10 TIPS FOR TRAVELING TO THE GREEK ISLANDS

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This list of Tips for traveling to the Greek Islands It will help you plan your trip through some of the most beautiful corners of the country, either by combining them with the continental zone or as a trip only to the islands.
Spread over several archipelagos in Greece, you can find more than 2000 islands, all of them with transparent turquoise waters, postcard landscapes and charming white house villages surrounded by bougainvillea, which have made them one of the favorite destinations for travelers from all over the world. the world.

Based on our trip to Greece in 32 days we leave you what are for us 10 tips for traveling to the essential Greek Islands. We start!

1. What is the best time?

Although we could say that any time is good for a trip to the Greek Islands, it is important to consider certain aspects so that your trip coincides with the best time and you can fully enjoy one of the most beautiful places in the world.

High season (from May to August): Although until a few years ago the high season in the Greek Islands was limited to the months of July and August, these terms have now increased and prices tend to be higher since May. Despite that, from May to the end of June, there is usually not much crowding, including islands such as Mykonos or Santorini, which are among the most famous.
Mid season (April and September): these months, just before and after the high season, can be perfect for making a trip to the Greek Islands if you want to have more accommodation options and tighter prices, without forgetting that ferries are considerably reduced.
Low season (from October to March): although if you are lucky and the weather is good, it can be a perfect time as prices fall to a minimum, less benign temperatures, the closure of many stores and the few ferries between islands, make This is not the best time to plan your trip.

2. Requirements for entering the country

If you are a Spanish citizen, you will only need your ID to travel to the Greek Islands, neither the Passport nor Visa is necessary. If you have another nationality, we recommend you check the website of the Foreign Office or the Embassy for updated information on the entry requirements to Greece.
Remember that it is very advisable to have a copy of your documentation in the cloud, so that if necessary, any type of procedure can be done in a faster and faster way.

Regarding the safety on a trip to the Greek Islands, we can say that it is totally safe to make a trip, without forgetting the precautions you would take in any other destination such as not carrying many valuables without surveillance, going through places that you do not know about night without having asked in the accommodation if they are safe ... etc

Santorini

3. Vaccines and travel insurance

As we always recommend, the most important thing before starting a trip, is to go to your doctor or international vaccination center so that it is a professional who determines, according to your medical history, type of trip and places you are going to visit, what are Vaccines or medication needed.
With this in mind, at a general level, we can say that no vaccine is necessary to travel to Greece.
Remember to always carry the European Health Card, so that if you need medical attention, you can go to any hospital.

Despite being in Europe and having the European Health Card, we advise you to also take out the best travel insurance, so that if you need it, have the best care in the best centers in the country and above all, have a repatriation.
We always travel insured with Mondo, with whom we carry a totally adequate insurance to the needs that we will have during the trip. Hiring your insurance here with Mondo, just for being a Street Travelers reader, you have a 5% discount.

4. How to start the trip to the Greek Islands

The first and most important to travel to the Greek Islands is to assess how many days you have for them, decide which islands you want to visit. And although it depends a lot on what you choose, you will need more or less days, in most of the options that are among the best Greek Islands, we do not recommend spending less than 2-3 days to get to know and enjoy the place to the fullest.
Once you have clear the days and places you want to visit, the first thing you should do is look for a flight. Depending on the combination you want to do, it may be advisable to look for a multi-destination flight, entering for example through Athens, where you can spend a day or two knowing the places to visit in Athens essential, then take a ferry to any of the chosen islands and fly back to your country of origin from the one / s chosen.
Another option is to fly directly to one island and exit on another. This will depend on your budget or schedules, since these are not usually very good, most of them being early in the morning, especially in high season.
You can find more information about the transfer in this post about how to go from Athens to Santorini, in this about how to go from Athens to Mykonos and in this how to go from Mykonos to Santorini.

Once you have the flight, the next point will be to book the accommodation, especially in high season, to have more options and better prices. We recommend using this hotel search engine, with which you will have the most adjusted prices.

The next step will be to book the ferry in the Greek Islands, something very important, especially if you travel in high season and with a rental car, since in many cases the places are limited. From this point we will talk later with more details.

Another option, if you want travel to the Greek Islands in a more comfortable way and with a guide in Spanish is to book this 4-day Getaway to Mykonos and Santorini or this Mykonos Getaway for 2 or more days.

Mykonos

5. Ferry through the Greek Islands

As we mentioned earlier, special mention deserves the ferry in the Greek Islands, for being the only transport option between islands, in addition to the plane in some cases.
According to our experience, if you travel in high season or mid season, it is important to book it in time, especially if you also travel with a rental car, since depending on the days or routes, the places can become very limited.

You can book the ferry to the Greek Islands here

Once you have made the purchase, you will receive the reservation codes by email. Keep in mind that depending on the company, these are not valid to access the ferry, so you must go to the port at least 2 hours before to pick up the physical tickets. Another option is to go to any company office to pick them up or if you have made several reservations, on the first day change all reservations for the tickets of ferry through the Greek Islands.
Although the prices of ferries to travel around the Greek Islands vary greatly, depending on factors such as day of the week or schedule, we can generally tell you that a ferry ticket from Athens to Mykonos, has a cost of about 60 euros by ferry Fast and about 30 euros by normal ferry and the price for a normal tourist car seat is approximately 80 euros.
Do not forget that if you have a rental car, at the time of booking you will be asked for the details of it. Being a rental you will not have the data, so you can fill in the spaces with "xxx".
Another important thing when traveling to the Greek Islands is that if you have the physical tickets, you must be at least 30 minutes in advance at the ferry departure port, to be able to board at the moment you arrive, since the stops They are really very short.
The boarding process is very simple. If you take a car, you will access first and they will tell you in which area you should leave the car, depending on your destination, since ferries do not have only one stop. Then you can go directly to the seating area, where you will be assigned one for the journey.

Ferry from Mykonos to Naxos

6. How to get around in the Greek Islands

One of the things you ask us the most is about the transportation when traveling to the Greek Islands. Although the answer depends very much on the island to which we refer, in general terms we can say that public transport in most of the islands is not the most appropriate option since this is either non-existent or does not have a relevant frequency as to take account.
As an exception we can talk about Santorini, where there is a bus that runs through some of the most important points of the island such as the airport, Fira, Firostefani and Oía, for 1.80 euros the journey.

According to our experience, if you want to know the island in depth, except for those where the points of interest can be visited on foot which are the least, the most advisable is to rent a car in the Greek Islands, with which you will have Total freedom of schedules and movements.
Depending on the route you want to do on the islands, it may be more advisable to book a car on each island to avoid paying for the car on the ferry and also the extra single path that car rental companies charge to collect and return the car in different offices.

The taxi would be another option, although this is the one that is more expensive and less recommended as long as the distances are long and you want to make a wide route with different stops.

The last option would be to choose to book an excursion or tour of the Greek Islands that allows you to know, without worrying about transport, any of the most tourist islands.

I heard in Santorini

7. Money exchange

The currency of Greece and the Greek Islands is the euro, so if your origin is that of a European country, you should not change money.
Despite this and after many trips, yes we recommend paying with card everything you can and take out from ATMs to avoid high fees from your bank and above all, not having to carry so much cash to travel to the Greek Islands.

We always recommend using the N26 card to pay and the Bnext and Revolut cards to get money at the ATMs. They are the ones we use, They are free and will save you a lot.
You can find more information in this article about the best cards to travel without commissions.

Cashier in Mykonos

Although the use of credit or debit cards is widespread in the Greek Islands, it is also important to carry cash for small payments in shops that do not accept them or for tips.

8. Route through the Greek Islands

Although as we said before there are hundreds of options to choose from, we believe that if it is your first trip to the Greek Islands, the most appropriate is to dedicate an average of 2-3 days to each island to know its most tourist places and enjoy it to the fullest.
If your trip is one week, we would recommend you to make a combination of the best known and most famous islands, Mykonos and Santorini and if you have good flight schedules, you could even add a getaway to Naxos or Paros.
In case you have more days, between 10-15 days, a combination of these 4 islands (Santorini, Mykonos, Paros and Naxos) or Folegandros, Milos or Ios, would be a perfect option or choose to spend these days in Crete, another of the most famous Greek islands and one of the essential places to see in Greece.

Paros, one of the essential destinations when traveling to the Greek Islands

To organize your routes on a trip to the Greek Islands we recommend you read:

9. Excursions in the Greek Islands

Although this trip to the Greek Islands can be done perfectly for free, if you want to know any of them with a guide in Spanish, in a more comfortable way and forgetting to rent a car or having to move by public transport, the most famous excursions would be:

More excursions and tours in the Greek Islands here

Naxos

10. Greek gastronomy

We have no doubt that the greek gastronomy is currently, another reason for travel to the Greek Islands. Considered by many to be one of the most exquisite in the world, we recommend you not only to try it, but to taste it, taste it and enjoy it so that it becomes part, together with the incredible places you visit in some of the most unforgettable moments of your trips.

Even knowing that it is impossible to make a list of all the dishes that are included in the cuisine of Greece, we leave you a selection of some that we believe, you should not miss and they were for us, the most exquisite.

Mezzedes: Small dishes, like tapas, which are usually served as starters and usually include tzaziki, taramosalata and melitzanosalata.
Moussaka: layers of eggplant, potato, minced meat that are baked in the oven with bechamel.
Tzatziki: one of the best known sauces of Greek cuisine that is made with yogurt, cucumber and garlic.
Tiropita: puff pastry pie and feta cheese.
Taramosalata: fish roe salad.
Greek Salad: the most famous salad in Greece that is prepared with tomato, green pepper, cucumber, onion, black olives and feta cheese.
Souvlaki: This is another of the best known dishes of Greek cuisine and you can not fail to try on your trip to Greece: Skewers of pork or veal.
Gyro: pork or veal, which is cooked and introduced into a pita bread to which ingredients such as onion, pepper, sauce ...
Melitzanosalata: roasted eggplant salad and feta cheese. Delicious!

Tzaziki

10 + 1. More tips for traveling to the Greek Islands

Other of the best tips for traveling to the Greek Islands They are:

If you are going to rent a car in the Greek Islands we recommend you to choose Rentalcars, with whom you can also pick up the car in one office and return it in another, hire the option "Premium" with which you will have full risk insurance at a much tighter price than if you hire it with the rental company.
Remember that most of the car parks in the tourist locations of Greece are free, both in the continental zone, as in the Greek Islands or beaches, even on islands such as Santorini or Mykonos.
Although you will not have any problem with the language, since in the tourist islands they speak English perfectly and even in many they speak you in Spanish, if you want the eternal smile of the Greeks to be much broader, you just have to learn some words like: Good days - Kaliméra, Good afternoon - Kalispéra, Good evening - Kaliníjta, Please - Parakaló or Gracias - Efjaristó.
In some restaurants, especially those that are not in the most tourist areas, they give the customer a small dessert, which is usually Greek yogurt, some homemade sponge cake or fresh fruit. Keep that in mind when you leave the tip.
Although some restaurants already include the tip, taking into account the friendliness and exquisite treatment of the Greeks with the tourist, we advise you to leave at least 10% of the amount of the bill as a tip.
In Greece the voltage is 230V, the frequency 50 Hz and the plugs are of type F.

Do you want to organize a trip to the Greek Islands for free?
Get it here:
The best offers of Flights to Greece here
The best hotels at the best prices in Greece: here
Get € 35 for your reservation with AirBnb here
Book your travel insurance with a 5% discount here
Book the best tours and excursions in Greece in Spanish here
Book your airport transfer⇆Atenas here
Where to stay in Mykonos: best areas and hotels
Rent your car to travel around Greece at the best price here
Book the ferry to the Greek Islands at the best price here