Welcome to
Matt's Greece Travel Guide
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Hi. My name is Matt Barrett. I
have been traveling or living in Greece since
1963. In 1995 I began my Greece Travel Website
and have been adding information, photos and
stories ever since. During this time it has
become one of the most popular travel sites on
the web with all sorts of free information that you would have to otherwise search for. And unlike most sites I don't have annoying pop-up ads that make so many others such a pain to use. I don't use cookies, and I don't collect e-mail addresses or use spy-ware or bombard people with junk mail. My technical abilities have not progressed much since I began this site, but that can be a good thing. My guides are simple and easy to use, like reading a book or a magazine.
I created
my Greece
Travel Guides to help you avoid some of the
problems people have while traveling
and also to share my knowledge of the country. You
can follow links to stories and articles I have
written on various Greek subjects, from
my Guides
to the Greek Islands, to my famous Athens Survival
Guide and countless pages on hotels,
restaurants, beaches, history, Greek food and
more. This page can easily serve as your basic
guide to Greece and you can follow the links to
more information, all of it free. You can
also e-mail
me with any questions and I usually respond
pretty quickly.
Because I don't have the money to compete with the big brand names who pay a fortune to be listed at the top of the search engines, I rely on people sharing my website with friends and other travelers. You can support this site by using the links to hotels and travel agents that I recommend. You can also send
a donation through Paypal or venmo.com/Matt-Barrett-Greece
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Introduction:
My Greece Websites
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Athens Survival
Guide
Athens is a
Wonderful City when you get to know it. But
most guidebooks are as confusing as Athens
seems to be for those unfamiliar with it.
Not my Athens Survival Guide. My Athens
Guide makes the city and surrounding areas
simple and enjoyable by following my steps
and just doing what I do. It
includes
restaurant
reviews,
hotels (including areas to stay and
areas to avoid),
archaeology
sites,
beaches, Photo Tours that will help you
understand the city, reliable
travel agencies, day-trips, shopping, nightlife, and hundreds of other
subjects, all in beautiful Technicolor. You
can print out the whole thing and take it
to Greece or use it on your iphone or
whatever media device you bringing with
you. It is the only Guidebook you will need
and it is free and easy to use. Recommended
by Travel Guru Rick Steves and even used by
Athenians themselves.
Visit my
Athens Survival Guide
BEFORE you visit
Athens
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Greek Island Guides
I have
written a brief review on all the islands
and turned it into a web page that links to
more detailed Greek island information
including recommended hotels, beaches,
restaurant reviews, archaeological sites,
history, nightlife and museums and whatever
else there is to do on the islands, plus
which islands are easy to get to from which
other islands, an important thing to know
when you make up your itinerary. If you
don't know much about the Greek Islands
this will give you some idea of what each
has to offer. Visit my Greek Island
Synopsis which has a paragraph about each
island and then a link to my guide for that
island. Or you can just go to my
Greek Island
Guide which
lists the islands by group with a photo and
a link to the page for each island. If you
know which island you want to visit, then
you may find that page easier to use. If
like many travelers to Greece you are just
trying to find information about Mykonos and Santorini you can just click on those
links. But you may be missing out if you
think that these are the only islands worth
visiting in Greece.
Many people use the
Greek Island Guide to research their
trip before going to my Create-an-itinerary
page where
they can fill in a form that tells which
islands, how many days, category of hotel,
tours and so on and an agent comes back
with a price for that trip. It's a pretty
creative way to plan your holiday and you
are under no obligation to buy so at least
you will know what it is gonna cost and
which islands you can get to without too
much hassle.
Read my step by step
approach on
"How to go to a Greek Island"
which will tell you
how to do everything from the moment you
leave your hotel, to buying metro tickets,
ferry tickets, finding your boat, going to
an island and getting home by
dinner.
For those who know
there is more to Greece than the islands
have a look at my
Greek Mainland Guide. |
Index of My Greece
Websites
I am
continually adding and updating this page
and the hundreds of other Greece pages to
which it is linked. There were over 5000
pages of information last time I counted,
so for easy navigation there is an index
at www.greecetravel.com which has all my pages, or
most of them anyway. It is the best way to
find your way around my site. Many people
use it as their home page when they are
researching their trip to Greece. If you
have a moment click on the logo and then
save it to your favorite places or as your
homepage. Yes I know it is confusing that
there is a Greecetravel.com
and a Greektravel.com
but the site grew organically and by the
time I discovered that this was not the way
things are done, there was too much info to
change so I just left it. By the way, I do
all my pages individually, by hand and
there are no pop-up ads, cookies, or tricks
to make you click on something you don't
want to. I am a real person who goes to
Greece regularly, not a computer program
designed to promote Greece, or some guy who
visited once for a week and wrote the
ultimate guide.
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Using
Travel Agents in Greece
I
definitely recommend using a Greek travel
agency for your trip to Greece despite the
appearance that booking on your own seems
to be so easy. The fact is that the booking
is easy. It is only after you get to Greece
that you may discover that there is more to
booking hotels and ferries than booking
hotels and ferries. Every hotel in Greece
has their own website these days and the
quality of the web design does not always
reflect that of the hotel. Unless you are
back-packing and prepared to sleep
anywhere, a trip to Greece is a lot easier
if you work with a travel agent who knows
what they are doing. They can organize
ferries, flights, transportation to and
from airports and ports, find the right
hotel for you, deal with any unforeseen
circumstances, answer all your questions
and in the end save you time, money and
your sanity. You can choose from dozens of
itineraries or you can create your own and
by using my website you should have a
pretty good idea of what you would like to
do. Read more
about using Greek travel agencies and meet
the ones I recommend. I also suggest you try my Create-an-itinerary page where you can choose islands and tours and click submit and get a price back from the travel agency with no obligation to buy. |
Greece Hotel Search and Automated
Booking
For those who
have been wondering if I was ever going to
get an automated hotel booking site in my
guide for people who don't want to go
through a travel agency you can stop
wondering. You can now book hotels
from Matt's Greece Hotel Page and not feel guilty about
getting all my free information and booking
elsewhere. I still urge travelers to use
reliable Greek travel agencies but if you
want to do your own hotel arrangements at
least you now have that option and the
prices are as low as you will find anywhere
and many of the hotels you can cancel with
no cancellation fee. Plus they donate to my
site whenever someone books. So if you
appreciate the work that went into this
website please book using the links to
my
recommended travel agents and Booking.com. If you want to get a
second and third opinion save the hotel
page and come back to it after you are
satisfied that this is where you want to
stay. See Matt Barrett's Hotel Search and you can
find exactly the hotel you need or close to
it.
You can also use my old hotel directory at www.hotelsofgreece.com which I completely redid in 2021 while I was waiting for travel to begin again. More on that below. And in 2022 I completed my Book Hotels
in Greece Directly page for those who want to avoid a middleman and book directly with hotel and villa owners.
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Villas and
Houses
I resisted for years
but I could not fight it any longer and I
hope my friends in the hotel business will
forgive me but I have put together a page
of Villas, Holiday Homes, Self-catering
Apartments and Air BnB type
accommodations. Yes I get that there
are good reasons for staying in a house or
apartment instead of a hotel, especially if
you are a family, and you are not just
being anti-social. Yes, I know that some
people may not want to go out for dinner
every night like I do when I am in Greece
and may want to have a meal or two at home,
or at least breakfast. I get it. And
because of that I have created Matt's
Villas Page.
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Important
Note: There is a lot of
information on my website and it is all
free to anyone whether you booked through
the travel agents, the hotels or Air BnB.
But it is the commissions I get from hotel
bookings on my affiliate website
with Booking.com
that supports this website and enable me to
continue doing the work I enjoy. So
my request to you is that if you are using
other sites to book hotels and apartments
and using my websites for everything
else and are thankful for the
information you have received from
it please think about donating
whatever you can afford so I can
continue to be creative. If you
are appreciative of all the free
information you get on my websites you
can send a
donation through Paypal
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What's New on Greece Travel
for 2024?
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I had plenty of time to make new pages so there is a lot that is new on the site including pages for Parga, Alexandroupolis
and Thrace, Limnos, Kalymnos, Leros, Karpathos, Kasos, Kastelorizo, Nisyros, Tilos, Katerini and the Mount Olympus Riviera, The Beaches of Halkidiki, and a few others. I think I have 3 more islands to do and my Greek Island Synopsis will be complete. I also have a brand new page of Greek Islands Off the Beaten Path for those who feel like Mykonos, Santorini, and the other popular islands may not be for them and want to immerse themselves in traditional culture, inexpensive restaurants and uncrowded beaches.
Ferryphobia
This year I got so many e-mails from people nervous about taking a ferry to the islands that I made a page of islands with bridges, islands with very short ferry rides, and places on the mainland that are just like being on the islands. See Greek Islands for Ferry-phobics.
My Guide to the Peloponnesos has been rewritten and new photos added with several new towns and a lot more wineries. Matt's Greek Archaeology Page is where
I have gathered every page that has anything to do with archaeological sites, museums, history, licensed guides and historical and archaeological tours. Also close to the same topic I have a new index of Licensed Tour Guides and why you should use them. I have also revisited and updated my Santorini
Guide, re-wrote and added new photos to my Pelion Guide.
If you are a gay or lesbian
wondering what the scene is in Athens and
the islands the news is all good and you
can read about it on Alexia Amvrazi's
Gay-Athens/Gay-Greece. Alexia also recently contributed Healing Arts in Athens: Yoga, Pilates, Accupuncture, Shiatsu and more. And with the help of Diana Farr Louis who wrote about Southern Evia and the Joys of Karystos, I finally
have a somewhat completed Guide to Evia. Am I forgetting anything? Oh yeah, I added some stuff to Marc Dubin's Guide to Ipiros and I wrote a page about Metsovo which was probably my favorite place of 2018. See Matt's Metsovo Page. And finally... I got together with some of the ladies in my Greece
Travel Facebook Group and did a page called Is Greece Safe for Women which focuses on women traveling alone in Greece. And when I discovered that I had somehow become a senior citizen while I was not paying attention I took lemons and made lemonade with Greece Travel for Seniors. For those who are interested in adventure, eco-tourism, hiking, mountain climbing, kayaking, food tours and more, see Trekking, Hiking, Adventure, Cultural and Alternative Travel in Greece which is a work in progress. Finally, for those who are going to Paris on the way to or from Greece I have rewritten and added new photos and a new look to Matt's Paris Guide. Like my Greece pages it is also free of obnoxious pop-up ads and has no spy-ware or cookies.
Fantasy Travel Greek Easter Programs: Easter in Greece brings with it a plethora of traditions and these vacation packages ensure that you will participate in all of them. Immerse yourself in a part of Greece that is both spiritual and joyful, taste unique Easter-related delicacies that cannot be found at any other time of the year and partake in celebrations alongside locals throughout the Holy Week. See Fantasy Travel's Greek Easter Programs
Matt's Best Hotels in Greece
My biggest project of 2020-21 was the facelift and reorganizing I did to Matt's Greek Hotel Guide which I am quite proud of. I basically went through every hotel on every island, village, town and city in Greece, and picked out the best ones, in all categories, with a representative photo (thousands of them) which link to more
photos, descriptions, guest reviews, maps and booking information. Some of these can be booked through the travel agents or directly with the hotels, but the vast majority go through my Booking.com affiliate pages. Not only were their prices the best, but in 2020 when Covid caused thousands of cancellations, the people who had booked through these pages had no problems getting refunds because their cards were never charged. (Credit cards are used to save reservations. You actually pay at the hotel.) So please
have a look at HotelsofGreece.com and if you are planning on not using a travel agency consider using this site to find and book hotels. Not only will you be getting the best deals at the best hotels but you will also be supporting this website. Remember to save it to your favorite places.
At the end of 2021 I completed my Book Hotels in Greece Directly page made up
of hotels, villas, apartments and holiday homes that can be booked directly with the hotels themselves. If you don't want to use a Greek travel agent or you have discovered that many hotels on Booking.com don't have availability, then you can use this page to go directly to the hotel's booking system.
I have also made a page of Budget Hotels in Athens, another for Youth Hostels in Greece and also a page for Campsites in Greece.
For those who are
interested in staying outside of Athens I
have added a new section in my Athens
Survival Guide about the coastal
suburbs or what some people call
the Athenian Riviera so you can stay at the
beach instead of in the center of the city.
See my Athens
Coast page and if you want to stay in
the leafy cool suburbs in a beautiful old
classical hotel see my Kifissia
page. Hotels for both these areas can be found in my Hotels of Greece Athens Coast and Suburbs Page |
New Economical Greece
Packages
Fantasy
Travel has put together a number of
packages that offer quality hotels for
economical prices. Most packages that seem
too good to be true are actually not as
good as they seem, often using hotels that
are in areas you really don't want to stay
in, to keep the price down. But Fantasy's
economy packages feature hotels in and
around the Plaka, within walking distance to all the archaeological sites, museums, shops and restaurants in Athens and are all
excellent quality hotels. I recommend Fantasy
Travel's program The Pursuit of Pleasure which is 8 days and 7 nights in Athens, Naxos and Santorini or the Pursuit of Pleasure 2 which is 12
Days and 11 nights in Athens, Mykonos and
Santorini including hotels, ferries,
transfers, tours, admission to
archaeological sites and breakfast. You can't beat the
price for these hotels and these itineraries. For these
and more visit Fantasy Travel's Special Offers
Page
which they frequently update with prices changing depending on availability. I encourage you to visit that page and keep checking back for bargains. They also have early booking discounts which can save you a lot.Aso be sure to see their Athens-Mykonos-Santorini Budget Program which is always a
bargain.
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Easy
Greece Travel for
Seniors
Fantasy Travel's Seniors Winter Special
features Athens,
Meteora, Delphi, Myceneae, Epidavros,
Nafplion, Olympia and the Saronic
Islands in a program designed
specially for retirees and senior citizens.
If you have mobility issues or you are that
age where you just want to take it easy and
enjoy Greece without climbing stairs and
mountains this is a good choice for
you.
They have also put out a Seniors Summer Program which features Sifnos and Santorini. |
Aegean
Blue: Athens-Naxos-Santorini
This Special offer 10-Day
program features 3 of the best hotels in
Greece and many extras at the best value
for money price.
It Includes: 2 nights in
Athens in 4-star Herodion Hotel
3 nights in Naxos in 4-star Iria Beach
Hotel
4 nights in Santorini in 4-star Tholos
Resort (Volcano-caldera sea view
room)
9 Breakfasts
Ferry tickets Athens – Naxos
–Santorini
Air Tickets Santorini – Athens
Transfers roundtrip, Athens Airport –
Hotel
Transfers roundtrip, Naxos port –
Hotel
Transfers in Santorini Port-Hotel,
Hotel–Santorini Airport
Caldera Sunset Sailing cruise
Athens Private Walking Tour (with
professional guide, 4.5 hours
duration)
See
Fantasy Travel's Aegean Blue for more
information |
Economical Cruise
Packages
I
admit that I am not a big fan of cruises.
Not that I have ever been on one. But in my
opinion visiting a bunch of Greek islands
for a few hours each is not that way to do
it, no matter what your travel agent tells
you or what you read in a travel magazine.
I think you need at least 2 or 3 nights on
an island if you want to really experience
it. On a cruise you are just sort of
looking at it. But Fantasy Travel's Smart 7
cruise allows you to spend 3 nights in
Mykonos
at the beginning of your cruise and 3
nights in Santorini
at the end of your cruise. The cruise is 4
days and includes Kusadasi, Turkey, Patmos,
Rhodes and Crete which would be impossible
to see in such a short period of time
otherwise. Plus you can add on extra
islands or tours of the mainland with
Fantasy's low rates.
Take a look at Fantasy
Travel's Smart 7 Program
and also have a look at the other cruises on Fantasy Travel's Cruise Page. |
Cabin Charter Cruises of the Greek Islands
In my opinion this is a great way to go. Yes it is a cruise except there are only from 5 to 25 cabins meaning there are only 10 to 40 people on your boat instead of hundreds or thousands. They are mostly old style wooden sailboats though they mostly travel using the engines. And unlike a cruise where you wait in line to get on
and off the ships and sometimes have to use smaller boats to get to shore because they are too big for the harbor, these boats pull up to the dock and you get on and off as you like. They also stop in quiet coves and beaches for swimming, fishing and lunch. The famous Captain Alexander Matsakis does cruises of the Cyclades, Sporades and the Ionian Islands and is something of a legend. Besides his weekly scheduled cruises his boats can be chartered as well. See Greece Sail Cruises and Charters.
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Matt's
Greece Travel Blog and Facebook
Group
For
the latest on what is happening with me in
Greece
read my Greece Travel blog
or else go to Matt Barrett's
Greece Travel Guides Group on Facebook
for comments, photos and other fun stuff
where you can interact with other travelers
and people who live in Greece or go there
regularly. But the answer to the question
that many people are asking is "Yes people
are traveling to Greece." The numbers for
Americans traveling seem to be down but
that has as much to do with the American
economy as it does with Greece. Europeans,
Australians, Indians, Chinese, Canadians,
Brazilians and of course Greek-Americans
continue to spend their summer holiday in
the Greek islands and tourism is one of the
bright spots in the Greek economy. If you
have any questions about personal safety,
refugees, terrorism, the economy or
whatever you have read in the news that
might make you not want to go to Greece you
can e-mail me or go to Matt Barrett's
Greece Travel Guides Group on Facebook
where there are other knowledgeable people
sharing information, some of whom are
living in Greece.
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Matt Barrett on
Tiplr!
I am now featured on Tiplr
which is a platform for travel
tips all over the world for those who
like their information in bite-sized
pieces. It is an excellent source of travel
info especially for people who prefer
a hand-held computer to a laptop or larger.
So go and download the app.
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New or
Updated Greece Travel Information
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What kind of person are
you? Are you the type that knows they want
to go to Greece, don't know exactly where
they want to go or what they want to do,
but don't want to spend hours or days or
weeks trying to decide? Well for you I have
created a page that will make it easy for
you. It is my Suggested
Itineraries Page and it will make
planning your trip to Greece a lot easier.
If you are the type who knows what you want
to do but just needs help putting it
together in a sensible way that suits your
budget then I have a page for you too. It
is my Create-an-itinerary Page which is to
travel as multiple choice is to tests. Try
it out and see what I mean. It is fun and
you are under no obligation to buy and
unlike forms on other websites I don't use
it to collect information about you or keep
your e-mail address so I can bug you
later.
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Support the People of Lesvos:
Visit Lesvos
You
have read about the flow of refugees coming
to Greece, many of them landing on the
island of Lesvos. The people of Lesvos have
been helping the refugees, rescuing many at
sea, giving them warm clothes and food as
soon as they come ashore, and assisting
them on getting to the administration
centers in Mytilini so they can be
registered and continue their long journey
to the rest of Europe. You can support the
people of Lesvos in a couple ways. You can
donate to organizations who have been
helping refugees from the very beginning.
Or you can come to Lesvos and visit what I
think is the most beautiful island in
Greece, where you can eat, drink, swim and
if you feel like it volunteer to help.
Because of the negative press international
tour and cruise companies have abandoned
the island, which is silly. Lesvos is as
beautiful and enjoyable as ever and the
people of Lesvos don't deserve to suffer
economic hardship because they have chosen
to assist refugees instead of turning a
blind eye. So consider Lesvos as the island
to visit this summer and support the people
who are actually helping the
refugees. See my guide Lesvos: More Than
Just Another Greek Island. |
Winter in Greece
Despite
what you have read about the Greek islands
closing for the winter, as if Greece is
some kind of seasonal theme-park, there are
people like me who think that the
winter-season, which goes from late October
to the end of March, is one of the best
times to go to Greece. No crowds, generally
good weather and many days when you can
swim. There can be periods of cold or rain
and even snow in the mountains. (You can
ski in Arahova near Delphi
and then go swim in the Corinthean Gulf the
same day). But even when it is cold it is
not the brutal cold that anyone in the
northern US experiences in the winter. The
most amazing thing is that everything is
green! The dusty archaeological sites that
are parched and dry in the summer are alive
with grass and wild plants and if you go in
March or April, millions of wildflowers. If
you want to see the real Greece, including
islands that have returned to their quiet
winter-ways after the summer tourists have
left, and take advantage of low season
rates and cheap airfare then winter is the
time to go. And as I have written elsewhere
Athens is the best city in the world from
November to May with more restaurants,
music, and shopping than most people get in
a lifetime. For more information on
off-season travel see my article on
Winter in Greece and also the new
Off-Season Travel in
Greece which has some winter itineraries
and links to more info. Oh yes, and be sure
to read about Skiing in Greece. Many people have
discovered that the Christmas holidays in
Greece is a great time to be there, with
low rates on hotels and the weather is
usually a lot nicer than wherever it is
they have come from. Many days it is warm
enough to dine outdoors. It is a great time
to be in Athens and visit the
archaeological sites and nearby islands and
Athens nightlife in my opinion is among the
best in the world. Read about
my
Christmas in Greece.
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Easter and other Important
Holidays in Greece
Flights are usually cheaper
than in the summer and there are several
Easter packages which enable you to
experience the week of Easter with Greek
families, seeing the ceremonies and in the
end roasting a lamb and celebrating the
resurrection. Even if you are not religious
it is a festive time to be here with
beautiful candlelight ceremonies and
everybody is in a state of increased
happiness and hope no matter how miserable
they were feeling before. It is my favorite
time to be in Greece. See my Easter
in Greece page and also Fantasy Travel's Greek Easter Programs
Apokreas
is a two week Carnival
Season just like New Orleans and Rio that
comes to an end with Clean Monday and Lent
40 days before Easter Sunday. This is a
great time to be in Greece too with parties
and parades and lots of eating and drinking
in Athens, Patras, Skyros and just about every island with
a decent winter population. 40 days after
Orthodox Easter is the Agios
Pnevmatos Holiday, similar to our
Memorial Day weekend but this is
celebrating the Holy Spirit. The hotels and
ferries to the islands are usually full
that weekend, going there on Friday and
returning on Monday or Tuesday. In August
everyone leaves Athens for the villages and
the islands and on August 15th it is the
Celebration of the
Panagia (Virgin
Mary) and finding hotels or space on the
ferries during this period is almost
impossible if you wait too long. Many
people stay in Athens during this period
because even though it is hot, it is
practically empty, by Athens standards at
least. See also
Holidays in
Greece
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Traveling with Children in
Greece
I have a
daughter and have taken her to Greece every
year since before she was born and she is
now 28 years old (and still travels with us to Greece). Greece is a great country
for kids, especially the Greek islands. It
is safe and the Greek people love children.
There are also lots of children around
which is a key ingredient for your child
having a good time while traveling with his
parents. Trust me. I know. If you are
traveling to Greece with small children,
you may want to learn the secrets of
"Strollering Through
Athens"or
take a look at my guide for
Traveling to Greece
with Children which has lots of cute baby
photos and information that will be of use
to you whether you are traveling with an
infant, toddler, or even a teenager. And
even better my daughter Amarandi when she
was 8 put together a page for her fellow
kids to read about how to deal with their
parents in Greece called Greece4kids.
Also be sure to see the link to Fantasy Travel's Percy Jackson Tours further down this page. |
Getting Married or Honeymooning
in Greece
The Greek
islands have always been one of the most
popular destinations for Honeymooners. In
the last few years there has been a
dramatic increase in the number of people
who want to get married there too. Why not?
You combine the wedding with the honeymoon.
Now there are all sorts of wedding packages
available of all sizes and prices. Before
you make your decision, whether you are
doing a full-blown wedding or a simple
exchange of vows, or just a renewal of vows
see my Greek
Weddings page. For those who are
already married but just see Honeymoon in Greece and speaking of
which..... Before you commit to anything
(besides each other of course) take a peak
at Fantasy's Honeymoon Packages
. Most Honeymooners go
to
Santorini. Personally if I were going to
get married I would go somewhere more quiet
and traditional like
Sifnos. But
with a good travel agent helping you it is
possible to do both.
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Greek Ferry
Boats
Most ferries
going to the Aegean islands leave from
Pireaus which you can get to in 15 minutes
by metro or taxi from central Athens.
Others leave from Rafina and Lavrion which
are both about an hour from Athens. The
ferries to the Ionian Islands leave mostly
from Kilini, Patras and a couple other
towns in western Greece. There are modern
high-speed ferries that cut travel time in
half and cost twice as much as the regular
ferries. The fleet of Flying Dolphins,
which are small high-speeds, serve mostly
the Saronic Islands where the sea is rarely
rough. There are also the Blue Star ferries
which are not as fast as a high-speed but
fast enough and big and modern. You may
have read that ferries are unreliable but
that information is dated. The newer Greek
ferries are large and state-of-the-art and
go to the popular islands. Occasionally one
may be delayed because of weather or
mechanical problems but cancellations are
rare. But to avoid any anxiety about your
trip home because of a fear of a
ferry delay I suggest saving Athens for the
end of your trip. A good plan is to arrive
and spend the first night in Athens and see
as much as you can that day and leave for
the islands the next day. Give yourself 2
or 3 days at the end of your trip to
experience Athens and the mainland. You can
read more on my Athens
Guide Greek Ferry Boat pages
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Use Ferryhopper to find all direct and indirect ferry routes
for the islands of Greece, Spain, Italy & Turkey, compare ferry companies & prices, and book cheap ferry tickets with no hidden fees in one go!
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George the Famous Taxi
Driver
Athens
best Taxi driver is George Kokkotos. Having
your own air-conditioned personal taxi in
Athens is like having your own chauffeur,
translator and guide for a fraction of the
cost. George speaks perfect English and
knows all there is to know about Athens and
the archaeology and history of Greece. It's
a great way to see the real Greece. I
recommend him for excursions such as
Delphi,
Meteora,
Nafplion,(Epidavros, Corinth and
Myceneae),
Sounion,
Olympia, or
anywhere on the mainland. (He says he will
go to the nearby islands too.) If you are
in a group of three or more people it is
cheaper to use George then to go on the
guided tour bus, and more fun since he will
be more flexible, allowing you to stop at
the beach of quiet tavernas, something you
can't do on a tour bus. George knows the
country and will help you find many
bargains and hidden places not on most
tourist itineraries. He can also take you
on a tour of Athens nightlife. If you are
in Athens and need a car at your disposal
for business or pleasure, George is at your
service. One of the few taxi drivers in
Greece who does not smoke. For sightseeing,
guided tours, excursions all over Greece,
or even a day of golf, call or FAX George.
Also for transfers*, he
will meet you at the airport when you
arrive and take you to your hotel, to and
from cruise ships, ferry boats etc. George
has a luxury Mercedes and also a limo and a
bus for larger groups!
He also provides a car seat for infants.
For more about George read his
testimonials.
For rates and more info see
www.greecetravel.com/taxi or
or e-mail
georgetaxitours@yahoo.com
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Driving in
Greece
Before you embark on
your journey you may also want to see my
sections on Driving
in Greece which has lots of tips on driving
safely and tells you what to watch out
for.
Swift-Avanti Rent-a-Car
is a small family-run company owned by Elias Manouas who prides himself
on specialized personal service. Excellent
cars and low prices plus delivery or
pick-up to your hotel, the airport or
wherever you are in Greece. He can also
make arrangements with his affiliates on
the Greek islands (or you may want to bring
his car on the ferry like a mobile closet
for your luggage.) Not only will he give
you a 15% discount for mentioning my
website but he will also drive you to the
outskirts of Athens where the driving is
easier. You will never have to experience
what the Athens drivers go through every
day until you are ready for it. For info on
cars and prices visit the
Swift-Avanti Website or
use this
Form
to contact
them.
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Sailing in
Greece
A few
summers ago I took a 5-day cruise on a
sixty-foot sailboat boat with 6 cabins and
plenty of room and Captain Billy Joe Leck,
a true renaissance man from the UK, skilled
in the arts of sailing, story-telling,
guitar-playing and baby-sitting who knew
more about the islands than I could learn
in a lifetime! I am not a sailor so I was a
little reluctant to go but when the trip
was over I wished I had booked 10 days or a
month. We swam in sheltered coves in
incredibly clear sea and sailed into ports
in the late afternoon for dinner and
entertainment. (The boat had AC but we
never needed it.) This is the best way to
see the islands, (like a cruise but you
choose your own itinerary). If you like a
particular island you stay longer or even
return to it. The captain doubles as a
guide/host and knows the best restaurants,
bars, beaches and is your private
interpreter making ordering in restaurants
easy. The surprising thing is that it can
actually be cheaper then staying in a hotel
and a lot more interesting! Be sure to read
my article about my experience sailing in
Greece at
www.greecetravel.com/sailing
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Greece Sail Cruises and Charters
The authentic way to sail the Greek islands with Captain Alex and his comfortable traditional wooden sailing yachts on the Aegean and the Ionian Seas. Rent a cabin or the entire boat for you and your family and friends. These beautiful boats are large enough to accommodate 16 passengers comfortably and offer several itineraries that will allow you to visit the different island chains when they each have the best weather. Or you can charter the entire
boat and go wherever you want. See their website.
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GM Sailboat and Yacht
Charters
David Econopouly of
GM Yacht Charters has
gathered together the best boats and some
of the finest and most entertaining
skippers in Greece to offer a large number
of specialized sailboat or motor-yacht
cruises for honeymooners, archaeologists,
people traveling with their pets, disabled,
students, naturalists, and more. If you
have ever wanted to sail the Greek islands
(or Turkey) and find your own special beach
or make up your own cruise take read
Why Charter A yacht
with David at GM Charters
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Group Discounts
Schools,
Churches and Groups coming to
Greece... Did you know you can get great
discounts on hotels, cruises and tours if
you come as a group? If you are a school, a
wedding party, a company going on a trip, a
family reunion, a cultural organization,
church or if you are just someone who wants
to come to Greece with friends and family
or a travel agent check out the Groups page
at
www.greecetravel.com/groups where
you can put together a specialized
itinerary for your people and then get a
price per-person. And you won't have to
negotiate with the hotels one-by-one.
Everything is taken care of and all you
have to do is make sure everyone gets on
the plane.
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Suggestions for interesting
tours in Greece....
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The most important
sites are in the Greek mainland and include
Delphi,
Meteora,
Nafplion,
Corinth, Myceneae, Epidavros, Olympia
and others. Take a look at Fantasy Travel's
mainland tours which are anywhere from a
half day to seven days and are very
reasonably priced. They can be combined
with an island or two or a short cruise.
You can take care of your historical needs
and then relax on the islands at a very low
price. See
Fantasy Travel's
Mainland Tours page which has dozens of options
for exploring the Greek Mainland. If you
want to read more about where to go on the
Greek mainland visit my Greece Mainland Index
which has links to my
various guides.
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Fantasy Travel's
Greek Island Packages
If you
can't find something that appeals to you on
Fantasy Travel's new website then I don't
know what else to say. They have hundreds
of possible itineraries and you can even
customize them if you can't find something
that's perfect for you. I highly recommend
their
Classic Packages which combine the
Greek Islands with Athens and the mainland.
Or go to their Island Hopping Packages and find the
one that suits you out of the dozens of
choices. |
Budget Tours
Many people write that
they want to go to Greece on a very meager
budget, but they are nervous about doing
all their hotels, and ferry bookings on
their own. They would like to stay in
economical hotels but the thought of trying
to figure out the metro, buses and taxis
scares them a little. So I asked Fantasy
Travel to put together a 10-day package for
people who think they can't afford to go to
Greece. They came up with something pretty
special that includes 3 days each in
Athens, Mykonos and Santorini, all
transfers, breakfast, ferry tickets and a
one day tour of Delphi or the one day
Saronic cruise for as low as 62 euros a day
per person. And everything except lunch and
dinner is taken care of. Even entry fees at
the archaeological sites are included.
See my
Budget Travel
site and Fantasy Travel's Special Offers
Page
.
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Weekend in Athens
For those lucky enough
to live close enough to Greece so you can
just pop in for a weekend I have put
together a plan that crams as much fun,
food and history as any mortal could stand
in 3 days. It does not have to be a weekend
either. Any 3 days. See my Weekend
in Athens Page
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Greece Cartoons:
While playing with my
camera one day, (a Sony Cybershot
DSC-HX20V), I discovered that if I combined
two settings I came up with a way to make
my photos look like comics and my friends
look like comic book characters. At first I
began posting them as they were, but then I
decided that if I could add word balloons
my photos really would be like comics. All
I needed was to think of something funny to
say in each one, which is not as easy as it
sounds. Well you can decide whether or not
they are funny by going to my
Greece Cartoons Page
Also take
a one minute spin with my video All My Friends from
Greece. It's a commercial I would make
if I were the head of the Greek National
Tourist Organization. I wrote the song and
sing and play it with some of my rock and
roll pals.
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By the way....Please Help Support My
Website!
This website
began as a hobby in 1996 and since then it
has grown in popularity and size. People
have been asking me how they can
contribute. First of all you can contribute
by using the agencies
I recommend. Without their support this
site could not exist. Another way to
contribute is to help spread the word about
my Greece Travel Guides. Tell your friends.
Tell your family. Tell strangers on the
travel bulletin boards. If you have your
own website or blog make a link. The only
way I can compete with the big commercial
sites is with your help. Some people use my
site to gather all this free information
and then go shopping on the web to save a
couple euros but if you are thankful for
the info you find on my site and the work I
have put into it you can support it by
using the travel
agencies I recommend or if you prefer
to book hotels individually by using the
Hotel Booking
Site that was created for me by
Booking.com. You
will find prices as cheap as you will find
them anywhere. You can also support it by
sharing it on Facebook and whatever travel groups you use. If you
are appreciative of all the free
information you get on my websites you
can send a
donation through Paypal
Or you can use Venmo at venmo.com/Matt-Barrett-Greece.
If you prefer to send a check you can email me. Thank you for your support!
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