Greece Travel Guide: Best Things To Do in Greece 2026 4K

Today we're going to show you the best places to visit in Greece, a country where ancient history, turquoise seas, dramatic mountains, and picture-perfect islands come together to create one of the world's best travel destinations. So if you're planning to visit Greece, you're definitely not going to want to miss this one. First up, here we are in the Aegean Sea. This is Santorini, part of the Cyclades Islands. It is about 200 kilometers or 125 miles southeast of the mainland of Greece. The island population is about 15,000 to 16,000 permanent residents, but on any given day you'll notice there's a lot of tourists on this island, which was formed by one of the largest volcanic eruptions in recorded history around 1600 BC. The eruption created the island's spectacular caldera, which now has volcanic crater cliffs all around, which allows you to take advantage of those views from Ea, Phira, or one of the island's many villages and towns along those cliffs, where you can enjoy restaurants and the Blue Dome churches that make it very picturesque. Now we're headed a couple islands over. This here is Mykonos, an island with a population of around 10,000 to 11,000 people. If you get a rental car around here, the roads are very tight, even more so than Santorini. But that's the best way to explore this island, in my opinion. They have many beach clubs. You're not going to get the caldera views that you get on Santorini, but you do have a beautiful area known as Little Venice, where you can find some waterfront restaurants with great seafood and these white buildings to walk around, which are very picturesque. At sunset, also, it lights up. They have five windmills right above that. According to Greek mythology, Mykonos was named after Mykonos, a grandson of the god Apollo. Legend says the island was the site where Hercules defeated the giants, and the island's large rocks are said to be the petrified bodies of those giants. And one more island out here in Greece, this is Crete, which is the largest Greek island and the fifth largest island in the Mediterranean. It spans 260 kilometers, that's 160 miles, from east to west. There's about 630,000 people that live on Crete. It's the ancient home of the Minoan civilization, just like Mykonos and Santorini. Zeus, the king of all Greek gods, was said to have been born in a cave here on Zeus. The major city is Herculion, which is the island's capital and largest city. Also, Chania, which is a Venetian harbor and charming old town. There's a lot to see on Crete. If you're going to come here, I would definitely recommend getting a rental car. Make sure you have all your ducks in a row and always follow all rules when you do get those rental cars, because that's very important, especially when you're on an island like this in a foreign country. You can also visit Ballos Lagoon and many beaches. Now here we are in the capital of Greece, this is Athens, the historical Acropolis location. Now I would say 24 to 48 hours is all you really need in Athens. I know many of you are trying to see the Acropolis, and that's something that's been high on your list of to-dos, but Athens itself is really just the entry point into Greece. Many of you will go through Athens when you arrive here, and you only really need one or two days maximum. They have some nice museums, good food, but really what you want to see in Greece is outside of Athens. But Athens is considered the birthplace of democracy, since the world's first known democratic system developed here in the 5th century BC. While here be sure to try some souvlaki, which is traditional Greek food. From Athens we're headed to Meteora, which literally means suspended in the air or floating in the heavens in Greek. It's located in central Greece, about 350 kilometers, 220 miles northwest of Athens. It is a famous UNESCO World Heritage Site because a monastery sits on towering sandstone pillars 400 meters or 1,300 feet above the valley floor. Monks first settled the rocks around the 11th century, and at its peak Meteora was home to 24 monasteries. Quite interesting place. You can do a day trip from Athens here, although it would be a full day round trip. So you would do a guided day tour, or if you did it by yourself, it would be a train from Athens to Kalimbaka, and then you would get a tour once you got to Meteora. That train takes about four hours each way. So you may be better off just staying the night. Now we're actually headed out to Zakinos, which is in the Ionian Islands. So these are in a different area of Greece where the Ionian Sea meets the Adriatic Sea. Here they also have the famous Shipwreck Beach, where you can take a boat tour out there, or you can hike up above and take a picture looking down at the shipwreck on the beach. The island's a lot bigger than people think. It's about 156 square miles. By the way, in case you're wondering the real name of Shipwreck Beach, it's Navagio. They also have the Blue Caves, which are famous for its brilliant blue reflections. The color of the water out here is very blue. You're not going to find a blue color like this in many places in the world. Along with beautiful limestone cliffs and blue water, they also have some nature that you can find if you go inland. Also they have some sea turtles that do nesting on the beaches here. The big difference between the Ionian Islands and the Aegean Sea Islands? More green up here. Staying here in the Ionian Sea, we're at Corfu, which is in the northwest coast of Greece as well. It's the second largest Ionian Island, just after Catalonia. The island has a population of 100,000 people. Corfu has a history that spans back 3,000 years. It's very interesting in this Adriatic region because you have Venice, which had the Venetian Kingdom. You also had Dalmatia, which comes from modern-day Croatia. So lots of history all throughout this region, even if you go up into Montenegro. Across the Adriatic is Italy. But Corfu really has a lot to say about that. It was one of the only islands that was never conquered by the Ottoman Empire, thanks to the Venetian fortifications that were here. Now we're headed back down to the Aegean Islands. This here is Rhodes. It's Greece's fourth largest island with a population of 125,000 people. It's about 11 miles from the coast of Turkey. People have been here for 3,000 years. The Romans, the Byzantines, the Ottomans, Italians. It's also got the Colossus of Rhodes, a giant bronze statue of sun god Helios that stood over 30 meters tall, that's 100 feet. Colossus was one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World before it was destroyed by an earthquake in 226 BC. The Old Town in Rhodes is considered one of the best preserved medieval cities in all of Europe, and it is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. You can easily visit Rhodes if you're in Turkey. By the way, we do have a Best Places in Turkey video coming soon, so stay tuned for that. Now we're headed out to the furthest west island in the Aegean. This is Milos. This is one of the most interesting islands that I visited. It's got 5,000 people that live here. It's a relatively small island, but I did take a rental car around, and that's what I would suggest you do because there's no real public transport on this island. I don't know what you would do without a rental car here, but it is a volcanic island. It's got a lot of white kind of dirt. I don't know what that white color rock is called, but it's got colorful sea cliffs, sea caves, hot springs, interesting rock formations where water kind of comes up into it. They also have an old town that sits up on the hill, but there's over 70 beaches on this island. I would say this was one of my favorite places that I visited while I was here in Greece. I would say this one's still kind of like a hidden gem in Greece. And we're still in the Aegean here. We're at Naxos, which is one of the largest islands in the sea here. The most famous landmark is in the port of Portara, and this is the Temple of Apollo built in 530 BC. It's also got mountains that you can take your rental car all around the island, plenty of beaches. It sits in between Mykonos and Santorini, so it's a popular stop because, as you know, you can take ferries all around the Aegean Sea and island hop from island to island. I don't know how long you'll be here, but let's just say you're going to be in the area of Greece for 14 days. You could probably see 7 to 10 islands, including Athens and Meteora, in that trip. One thing I remember about Naxos, it had delicious food, seafood and regular souvlaki and more. Now we're actually headed back up into the Ionian Islands. This is Cephalonia, which is the largest Ionian Island. This is also got a nice blue beach area, plenty of blue, white sand, actually. See the difference between Ionian Islands and the Aegean? You're going to get more white sand, I would say, up in the Ionian Islands. It's a little bit different kind of texture, though. It doesn't feel the same, but I would say swimming in both areas is going to be amazing because you're in the Mediterranean. How does it get much better than that? But this island also has Mount Einos, which is the highest mountain in the Ionian Islands, standing at over a mile high. That's quite high up there. It's also home to the rare Cephalonian fir tree. Back down here in the Aegean, we're at Eos. Now Eos is a really cool island. It's kind of a party island. Lots of uni students come down here from the UK and Ireland and Greece and other places in Europe. They have really cool beach clubs all across the island. People come here because they also want to see where the legendary poet Homer wrote the Liliad and the Odyssey. He's buried here on Eos at Homer's tomb. You can find that here. But the island's capital is Chora, and you also have Milopotes, which is known for the swimming and water sports. And then you have Kolumbara, which is actually where those beach clubs are located. Really amazing beach clubs. My favorite on this island was Pathos. I feel like this is another one of those hidden gem islands. It's got everything you could possibly want. You can find ultra relaxation and then that party nightlife. Really chill. Now we're here in Thessaloniki, which is Greece's second largest city. It's up there in the far north, nearby North Macedonia. It's got over 1 million people. The city itself is home to 15 UNESCO World Heritage listed Byzantine monuments, including churches, monasteries, and the city walls. But it's really interesting they have the White Tower, which is Thessaloniki's most famous landmark, originally built by the Ottomans in the 15th century. It served as a fortress, prison, and a watchtower. Now it's just a museum that offers great views. Other attractions include a rotunda. You also have the Roman Forum. You have Anopoli, which is the upper town, and the square waterfront promenade as well. And we're going to stay up here in the north and show you a natural wonder. This here is the Vicos Gorge in the Poundis Mountains. It's in the Zagori region of Epirus, and it's about 20 kilometers, that's 12 miles long. It's got cliffs towering 1,000 meters, or 3,200 feet, in each side. It's also part of the Vicos House National Park, one of Greece's most important protected natural areas. It's also in the Guinness Book of World Records for one of the world's deepest gorges relative to its width. I would say this is probably one of the greenest areas you'll find in Greece, as well as having the great views. Now here we are at Paros. This is another island in the Aegean Sea nearby Naxos. I put this one on the list because I personally love just the relaxing vibe here. It's really easy to get to. Just so you know, in Greece there's about 6,000 islands. 227 of those are inhabited islands. That means 5,700 islands are completely uninhabited. Paros is about 76 square miles. It's got about 13,000 to 14,000 people living here. It's located in between Mykonos and Naxos, so it's really easy to get to. It's usually a stop in between the routes. You can even do just a day trip here. You don't have to stay the night if you just wanted to chill. They have some nice beaches also. It's another island you would need a rental car to go around. In fact, what you could do is you could get the rental car, store your luggage in the trunk of the car, and then just return it six hours later, eight hours later, however long you want to stay, and then catch the 6 p.m. ferry on to Mykonos or on to Naxos or Santorini, whatever you want to do. There's many more places in Greece with lots of history. There's Delphi and several other places, but the big thing that I focused on in this one is what I personally like, which is the islands. I feel like that's the big hit when you come to Greece, because a lot of these islands is where the history is. All across the Mediterranean, I've learned that. A lot of the ancient civilizations living on these islands, whether it's Sicily, Cyprus, Crete, I mean, so much history on these islands. If you want to learn more about the best Mediterranean islands, you can click the link right here to learn about the top 20 islands in the MED.