GREECE · THE AEGEAN
White villages, blue water, ancient stone.
Island-hopping cruises, ancient sites, sunset sails and long lunches by the water. Athens, Santorini, Crete, Rhodes, Mykonos and the smaller islands in between.
Only in Greece
Three places with no equal on earth.
Beaches, old towns and ruins turn up all over the Mediterranean. A volcano you sail into, the temple that invented Western architecture, monasteries balanced on towers of rock. These three do not.
Into the volcano
Sailing the Santorini Caldera
Santorini is the rim of a volcano that blew its centre into the sea. Boats sail across the drowned crater, past the black and red cliffs, to hot springs that bubble up through the water. The whitewashed towns sit a thousand feet above you on the edge. There is no other harbour on earth quite like it, and no better way to watch the Oia sunset than from the water.
- 1 Santorini: Luxury Catamaran Day Trip with Meal and Open Bar
- 2 Half-Day Exclusive Catamaran Cruise in Santorini with Meal and Open Bar
- 3 Santorini Gold Catamaran Cruise with Snorkel, BBQ & Open Bar
Where it all began
Standing on the Acropolis
The Parthenon has crowned Athens for nearly 2,500 years. This is where democracy, philosophy and Western theatre were invented, and the marble is still here to walk through. A guide turns weathered stone back into the city it ran. Nowhere else puts you inside the source of so much of the modern world.
- 1 Athens: Acropolis & up to 5 Archaeological Sites Combo Pass
- 2 Athens: Acropolis, Parthenon & Acropolis Museum Guided Tour
- 3 The Acropolis, Parthenon & Acropolis Museum Guided Tour
Suspended in the air
The Monasteries of Meteora
Six Byzantine monasteries sit on top of sheer rock pillars that rise straight out of the Thessalian plain. Monks hauled themselves up by rope and net for centuries before the steps were cut. Frescoed chapels, cliff-edge courtyards and a view over a valley of stone towers. It looks like nowhere else, because there is nowhere else like it.
- 1 Athens: Meteora Monasteries Day Trip with Caves and Lunch
- 2 Thessaloniki: Full-Day Bus Trip to Meteora
- 3 Athens to Meteora: Monasteries, Caves & Seaside Stopovers
On the water
The best of Greece has no road in.
The Balos lagoon and its bar of white sand, the shipwreck cove at Navagio, sea caves that glow blue from below, whole islands with no airport. Out here a boat is not just the nice way to see Greece. Most days it is the only way.
The cruises and boat trips →Start here
Start where it all started.
If you only have one day to spend in Greece, this is the one almost everyone books first.
The classics
Greece's Most Popular Tours
The Acropolis, the Santorini caldera, the Balos lagoon, the old town of Rhodes. The experiences most travellers come to Greece for.
By place
Each island is a different trip.
Athens for the ruins. Santorini for the sunsets. Crete for a bit of everything. Rhodes for the medieval old town. Mykonos for the nights. Zakynthos for the bluest water in Greece.
By experience
Or choose the kind of day you want.
A cruise if you want the islands. A catamaran for the sunset. A walk through the ruins, a tasting in the vineyards, a cooking class, a long lunch that runs into the evening.
Planning the trip
How many islands, in how many days?
Greece is bigger than it looks and the ferries eat time. The first real decision is how much ground to cover. These are the three trips that actually work.
The island cruises
The islands look better from the water.
Caldera cruises off Santorini, catamaran days around Mykonos and Paros, the Balos and Gramvousa run in Crete, the blue caves of the Ionian. Boats are how Greeks have crossed between these islands for three thousand years, and still the best seat in the country.
- 1 From Corfu: Day Cruise to Paxos, Antipaxos, & the Blue Caves
- 2 From Athens: Hydra, Poros, and Aegina Day Cruise with Lunch
- 3 Premium Small-Group Catamaran Cruise with BBQ, Open Bar, Transfer
When the sun drops
The Greek evening.
The Oia sunset from the water, dinner on the caldera rim, a tasting that runs past dark. Three ways to spend an evening once the day tours have gone in.
Under sail
A day on a catamaran.
Anchored off a beach with no road in, lunch cooked on board, a swim off the back and the sail home into the light. If we booked one boat day in Greece, it would be one of these three.
At the table
The long Greek lunch.
A food walk through the markets, a cooking class with a Greek family, a vineyard on Santorini, a taverna that never seems to end. Three we would happily book hungry.
Plan it
A first week in Greece.
Never been? The arc that almost always works: the ancient capital, one island to slow down on, then the boats. No wasted days.
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