With 166 inhabited islands, a history spanning millennia of civilisation, distinctive, rustic cuisine often enjoyed al fresco with taverna-views out over the sea, as well as some of the most spectacular beaches in Europe, Greece offers a fantastic holiday for all tastes and budgets. Sum of an extraordinary diversity of parts, Greece has played host to countless empires, and the country today is fair littered with Roman ruins and Byzantine churches, Venetian fortresses and Frankish castles, while its music, food and even language are hugely influence by the Ottoman Empire’s 400-year rule. Scattered far and wide across the Aegean and Ionian Seas, the difficulty with Greece is in deciding which bit to choose. From the rugged hillsides of Crete to the long, wide beaches of Kefalonia, from the dramatic coastline of the Peloponnese to the ancient villages and tiny islands of the Dodecanese and Cyclades, Greece is so many different holidays rolled into one, endlessly multi-faceted country. Whether you just want to fly and flop or explore ancient ruins, whether you’re looking for watersports and nightlife, or wanting to hike between ancient villages, the famously friendly Greeks will be sure to have their welcome mat out for you.
Facts
Capital
Athens
Airport
Greece has 16 international airports, but only those in Athens, Thessaloniki, Rhodes and Iraklio (Crete) take scheduled flights; the other 12, scattered across the islands, are served by a variety of UK low-cost and charter airlines.
Currency
Euro (£1=1.17 Euros)
Size
51,000 sq miles
Population11 million
Average temperature
Greece can be divided into a number of main climatic regions. Northern Macedonia and northern Epiros have a climate similar to the Balkans, with freezing winters and very hot, humid summers; while the Attica Peninsula, the Cyclades, the Dodecanese, Crete, and the central and eastern Peloponnese have a more typically Mediterranean climate with hot, dry summers and milder winters.
Local highlights
The ancient sites of Athens, with the Acropolis merely the most famous; Halkidiki, three beautiful peninsulas stretching out into the Northern Aeagean, dominated by Mount Athos, with volcanoes, beaches and monasteries; Pelios peninsula, well-known to Atheneans, little visited by tourists, criss-crossed by ancient mule tracks, with ancient villages, fabulous remote beaches; the Peleponnese, Greece at its ancient (Agamemnon’s Palace at Mycenae and Temple of Apollo at Corinth) and modern (west coast beaches) best; Kos, with beautiful powder-soft beaches sandwiched between verdant interior and turquoise sea; Santorini, perhaps the most iconic island of all, with famous blue-domed churches, white-washed villages and cobalt bays; Corfu’s wonderful old town; Hydra, fantastically scenic, with tiers of stone mansions cascading down towards a perfect horseshoe harbour; Patmos, where St John wrote the Book of Revelations, now a laid-back artistic hang-out; the extraordinarily atmospheric Delphi; Greece’s fascinating second city Thessaloniki; Meteora, one of Greece’s most spectacular sites, with clifftop monasteries overlooking the sea; take a rack-and-pinion train journey through the stunning Vouraikos Gorge to Kalavryta; lobster tavernas of the Fourni islands, a wonderful archipelago with gently shelving islands and hidden coves; the national marine park of Alonnisos, superb snorkelling; turtles on Zakynthos; Ikaria’s bizarre rock formations; spring and autumn migrations, when the cliffs of Lesvos swarm with birds; semi-tropical Samos and pine-scented Thasos with super beaches; tiny, hidden islands of Inousses, Fourni and Psara.
Getting out and about
Greece is an easy place to travel around thanks to a comprehensive public transport system. Buses are the mainstay of land transport, with a network that reaches out to the smallest villages. Trains are a good alternative, where available. To most visitors, though, travelling in Greece means island-hopping on the multitude of ferries that crisscross the Adriatic and the Aegean. If you’re in a hurry, Greece also has an extensive domestic air network. While exasperating ferry schedules make island-hopping here a challenge, the individual character of each island more than makes up for the effort.
Travel arrangements
Greece’s 16 international airports are served by a number of scheduled, charter and low-cost airlines from the UK. Olympic, British Airways and British Midland all run scheduled flights to various destinations; flight time from the UK is about four hours.