- Northern Greece
Macedonia, Thrace, Epirus and Thessaly: the half of the country most visitors skip. Mountain villages, the monasteries of Meteora, and a coastline that stays quiet through August.
- Thessaloniki
The second city: Byzantine walls, a Roman forum, and the best eating in the country.
- Halkidiki
Three peninsulas: Kassandra for resorts, Sithonia for beaches, Athos for the monasteries you can only see by boat.
- Pelion
A mountain of chestnut woods above two coastlines, with a narrow-gauge railway still running through it.
- Meteora
Six monasteries on rock pillars, and a network of footpaths between them that almost nobody uses.
- Zagori
Forty-six stone villages in the Pindus mountains, linked by arched bridges and the Vikos gorge.
- Central Greece & Attica
Athens and everything within a short drive of it: Delphi, the Corinth coast, Evia's hot springs and the temple at Sounion. The region most people see first and understand least.
- Athens
Ancient on top, Ottoman underneath, and a modern city that finally works. Three days is the minimum.
- Sounion
A temple on a headland at the end of the Attic coast. The one sunset near Athens worth planning around.
- Delphi
A sanctuary on the side of Parnassus with a view down to the sea. Go early; the coaches arrive at ten.
- Evia
The second-largest island, reached by bridge, with hot springs, thick forest and no ferry timetable to worry about.
- Galaxidi
A shipowners' town on the Corinthian gulf, quiet out of season and an easy pairing with Delphi.
- Peloponnese
A peninsula that works as a loop: Venetian ports, Byzantine ruins, olive country and the empty beaches of the Mani. The best argument for renting a car in Greece.
- Nafplio
Two Venetian fortresses, a tiled old town and the first capital of modern Greece. The best base in the Peloponnese.
- Monemvasia
A Byzantine town hidden on the far side of a rock, entered through one gate. Stay inside the walls.
- Mani
Tower houses, stone villages and a coast road with almost nothing on it. The wildest part of the mainland.
- Mystras
A Byzantine city on a hillside, abandoned in the 1800s and still standing. Half a day, uphill.
- Olympia
The original stadium, in a river valley of pines. Best in the first hour after opening.
- Crete
Large enough to need a plan. Four regions, two coasts, a mountain spine and gorges that take a full day. Nowhere in Greece rewards a longer trip more.
- Chania
A Venetian harbour and the base for western Crete: Samaria, Balos, Elafonisi and the mountain villages behind.
- Rethymno
The quietest of the three Cretan towns, with an intact old quarter and the Amari valley behind it.
- Heraklion
Knossos, the archaeological museum, and a city that rewards a night rather than a transfer.
- Lasithi
Eastern Crete: the palm beach at Vai, the plateau windmills, and Spinalonga across the water.
- Samaria
Sixteen kilometres downhill through a gorge to the Libyan sea. One way, one long day, boat out.
- Ionian Islands
Green, Italianate and wetter than the Aegean. Corfu down to Zakynthos: shorter hops, softer light, and the only Greek islands where the season starts properly in May.
- Corfu
Venetian, then French, then British. A grand old town, an interior of olive groves, and a coast that gets busy in July.
- Paxos
Small, olive-covered and reached by boat from Corfu. Three harbours and no airport.
- Lefkada
Connected to the mainland by a causeway, so you can drive on. The west-coast beaches are the best in the country.
- Ithaca
Two halves joined by an isthmus, a deep harbour town, and the Homeric claim.
- Kefalonia
Mountains, caves and the clearest water in the Ionian. Long drives between beaches, all of them worth it.
- Zakynthos
The shipwreck beach and the turtles, plus a mountainous west coast most visitors never drive.
- Sporades
Four pine-covered islands off the Pelion coast, inside Europe's largest marine park. Skiathos for beaches, Skopelos for villages, Alonissos for the water, Skyros for the quiet.
- Skiathos
The busiest of the Sporades, with sixty beaches and a runway that ends at the road.
- Skopelos
Pine to the waterline, a stacked port town, and pebble beaches on the sheltered side.
- Alonissos
The centre of the marine park. Monk seals, dolphins and an old town rebuilt after an earthquake.
- Skyros
Half fertile, half bare rock, with its own pony breed and a hilltop town that faces away from the sea.
- North Aegean
Lesvos, Chios, Samos, Lemnos, Thasos: large, self-sufficient islands with working villages rather than resorts. Long flights, few crowds, the best food in the Aegean.
- Thasos
The closest island to the northern mainland: marble, pine and warm shallow water.
- Samothraki
A mountain in the sea, with waterfalls and rock pools instead of beaches.
- Lemnos
Flat, volcanic and agricultural, with sand dunes and a season that barely starts.
- Lesvos
Ouzo, a petrified forest, hot springs and serious birdwatching. Large enough that you pick one half.
- Chios
The mastic villages of the south are unlike anything else in Greece: fortified, patterned and lived in.
- Samos
Steep, green and full of wine. Also the easiest hop to Ephesus.
- Ikaria
Famous for long lives and irregular timetables. Steep, windy and entirely its own thing.
- Cyclades
The white-and-blue postcard, and twenty islands that are nothing like it. Santorini and Mykonos at one end, Sifnos, Amorgos and Kea at the other, all on one ferry network.
- Kea
An hour from Athens by boat and almost unvisited: oak woods, ancient paths and one small port.
- Andros
Green, watered and walkable, with a shipowner's town and waterfalls in the middle. An hour from Rafina and mostly Greek.
- Tinos
A pilgrimage island with forty villages, marble workshops and almost no tourism outside August.
- Mykonos
Expensive, well organised and better in the shoulder season than its reputation suggests. The old town is still the best-preserved in the Cyclades.
- Syros
The administrative capital of the Cyclades, with an opera house and a working town that does not empty in winter.
- Paros
The balanced Cyclade. Parikia and Naousa for evenings, a good bus network, and boats onward to almost everywhere.
- Naxos
The largest of the Cyclades and the most self-sufficient: a real farming interior, mountain villages, and the longest sand beaches in the group.
- Sifnos
The food island: pottery, chickpea stew, and a footpath network that actually gets you across it.
- Milos
Volcanic coastline, seventy-odd beaches and the lunar rock at Sarakiniko. Rent something with clearance.
- Ios
Known for its nightlife, quieter than you would think by day, with a hilltop town that is one of the prettiest in the group.
- Amorgos
A long ridge of an island with a cliff monastery and very little flat ground. The quietest place with a ferry connection.
- Santorini
A flooded caldera with towns on its rim. Crowded, expensive and still worth it if you time the day right and sleep outside Oia.
- Dodecanese
The eastern edge, close enough to Turkey to see it. Rhodes and Kos are the entry points; Patmos, Symi and Karpathos are the reason to keep going.
- Patmos
A monastery on a hill above a white town, and a coastline of small bays. Quieter than its cruise reputation.
- Leros
Italian architecture around a deep natural harbour, and very few visitors outside Greece.
- Kalymnos
The climbing island: sponge-diving history, limestone walls and a working port.
- Kos
Flat, cyclable and Roman underneath. A useful entry point for the rest of the Dodecanese.
- Astypalaia
Butterfly-shaped and half-empty, with a Venetian castle above the only town.
- Symi
One neoclassical harbour, painted ochre, wrapped around a bay. Most people see it for four hours; it deserves four days.
- Rhodes
A medieval walled city, a windy west coast and a hot east coast of resorts. Big enough to escape itself.
- Karpathos
Wind, empty beaches and a mountain village that kept its own dialect. The Aegean's best kitesurfing.
- Chalki
