Many people travel to Greece to spend time along its coast or on one of its myriad islands—a holiday destination that leaves salt on your skin. And there’s good reason to come for that alone, although it gives little sense of a country that is roughly 80 percent mountainous. Beyond the beach there are farming villages where a scenic adventure can segue into local wine and seasonal, farm-to-table food. Some places are worth visiting for a particular occasion: the grape harvest, or an Orthodox feast that brings a village’s scattered families home. Naturally, the best time to visit Greece depends on which of those pleasures you want to build a trip around. An Easter visit calls for early hotel reservations, while an island holiday late in the year needs a close look at ferry schedules and hotel closing dates. For help with those choices, we draw on recommendations from Curated Greece co-founders Vasilis Sarmantas and Seetha Ramanathan, along with Condé Nast Traveler Top Travel Specialist Ronnie Liadis of Liadis Travel.
Jump to:
When is the best month to travel to Greece?
What is the temperature in Greece by month?
What is the cheapest time to go to Greece?
When is peak season in Greece?
How many days are enough for a trip to Greece?
What are the nicest parts of Greece to visit?
Do Americans need a visa to visit Greece?
Plan your stay
This article has been updated with new information since its original publish date.
September is the best month for a first visit to Greece that combines Athens with an island. The sea has had all summer to warm up, and ferries still serve the main routes frequently. Sarmantas and Ramanathan recommend it for beach holidays with fewer crowds than midsummer: In the Cyclades, the Aegean island group that includes Mykonos and Santorini, the most sought-after hotels remain busy well into the month of September, and sometimes even October.
Late May to early June is these experts’ other preferred window, near the start of a beach season —which generally lasts until early October. Liadis favors May for wildflowers and comfortable weather, though the sea can feel cool this time of year. The water is warmest from July to September, Sarmantas and Ramanathan told us.
April and May are good months to visit Greece for sightseeing. Cooler weather lets you linger at exposed sites such as the Acropolis, the ancient hilltop citadel of Athens, and the open-air theater at Epidaurus on the Peloponnese peninsula southwest of Athens.
For a trip in late October, look to Athens or larger southern islands such as Crete and Rhodes, where more hotels stay open year-round. On smaller resort islands, check hotel closing dates alongside ferry schedules before settling on a destination.
July and August are the hottest months, but keep in mind that an Athens forecast tells you little about a village high in the Pindus mountains of the northern mainland. The table below gives a broad seasonal guide using historical monthly averages for five destinations: Athens, the northern city of Thessaloniki, Corfu Town, Heraklion (on Crete), and Rhodes Town. Each range spans the lowest and highest city average in that group. These are benchmarks, so individual days, especially during heat waves, can be considerably hotter.
Month
Typical daytime high
Typical overnight low
February
52–60°F
36–48°F
September
80–85°F
59–69°F
November
60–68°F
44–56°F
December
52–63°F
37–51°F
In summer, plan archaeological visits for the earliest entry time available, and check the site’s hours that morning since extreme heat can bring abrupt closures. The EU’s Copernicus climate service recorded extreme heat stress in parts of Greece during summer 2025. Hot, dry, and windy conditions also raise wildfire risk: consult Civil Protection’s daily risk map before a rural excursion and follow local restrictions and any 112 evacuation alerts. Keep in mind that a clear sky does not guarantee a smooth ferry crossing. The meltemi, a northerly wind over the Aegean, can take the edge off a hot beach afternoon while roughening the sea enough to disrupt ferries. When strong winds are forecast, confirm your sailing with the operator before heading to the port.
November through March is generally the cheapest time to go to Greece (apart from Christmas and New Year’s). Sarmantas and Ramanathan put the potential savings on international flights at 30 to 50 percent of high season’s prices. In Athens and Thessaloniki, that lower hotel bill still comes with plenty to do: Museums stay open and neighborhood restaurants have local regulars to feed through winter. On the islands, check what will be open around your hotel, since many resorts close from roughly November to April.
For an island holiday, compare May with late September and early October, when rates can ease before seasonal businesses close. Check the connections while you compare hotels. An extra flight or an overnight stay between ferries can easily absorb what you saved on the room.
Orthodox Easter fills rooms in places known for their Holy Week traditions, and its date may differ from Western Easter. Keep an eye on those dates, and if they align with your travel plans, book early and plan to arrive before the weekend. On Good Friday, worshippers follow an epitaphios, a flower-covered bier representing Christ’s tomb, through the streets. The mood changes at midnight on Holy Saturday, when candles are lit to cries of Christos Anesti, “Christ is risen.” By Sunday, families are gathering around tables of roast lamb.
In Corfu, the island’s philharmonics, or local brass bands, accompany the Good Friday processions. At 11 a.m. on Holy Saturday, residents drop botides, large clay pots, from balconies. An Easter Sunday arrival would miss both. Patmos, in the eastern Aegean, draws pilgrims to the cave where tradition places St. John’s writing of Revelation. During Holy Week, the abbot of the Monastery of St. John washes the feet of 12 monks in the square of Chora, the island’s capital, reenacting Christ’s gesture to his disciples. In the Peloponnese town of Leonidio, the midnight Resurrection service is the moment to be there, as illuminated paper balloons rise from parishes across town.
July and August are the busiest and most expensive months, although the folks from Curated Greece say the broader high season now extends from early June into mid- or late September. This is when island travelers have the fullest choice of hotels and ferry departures. Book ahead for a particular room or sailing, especially if your dates leave little room to adjust.
Around August 15, Greece’s own summer holidays add to the international rush. The Feast of the Dormition, known as Dekapentavgoustos and often called “summer Easter,” commemorates the Virgin Mary’s death. Many families return to their home villages, while pilgrims sail to the Cycladic island of Tinos to visit the revered icon at the Church of Panagia Evangelistria. Some make the ascent from the port on their knees. At village panigiria, the communal feasts held for religious holidays, music, and dancing continue long after church. These homecomings help explain why a ferry can be full even when its destination is absent from the usual resort itineraries. If you want to visit such destinations, book your ferry tickets as soon as the relevant schedule is available, particularly if you need space for a car.
If you’re visiting Greece for the first time, try to go for about seven nights for a mix of city and island experiences. “With a week, you can comfortably explore Athens in two or three days, spend a couple of days on one or two islands like Santorini for iconic views or Mykonos for beach time and night life, and possibly include a day trip to a key mainland cultural site like Delphi or Meteora,” as suggested by Sarmantas and Ramanathan. If you have extra time, an additional stop on the mainland or another island, such as Crete or the Peloponnese, can provide further depth, from archaeological wonders to beautiful natural landscapes.
Liadis offers a helpful reminder about factoring in travel time: “I don’t recommend less than three nights on any island because a good part of the time is spent transferring from island to island. There are flights that connect to the islands via Athens, but the ferry system is reliable and convenient.”
For a first visit, Crete can fill a week without another ferry crossing. Of its two main cities, Heraklion puts you near Knossos, the Bronze Age Minoan palace, while Chania gives easier access to the western beaches and White Mountains. Either lets you combine the coast with lunches in mountain villages, though trying to cover both ends of Greece’s largest island leaves too much of the week to driving. In the village of Elos near Chania, chestnut celebrations in late October or early November put roasted nuts and sweets preserved in syrup on the table.
In the Cyclades, decide how much of the holiday you want to spend looking at the sea and how much in it. Santorini’s caldera hotels overlook a sea-filled volcanic basin with steep shores, so the famous view does not come with a long sandy beach below. For that, consider Naxos, where inland farming villages also give you reasons to venture away from the coast. On nearby Paros, look around the fishing village of Naoussa for restaurants and hotels within reach of the beach. May and early fall allow more comfortable exploring, with warmer water at the later end of the season.
Corfu, in the Ionian Sea, is a good option if you don’t want to rely solely on the beach because there is a substantial town to explore. Centuries of Venetian rule shaped its old streets and its cooking. Order pastitsada, meat in a spiced tomato sauce served with pasta, for a sense of how that history survives at lunch. On Kefalonia, another Ionian island, more of the holiday involves driving through mountain country to reach the next cove, so it is a better choice when beach weather is the priority.
Spring and fall are good times for a road trip through the Peloponnese. Stay in the harbor town of Nafplio for visits to Mycenae, a Bronze Age citadel, and the theater at Epidaurus. From there, head south toward the Mani peninsula’s stone tower houses or inland to mountainous Arcadia. Here, the roughly 47-mile Menalon Trail connects villages in eight sections of varying difficulty—the stage between Stemnitsa and Dimitsana, for example, follows old mule tracks past cliffside monasteries above the Lousios River and is demanding. Choose your section based on local advice rather than assuming that any village-to-village walk will be gentle.
In central Greece, Athenians spend ski weekends in Arachova, a mountain town below Parnassos Ski Centre. Its tavernas serve grilled formaela, the peppery local cheese made from sheep’s or goat’s milk. Farther south in Arcadia, the village of Vytina puts the eight slopes of Mainalo Ski Centre within reach of a village stay. The nearby MANNA hotel occupies a restored 1929 sanatorium, surrounded by fir trees at about 3,900 feet. The forest also merits a visit after the spring or autumn rains, when local guides lead mushroom hunts. Snow has become less dependable in Greece’s mountains, so check lift conditions close to departure and choose bookings you can change.
Zagori, in the mountainous Epirus region of northwestern Greece, deserves several days on foot. Its UNESCO-listed landscape includes stone villages connected by old paths and arched bridges, with forests around the Vikos Gorge that turn color in autumn. The stone staircase into Vradeto was the village’s only approach until 1973. Walking it makes the region’s former isolation easier to grasp, and the route can continue to the Beloi viewpoint above the gorge. The village of Aristi is a convenient base near the Voidomatis River, while Papigo gives access to hikes in the Tymfi mountains. Save high routes for snow-free conditions and ask locally about trails after rain.
For a fall trip built around wine, start in Thessaloniki and explore the vineyards of Macedonia in northern Greece. The Naoussa here is a wine town, distinct from its namesake on Paros, and the surrounding vineyards grow the red grape Xinomavro. The Kir-Yianni wine estate offers tastings and vineyard tours year-round by reservation. For a harvest visit, ask the estate when it expects to pick before booking your dates. The timing can differ by several weeks between vineyards, even in the same year.
US tourists can visit Greece without a visa for up to 90 days in any 180-day period, counting time spent elsewhere in the Schengen Area toward the same limit. According to the Department of State, the passport must be valid for at least three months beyond departure, with a blank page available for each stamp.
ETIAS, the European Union’s planned travel authorization for visa-exempt visitors, is not yet operating and is not accepting applications. Its timetable has changed, so check the official EU site before departure for the launch date and any new requirements.
Plan your stay
• Where to Eat, Stay, and Play in Athens: From modern art galleries and tsipouro bars to traditional live-music rebetadikos for dancing the night away,
• The Best Airbnbs in Santorini: Where to rent for a private slice of the Greek Island this summer.
• A ‘Mamma Mia’–Inspired Packing List for Greece: Flowy white dresses, linen skirts, and overalls included.
• 11 Best Hotels in Mykonos: Smart, stylish, and supremely laidback places to stay.
