Planning To Travel To Greece?

If you are planning a visit to Greece, don't miss the Hellenic Festival in Athens located in the second century Odeon of Herodes Atticus.  Planning a sea voyage to Greece's many islands can be a memorable experience.  Greece offers mountain climbing, sailing, windsurfing, scuba diving, river rafting, kayaking, and hiking in it's beautiful natural settings.

Visiting Piraeus

Piraeus is known as the premier port on the Aegean Sea and is a busy hub for travelers and locals.  While in Piraeus, visit the Marina Zea and catch a ride to the Saronic Gulf to view the large yachts, restaurants, shops and taverns along the shoreline.  The Hellenic Maritime Museum exhibits modern and ancient ships and is a great place for those interested in naval history.  Piraeus also offers an archeological museum featuring bronzed statues of Apollo, Athena, and Artemis.  Kastella Hill offers a spectacular view of the sea and the surrounding traditional Greek houses perched on the scenery.  The Hill is home to shops, restaurants, clubs and coffee houses. Take in a soccer game of the Olympiako’s, the resident, champions of Greek Soccer.

Amazing Athens

The Acropolis is the most famous site in all of Athens and lies in the center of the city. It contains a cluster of ancient ruins and is very popular among tourists. National Archaeological Museum is a museum featuring the art and artifacts of the Minoan’s an ancient tribe of people who once dominated the Aegean Sea.  The Jewish Museum, Parthenon, and the National Gardens are all tourist hot spots in Athens. Kolonaki is a modern Athenian street filled with chic boutiques, coffee houses and restaurants.

Staying in Athens is recommended at the Hotel Athens, the Grande Bretagne Hotel, the Art Hotel, the Athens Hilton, the King George Palace, the Life Gallery Athens Hotel, the Periscope Hotel, and the Eridanus Hotel.  These hotels are highly recommended by fellow tourists visiting Greece.

Colossal Crete

The Palace of Knossos is home to labyrinthine ruins that have been reported to be the home to the monstrous Minotaur, a half-man, half-bull creature that devoured young virgins in ancient times.  Be sure to visit the Venetian Walls and Tomb of Nikos Kazantzakis, the historic village of Iraklion and the beautiful sixteenth century fortress known as The Venetian Fortezza. Greece is filled with ancient history, beautiful scenery and friendly hospitality.  Including Greece in your travel itinerary will ensure a pleasurable, memorable trip for the entire family. Greece is a land that must be experienced to be truly appreciated.

Tips for People Travelling to Greece

Greece can satisfy even the most demanding of its visitors. It has beautiful scenery and great man made establishments, it has sea but also mountains, it has archaeological sites and night clubs as well, it has crowded areas but it also has nice and quite places. The best of all is that all these are not far away from each other.  I don't think its an overstatement to say that Greece is a traveler's paradise.

Where can you find such places.

If you want to find fancy restaurants and Hotels and all the comforts a man can get those are the services every known place has and they are actually difficult to miss.  Mykonos, Santorini, Rhodes, Corfu, Crete, Athens, Thessaloniki, Samos are among the most visited destinations in Greece.  If you need luxurious accommodations, fancy restaurants, loud music, packed cafes, lots of visitors you can find them here. 

Places that are not crowded but still have lot to offer are more difficult to find.  There are less services and less money to be gained from visitors and therefore are not heavily promoted.  If you are looking for those places don't ask at your local travel agent.  Don't arrange a Cruise hoping to find them.  The are usually very close to the crowded centers but not much is mentioned of them.

Lots of smaller islands that are not heavily advertised, and island satellites to famous ones usually fall under this category and would be ideal places for people that want to explore the alternative Greece. For the sake of the discussion I am going to mention Gaudos, Paxoi, Fournoi, Sifnos, Ikaria, Chios but this is not extensive by any means. These places are usually recommended from people that have already gone there.  If you have not had such recommendations then I would advise you to prepare your trip to the most favorable location leaving some room in your schedule for visiting places that the locals will undoubtedly suggest. An inquiry to a local Greek travel agent or a Greek Habitant might reveal some hidden treasures around the area. Keeping in mind the pros and cons presented right after, one can easily recognize such places. 

With quiet destinations you avoid the mass tourism and the noise and you enjoy more the nature and the hospitality of people simple and not caught up at the great rush of our times.  Nature is purer and the food is fresher and atmosphere is unspoiled and healthier.  The prices are cheaper too.  One great disadvantage is that such places don't have many means of transportation to and from them and not to many comforts should be expected when looking for accommodation.  Some of them don't even have air connectivity with mainland Greece.  They might have boat or bus connection 3-7 times a week from the near by Town.

Travel off high season

Greeks usually take their summer vacation around the 15th of August that is the biggest festivity in the Orthodox Christian world, commemorating the Assumption of Theotokos (Mary the mother of Jesus).  Around these days everything gets very busy with boats running full and extra flights being added and all types of accommodation running at full capacity.  These period makes for some very tiresome vacation and I would definitely avoid it if I had the choice.  Planning either before or after August is probably the smartest thing one can do when traveling to Greece. You do avoid the headaches and prices are a whole lot different.

Almost all destinations in Greece are connected through Athens, so this gives an opportunity to the traveler to explore the Athenian lifestyle and Acropolis if he/she so chooses.

Arranging your car rental before hand

Small places usually luck the public transportation of the big and famous cities.  Buses usually run not very frequently and planning your excursions around them usually is not an easy chore.  The more crowded places will probably have cars booked fully for the high season times.  So if you are planning on using a car arranging it ahead of time is always good choice.