Greece Travel Information and Travel Guide

Greece

Our Top Picks For Greece

1 The Acropolis

Simply the most famous monument from the ancient world – the Acropolis is classically Athens
2 Olympia

Home of the Ancient Olympic Games; a must see for anyone interested in this world event
3 Zagorohoria

A land of fairytales, slate-roofed houses and looming, brooding mountains – not forgetting the magnificent Vikos Gorge
4 Hydra

Car-less Hydra boasts a stone captains' mansion nestled on a pretty yacht harbour
5 Delphi

Navel of the gods and home to the famous oracle that influenced so many historical events

6 Metsovo

This traditional Vlach-speaking village perched atop Greece's highest pass is all about location and feel
7 Ancient Delos

The most important archaeological site in the Cyclades; home of the famous marble Terrace of the Lions
8 Kythira

Mist-woven villages, brooding valleys and golden beaches all combine to make Kythira one of Greece's island gems
9 Nafplio

Romantic, classy getaway town with a Venetian past; relaxing ambience and fine dining
10 Pelion Peninsula

Mythical home to centaurs, this green peninsula of tangled roads and villages with stone mansions beckons travellers
11 Corfu Town

A little piece of Venice transplanted onto a verdant green island floating on the dreamy waters of the Ionian Sea
12 Meteora

Monasteries atop sheer rock make for one of Greece's most stunning sites
13 Vergina

Site of the majestic Royal Tombs of King Phillip II of Macedon and now an impressive museum complex
14 Skyros

Visit the richly decorated traditional homes of the striking hill-top hora (main town) on this enticing island
15 Dadia Forest Reserve

Wilderness home to some of Europe's last remaining vultures and raptors

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Fast Facts about Greece

Cars
4.1 million
Tourists
14.4 million annually
GDP
US$256.3 billion
Unemployment
9.6%
Inflation
3.3%
Population
10,706,290
Per capita income
US$26,920
GDP growth
4.2%

Our favourite Greece Blogs (beta)

Breakfast in Tel Aviv, Lunch in Athens and Dinner in Rome

Blog: Everything Everywhere - 5 May 2009

What a day. I’m still exhausted even after a night’s sleep. Yesterday was probably the second most grueling day of my travels (the first being the 30 hours I went from the Solomon Islands, to Nauru, to Kiribati, to Fiji, to Hawaii). I got up at 3am in Tel Aviv and left for the airport [...]

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My Big Fat Greek Layover

Blog: Everything Everywhere - 2 May 2009

I only have a few hours left in Israel. At 4am tomorrow I take off to the airport for my 7am flight to Rome. I’ll have an eight hour layover in Athens, so I’m going to try and make the best of it and so see the Acropolis in the time I have. It should [...]

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Spring Travel Destination of the Month - April: Hopping The Greek Islands

Blog: The 4 Season Travel Blog - 26 March 2009

Island Hopping in the Greek Islands ended up being this weeks Spring Travel Destination for several reasons. I was thinking about what to choose for a while and after a long winter I thought something warm, sunny, beachy and happy would be perfect.

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Introducing Greece

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Greece offers a myriad of experiences, landscapes and activities. It is the pulsing nightclubs of Mykonos and the ancient beauty of Delos; the grandeur of Delphi and the earthiness of Ioannina; the rugged hillsides of Crete and the lush wildflowers of spring. It is the blinding light of the Mykonos sun, the melancholy throb of Thessaloniki's rembetika (blues songs), the tang of home-made tzatziki, the gossip in the kafeneia (coffee shops). It is the Parthenon - solitary and pristine - lording it over the hazy sprawl of Athens.

Greece is a country with a hallowed past and an at-times turbulent present. Appreciation of the achievements of its classical past has tended to overshadow its development as a free nation since the War of Independence from the Ottomans in 1821. Many foreign Hellenists imbued with a romantic ideal of the Greece of Pericles and the Parthenon are blithely ignorant that Greece today is a vibrant modern European country. It is equally a land where the languages of recent migrant communities from the Balkans, Africa and Asia - not to mention the English and German of EU migrants and retirees - contribute to Greece's status as one of Europe's more recent multicultural societies.

As recently as 1983, when it acceded to the EU, Greece was essentially a conservative, agrarian society famous for olive oil, coups, beaches and islands. Its transformation since its induction - alone, at the time, among the southeastern European nations - to the Brussels-led club of prosperous nations has been no less than dramatic. It could once take up to two years to obtain a landline for a home - now Greeks boast more mobile phones than fixed-line phones. Internet hotspots pop up like mushrooms, while car ownership, once the privilege of the affluent few, is now a consumer commodity enjoyed by the majority. While sleeping on beaches was once de rigueur for travellers in the carefree '70s, tourism is now most definitely pitched to the middle to upper-end markets and sleeping rough is now oh-so out.

This has created mixed blessings for visitors: better facilities inevitably come at higher prices; faster and safer sea travel has replaced more romantic slow boat voyages to rocky isles; wholesome, home-cooked food may be hard to find amid the surfeit of tacos, sushi or stir-fried lamb; homey, boxlike rooms tended to with a smile have been usurped by airy, air-conned self-catering apartments with nary a Greek face in sight to say kalimera (good morning).

Yet the fact that Greece continues to enjoy a steady influx of foreign visitors is easy to explain. The Greek people still have the welcome mat out. It is they who, after all, make Greece. Without the indomitable bonhomie of the Greeks themselves, Greece would be a different place altogether. Their zest for life, their curiosity and their unquestioning hospitality to the visitors in their midst is what makes a visitor's experience in the country inevitably unforgettable. The Greeks may curse their luck at times, distrust their politicians and believe 'oiling' the wheels of bureaucracy a fact of life, but they maintain their joie de vivre, their spontaneity, their optimism.

So, the job at hand is simple: decide which particular Greece you want to experience. Then come and find it.

Last updated: Feb 17, 2009

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More about Greece

Tips & articles

Best of the Greek Islands

2 July 2009

Beaches, sure. But also Venetian castles, wild goats, carnivals and sweet muscat. With more than 2,000...

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Latest headlines for Greece

From BBC News

Greece fined over airline subsidy

7 July 2009 10:35AM

European Court of Justice orders Greece to pay 2m euros for failing to recover illegal state aid granted to Olympic Airways.

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In pictures: Greece smoking ban

1 July 2009 12:39PM

Greece will impose a limited smoking ban in public places on Wednesday, the third attempt in 10 years to stamp out the habit in Europe's biggest-smoking nation.

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Greece acts to stub out smoking

1 July 2009 7:55AM

Greece - the EU's heaviest-smoking nation - introduces a ban on smoking in all public places.

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