Trip tips

I'm taking my first vacation to Greece. Anyone have tips on where to go and avoid? Sites to see, sites not worth the hype? It'll be a 3 day stay.

 

Where in Greece? I’ve been to Athens, Mykonos and Santorini

also, that’s a quick trip. Took me 26 hours just to get there, TX to NY to Paris to Athens with hours of layovers

 

Flying from Stuttgart, Germany (already in country) into Athens and flying out from Athens.

 

Parthenon, temple of Athena. First Olympic stadium some other places in that area. I’ll try to think of a few more. It’s been 8 years since I’ve been. Definitely can’t think of any places to avoid…

I know I went to some gardens and a museum there. It’s all fairly close in proximity walking wise so you can’t miss a whole lot. There is also an observatory there, I didn’t make it there though

by there I mean the Parthenon, I remember that being my middle location bearing and stuff scattered all around it

 

Greece is full of history, so you have many places that you must visit. However, we are all unique, and I think it's important to choose and visit what you like and are interested in if you don't want to get bored. There are a lot of free platforms that give you an itinerary for free, and you can choose what you love. One of the sites I recommend is https://www.freetour.com/athens. I've been using them for my last four trips around Europe, and they have one of the best tours you can find online.

 

Three days is a bit short, are you just talking the mainland?
I would take 5 and do this:
A full day / night in Athens would do you for sightseeing, rent yourself a really small car then staying for a day and overnight in Paros, Ios then then Santorini and back to Athens.
Get overnight ferries, buy a cheap blow up pool mattress in Athens from the many tourist shops and sleep on deck.

You are going to be beat up afterwards from all the schedules etc, but they are the sites I wouldn't miss.
Paros will give you an idea of a relaxed village with beautiful beaches and no crowds
Ios will be the opposite ( visit "far out camping" and its beach for a serious day party then go up the hill clubbing afterwards.)
Santorini for views and the volcanic black beach bars.

 

Man, 3 days is tight. I will say, if you're in Athens for an evening, the Parthenon lit up is spectacular. We ate at Kuzina and had a rooftop table. The pic doesn't do it justice.



Lycabettus Hill has a bar/restaurant and an OUTSTANDING view over Athens.

If you stay on the mainland and get tired of the city, rent a car and drive up to Meteora and check out the monasteries and spectacular views. That is a 4.5 hour drive though.

If you go to Santorini, I highly recommend staying at Costa Marina Villas. Lila and Marina were hands down the best, most competent hostesses we've encountered. Both smart and on top of their game - they won't steer you wrong.

If you're into cycling (or maybe even if you're not), check out Santorini Adventures. They offer several rides on e-bike mountain bikes. Vassilis and Katarina are great guides. It will be a memorable ride with plenty of photo ops. We did the Southside tour (although it's slightly different now - we got to sample wine at Gavalas Winery). We were traveling with some friends, 2 of which hadn't been on a bike in years amd we all had a great time.

One last suggestion - seek out local food! Oh my God, Greek food is so good! Don't limit yourself to gyros, although those are excellent too. You'll come back and be disappointed by most American Greek restaurant offerings.

If you drink, try mastiha/mastika. It's weird, and you'll either find it intriguing and like it or you'll hate it. I like it.