Greece holidays

Mainland Greece is where many travellers don't go — and where they should. Athens has had a remarkable cultural decade (great food, walkable neighbourhoods like Koukaki and Pangrati, the Acropolis Museum is one of Europe's best). The Peloponnese delivers archaeological depth (Mycenae, Olympia, Epidaurus) plus dramatic Mani coastline. Northern Greece — Thessaloniki, Meteora's monasteries on rock pillars, Halkidiki's three-finger peninsula — is the food-and-coastline angle few package travellers find.

The seasonal rhythm matters. May, June, September and October are the prime months — warm sea, manageable crowds, evening dinners outside. July and August are reliably hot (over 35°C inland, mid-20s sea), busy on Mykonos and Santorini, and pricey. The shoulder season is genuinely the better Greece. October still gets sea-swimmable in the south. November to April is the off-season — most islands shut down, but Athens, Thessaloniki and Crete's cities work year-round as breaks.

The island-choosing question we get most often is "Mykonos or Santorini?" The honest answer is "neither, on their own" — both are best as part of a multi-island itinerary. Santorini for the sunset and 2 nights; Mykonos for the beaches and 2 nights; Paros or Naxos to break them up for 3 nights. The ferries are fast, frequent and beautiful. For families, Crete plus a Cycladic island works brilliantly. For couples, Santorini plus Folegandros plus Milos is one of our quiet favourites.

Greek food is genuinely one of the great Mediterranean cuisines and not as well-known outside Greece as Italian or Spanish. The grilled-fish, olive-oil, salt-and-lemon simplicity is part of it; the regional depth — Cretan dakos, Macedonian bougatsa, Mykonian louza, Santorinian fava, Peloponnesian honey, mountain herbs everywhere — is the part that travellers come home pleasantly obsessed with. Most of our designers route at least one food-led night through every Greek trip.

Greece pairs naturally with Turkey (a 2-hour ferry from Kos to Bodrum, or an Aegean cruise that does both), with Italy via the Adriatic (Ancona-Patras ferry, or a flight Athens-Rome), and with Albania for shoulder-season travellers wanting the next-Greece value. Within Greece itself, 14 days lets you do mainland + 2 islands properly; 7 days is one island plus Athens.