Greece
Greece offers sunshine, whitewashed houses with bright-blue shutters, delicious food, and a relaxed lifestyle. And, as the cradle of Western civilization, it has some of the world's greatest ancient monuments. While it's a late bloomer in the modern age and retains echoes of a simpler, time-passed world, contemporary Greece has one of Europe's fastest-changing cultural landscapes. With its classical past, hang-loose present, and edgy future, Greece offers something for every traveler.
Places
At a Glance
▲▲▲ Athens Greece's capital, featuring the ancient world's most magnificent sight — the Parthenon atop the Acropolis hill — plus excellent museums, an atmospheric old town, the lively Central Market, and funky neighborhoods bursting with avant-garde nightlife.
▲▲▲ Nafplio Greece's first capital is a cozy port with an elegant old town, energetic street life, and a cliff-topping fortress offering dramatic sea-and-mountain views; handy to nearby ancient sites (Mycenae and Epidavros).
▲▲▲ Hydra Idyllic island getaway, convenient to Athens and the Peloponnese, with picturesque harbor, casual beaches, enticing coastal hikes, and no cars (but plenty of donkeys).
▲▲ Olympia Birthplace of the Olympic Games, this famous site has evocative temple ruins, a still-functional stadium (and original starting line), an intimate museum of ancient masterpieces, and a town nearby.
▲▲ Delphi These dramatic mountainside ruins, near the town of Delphi, are draped with the Sanctuary of Apollo, where ancients came to consult the oracle; a great museum displays statues and treasures found on-site.
▲▲ Mykonos This quintessential, popular island island has a postcard-perfect whitewashed village, old-fashioned windmills, and pulsating nightlife; ruins on nearby Delos mark the birthplace of Apollo and Artemis.
▲▲ Santorini This stunningly situated, romantic island — actually the lip of a volcano's flooded crater — is renowned for the cliff-clinging white villages, blue-domed churches, volcanic-sand beaches, and spectacular sunsets.
▲ Epidavros Best-preserved theater of the ancient world, with unbelievable acoustics.
▲ Mycenae Legendary mountaintop palace/fortress with iconic Lion Gate, massive beehive tomb, and mythic links to the Trojan War.
▲ Kardamyli Cozy, unspoiled beach town, providing a handy jumping-off point for the Mani Peninsula.
▲ Mani Peninsula Easiest for drivers, this remote, rustic region has seaside villages, eerie ghost towns, Byzantine churches, spectacular caves (Pyrgos Dirou), stark ridges, and jagged coastlines.
▲ Monemvasia An old fortress town, dating from Venetian and Byzantine times, caps a gigantic rock peninsula jutting out into the sea.
Plan
Photos
Watch
- Athens and Side-Trips (episode)
- Easter Celebrations Across Europe (clip)
- Greece’s Magnificent Monemvasia (clip)
- Greece’s Peloponnese (episode)
- Greek Islands: Santorini, Mykonos, and Rhodes (episode)
- Hydra, Greece: Traffic-Free Tranquility (clip)
- Kardamyli, Greece (clip)
- The Sanctuary of Olympia (clip)
- Travel Talks: Greece
- Travel Talks: Mediterranean Cruise Ports
Read
- Easter in Greece: Lamb and Gusto
- In Europe Say Cheese
- The Bright Side of Greece: Lower Prices, Fewer Tourists
- Turning European Meals into Memories
- A Feast of Greek Pleasures
- Athens: Enhancing the Old with the New
- History Comes Alive in Modern Athens
- Sightseeing Skills for the Ancient World
- Exploring Greece’s Ancient Past: Delphi, Epidavros, and Mycenae
- Crete’s Samaria Gorge
- Europe’s Best Island Getaways
- Greek Island-Hopping Basics
- Hydra: Greece’s Carfree Island Idyll
- My Favorite Beach Hideaways
- Mykonos: A Greek Island Treasure
- Santorini: Behind the Beauty
- Journeys to the Ends of Europe
- The Peloponnese: Greece’s Unspoiled Escape
Greece
Athens
Delphi
Greek Islands
Mani Peninsula
Peloponnese
Listen
- Antiquities and Archaeology (18:31)
- Antiquities and Archaeology II (12:19)
- Architecture for Travelers (39:03)
- Athens (16:00)
- Athens Neighborhoods (12:04)
- Authentic Greek Food (12:00)
- Bumpy Ride Through the Balkans (15:51)
- Crete (11:53)
- Exploring Athens (18:26)
- Greece Meets Turkey (18:33)
- Greece Travel Tips I (28:24)
- Greece Travel Tips II (12:41)
- Greek Culture Connections (11:48)
- Greek Easter (11:38)
- Greek Islands (21:14)
- Greek Mythology (17:19)
- Greek Mythology Sights (11:48)
- Greek Theater (11:37)
- Joanna Lumley's Greece (27:03)
- Macedonia — Ancient Beauty (12:09)
- Orthodox Easter (17:20)
- Peloponnesian Greece (17:40)
- Retracing Homer's Travels (29:38)
- Sailing the Eastern Mediterranean (18:14)
- Sightseeing in the Ancient World (16:58)
Greece Audio Tours
- Acropolis Tour
Listen or Download | Download map - Ancient Agora Tour
Listen or Download | Download map - Athens City Walk
Listen or Download | Download map - National Archaeological Museum Tour
Listen or Download | Download map