20 Greek travel experiences you must have in your lifetime

Bucket-list travel might be a bit of a cliché, but if any country merits this treatment it has to be glorious Greece – land of pristine seas, golden beaches, timewarped villages, delicious yet healthy cuisine and ancient ruins. In September, when tourist crowds start to dwindle, blistering temperatures begin to wane, beaches and sites such as the Acropolis are not quite as jam-packed, the birthplace of democracy puts on its best show.

So whether you long to watch the sunset over one of the world’s only inhabited volcanic craters, wallow in mineral-rich hot springs that have been popular since antiquity, lounge on silky sands without a soul in sight, or wander off the beaten track to discover lost in the past towns, here are 20 experiences that every fan of Greece must tick off.

1. See a Santorini sunset

Anyone who has stood on the volcanic crater’s blackened rim watching the sun sink in a blaze of scarlet will tell you that Santorini’s sunsets really do live up to the hype. Unfortunately, however, the sheer number of tourists who flock to watch them from Oia’s famed castle sunset spot tends to mar the experience. To avoid the crowds and selfie-sticks, grab a seat at the Buddha-Bar Beach in Imerovigli, which sits at the caldera’s highest point. Order one of its signature cocktails and watch the show in style.

Useful tip: for a cracking photograph of the view from Oia castle, go there at sunrise. The shots will still look special, and they will also be people-free.

EasyJet flies to Santorini from London Gatwick (from £206; easyjet.com). Kivotos has rooms from £355 including breakfast.

2. Soak in Evia’s hot springs

Hippocrates, the father of modern medicine, was famed for saying “the physician treats, but nature heals” – and he was a big fan of Greece’s hot springs. There are more than 700 in Greece, many rich in minerals and credited with healing properties. The seaside town of Edipsos on the island of Evia, where Roman general Sylla was reputedly cured of a mysterious skin disease in 115 BC, is one of the best places to take the waters. Wallow for free in a stone-carved basin dating back to Roman times, which overlooks the bay where Agamemnon and his fleet sheltered on their way to fight the Trojan wars, or check into one of a dozen hotels that have their own hot spring pools.

Useful tip: between soaks, fill up on voluto, a garlicky oven-cooked lamb dish, and other local treats at family-run taverna Cavo D’Oro.

Aegean Airlines flies to Athens from London Heathrow (from £239; aegeanair.com). Cars can be hired from AutoGR (from £25 a day; autogr.gr). Thermae Sylla Spa & Wellness Hotel has rooms from £207 including breakfast.

3. Hike the Samaria Gorge

Europe’s longest gorge, stretching 10 miles through Crete’s Lefka Ori mountains to Agia Roumeli on the coast, is a challenging but spectacular hike. Strap on solid walking boots, slather on the sunscreen and carry plenty of water for this six-hour stride though the island’s only national park. Leaving from Xyloskalo, the park’s main entry point at an altitude of 1,230m, the rock-littered pine-tree-studded trail winds down steeply past natural springs, with dizzying distant sea views, via the claustrophobic 10ft-wide cleft known as sideresportes (“iron gates”). The trail ends at Agia Roumeli’s pebble beach.

Useful tip: for a less strenuous alternative, hop on a boat from Hora Sfakion to Agia Roumeli and explore the bottom end of the gorge.

EasyJet flies to Chania from London Luton (from £129; easyjet.com). Domes Zeen has rooms from £401 including breakfast.

4. Explore the Mani peninsula

Right up until the late 1970s, when a road was finally built through the mighty Taygetos Mountains, you could only reach the remote Mani region by boat. Now accessed via a (narrow) road that winds through steep rocky hillsides where wild goats roam, this austere peninsula in the southern Peloponnese is home to unique pyrgospita: massive stone towers where belligerent locals once hunkered down and embarked on regular feuds that lasted for months, or even years. You’ll find plenty of these towers – many of them repurposed as tavernas or hotels – scattered throughout villages stretching from Areopoli in the north to Cape Tainaron, legendary entrance to Hades, in the south.

Useful tip: swot up pre-departure by reading war hero Patrick Leigh Fermor’s Mani: Travels in the Southern Peloponnese.

British Airways flies to Kalamata from London Heathrow (from £302; britishairways.com). Cars can be hired from Hertz (from £35 a day; hertz.gr). Stay at Leigh Fermor’s family home; from £501 including breakfast.

5. Climb to the Acropolis

Ever since the second half of the fifth century BC, when Pericles transformed the chunk of rock in the centre of Athens, the Acropolis has been a magnet for visitors from around the world. To beat the cruise ship crowds, get up early to make the hike along steep and slippery steps to the top of this 512ft hill, crowned by its Parthenon dedicated to Athena. Signage is limited, so take a guided tour or download one of Rick Steve’s excellent free audio guides.

Useful tip: when hunger strikes, steer clear of tourist traps near the Acropolis and head for Avli or Diporto in next-door Monastiraki instead.

Aegean Airlines flies to Athens from London Heathrow (from £239). La Divina has rooms from £132 including breakfast.

6. Go island-hopping to Karpathos

There are more than 6,000 Greek islands, but only 227 are inhabited. Island hopping – whether aboard a sturdy ferry or a sleek yacht – is the best way to experience them. Whisk across seas home to leaping dolphins to the remote Dodecanese island of Karpathos, perhaps, where women still go about their daily lives in traditional attire; or sail over sparkling waters to Alonissos, home to Greece’s first underwater museum – where you can dive to see the remains of the ancient Peristera shipwreck. My guide to the ultimate Greek island-hopping holiday offers more inspiration.

Useful tip: Seajets’ streamlined ships shave several hours off most crossings, but you might prefer to travel in a slower ferry when the weather’s rough.

Variety Cruises has seven-day Undiscovered Greece cruises visiting eight islands (from £2,000pp). 

7. Have an offbeat ski holiday

Clustered around its cosy tavernas, gushing fountains and family-run hotels, where most rooms have open fireplaces, the mountain resort of Metsovo, an hour’s drive from Albania, is a magnet for Greeks, who come here to have fun in the snow. Anilio, one of the country’s newest ski resorts, has nine slopes. Since Greeks generally ski at weekends, they’re rarely crowded. Icing on the cake: day passes cost less than half the price of better-known resorts.

Useful tip: don’t expect fine dining – food is hearty and the portion sizes are copious. Try the spicy loukaniko sausages or agriogourouno wild boar slow-cooked in red wine.

The nearest airport to Metsovo is Preveza, around 1 hour 45 mins by car, to which easyJet flies. Katogi Averoff has rooms from £84 including breakfast.

8. Go gourmet in Sifnos

When local chef Nicholas Tselementes wrote Greece’s first cookbook on Sifnos in 1910 he put this tiny Cyclades island on the country’s gourmet map. Ironically, the chef’s recipes were heavily influenced by foreign cuisines; Tselementes was the man who invented Greece’s ubiquitous béchamel-laden moussaka. Greeks, however, flock to Sifnos for traditional one-pot dishes that are cooked in skepastaria: terracotta casserole dishes that are still made here in ceramic stores such as family-owned Atsonios in Vathi.

Follow the locals to Margarita’s tavern in Artemonas and order traditional chickpea stew revithada, or pull up a caned chair at Drakakis, a traditional kafenion run by the same family for more than a century.

Useful tip: work off those calories along one of the island’s 19 panoramic hiking trails.

EasyJet and Sky Express fly to Milos from London Gatwick via Athens (from £372). Ferries make the 30-minute crossing to Sifnos (from £19). Sigma Residences has rooms from £233 including breakfast.

9. Meet the gods on Mount Olympus

The mythological limestone peak where Zeus and co once hung out, mighty Mount Olympus, an hour’s drive from Greece’s second city Thessaloniki, is one of Europe’s most popular summits for hikers. At 9,500ft, this is the tallest mountain in Greece, and home to a labyrinth of narrow, densely forested gorges riddled with waterfalls and caves. Visitors who prefer to get just a taster drive to the head of the trail and hike from there – even so, it’s a challenging trek.

Useful tip: for the best – and safest – way to do this once-in-a-lifetime hike, use one of the professional guides from Olympus Paths.

EasyJet flies to Thessaloniki from London Gatwick (from £231; easyjet.com). Cars can be hired from AutoGR (from £35 a day; hertz.gr). Thess Residences (thessresidences.com) has rooms from £72 including breakfast.

10. Discover Crete’s wilder side

One of Crete’s wildest and least-explored corners, the Unesco-listed Sitia Geopark offers a concentrated dose of everything that the island does best. Stretching from Cape Sidero’s 19th-century lighthouse to the Minoan palace of Zakros, this remote region encompasses the high-flung mountain villages of Ziros and Armenoi, Europe’s only palm forest at Vai and the ancient ruins of Zakros. The hub of this fascinating region is Sitia, a whitewashed, steep-stepped town trapped in a 1970s timewarp, where you should bag a ringside seat at RakiMeze, order a carafe of raki and watch the sunset over the harbour.

Useful tip: from Sitia, take a daytrip to discover blissfully peaceful beaches and traditional villages two hours away in the neighbouring island of Karpathos.

Aegean Airlines flies to Sitia from London Heathrow via Athens (from £261). Sitia Beach resort has rooms from £116 including breakfast.

11. Visit the home of the first Olympics

The thrill of standing on the site where the very first Olympics were held, back in 776 BC, just can’t be beaten. According to written records, a cook named Coroebus won the first edition of what was to become the world’s most famous sporting event. In Olympia, on the Peloponnese peninsula, you can marvel at the Temples of Zeus and Hera, jog around the palaestra where athletes trained, and then visit an archaeological museum to see statues and other artefacts.

Useful tip: eschew Olympia’s touristy tavernas and find hearty home-cooked food at family-run Taverna Bacchus, next door in the hamlet of Mirakia.

The nearest airport is Kalamata, to which British Airways flies (britishairways.com). Grecotel Riviera hotel has rooms from £129 including breakfast.

12. Celebrate Easter in Corfu

From dynamite-flinging on the island of Kalymnos to spectacular fireworks on Tinos, Greece’s Easter celebrations are unique. Corfu, home to 17 philharmonic orchestras, has one of the most raucous Easter celebrations around. Events kick off on Good Friday, when epitaphs from different churches are paraded around town, each accompanied by its own orchestral group. On Saturday, crowds head for Spianada square in Corfu’s cobbled old town, where giant water-filled clay pots – called botides – are flung from a dozen balconies with cries of “Xristos anesti!” (Christ is risen). The event ends on Easter Sunday with a grilled lamb feast on tables set up in the street.

Useful tip: Corfiots will expect you to join in with the festivities, so don’t be shy.

EasyJet flies to Corfu from London Gatwick (from £207; easyjet.com). Domes Miramare has rooms from £229 including breakfast.

13. Turn back the clock in Rhodes old town

Legendary site of the Colossus statue, the Dodecanese island of Rhodes is also home to Europe’s largest inhabited medieval city. Step back in time as you stroll along the Street of the Knights to the Palace of the Grand Master, which was the citadel of the knights who ruled here some 700 years ago. Grab a slice of the local portokalopita orange cake at Old Town Corner Bakery, and then stroll the ramparts at sunset to enjoy spectacular views of this living museum, with its ancient mosques, Byzantine churches and medieval guild houses where the Knights Templars once lived.

Useful tip: explore the Palace and other sights on a guided trip with Rhodes Private Tours.

EasyJet flies to Rhodes from London Gatwick (from £181). Koukos Guesthouse has rooms from £138 including breakfast.

14. See the oracle at Delphi

Surrounded by pine-forested slopes and silver-leaved olive groves 100 miles north of Athens, Delphi was the centre of the world – the omphalos – in antiquity. Admire the marble pillar said to have been placed there by Zeus, marvel at the 8th-century BC Sanctuary of Apollo, where priestess Pythia – the celebrated Oracle – delivered her cryptic messages, and visit the archaeological museum where highlights include the celebrated Charioteer of Delphi sculpture.

Useful tip: visit in winter and combine your trip with a ski holiday in Arachova, a lively mountain town nearby.

Aegean Airlines (aegeanair.com) flies to Athens from London Heathrow (from £239). Cars can be hired from AutoGR (from £25 a day). Nidimos Hotel has rooms from £57 including breakfast.

15. Spend an hour (or five) at a traditional kafenion

Traditionally the place where men met to talk politics, play tavli (backgammon) and swap ribald stories, kafenions are the heart and soul of Greek village life. Visiting one of these old-style drinking establishments should be on the bucket list of anyone who wants to soak up a big dose of daily life in Greece. The best are generally found in mountain villages, away from the tourist hordes on the coast, where you’ll need to know a smattering of Greek – or be prepared to use sign language – to order your carafe of raki, served up with yellow split pea fava puree, dakos Cretan rusks and other meze snacks.

Useful tip: dating back to the 19th century, Greece’s oldest kafenion is in the mountain village of Plagia, on the Blue Zone island of Ikaria (where the locals have a habit of living into their 90s).

Aegean Airlines and Sky Express fly to Ikaria via Athens, from London Heathrow (from £247). Erofili beach hotel has rooms from £52 including breakfast.

16. Party hard in Mykonos

Centred on the Chora’s whitewashed streets, windmills and Little Venice waterfront, glitzy Mykonos is renowned as Greece’s party HQ, though you can expect to fork out serious dosh for the pleasure of mingling with the glitterati on this sun-dazzled Cycladic isle.

The best-known clubs are Paradise and Super Paradise, where international DJs man the decks, or Nammos on Psarou beach, to which celebrities flock on hot summer nights to dance in the talc-soft sand. If money is no object, do like the stars and charter your own party yacht for the night.

Useful tip: even if you only sip a soft drink, you can expect to pay a hefty cover charge in most beach clubs.

British Airways flies to Mykonos from London Heathrow (from £335). Nammos has rooms from £401 including breakfast.

17. Discover the country’s unsung second city

Thessaloniki was recently named Greece’s first Unesco City of Gastronomy, and its unique food specialities include custard cream-filled trigona pastries; keftes de nogada meatballs in walnut sauce, and baked feta dish bouyiourdi. Try them in the historic 19th-century Ladadika quarter – named for the oil (ladi) that was once traded here – at Kantouni, Stou Mitsou and other traditional tavernas.

Useful tip: Thessaloniki is a city that hardly sleeps, so you’ll find something good to eat from midday to midnight.

EasyJet flies to Thessaloniki from London Gatwick (from £231). Cars can be hired from AutoGR (from £35 a day). Thess Residences has rooms from £72 including breakfast.

18. Follow the wine trail through Crete

Once upon a time, Cretan wine was xima, a rough-and-ready mix of blends from different barrels that cost pennies and tasted like mouthwash. Over the past decade, however, young winemakers have been reinventing its image with excellent results. Sample some of the best along the vine-fringed Wine Route. Stretching 40 miles from the outskirts of island capital Heraklion to the archaeological site of Gortyn, this waymarked route takes in dozens of the region’s best wineries.

Useful tip: need a designated driver? Take a wine tour with Discover Greece.

EasyJet flies to Heraklion from London Gatwick (from £168). Lato Boutique hotel has rooms from £97 including breakfast.

19. Live it up at a traditional panigyri

Greek life is regulated by panigyris, traditional feast days that celebrate the lives of different saints. A religious festival it might be, but there’s nothing sanctimonious about these lively celebrations, where long tables covered with paper cloths are laden with piled-high platters of slow-roasted lamb and carafes of wine, tsipouro or raki fresh from one of the local stills. Once the food is cleared away, the musicians start playing – lyra and laouta on the islands; bouzouki or clarinet on the mainland – and everyone dances until dawn.

Useful tip: if you want to be close to the action, book a table in advance – these festivals attract huge crowds.

20. Get hip in Hydra

Dubbed the coolest place in Greece, Hydra’s bohemian vibe dates back to the 1960s, when Leonard Cohen bought a house here. Embracing cold water, kerosene lamps and ornery donkeys, he strolled the cobbled streets in search of his muse, or hung out with other artists at the Roloi café or family-run taverna Xeri Elia Douskos. Both remain open, and Cohen’s blue-shuttered house still attracts fans.

There are countless other reasons to put this car-free island, a 90-minute ferry hop from Athens, on your wishlist. The Deste Foundation, a contemporary art haven in an old slaughterhouse, showcases works by Jeff Koons, Marcel DuChamp and others, and there’s a slew of chic boutiques, cliffside galleries, cool cafés and stylishly renovated hotels.

Useful tip: though Hydra isn’t known for its beaches, hop in a water taxi to the sheltered cove of Agios Nikolaos or secluded Vlychos and you won’t be disappointed.

Aegean Airlines flies to Athens from London Heathrow (from £239). Ferries travel from Piraeus to Hydra year-round (from £31). Bratsera has rooms from £165 includingbreakfast.