Greece

A passport with six months of remaining validity and one page per stamp. Tourist visa is not required for stays less than 90 days. For more information, please visit the State Department website here.

For Greece there are two associated plug types C and F. Plug type C is the plug which has two round pins and plug type F is the plug which has two round pins with two earth clips on the side. Greece operates on a 230V supply voltage and 50Hz. Click here to purchase an adapter/converter for your trip and to see other travel accessories.

Weather in Greece in May is pleasant and mild with lows averaging in the 50s and highs in the 80s. This trip will be in different regions so be sure to check the forecast before you pack.

Dress for men and women is casual, though never extremely so. Women might like to dress up a little for a night out. Carry a sweater or light jacket because evenings get chilly, even in summer.

It’s acceptable for women to wear shorts in the summer, but not when visiting churches or monasteries, where they should dress more conservatively. Men should wear trousers, not shorts, for visiting churches or monasteries.

Your packing list should include good walking shoes, shorts, t-shirts, skirts, tights/joggers for hiking, and swimsuit. The water can be quite cool so bring a warm swimsuit coverup.

We will be staying in 4 star accommodations throughout the tour.

The preparation of Greek food is usually quite simple. Olive oil is a staple—after all, the Greeks have an olive-growing tradition that dates back 5,000 years. The Greeks also love to make dishes from fresh vegetables, such as eggplants, beans, lentils and tomatoes, and they commonly use lamb and fish. This means that there’s more to Greek food than “gyros,” the ever-popular hand-held dish of meat and garnish in pita bread. If you’ve only experienced Greek cuisine as a fast food in another country, you’re in for a treat.

Athens has a wide variety of restaurants, ranging from traditional eateries to world-class restaurants. You are well-advised to avoid the tourist traps of Plaka and to eat in tavernas frequented by Greeks, such as the ones found in Psiri. Estiatorion are the more expensive conventional restaurants; tavernas are informal, family-run establishments; psistarias offer mostly grilled meats; and psaro-tavernas specialize in seafood dishes.
Common everywhere are tzatziki (garlic-yogurt spread), souvlakia (meat or fish kebabs marinated in garlic), spanakopita (spinach pie) and tiropita (cheese pie). There is also a huge variety of regional specialties ranging, for example, from pita pies (with fillings such as meat or vegetables) in the northern regions of Macedonia and Epirus to traditional goat and snail dishes on the island of Crete.
Seafood, including fish, squid and octopus, is also popular in Greece and especially on the
islands, but it is usually prepared in a simple way grilled and marinated with lemon and olive oil. Pastries made from filo dough, nuts and honey (such as baklava) shouldn’t be missed.   
Greek coffee (kafe Elliniko)—similiar to Turkish coffee, although Greeks sometimes are not pleased to hear the comparison—is a dark, dense strong brew served in tiny cups with the coffee grounds at the bottom. Filtered coffee is usually also available.
Greek wines and liqueurs are distinctive and sometimes potent. The anise-flavored liqueur, ouzo, is normally drunk diluted with water (by Greeks and visitors alike). Metaxa is the most commonly found brandy (7-star is the smoothest). Wines vary widely in taste and quality. Retsina, which is given its particular flavor by the addition of pine resin during the fermentation, is an acquired taste, and Mavrodaphne is extremely sweet. Recent decades have seen a renaissance in the age-old Greek wine-making tradition. The introduction of new vines and the use of better techniques have resulted in some excellent reds and whites on par with the world’s best wines.

The airport is 8 miles from the city center and can take around 30 minutes depending on traffic. Taxis at the airport are widely available. You can prebook a private transfer on your own with Welcome Pickups.

The crime rate in Greece is relatively low. You can walk safely down almost any street, day or night, though in Athens after dark you should avoid unfamiliar areas. Pickpockets and purse snatchers are the most common threat for visitors.

A special tourist police force and tourist police stations have been established by the Greek police force to assist tourists with any problems that they might encounter while in Greece. For any assistance required, dial 1571.

For more information, please visit the State Department website here.

Located in southeastern Europe, Greece is one the most popular holiday destinations in the world—for good reason. It is a country with great, ancient history, one that gave birth to the concepts of democracy and philosophy, the Olympic Games, and drama, namely tragedy and comedy. Visitors will get a glimpse of more than 3,500 years of history, from the Palace of Knossos and the Parthenon to the newly discovered Amphipolis Tomb. With almost 2,500 islands, sea and sun are at their best in Greece: spotless sands and clearblue water abound. The landscape offers a picturesque variety, from whitewashed homes and blue-domed churches to neoclassical architecture and traditional authentic villages in the mountainous areas. The Greek cuisine will reward even the most demanding visitors and definitely those who appreciate simple and good quality food (after all, the famous Cretan diet is the cornerstone of the Mediterranean diet). The country’s vibrant nightlife is famous and includes a great variety of clubs and bars.

The ancient Hellenic world—the lands and regions that embraced Greek culture and civilization —extended far beyond the borders of Greece itself into the whole eastern Mediterranean and Middle East. The impact of ancient Greece on the Western world can’t be overstated.

The rediscovery of Greek classics of philosophy, science and literature in the 14th and 15th centuries had a profound influence on the development of Western thought, leading Europe into the Renaissance. The effects of those revelations are still with us today. The notion of democracy, the concept of the atom, the image of the Earth as round, the scientific method itself—all these and more had their birth in the writings of ancient Greece. Though its recorded history goes back thousands of years, modern-day Greece was largely
shaped by the past several centuries. The Ottoman Empire took control of Greece in the 15th
century and governed until 1821, when the war of independence began. A monarchy, installed
in 1832 under Prince Otto of Bavaria, was abolished and reinstated twice during the 20th century. With its independence from the Ottoman Empire, the island of Crete, after a short period of self-government, became part of Greece in 1913. A military junta took power in Greece in 1967, but was booted out in 1974. That year, the nation finally returned to democracy, a concept that was born there two and a half millennia earlier. The following years brought a period of political stability and economic development. Greece obtained full membership in the European Union in 1981, and replaced the drachma with the euro in 2002. The influx of EU funds into Greece helped to modernize and enhance the hitherto rustic infrastructure.

However, the EU financial crisis of 2010 revealed an unsustainable level of national debt in Greece, and led to the imposition of the most severe austerity measures the country had ever seen, opening a long period of public unrest and industrial action. As tourism contributes a large share to the Greek economy, much has been done by all sides to ensure that the disputes do not have an impact on visitors. Greece is still under financial supervision, but the economy is now stable and record-breaking amounts of tourists flocked to the country in recent years.

The landscape of Greece is surprisingly varied, ranging from the cool, wet mountain regions of the northwest and the coastal hills of the Peloponnese, to the plains of Macedonia and the sun-drenched, rocky islands that lie in three different seas off the coast.

Off the western coast, in the Ionian Sea, are the Ionian Islands of Cephalonia, Corfu, Ithaca, Lefkada, Paxi and Zakinthos, plus distant Kythira, which lies at the foot of the Peloponnese. Islands off the eastern coast, in the Aegean, include the Dodecanese islands of Kalimnos, Kos, Patmos, Rhodes and Symi; the Cyclades, a group of 220 islands, includes Paros, Delos, Ios, Mykonos, Naxos, Santorini, Siros and Tinos; the Sporades islands of Alonissos, Skiathos, Skopelos and Skyros; and the large islands of Samos, Ikaria, Chios, Lesbos, Limnos and Samothrace.
South from Athens are the Argo-Saronic islands of Aegina, Poros, Spetses and Hydra. The island of Crete, which boasts the warmest weather in Greece, lies far to the south, in the Mediterranean—it’s Europe’s southernmost border .