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Destinations
Greece
🇬🇷 Greece
Cards in Athens, cash on the islands, and ferry tickets booked before you need them.
Ready-made routes
Know before you go
The practical facts for Greece, at a glance.
Currency
Euro (EUR)
roughly €0.92 to US$1 — mainland Greece is cheap, the islands are not
Tap to pay
Common in Athens, patchy on the smaller islands. Carry euros.
Power
Type C / F (two round pins)
230V, 50Hz
Tap water
Athens tap water is safe and good. On Santorini and many islands it is desalinated and unpleasant — locals drink bottled.
Tipping
Round up, or leave 5–10% for good table service. Not obligatory and never calculated precisely.
Emergency
Police 100 · Ambulance 166
112 · Works with no SIM, no signal
Best months
May–June and September–October: warm sea, open tavernas, bearable crowds
Entry requirements
Schengen area. Many passports get 90 days visa-free in any 180-day window. ETIAS has been delayed repeatedly — check its current status before you fly.
Paying in Greece
Common in Athens, patchy on the smaller islands. Carry euros.
Tap to pay works
Supermarkets and chain shops
Hotels and larger restaurants
Museums and ferry offices
Carry another way to pay
Kiosks
Small tavernas
Island cafés
Taxis outside Athens
Athens uses the rechargeable Ath.ena card rather than your bank card. Buy one at any metro station, and keep the airport fare separate — it is a different, higher price.
Apps to download
The apps people in Greece actually use, in the order to set them up.
OASA Telematics
Free; €1.20 single, €9 airport return
Critical
Athens metro, bus and tram times, including the airport line — the network is good and cheap.
FREENOW
Free; metered fares
Important
Hails licensed Athens taxis at the metered rate, which removes the tourist-price negotiation.
Google Maps
Free
Critical
Reliable in Greece including Athens transit, and offline maps matter on the islands.
Ferryhopper
Free; fares €40–80 Athens–Santorini
Critical
Greek island ferries across every operator in one place — the single most important booking you make.
Before you fly
Airalo
From about $5
Critical
An EU-wide eSIM installed before you fly.
Before you fly
Booking.com
Free
Important
Widest Greek inventory, and the only practical way to compare island rooms.
Wise
Small conversion fee
Important
A euro balance and card at the real rate.
Before you fly
WhatsApp
Free
Important
How Greek hosts, boat operators and small hotels communicate.
Discover Cars
Free; €25–60 a day depending on season
Important
On the islands a car is the difference between three beaches and one — bus networks are thin and stop early.
Before you fly
Step-by-step setup for each app is in the iPhone app.
First 60 minutes after landing
1
Buy the airport metro ticket, not a city ticket
The Athens airport fare is about €9 rather than the standard €1.20, and the gate will stop you at the other end. Validate it before the platform.
2
Take out more cash than feels necessary
If any islands are on your itinerary, withdraw on the mainland. Island ATMs genuinely run dry in August and many tavernas take no cards at all.
3
Book your ferries now
Summer routes sell out and a missed sailing costs a day. Ferries also cancel for wind, so never schedule one for the day of an international flight.
4
Plan the Acropolis for opening or late afternoon
Midday on that rock in July is a genuine health risk, not merely uncomfortable. The combined ticket covers six other sites for the shoulder hours.
Where to stay in Greece
2 cities
Athens
Ancient and modern stacked on each other, with a clean metro and the Acropolis visible from almost everywhere.
Watch out for
Buy the combined archaeological ticket — it covers the Acropolis plus six other sites for barely more than the Acropolis alone.
Go to the Acropolis at opening (08:00) or after 17:00. Midday in summer on that exposed rock is genuinely dangerous.
Validate metro tickets in the machines before the platform. Inspectors are frequent and fines are steep.
Santorini
A drowned volcano with towns along the caldera rim. Beautiful, expensive, and far busier than photos suggest.
Watch out for
Cruise days flood Oia between 10:00 and 18:00. Check the cruise schedule and plan around it.
Many small tavernas and rooms are cash-only. ATMs on the island run dry in August.
The donkey path from the old port is steep and the donkey rides are an animal-welfare problem — take the cable car.
Getting around
Athens airport → city centre
Metro line 3 runs straight in, but the fare is not the city fare.
Metro line 3
Direct from the terminal. Buy the airport ticket specifically and validate it.
About €9 one way
40 min to Syntagma
Express bus X95
Runs 24 hours, which the metro does not. The answer for a 03:00 landing.
About €5.50
60–90 min
Taxi, fixed tariff
Fixed by regulation. Confirm the flat rate before the car moves.
€40 day, €55 night
35–50 min
Athens → Santorini
Fly or sail — the trade-off is money against a genuinely good journey.
Flight
Several carriers daily. Fastest by a wide margin.
€40–150
50 min
Fast ferry
Book on Ferryhopper well ahead in summer. Cancels for high wind.
€60–90
4.5–5.5 hr from Piraeus
Conventional ferry
Slow, cheap and rather pleasant in good weather.
€35–50
8 hr
Staying connected
Yes — a carrier-locked phone cannot use a local SIM or eSIM
Airalo
Eurolink regional
5GB · 30 days · US$20
Works across the EU, useful if Greece is one stop of several.
Airalo
Greece local
3GB · 30 days · US$10
Cosmote has the best island coverage of the Greek networks.
Cosmote prepaid
Physical prepaid SIM
10GB · 30 days · US$20
Best rural and island coverage, and gives a Greek number. Passport required.
When to go
Best months
May–June and September–October: warm sea, open tavernas, bearable crowds
Hardest months
August — peak heat, peak prices, peak crowds; and many islands shut entirely November–March
Languages
Greek, English very widely spoken in tourist areas
Getting it right socially
Do not flush paper in most Greek plumbing. The bin beside the toilet is there for a reason.
Dinner starts at 21:00 and runs late. Tavernas at 19:00 are serving tourists.
Cover shoulders and knees at monasteries — some lend wraps at the door, many do not.
A shared table of small plates is the norm; ordering one main each marks you out.
Ready-made routes
Athens and Santorini in 7 days
7 days · about US$120 a day
Classical Athens, then a drowned volcano — the mainland-plus-island route most first trips take.
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