municipality of Kissamos and bring sea and history to the best tours in Greece on Crete.
- Island size: Crete is the largest island of Greece and stretches 260 km from west to east.
- Labyrinth myth: Later Greeks linked the complex plan of the palace with the Labyrinth, built in myth to hold the Minotaur.
- World Heritage: Knossos belongs to the UNESCO site Minoan Palatial Centres, together with Phaistos, Malia, Zakros, Zominthos and Kydonia.
- Museum building: Architect Patroklos Karantinos built the museum between 1937 and 1940, and the design won a Bauhaus commendation.
Crete was the centre of the Minoan civilisation from 2700 to 1420 BCE, and the best tours in Greece on the island follow that thread. Chania itself stands on a Minoan settlement that Linear B tablets from Knossos name Ku-do-ni-ja. Heraklion and Chania both have airports with international routes, so a Crete trip can start at Knossos and the Heraklion museum and end in the far west at Balos and Elafonisi.
Why are Rhodes tours part of the best tours in Greece?
The best tours in Greece include Rhodes because the island holds the Medieval City of Rhodes, a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1988, the Palace of the Grand Master of the Knights of Rhodes and the acropolis of Lindos on the east coast.
Rhodes is the largest of the Dodecanese islands and lies 18 km from the southern shore of Turkey. The Knights of Saint John held it for two centuries, and it still carries the nickname Island of the Knights. Their walled town, the Medieval City of Rhodes, dates from around 1309 to 1523. A 4 km wall encloses a high town to the north and a lower town to the south-southwest. Walks inside these walls form the core of the best tours in Greece on Rhodes.
Near the palace runs the Street of the Knights of Rhodes. La Juderia, the old Jewish quarter, holds the Kahal Shalom Synagogue, founded in 1557 and the oldest synagogue in Greece. Suleiman the Magnificent took the city in December 1522, and a mosque in the city bears his name. The Knights left the island on 1 January 1523. In 1960 the entire medieval town became a protected monument. Small-group walks on the best tours in Greece link these sites.
The Palace of the Grand Master, also called the Kastello, is a rare example of Gothic architecture in Greece. It began in the late 7th century as a Byzantine citadel, and after 1309 the Knights made it their administrative centre. A gunpowder explosion in 1856 destroyed much of it. Architect Vittorio Mesturino rebuilt the palace for the Italian authorities between 1937 and 1940. It became a museum after Rhodes passed to Greece in 1948, and the best tours in Greece through the old town go inside.
Lindos lies on the east coast, about 40 km south of the city of Rhodes. Cleobulus, counted among the Seven Sages of Greece, ruled the town in the 6th century BC. Its acropolis holds the Doric Temple of Athena Lindia from about 300 BC and a Hellenistic stoa 87 metres long with 42 columns. A Rhodian warship, a trireme, is carved in relief into the rock below the steps. The best tours in Greece on Rhodes climb to this hilltop.
- Colossus: The city of Rhodes was the site of the Colossus of Rhodes, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World.
- Defences: Italian engineers hired by the Knights strengthened the walls, which held against an Ottoman siege under Mehmed II in 1480.
- Lindos castle: The Knights of St John built a castle on the Lindos acropolis before 1317, on older Byzantine foundations.
- Film location: Scenes of the film The Guns of Navarone were shot on the acropolis of Lindos.
Arrival figures placed Rhodes second only to Crete among destinations in Greece. The best tours in Greece on the island combine the walled old town, the palace and the acropolis of Lindos, which links to the city by Greek National Road 95. The Knights shaped both ends of that route, since they held the palace in the city and built the castle above Lindos.
Which Corfu and Ionian tours rank among the best tours in Greece?
The best tours in Greece in the Ionian Sea cover the Old Town of Corfu, a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2007, the Achilleion palace at Gastouri, the bay and cliffs of Palaiokastritsa and Navagio Beach, the shipwreck cove on Zakynthos.
Venetian nobles ruled Corfu from 1386 to 1797, and the Old Town still shows that era in its multi-storey buildings and narrow cobbled lanes, called kantounia. Two castles enclose the city, which earned it the name Kastropolis, or Castle City. UNESCO added the Old Town to the World Heritage List in 2007. ICOMOS experts judged its layout and Venetian fortifications a textbook case of a fortified maritime city. Walks through these lanes open the best tours in Greece on Corfu.
The Achilleion stands at Gastouri, about ten kilometres south of the city of Corfu. Empress Elisabeth of Austria had it built as a summer palace after the death of her only son, Crown Prince Rudolf, in 1889. Italian architect Raffaele Caritto designed it in Pompeian style around the hero Achilles. Ernst Herter’s statue Dying Achilles stands at the centre of the gardens. Kaiser Wilhelm II bought the palace in 1907. Today it is a museum, and the best tours in Greece on Corfu include it.
Palaiokastritsa, also spelled Paleokastritsa, is a village in north-western Corfu. Its name means Old Little Castle, a reference to nearby Angelokastro. Its bay has been suggested as the place where Odysseus came ashore and first met Nausicaa. The village monastery dates from 1225 and houses a museum. The area is known for its high cliffs and nearby beaches. The best tours in Greece on Corfu add this bay to the Old Town and the Achilleion.
Navagio Beach, or Shipwreck Beach, lies on Zakynthos, the third largest of the Ionian Islands. The cove sits on the north-west shore below high cliffs. On 5 October 1980 the coaster MV Panagiotis ran aground there in stormy weather, and the wreck still rests in the limestone gravel. A cliff collapse in 2018 and a landslide in September 2022 both led to closures of the beach. The best tours in Greece on Zakynthos reach the cove by boat, the only way in.
- Spianada: This square near the old Venetian citadel is the biggest square in South-Eastern Europe.
- Palace of St. Michael and St. George: Sir Thomas Maitland built this palace of white Maltese stone in 1815.
- Church of St. Spiridon: The church holds the tomb of the patron saint of Corfu.
- Blue caves: Small boats take visitors to the blue caves carved into the cliffs around Cape Skinari on Zakynthos.
Corfu and Zakynthos show the Venetian side of Greek history. Venice ruled Zakynthos from 1484 to 1797 and gave it the nickname Fiore di Levante, or Flower of the East. The best tours in Greece in the Ionian Sea pair the fortified Old Town and the Achilleion with the cliffs of Palaiokastritsa and the wreck at Navagio. Corfu city also serves as the capital of the Ionian Islands region.
Which Northern Greece tours belong among the best tours in Greece?
The best tours in Greece in the north begin in Thessaloniki, with the White Tower and fifteen UNESCO-listed early Christian and Byzantine monuments. Routes continue to Vergina, site of ancient Aigai and its royal tombs, and to Halkidiki, where summer cruises sail past Mount Athos.
Thessaloniki is the second-largest city in Greece. Cassander of Macedon founded it in 315 BC and named it after his wife Thessalonike, a sister of Alexander the Great. The White Tower on the waterfront is the symbol of the city. The Ottomans built it after they took Thessaloniki in 1430. Its name dates from 1890, when a convict whitewashed it in exchange for his freedom. Today it holds a museum of city history and opens the northern leg of the best tours in Greece.
In 1988 UNESCO listed fifteen monuments of Thessaloniki as World Heritage Sites, more than in any other Greek city. The list covers the city walls, the Rotunda of Saint George from the 4th century, the Church of the Acheiropoietos from the 5th century, the Church of Saint Demetrios and Hagia Sophia. A Byzantine bath from the 14th century is also on it. Walks on the best tours in Greece link these sites with the Arch of Galerius and the Upper Town.
Vergina, in Central Macedonia, stands on the site of ancient Aigai, the first capital of Macedon. Philip II was killed in its theatre in 336 BC, and his son Alexander the Great was proclaimed king there. In 1977 Manolis Andronikos found four tombs under the Great Tumulus, two of them never disturbed. Tomb II held the Golden Larnax, made of 24-carat gold and marked with the Vergina Sun. A museum now covers the tombs in place, a core stop on the best tours in Greece.
Halkidiki is a peninsula in coastal Macedonia that ends in three fingers: Kassandra, Sithonia and Athos. It has drawn summer visitors since the late 1950s. The monastic community of Mount Athos, on the UNESCO World Heritage List, governs the mountain, and women are barred from entering it. Male visitors need a permit called a diamonitirion. In summer, cruises from Ouranoupoli sail along the Athos coast and stay at least 500 metres offshore, so women can join. These cruises round out the northern best tours in Greece.
- White Tower: The cylindrical tower stands 34 metres high and houses a museum on the history of Thessaloniki.
- Upper Town: Ano Poli escaped the great fire of 1917 and keeps the Heptapyrgion fort and a large part of the old walls.
- Aigai: UNESCO inscribed the archaeological site on the World Heritage List in 1996.
- Palace of Aigai: The palace is the largest building of classical Greece, and nearly 30 columns of its main peristyle have been rebuilt.
A northern route links a port city, a royal burial ground and a monastic coast. Ouranoupoli lies about 140 km from Thessaloniki, and the A24 motorway joins the city and its airport with Nea Moudania and Kassandra. Expert-led itineraries use Thessaloniki as a base for Vergina and Halkidiki. For travellers who have already seen Athens, the north widens the range of the best tours in Greece.
Which food and wine tours rank among the best tours in Greece?
The best tours in Greece for food cover olive oil, feta and the Mediterranean diet, which UNESCO lists as intangible cultural heritage. Wine tours add Santorini, where the white Assyrtiko grape grows in volcanic soil and gives dry and sweet wines, including Vinsanto.
Greek cuisine rests on a triad of wheat, olive oil and wine. Olive oil is its defining, ancient element and goes into the majority of dishes. Greece has the highest olive oil consumption per person in the world, around 24 litres per year, and evidence suggests olives grew on Crete as early as 2500 BC. Tastings on the best tours in Greece set oil beside lathera, the home dishes of vegetables stewed in olive oil, herbs and tomato sauce.
Feta is a white cheese aged in brine and made from sheep milk, or from sheep milk mixed with up to 30% goat milk. It has held protected designation of origin status in the European Union since 2002, so only cheese made the traditional way in mainland Greece and Lesbos can carry the name. Cooks use it in Greek salad, spanakopita and tyropita. Cheese tastings on the best tours in Greece set feta beside graviera, kasseri and kefalotyri.
The Mediterranean diet draws on the traditional foods of Greece, Italy and the Mediterranean coasts of France and Spain. Ancel Keys and Margaret Keys first proposed it in 1975. It puts plant foods first, keeps fish and dairy moderate and uses olive oil as the main fat. UNESCO recognised the tradition as Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity under the name Mediterranean Diet. Cooking classes on the best tours in Greece teach dishes built on these principles, from fasolada bean soup to horiatiki salad.
Santorini is a wine region in the southern Cyclades, and Assyrtiko is its flagship white grape. The vines grow in arid soil rich in volcanic ash and are trained low in basket shapes called kouloura to shield the fruit from wind and sun. The island is described as phylloxera-free, so old vines still grow on their own roots. Assyrtiko keeps its acidity even when very ripe. Winery visits on the best tours in Greece also pour Vinsanto, a sweet wine made from sun-dried grapes.
- Kapani market: The oldest central market in Thessaloniki sells fish, meat, olives, spices, nuts and sweets.
- Bougatsa: This breakfast pastry, sweet with cream or savoury, is popular across Thessaloniki.
- Santorini white: The classified Santorini wine must contain at least 75% Assyrtiko, with Athiri or Aidani making up the rest.
- Vinsanto: This sweet wine comes from sun-dried grapes and ages for at least 24 months in oak barrels.
Food and wine stops fit into routes across the country. Tavernas serve home cooking to locals and visitors alike, and street food covers souvlaki, gyros and pitas. The first Greek cookbook was printed on Syros in 1828, yet the cuisine appears in images and texts from ancient times. A tasting of oil, cheese and Assyrtiko gives the best tours in Greece a clear local flavour.
Which hiking and nature tours count among the best tours in Greece?
The best tours in Greece for hikers cross the Samaria Gorge on Crete, the Vikos Gorge beside the Zagori villages and the slopes of Mount Olympus. Each lies inside a national park and shelters rare wildlife, such as the kri-kri or the chamois.
The Samaria Gorge in the Chania area of southwest Crete has been a national park since 1962. The gorge is 16 km long and drops from an entrance at 1,250 metres to the Libyan Sea at Agia Roumeli. At the Gates, its walls stand only four metres apart and rise almost 300 metres. The best tours in Greece that include Samaria bring hikers by bus to the entrance near Omalos, and a ferry later carries them on to Sougia or Chora Sfakion.
The Vikos Gorge cuts through the Pindus Mountains of northwest Greece, on the southern slopes of Mount Tymphe. It runs about 32 km with depths from 120 to 1,350 metres, and record listings name it the deepest gorge in the world relative to its width. A trail drops into the gorge from Monodendri and follows it north to the springs of the Voidomatis river. Paths then climb out to Papingo or Vikos village, a route that features on the best tours in Greece.
The gorge lies in Zagori, a mountain region of Epirus with 46 villages and a place on the UNESCO World Heritage List. Houses are built of local stone, and their stone-tile roofs stay in place by weight alone, without cement. More than 160 arched bridges stand in the wider area, built largely in the 18th and 19th centuries by local craftsmen. One is the three-arched Plakidas bridge near Kipoi. Village walks on the best tours in Greece follow old paths between squares, churches and plane trees.
Mount Olympus stands on the border of Thessaly and Macedonia, about 80 km southwest of Thessaloniki. In myth it was the home of the Greek gods, and its peak Mytikas is the highest point in Greece. Olympus became the first national park in Greece in 1938, and its wider area is on the UNESCO World Heritage List as a mixed site. Climbs on the best tours in Greece start in Litochoro, where a road leads to the trailhead at Prionia.
- Samaria rules: Camping, overnight stays, fires and swimming in the streams are banned inside the park.
- Oxia viewpoint: A natural platform 8 km by road from Monodendri looks over the deepest part of the Vikos Gorge.
- First ascent: Frédéric Boissonnas and Daniel Baud-Bovy reached the summit of Olympus on 2 August 1913 with help from Christos Kakkalos, a hunter of wild goats from Litochoro.
- Summit scramble: The climb is a non-technical hike until the last stretch from Skala to Mytikas, a class 3 rock scramble.
These walks pair long trails with rare plants and animals. Olympus holds about 1,700 plant species and subspecies, around 25% of the flora of Greece, plus 32 mammal species such as the Balkan chamois. Spilios Agapitos, the first refuge in the area, sits at 2,100 metres. Small-group hikes with licensed tour leaders give the best tours in Greece an active side beyond museums and beaches.
When is the best time of year for the best tours in Greece?
The best tours in Greece change with the seasons. Summers are hot, dry and sunny, winters are mild to cool and wet, snow falls on the high mountains, and the strong meltemi wind of the Aegean shapes island and boat plans in summer.
Greece has a mainly Mediterranean climate, classed as Csa in the Köppen system. This pattern covers the coasts, including Athens, the Cyclades, the Dodecanese, Crete, the Peloponnese and the Ionian Islands. The Pindus range splits the country: land to its west is wetter, while land to its east sits in a rain shadow and stays drier. Inland parts of northern Greece have cold, damp winters, and high mountain areas get heavy winter snow. For the best tours in Greece, the region matters as much as the month.
Summer days are hot, sunny and dry, and any rain comes as showers or thunderstorms. Nights stay warm. Heatwaves happen, but on the coast the cooler sea and the sea breeze soften the heat. The south of Crete records more than 3,250 hours of sunshine a year. About 75% of all tourist visits fall between late spring and September, which makes summer the peak season for the best tours in Greece. Early starts help at open-air ruins in July and August.
The meltemi, or etesian wind, is a dry and strong wind that blows from the north across the Aegean Sea. Its season runs from late spring to mid-September, with the highest frequency in July and August. It tends to drop at night, yet it can also blow for days without a break. It keeps the Aegean cooler than the Ionian Sea and the mainland. Very windy days strike the Cyclades in particular, which matters for island stops on the best tours in Greece.
The meltemi can reach force 7 to 8 on the Beaufort scale and can rise without warning in clear weather. At that strength, certain yachts and the majority of inter-island ferries cannot sail. Leisure sailors, on the other hand, value its steady push. The Ionian and Adriatic seas get winds of the same kind. Morning sailings meet calmer air, as the wind peaks in the afternoon. Island legs of the best tours in Greece also work best with a spare day in July and August.
- Sightseeing: Southern Greece and the islands have much milder winters than the north, so winter city and site tours suit the south.
- Winter islands: Parts of the Dodecanese keep winter averages above 15 °C, while mountain areas average below −3 °C.
- Hiking: High ground in the Pindus, the Rhodope and the mountains of Crete has cool summers with thunderstorms and harsh, snowy winters.
- Ski trips: Arachova, Kalavryta, Karpenisi and Metsovo are the main ski destinations, giving winter a mountain option.
- Rain: Ioannina in Epirus receives just under 1,100 mm of rain and snow a year, while Xerokampos on Crete gets only 219 mm.
Each season favours a different kind of trip. Summer fits island trips and sea days, with the meltemi as the main limit on boats. Winter fits city and site tours in the milder south and ski trips in the mountains, while high mountain hikes gain from cool summers. Checking the region, the month and the wind before booking puts the best tours in Greece on a sound footing for every member of the group.
How do travelers choose and book the best tours in Greece?
The best tours in Greece come in five main formats: private tours, small-group tours, day trips from Athens, multi-day trips and boat trips from island ports. Travelers match the format to the trip, then book through the tour boxes on this page.
A private tour gives one party its own licensed tour leader and, where the route needs it, its own vehicle. The party sets the pace and can change stops on the day. A small-group tour places travelers with others on a fixed plan and a shared schedule, which suits solo travelers and couples who enjoy company. Both formats appear among the best tours in Greece, and the choice comes down to control over the day against a shared experience with other travelers.
Day trips from Athens start and end in the capital, so travelers keep one hotel. Attica itself holds sites for such trips. Eleusis, in the west of the region, hosted the Eleusinian Mysteries from as early as 1700 BC, and the Marathon tumuli are burial mounds for the Athenian and Plataean soldiers who fell in the Battle of Marathon. Multi-day trips link regions and move the hotel along the route, as in the Peloponnese, which has a wide spread of ancient sites.
Boat trips leave from island ports and from harbours on the mainland. Ferries link every major island with the mainland, and in 2021 Piraeus, which serves Athens, was Europe’s third busiest port for passengers. Boat travel in Greece carried 37 million passengers in 2019, the second-highest total in Europe. For the best tours in Greece on the water, the start port decides which islands and bays are within reach. A private boat lets one party pick its own stops, while a shared boat follows a set route.
Each tour box on this page links to the booking listing for that tour. The listing is the place to read the route, the start point and what the tour includes, and to pick a date. Reading two listings for the same site side by side shows how a private version and a small-group version differ. With that comparison done, travelers can book the best tours in Greece knowing what each option covers and which format fits the group.
- First visit: One small-group site tour, one day trip from Athens and one boat trip together give a broad first view of the country.
- Families: Private tours let the pace and the breaks follow the children.
- Ruins: Expert-led tours with a licensed tour leader add context, and each major Greek city and town keeps an archaeological museum of local finds.
- Islands: Boat trips from island ports suit travelers who put the sea and the islands first.
Travelers who want help to plan a longer trip, with mainland sites and islands on one route, can send a message through the contact page. A note with the travel months, the size of the group and the main interests gives the planning a clear start. For shorter stays, the tour boxes on this page remain the direct way to the best tours in Greece across the mainland and the islands.
What do travelers ask about the best tours in Greece?
The best tours in Greece raise four common questions from travelers: which tours fit a first trip, whether tours start from both Athens and the islands, which tours suit families with children, and which tours mix ancient ruins with time at sea.
Which of the best tours in Greece fit a first trip?
A first trip works well when it pairs Athens, the capital and largest city, with one island group. The main tourist destinations besides Athens include Santorini, Mykonos, Rhodes, Corfu, Crete and the Chalkidice peninsula. One mainland base plus one island keeps transfers low and leaves room for a day trip from the capital and a boat trip from the island.
Do the best tours in Greece run from both Athens and the islands?
Athens is the base for mainland day trips, while island tours leave from island ports and harbours. The country has 39 active airports, with 15 handling international flights, and air links join the main cities with the majority of the islands. One trip can therefore mix the best tours in Greece from Athens with tours on an island.
Which of the best tours in Greece suit families with children?
Beyond private tours, families gain from boat trips and museum visits. The seas around mainland Greece are home to two rare marine species, the Mediterranean monk seal and the loggerhead sea turtle. Around 150 museums across the country are easy for visitors to reach, which helps on hot afternoons or wet winter days, when outdoor plans pause.
Which of the best tours in Greece combine ruins and sea?
Island tours pair ruins and sea well, with the crossing as part of the day. On Kos stands the Asclepeion, the ruins of a great healing temple of the ancient world, where Hippocrates trained. Samothrace holds a temple complex that ranks among the main Pan-Hellenic sanctuaries. On Kastellorizo, the easternmost Greek island, a Lycian tomb is cut into the rock.