Greece Tours: Tours in Greece and Greece Vacation Packages

Which Greece tours leave Athens as day trips?

Greece tours that leave Athens as day trips reach Cape Sounion and its Temple of Poseidon. They also go to the Corinth Canal, Mycenae, Epidaurus and Nafplio in the Peloponnese. You can also see Delphi or the Saronic islands of Aegina, Hydra and Poros by boat from Piraeus.

The first of these Greece tours goes along the Athens Riviera to Cape Sounion. This is the point at the very south of the Attica peninsula, 69.5 km southeast of Athens.

The Temple of Poseidon stands on the headland, with the Aegean Sea on three sides. Builders made it from 444 to 440 BCE, when the Athenian leader Pericles was rising. The temple had 34 Doric columns, and 15 still stand.

Greece tours to the cape also show the name of Lord Byron. It is carved into the base of one column. Homer’s Odyssey has the first written mention of Sounion. Things found on the site date from as early as 700 BC.

Greece tours heading west cross the Isthmus of Corinth. Here the Corinth Canal joins the Gulf of Corinth with the Saronic Gulf. The canal was finished in 1893. It runs 6.4 km and measures 24.6 metres wide at sea level, with no locks.

It separates the Peloponnese from the Greek mainland. Now it serves mainly as a tourist attraction. Periander of Corinth first thought of the cut in the 7th century BC. He built the Diolkos, a stone track for hauling ships, instead.

Parts of the Diolkos still lie next to the modern canal. Greece tours that stop here see both.

Greece tours of the Argolis link three stops. Mycenae, about 120 km south-west of Athens, was a major centre of Greek life in the second millennium BC. Visitors enter through the Lion Gate, the main entrance in the wall.

They see the Treasury of Atreus, the largest of its nine tholos tombs. At Epidaurus, the Sanctuary of Asclepius and its theatre joined the UNESCO list in 1988. Polykleitos the Younger designed the theatre in the 4th century BC for 14,000 people.

It still hosts plays today. Greece tours then reach Nafplio. This was the first official capital of the modern Greek state.

Greece tours to Delphi reach a sacred spot on the southwestern slope of Mount Parnassus. The site was the seat of the Pythia. This was the oracle asked about important choices across the ancient world.

The Omphalos stone marked the centre of the world in Greek belief. By sea, Greece tours leave Piraeus for the Saronic islands. Aegina, 27 km from Athens, is known for the temple of Aphaia and its pistachios. Hydra has no wheeled vehicles.

Horses, mules, donkeys and water taxis carry people there. Poros lies across a 200-metre channel from the town of Galatas on the mainland.

• Sounion: Herodotus writes of an Athenian festival held at the cape every four years. People reached it in a sacred boat.
• Hydra: The houses of sea captains ring the crescent-shaped harbour of the main town.
• Poros: A bridge joins Sphaeria, where the town stands, to the larger island of Kalaureia.

Each of these Greece tours starts and ends in Athens. The mainland routes pass the Corinth Canal. Then they reach the walls of Mycenae and the 4th-century BC theatre at Epidaurus. The island routes add harbours, Aegina’s pistachio crop and the car-free streets of Hydra.

Sounion links the coast road to a temple from the Golden Age of Athens. Taken together, these Greece tours span sites from the second millennium BC to the first capital of the modern Greek state.

What do Greece tours of the Acropolis and Athens show?

Greece tours of the Acropolis and Athens show the Parthenon, Erechtheion, Propylaea and Temple of Athena Nike on the rock. You can also see finds in the Acropolis Museum and the Ancient Agora with the Temple of Hephaestus. Don’t miss the old streets of Plaka and the marble Panathenaic Stadium.

Greece tours in the capital start on the Acropolis. This is an ancient fort on a flat-topped rock that rises 150 m above sea level. Pericles led the main building work in the 5th century BC.

The Parthenon, a former temple of the goddess Athena, was started in 447 BC and finished in 438 BC. Phidias was in charge overall, and Ictinos and Callicrates were the architects.

Its gable ends carry eight columns instead of the six found on standard Doric temples. Greece tours also tell of the explosion of 1687. This was when a Venetian bomb hit gunpowder stored inside the temple.

Greece tours enter the hilltop through the Propylaea. This is the ceremonial gate built between 437 and 432 BC by Mnesikles. He also designed the Erechtheion and left it unfinished.

To the right of the entrance, on a steep bastion at the southwest corner, stands the Temple of Athena Nike. It is the smallest temple on the Acropolis. It was built around 420 BC. It is the earliest fully Ionic temple there.

On the north side, the Ionic Erechtheion honoured Athena. Its Porch of the Maidens uses six sculpted female figures as supports, all facing south. Greece tours stop on that side to see them.

Greece tours then visit the Acropolis Museum. It was built to house every object found on the rock and its slopes. It opened on 20 June 2009. It shows more than 4,250 objects across 14,000 square metres. Bernard Tschumi designed it with Michael Photiadis.

In the Parthenon hall, glass walls let daylight fall on the Parthenon marbles. The columns keep the spacing of the ancient temple. The north side looks up to the temple itself. The building also stands over ruins of Roman and early Byzantine Athens.

Greece tours continue to the Ancient Agora, northwest of the Acropolis. It was first used as a commercial, assembly or living gathering place.

Greece tours of the Agora climb Agoraios Kolonos, also called Market Hill, to the Temple of Hephaestus. This Doric temple still stands largely intact. It served as the Greek Orthodox church of Saint George Akamates from the 7th century until 1834.

That long use kept it in good shape. On the east side is the Stoa of Attalos. It was a 2nd-century BC hall of shops. After its rebuild, it now houses the Museum of the Ancient Agora. From there, Greece tours pass into Plaka.

This is the old neighbourhood on the northern and eastern slopes of the Acropolis. It is known for twisty streets and neoclassical houses.

• Odeon of Herodes Atticus: The Roman Herodes Atticus built this odeon on the south slope in 161 AD.
• Theatre of Dionysus: Its remains lie south of the platform that forms the top of the Acropolis.
• Anafiotika: Settlers from the Aegean island of Anafi built this part of Plaka in Cycladic style.

Greece tours of Athens end at the Panathenaic Stadium. This is the only stadium in the world built entirely of marble. Lykourgos built a stadium on the site around 330 BC for the Panathenaic Games.

Herodes Atticus rebuilt it in marble by 144 AD, with 50,000 seats. It hosted the opening and closing ceremonies of the first modern Olympics in 1896. Today it is the finishing point of the Athens Classic Marathon. It also hosts the Olympic flame handover.

How do Greece tours explore Delphi?

Greece tours explore Delphi on foot, from the Sacred Way up to the Temple of Apollo, the theatre and the stadium. The visit then continues to the Tholos at the sanctuary of Athena Pronaia, the museum with the Charioteer, and the slopes of Mount Parnassus.

Delphi was an ancient sacred spot in central Greece. It was the seat of the Pythia, the oracle asked about important choices across the classical world. The ancient Greeks placed the centre of the world at Delphi.

They marked it with a stone called the omphalos, the Greek word for navel. The spot lies on the southwestern slope of Mount Parnassus. It has been part of Parnassos National Park since 1938. Greece tours point to its UNESCO World Heritage listing.

This rests on the monuments that city-states from across the Greek world built there. Greece tours treat Delphi as the religious heart of ancient Greece.

The Pythia was the title of the high priestess of the Temple of Apollo. She served as the Oracle of Delphi. Ancient stories place her on a tripod seat over an opening in the earth. This was inside a closed inner room called the adyton.

Priests turned her words into hexameter verse. The oracle answered questions until the late 4th century AD. This was when the emperor Theodosius I destroyed the temple. The ruins that Greece tours reach today belong to a Doric temple of the 4th century BC.

Greece tours also cite the maxims “Know thyself” and “Nothing in excess”. Ancient writers place these on its porch.

Greece tours climb the Sacred Way from the entrance towards the temple. They pass votive statues and treasuries. City-states built these treasuries for their offerings to Apollo. The restored Athenian Treasury marks the victory at Marathon in 490 BC. Above the temple stands the theatre.

It was first built in the 4th century BC. It has a view over the whole sanctuary and the valley below. It held about 4,500 people. Higher up lies the stadium. It was built in the 5th century BC.

It has seats for 6,500 people and a track 177 metres long and 25.5 metres wide. Greece tours end the uphill walk at this stadium.

Greece tours then walk to the Tholos at the sanctuary of Athena Pronaia. This is about 800 metres from the main ruins. Builders raised this round building between 380 and 360 BC. It has 20 Doric columns outside and 10 Corinthian columns inside.

Three of its Doric columns have been fixed up. The Delphi Archaeological Museum shows the finds of the sanctuary in fourteen rooms on two levels. These include the Sphinx of Naxos and the frieze of the Siphnian Treasury.

The Charioteer is a bronze statue from around 470 BC. It stands 1.8 metres tall, with inlaid glass eyes. Greece tours end the museum visit in its own hall.

• Castalian Spring: The sacred spring of Delphi lies in the ravine of the Phaedriades.
• Mount Parnassus: The range rises to 2,457 metres at its highest peak, Liakoura.
• Arachova: The resorts of Arachova serve skiers on the Parnassus range in winter.

Ancient Greeks held Mount Parnassus sacred to Apollo and Dionysus. They saw it as the home of the Muses. Hikers use its trails in the three warm seasons. In winter its slopes hold the largest ski centre in Greece.

Greece tours pair the sanctuary with this mountain setting. The Charioteer survived because the debris of an earthquake in 373 BC buried it. Diggers found it in 1896. Greece tours finish at the modern town of Delphi. This stands next to the ancient spot.

Why do Greece tours include Meteora?

Greece tours include Meteora because six monasteries survive on top of sandstone and conglomerate rock pillars above Kalabaka in Thessaly. UNESCO added the complex to the World Heritage List in 1988, and four of the monasteries remain in active use and open to visitors.

Meteora is a rock formation in the Trikala regional unit of Thessaly. It sits between the town of Kalabaka and the village of Kastraki. The site lies at the northwestern edge of the Plain of Thessaly, near the Pineios river and the Pindus Mountains. The name means “lofty” or “elevated”.

Locals rank its monasteries second in importance only to Mount Athos. Greece tours that cross the mainland reach Meteora by road or by rail. Kalabaka station is the end of the line from Palaiofarsalos. Greece tours use Kalabaka, at the foot of the massif, as their base in the area.

The pillars are not volcanic plugs. They consist of sandstone and conglomerate. These are built from stone, sand and mud that streams carried into a delta at the edge of a lake over millions of years.

About 60 million years ago, earth movements pushed the seabed upward. This created a high plateau and opened vertical fault lines through the thick sandstone.

Water, wind and extremes of temperature then wore the rock down along those faults and left the tall pillars. An earthquake of magnitude 7 shook the rocks in 1954, yet the thin pillars still stand. Greece tours explain this geology before the monastery visits.

Hermit monks moved up to the pinnacles in the 800s CE. They lived in hollows and fissures in the rock, at heights of up to 550 metres above the plain.

Monasteries followed in the 1300s, when the monks looked for a place to hide from a growing number of Turkish attacks. In 1344 Athanasios, a monk from Mount Athos, brought followers to Meteora and later founded the Great Meteoron on the Broad Rock.

Access relied on removable ladders, ropes and large nets that hauled up goods and people. Steps cut into the rock in the 1920s made the climb simpler. Greece tours retell this story at each monastery.

At their peak in the 16th century, 24 monasteries stood on the rocks. Greece tours visit the four that remain in active use and open to visitors. The Great Meteoron, established in 1356, is the oldest and largest, and its first church is dedicated to the Transfiguration.

Varlaam is the second largest, and its museum holds relics and church treasures. Holy Trinity served as a filming location for the James Bond film For Your Eyes Only. Saint Stephen became a convent run by nuns in 1961. Saint Nicholas Anapausas and Rousanou still stand but no longer serve as active monasteries.

• Rousanou: The monastery stands 484 metres above sea level, with views over the other monasteries.
• Varlaam: The monastery rises above a 373-metre cliff, where pilgrims once went up in a net.
• Saint Nicholas Anapausas: This monastery on a narrow rock is the first that pilgrims meet on the way.

UNESCO listed the six surviving monasteries in 1988. This was for their architecture together with their religious and cultural significance. Meteora also draws hikers, trail runners, mountain bikers and rock climbers, and Greece tours add these trails to the visit.

The name Kalabaka is of Turkish origin and means “powerful fortress”. In the Byzantine era the town carried the name Stagoi. Greece tours pass its cathedral, the Church of the Dormition, the only medieval monument left in the town.

Which Greece tours cover the Peloponnese?

Greece tours that cover the Peloponnese link Mycenae and its Lion Gate. They also go to the theatre of Epidaurus, Nafplio with the Palamidi fortress, Ancient Olympia, Byzantine Mystras and the island town of Monemvasia. Mycenae, Epidaurus and Mystras appear on the UNESCO World Heritage List.

Mycenae sits on a hill 274 metres above sea level in Argolis. It is about 120 kilometres south-west of Athens. Greece tours open the Peloponnese at this site, which gave its name to the Mycenaean period, from about 1600 BC to about 1100 BC. At its peak in 1350 BC, the citadel and lower town held a population of 30,000.

The Lion Gate was the main entrance through the circuit wall. It was built as a relieving triangle to support the weight of the stones. Heinrich Schliemann began excavations in 1876 and found a gold death mask that he labelled the Mask of Agamemnon.

The Ancient Theatre of Epidaurus stands at the southeast end of the sanctuary of Asclepius, the ancient Greek god of medicine. The architect Polykleitos the Younger designed it in the late 4th century BC.

The original 34 rows were extended in Roman times by another 21 rows, and the theatre seats up to 14,000 people. Greece tours stop here for the acoustics.

The rows of limestone seats filter out low-frequency sounds, such as the murmur of the crowd. They also amplify the high-frequency sounds of the stage. The Epidaurus Festival still presents ancient drama in the theatre during the summer months.

Nafplio, on the Argolic Gulf, served as the first official capital of the modern Greek state from 1827 to 1834. Ioannis Kapodistrias, the first head of state, made it the official capital in 1829. He was assassinated on the steps of the church of Saint Spyridon in 1831.

Greece tours climb from the old town to the Palamidi fortress on the crest of a 216-metre hill. The Venetians finished this baroque fortress between 1711 and 1714. Its Miltiades bastion served as a prison and held Theodoros Kolokotronis, hero of the Greek Revolution. The Bourtzi fortification sits in the middle of the harbour.

Ancient Olympia, in the valley of the Alfeios River, is the western stop of Greece tours in the Peloponnese. The sanctuary hosted the ancient Olympic Games every four years, and tradition dates the first games to 776 BC.

The sacred precinct, the Altis, was dedicated to Zeus. His temple held a gold and ivory statue by Pheidias, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World.

The length of the stadium field became the standard stadion, an ancient Greek unit of distance. Greece tours also show the Temple of Hera. In front of it, the Olympic flame of the modern Games is lit with sunlight reflected in a parabolic mirror.

• Mystras: Greece tours climb this Byzantine town on the Taygetus range, once capital of the Despotate of the Morea.
• Sparta: Greece tours reach Mystras via modern Sparta, about eight kilometres to the east.
• Monemvasia: Greece tours cross a 400-metre tombolo to reach this tied island off the east coast.
• Treasury of Atreus: Greece tours at Mycenae show the largest of the nine tholos tombs.

Mystras and Monemvasia close the southern loop of the Greece tours that cover the Peloponnese. UNESCO listed Mystras in 1989 as a well-preserved Byzantine city. The last Byzantine emperor, Constantine XI Palaiologos, served as despot there, and nuns still live in the Pantanassa Monastery.

Monemvasia was founded in the 6th century. The Italian form of its name, Malvasia, passed to a wine. Its upper town keeps the church of Hagia Sophia near the edge of the cliff.

What Greece tours explore Thessaloniki and the north?

Greece tours of the north start in Thessaloniki. It is home of the White Tower and 15 Paleochristian and Byzantine monuments on the UNESCO list. The Rotunda is among them. Routes then reach the royal tombs of Aigai at Vergina, Mount Olympus, the highest mountain in Greece, and Pella.

Thessaloniki, on the Thermaic Gulf, is the second-largest city in Greece. Cassander of Macedon founded it in 315 BC and named it after his wife Thessalonike. She was a half-sister of Alexander the Great. Greece tours in the north start on the waterfront at the White Tower, the symbol of the city.

The Ottomans built the tower after Sultan Murad II captured the city in 1430. It is a cylindrical drum 23 metres wide and 34 metres high. It was once a prison known as the Red Tower. It took its present name in 1890. A convict whitewashed it in exchange for his freedom.

In 1988 UNESCO listed fifteen Paleochristian and Byzantine monuments of Thessaloniki, more than in any other city in Greece. The list runs from the 4th-century Rotunda of Saint George and the 5th-century Church of the Acheiropoietos to the 14th-century Byzantine Bath.

Emperor Galerius made the city the capital of his portion of the Roman Empire. He commissioned a palace, a hippodrome, a triumphal arch and a mausoleum.

Greece tours follow these buildings because they shaped Byzantine art and architecture across the Byzantine Empire and Serbia. The Church of St. Demetrios honours the patron saint of the city.

Greece tours from Thessaloniki also reach Aigai, the original capital of Macedon. It lies in the foothills of the Pierian Mountains between the modern towns of Vergina and Palatitsia.

Philip II was assassinated in its theatre, and his son Alexander the Great was proclaimed king on the spot. In 1977 Manolis Andronikos began to dig the Great Tumulus and found two of its four tombs undisturbed since antiquity.

Tomb II has been shown to be that of Philip II, and the finds include the Golden Larnax with the Vergina Sun. UNESCO listed the site in 1996. Its palace is the largest building of classical Greece.

Mount Olympus rises about 80 kilometres southwest of Thessaloniki. The massif has 52 peaks, and its highest, Mytikas, reaches 2,917 metres, the highest peak in Greece. In Greek mythology the mountain is the home of the gods.

It became the first National Park in Greece in 1938. UNESCO later added the wider area to its World Heritage List as a mixed site. Greece tours to the mountain start from Litochoro on the eastern foothills. The first ascent of Mytikas came on 2 August 1913, by Frédéric Boissonnas, Daniel Baud-Bovy and the local hunter Christos Kakkalos.

• Pella: Greece tours visit the birthplace of Philip II and Alexander the Great.
• Mosaics: Pella floors show a lion hunt and Dionysus riding a panther.
• Dion: This sacred city of the Macedonians, dedicated to Zeus, forms an archaeological park of 200 hectares.
• Ano Poli: Greece tours walk the stone-paved Upper Town, which escaped the great fire of 1917.

Pella became the capital of Macedon at the beginning of the 4th century BC. It held that role until the Roman conquest in 168 BC. Thessaloniki was later built 40 kilometres to its southeast. The agora of Pella covered about 7 hectares, or ten city blocks.

The city was one of the first known to pipe water to individual houses. The Archaeological Museum of Pella displays the finds, so Greece tours of the north close the Macedonian story here.

What Greece tours run on Santorini?

Greece tours on Santorini cover the caldera left by the Minoan eruption. You can see the cliff-top towns of Fira and Oia and the Bronze Age site of Akrotiri. Boats also reach the volcanic islets of Nea Kameni and Palea Kameni. Don’t miss the red and black lava beaches and the island’s old vineyards.

Santorini lies in the southern Aegean, about 200 km southeast of the mainland. It is the largest island of a small, circular archipelago formed by the Santorini caldera. The Minoan eruption struck about 3,600 years ago, at the height of the Minoan civilization. It left a large basin filled with seawater.

Greece tours that sail inside the caldera follow an inner coast that drops more than 300 m at its highest. Layers of solidified lava show on this wall, and Greece tours by boat pass below it.

Fira, the modern capital, is a town of whitewashed houses on the edge of the 400 m high caldera. From the port below, visitors climb a zigzag footpath or ride a steep cable car. Oia sits 11 km from Fira on the northwest edge of the island. It stretches for almost two kilometres along the caldera rim.

Its cave houses are carved into the rock face, and crowds fill the town each evening to watch the sunset. Greece tours that cross the island link both towns in one route.

The Bronze Age town of Akrotiri, a regular stop on Greece tours, takes its name from a nearby village. Ash from the eruption buried it in the 16th century BC and preserved its frescoes. Digs have found pottery, furniture, drains and three-storey buildings. Spyridon Marinatos began the modern excavation in 1967.

No uninterred human skeletons have come to light, a sign of an orderly evacuation before the blast. Greece tours pair the ruins with the Museum of Prehistoric Thera in Fira, where finds from the site are on show.

Nea Kameni, an uninhabited islet in the centre of the caldera, grew from repeated eruptions of dacite lava and ash. Its last small eruption came in 1950. Tour boats leave from Skala, the old port below Fira, and dozens land on the islet each summer day.

A gravel path climbs to the rim of a 130 m crater, where steam and carbon dioxide still escape. Palea Kameni, to the southwest, holds a hot spring. Visitors swim across to it from Nea Kameni on Greece tours by boat.

• Red Beach: The colour of its sand and pebbles comes from the layer of solidified lava exposed on that stretch of shore.
• Black Beach: Dark lava soaks up heat, so the sea at this beach stays warmer than at pale shores.
• Assyrtiko: Greece tours visit vineyards of this native grape, grown on old vines trained into low baskets that shield the fruit from wind.
• Vinsanto: This sweet dessert wine is made from sun-dried Assyrtiko, Athiri and Aidani grapes and aged in barrels.

Santorini draws an estimated 2 million tourists a year, and tourism is its primary industry. Viticulture remains the leading branch of local farming, and the “Santorini” and “Vinsanto” designations of origin protect the island’s wines.

Greece tours that combine the caldera, Akrotiri and a winery show how one volcano shaped the land, the towns and the wine. The same volcanic arc includes Methana, Milos and Kos, so Greece tours can trace it from Santorini to the island this site covers.

Which Greece tours start from Mykonos and reach Delos?

Greece tours from Mykonos cross 2 km of sea to Delos. Delos is the mythical birthplace of Apollo and Artemis and a UNESCO World Heritage site. You can see the Terrace of the Lions on the Sacred Way. Then return to Mykonos town, Little Venice and the Kato Mili windmills.

Delos is a small island near Mykonos, close to the centre of the Cyclades. It covers only 3.43 square kilometres. It served as a holy sanctuary for a millennium before Olympian myth made it the birthplace of the twins Apollo and Artemis. By the time of the Odyssey, the island was already famous for this story.

Between 900 BC and 100 AD, it was a major cult centre where Dionysus and Leto, mother of the twins, were worshipped. Greece tours to Delos start from this myth.

Athens ran purifications to make the island fit for worship. In the 6th century BC, the tyrant Pisistratus had all graves within sight of the temple dug up. He had the bodies moved to a nearby island. A later decree banned burials and births on the sacred island, so no one gained land there through inheritance.

After the Persian Wars, the Delian League met here and kept its common treasury on the island until 454 BC. That is when Pericles moved it to Athens. Greece tours tell this story at the sanctuary.

The people of Naxos dedicated the Terrace of the Lions to Apollo shortly before 600 BC. The terrace first held 9 to 12 squatting marble lions along the Sacred Way, and only seven of the originals remain today. One lion now stands over the main gate of the Venetian Arsenal.

Other ruins include the Temple of the Delians in the Doric order. You can also see the House of the Dolphins with its atrium mosaic and a marble theatre. Greece tours on Delos walk the Sacred Way to reach the lions.

UNESCO added Delos to the World Heritage List in 1990. The listing cites its picture of a cosmopolitan Mediterranean port, its influence on Greek architecture and its sacred role across ancient Greece. The French School of Archaeology began work on Delos in 1873, and the digs rank among the widest in the Mediterranean.

Finds sit in the Archaeological Museum of Delos and the National Archaeological Museum of Athens. The 2011 count found only 24 inhabitants, and the island belongs to the municipality of Mykonos, the base for Greece tours.

• Mykonos town: Also called Chora, the main town lies on the west coast and holds the majority of the 10,704 islanders counted in 2021.
• Little Venice: Greece tours of the town pass rows of fishing houses, the first built in the mid-18th century, with balconies over the sea.
• Kato Mili: The Venetians built these windmills in the 16th century to mill flour, and they stayed in use until the early 20th century.
• Tour boats: Greece tours leave from Mykonos, where boats run regularly to Delos.

Mykonos covers 85.5 square kilometres and rises to 341 metres. It lies 150 km east of Athens. Its nickname, “The Island of the Winds”, comes from the strong winds that blow across it. These are the same northern winds that the Kato Mili windmills harnessed.

In antiquity, Delos made Mykonos a supply and transit stop, and Greece tours still join the two islands. Crowds gather in Little Venice to watch the sunset, a closing point for Greece tours of the town.

What Greece tours explore Crete?

Greece tours that explore Crete show you the best of the biggest island in Greece. You can see the Minoan palace at Knossos and the museum in Heraklion. You can also hike the Samaria Gorge and visit the old harbour in Chania. Don’t miss the amazing beaches at Balos and Elafonisi.

If you love history, Greece tours in Crete start at Knossos. It is about 5 kilometers south of the center of Heraklion. People lived on Kephala hill as far back as 7000 BC. Knossos became the main city of the Minoan people.

This was the first civilization in Europe. The first palace was built around 1900 BC. A big disaster happened around 1700 BC, so they rebuilt it. Arthur Evans started digging there in 1900. He used concrete to fix parts of the palace and added color.

Greek myths say King Minos, Theseus, and the Minotaur lived here. The palace design is known as the Labyrinth.

Expert-led Greece tours take you from the palace to the Heraklion Archaeological Museum. The museum is in the town center. It holds most of the treasures found at Knossos and other spots on the island. The collection covers more than 5,500 years of history.

It goes from the Neolithic time to the Roman era. You can see wall paintings, pots, and stone cups. There are also thousands of Linear B tablets. The museum started in 1883. Patroklos Karantinos designed the building you see today.

His design won a Bauhaus award. On Greece tours, seeing the museum helps you understand the ruins at Knossos.

Greece tours for people who like to walk go to the Samaria Gorge. It is in the southwest of Crete in the Chania area. A small river cut the gorge between the White Mountains and Mount Volakias. The gorge is 16 kilometers long.

It starts high up at 1,250 meters. It ends at the Libyan Sea at Agia Roumeli. At a spot called the Gates, the walls get very close. They are only 4 meters wide and rise almost 300 meters.

This area became a national park in 1962. It protects the kri-kri, which is a wild Cretan goat. From Agia Roumeli, Greece tours take a boat to Sougia or Hora Sfakion.

In the west, Greece tours use Chania as a base. It is about 145 kilometers west of Heraklion. The old town is next to the old harbour. It grew around a hill called Kasteli. People lived there since Neolithic times.

Venetian settlers built the modern city here in 1252. They started building the fortifications in 1538. You can still see parts of the old Venetian wall. On the harbour, there is the Yali Mosque from the Ottoman time.

There is also the Chania Lighthouse, built in 1864. Narrow lanes lead from the sea to a small fishing harbour.

• Balos: Greece tours go to the Balos lagoon. It is between Gramvousa island and the coast of northwest Crete.
• Elafonisi: This protected island off southwest Crete is famous for its pink sand.
• White Mountains: The range has 30 peaks over 2,000 meters. It contains the Samaria Gorge.

Crete is the largest island in Greece. It is also the fifth largest in the Mediterranean Sea. It covers 8,450 square kilometers and has 1,046 kilometers of coast. The island is 260 kilometers wide from west to east.

Because it is so big, Greece tours split their time between Heraklion and Chania. Both cities have airports for international flights. This means Greece tours can land in one city and fly home from the other.

Which Greece tours visit Rhodes and Corfu?

Greece tours that visit Rhodes and Corfu go to two different island groups. Rhodes is in the Dodecanese in the southeast. Corfu is in the Ionian Islands in the west. Rhodes has the medieval city of the Knights and Lindos. Corfu has a UNESCO old town, fortresses, and the Achilleion palace.

Rhodes is the biggest of the Dodecanese islands. The Knights of Saint John ruled it from 1310 to 1522. That is why it is called the Island of the Knights. Greece tours start in the Medieval City of Rhodes.

It was built between 1309 and 1523. UNESCO listed it in 1988. A wall 4 kilometers long surrounds the city. Inside, Greece tours visit the Palace of the Grand Master. It was a Byzantine fort from the late 7th century.

The Knights made it their home. A blast in 1856 destroyed much of it. It was rebuilt between 1937 and 1940. Today it is a museum.

Greece tours on the east coast go to Lindos. It is about 40 kilometers south of the city of Rhodes. The acropolis there is a natural fort. Greeks, Romans, Byzantines, Knights, and Ottomans all used it.

The Doric Temple of Athena Lindia is from about 300 BC. A Hellenistic stoa there was 87 meters long with 42 columns. Lindos was also the home of Chares. He sculpted the Colossus of Rhodes, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World.

His statue of the sun god Helios went up in 280 BC. It stood about 33 meters high. An earthquake knocked it down in 226 BC.

On the other side of Greece, tours go to Corfu. It is one of the Ionian Islands in western Greece. Venetian nobles ruled the city from 1386 to 1797. The old town still has tall buildings on narrow streets from that time.

UNESCO listed the old town in 2007. The city survived four sieges in 1537, 1571, 1573, and 1716. Its Venetian walls helped a lot. Two castles surround the capital. It is the only city in Greece surrounded like this. The government calls it a kastropolis, or castle city.

Greece tours on Corfu also visit the Achilleion at Gastouri. This village is about ten kilometers south of the city. Empress Elisabeth of Austria built the palace. She wanted a summer home after her son, Crown Prince Rudolf, died in 1889.

Italian architect Raffaele Caritto designed it. It looks like an ancient palace from the myth of Phaeacia. The theme is the hero Achilles. Ernst Herter’s sculpture Dying Achilles is in the gardens. German Kaiser Wilhelm II bought the palace in 1907.

He added a bronze Achilles by Johannes Götz. It faces north toward the city. The building is a museum now.

• Old Fortress: Greece tours enter the Palaio Frourio. It is a Venetian fortress on an artificial island with walls all around.
• New Fortress: The British built the Neo Frourio. It is a big fort complex in the northeast of the city.
• Spianada: The main square is between the town and the citadel. The Liston arcade is on its west side.

Rhodes and Corfu are far apart, so Greece tours treat them as separate stops. Each island has a different history of rulers. Rhodes passed from the Knights to the Ottomans in 1522. It joined Greece in 1948 after Italian rule.

Corfu was under British rule in 1815. It joined Greece in 1864. On both islands, Greece tours focus on an old town listed by UNESCO.

Do Greece tours include Milos?

Greece tours that cover the Cyclades can include Milos. It is at the southwest edge of the group. The island has a volcanic coast and sea caves at Kleftiko. You can see white rock at Sarakiniko and villages like Plaka and Klima. The ancient catacombs make a full island program.

Milos is a volcanic Greek island in the Aegean Sea. It is just north of the Sea of Crete. It lies in the southwestern Cyclades, roughly midway between Piraeus and Crete. Volcanic activity on the island began 2 to 3 million years ago.

The last eruption was 90,000 years ago. Tuff, trachyte, and obsidian are common rocks here. The natural harbor fills the hollow of the main crater. On Greece tours that add Milos, this geology shapes almost every stop.

Kleftiko is on the south coast. It is also called “Thalassina Meteora”. It is a group of grey and white rocks with strange shapes. Wind and sea carved caves and pits in the rock over centuries. Pirates used to hide here.

The name comes from that time. You can only get there by boat or sailboat. So, Greece tours that stop on the island pair it with Milos boat tours along the coast.

Greece tours reach Sarakiniko on the north shore of Milos. North winds and waves shaped its greyish-white rock. People compare it to a moonscape. Locals call the landscape Lunar. A small beach with thin white sand sits between the rocks.

There are a couple of trees for shade. On the dry east side, there is a shipwreck. It is the ship called Africa, which crashed there in 2003. For Greece tours, Sarakiniko shows clearly how wind and waves wear down volcanic stone.

Plaka is the main town. It sits on top of a big rock above the gulf of Milos. Cars cannot enter its narrow lanes. On the coast, the village of Klima has syrmata. These are two-story fishermen’s houses. The family lives upstairs.

The boat is stored below in winter. The doors and windows are painted bright colors. The catacombs of Milos are near Trypiti. They are an underground Christian cemetery from the 1st to 5th century AD.

Greece tours with a history focus visit both places on the same route.

• Venus de Milo: A Greek farmer found the marble statue near Klima in 1820. The Louvre in Paris has displayed it since 1821.
• By sea: Boats leave from the port of Piraeus. They go direct or via Kythnos, Serifos, Sifnos and sometimes Kimolos.
• By air: Flights for Greece tours run from Athens International Airport to Milos Island National Airport. The airport is 5 kilometers southeast of the harbor.
• Summer links: In summer, boats connect Milos with Syros, Paros, Naxos, Santorini, Crete and Rhodes. This helps island-based Greece tours.

Milos also adds a geology theme to Greece tours. People traded obsidian from the island 15,000 years ago. Bentonite and perlite are still mined there today. There are over 70 beaches along the coast. The hot springs were known in ancient times. Hippocrates mentioned them.

A full profile of Milos Greece covers its villages, beaches and museums in more depth for Greece tours that plan a stop.

Which Greece tours focus on food and wine?

Greece tours that focus on food and wine follow the Mediterranean triad of wheat, olive oil and wine. Their themes include Kalamata olives, feta cheese, Assyrtiko from Santorini, red wine from Nemea, ouzo and tsipouro, and the plant-based diet of Crete.

Greek food is based on wheat, olive oil, and wine. This is the same as other Mediterranean countries. Olive oil is the oldest and most important ingredient. It goes into most dishes. Vegetables, grains, fish, cheese, herbs, lemon juice, and yogurt fill the table.

The food keeps Ancient Greek and Byzantine traditions. It also has Middle Eastern, Balkan, and Italian influences. The first Greek cookbook was printed on the island of Syros in 1828. Food-based Greece tours start from this shared base.

The Mediterranean diet is a concept first proposed in 1975 by Ancel Keys and Margaret Keys. It drew on the eating habits of Greece, Italy and the Mediterranean coasts of France and Spain in the late 1950s and early 1960s.

Early data came from studies in southern Italy and Crete. The diet centres on vegetables, legumes, fruit and unprocessed cereals, with olive oil as the main fat. In 2010, UNESCO listed it as Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. Greece tours on this theme trace those roots through daily meals.

The Kalamata olive is a large, dark purple olive. It is named after the city of Kalamata in the southern Peloponnese. Greece tours on food meet it in its home region of Messenia and Laconia.

The fruit cannot be harvested green and is picked by hand to avoid bruising. In the EU, the name holds PDO status and covers only olives from the area around Kalamata.

Feta, a white brined cheese of sheep’s milk or a mix with up to 30% goat milk, has held PDO status since 2002.

Greece is one of the oldest wine regions in the world. There is proof of wine from 6,500 years ago. On Santorini, the white grape Assyrtiko grows in arid soil rich in volcanic ash. Growers train the vines low in basket shapes called kouloura.

This protects the grapes from strong wind and sun. The grape keeps its acidity even when very ripe. Near Corinth, Nemea is the leading red wine appellation of southern Greece, based on the red Agiorgitiko grape. Wine-focused Greece tours visit both regions.

• Ouzo: This dry anise-flavoured aperitif turns cloudy white with water, and Greece tours pair it with mezes such as small fish, olives and feta.
• Tsipouro: This un-aged brandy from grape pomace holds 40 to 45% alcohol and traces back to 14th-century monks on Mount Athos.
• Protected names: The EU recognises ouzo, tsipouro and tsikoudia as Greek spirit drinks with a protected Geographical Indication.
• Milos: Pitarakia, small half-moon pies of mizithra cheese, link Greece tours on food to the island of Milos.

The Cretan diet stayed widespread on Crete until the 1960s and gives Greece tours a clear model of Mediterranean eating. Fruit, pulses, wild herbs and rough cereals formed its core, and olive oil was the main fat.

Fish and poultry appeared weekly, red meat only a handful of times each month, and red wine came with meals in moderate amounts. Dakos, a barley rusk topped with tomato, cheese, oregano and olive oil, is a traditional Cretan dish.

When is the best season for Greece tours?

Greece tours run all year, but the season shapes the trip. The climate is Mediterranean, with hot, dry summers and mild to cool, wet winters. Spring and autumn suit walking and sightseeing, summer suits the sea, and winter suits the snowy mainland mountains.

The climate of Greece is mainly Mediterranean, of the Köppen type Csa. This type covers Athens, the Cyclades, the Dodecanese, Crete, the Peloponnese and the Ionian Islands. In summer the weather stays sunny and dry, and rain comes only as showers or thunderstorms.

Days are hot and nights stay warm. Athens has been called the hottest city in mainland Europe, and it was the first city in Europe to appoint a chief heat officer. On the coast, the cooler sea and the sea breeze soften heatwaves.

Greece tours in high summer meet this heat in full. Winters are wet, and the west of the country receives more rain than the east.

The meltemi, also known as the etesian wind, shapes summer travel in the Aegean. It is a strong, dry north wind that blows between late spring and early autumn, with its highest frequency in July and August.

The wind is strongest in the afternoon and tends to drop at night, yet at times it blows for days without a break. At force 7–8 on the Beaufort scale, yachts and inter-island ferries stay in port.

Island Greece tours in high summer need a spare day for this reason. The same wind keeps temperatures in the Aegean lower than in the Ionian Sea or on the mainland.

In the Aegean, the top 40–50 metres of sea water reach 19–24 °C in summer. In winter the same layer cools to 8 °C in the north and 13 °C in the far south. Beach-focused Greece tours therefore fit the summer months.

Spring and autumn suit walking and sightseeing better, because the summer heat and the meltemi peak have passed or not yet arrived. Spring reaches the Peloponnese in April, while the north and the higher ground warm up only in June or even July.

The Greek National Tourist Office names the period from late spring to early October as ideal for hiking. The E4 is a long-distance path that crosses Greece.

About 97% of Greek citizens identify as Eastern Orthodox, so Easter follows the Orthodox calendar. Its date moves each year, never earlier than 4 April, and in the majority of years it differs from the Western date.

Good Friday, Holy Saturday, Easter Sunday and Easter Monday are public holidays. On Holy Saturday a midnight Divine Liturgy ends the 40 days of Great Lent. Magiritsa, a soup made from lamb offal, is eaten straight after the service.

The next day brings roast lamb, tsoureki sweet bread and eggs dyed red. Greece tours at Easter meet public holidays and closed offices. Further national holidays fall on 25 March, 15 August and 25 December.

• Sunshine: South Crete gets more than 3,250 hours of sun a year. The mountains of Epirus get less than 1,600 hours.
• Festivals: The Patras Carnival, the Athens Festival and local wine festivals add more dates to the calendar of Greece tours.
• Record heat: Tatoi and Elefsina share the national record of 48.0 °C.

Winter Greece tours turn to the mainland mountains. The higher parts of Epirus, Thessaly, Western Macedonia, Central Greece and the central Peloponnese have an Alpine climate with heavy snow in winter.

Snow falls in the mountains and the north every year, and in the high areas it starts in November. The main ski areas are Arachova, Kalavryta, Karpenisi and Metsovo.

Parnassos Ski Centre, on Mount Parnassus, has 19 runs with a total length of 36 km and lies 180 km from Athens. In parts of the Dodecanese, winter averages rise above 15 °C.

What else do people ask about Greece tours?

Greece tours raise practical questions about heritage, islands, money and ferries. Greece has 21 UNESCO World Heritage properties and between 166 and 227 inhabited islands. Its currency is the euro, and it is in the Schengen Area. Piraeus, the port of Athens, is the main ferry hub.

Which UNESCO World Heritage Sites can Greece tours include?

Greece has 21 properties on the UNESCO World Heritage List. Eighteen are cultural sites. Three are mixed, listed for both natural and cultural value: Meteora, Mount Athos and Mount Olympus. The first Greek entry was the Temple of Apollo Epicurius at Bassae. Another 11 sites sit on the tentative list. Greece tours focused on ancient history can link these sites.

How large is the choice of islands for Greece tours?

Estimates range from around 1,200 to 6,000 islands, depending on the minimum size counted. Between 166 and 227 of them are inhabited. Crete is the largest by area and population. Greece tours to the islands work with six traditional groups. They are the Saronic Islands, the Cyclades, the North Aegean islands, the Dodecanese, the Sporades and the Ionian Islands.

Which currency and border rules apply on Greece tours?

Greece uses the euro, which replaced the Greek drachma. The country is part of the Schengen Area, a zone of 29 European countries without border controls at their common borders. Nationals of certain countries can enter without a visa for up to 90 days within a 180-day period. Greece tours into another Schengen country face no internal border checks.

Which port serves as the ferry hub for Greece tours?

The Port of Piraeus is the chief sea port of Athens and the largest port in Greece. It is the largest passenger port in Europe, with 2.8 km of quays. Its central port serves ferry routes to the Cyclades, the Dodecanese, Crete and much of the northern and eastern Aegean. Island Greece tours from Athens can sail from here.