updated 28.11.2024
The cost of living in Greece has increased astronomically since it joined the EU, particularly after the adoption of the euro and further increases in the VAT rate in 2011. Prices in shops and cafés now match or exceed those of many other EU member countries (including the UK). However, outside the chintzier resorts, travel remains affordable, with the aggregate cost of restaurant meals, short-term accommodation and public transport falling somewhere in between that of cheaper Spain or France and pricier Italy.
Prices depend on where and when you go. Pockets of the larger cities, the trendier tourist resorts and small islands (such as Sými, Ýdhra, Mýkonos, Paxí and Santoríni) are more expensive and costs everywhere increase sharply during July and August, Christmas, New Year and Easter.
On most islands a daily per-person budget of €60/£50/$68 will get you basic accommodation and meals, plus a short ferry or bus ride, as one of a couple. Camping would cut costs marginally. On €120/£100/$132 a day you could be living quite well, plus sharing the cost of renting a large motor-bike or small car. Note that accommodation costs vary greatly over the seasons.
A basic taverna meal with bulk wine or a beer costs around €15–20 per person. Add a better bottle of wine, pricier fish or fancier decor and it could be up to €30 a head; you’ll rarely pay more than that, unless you are tricked into buying overpriced fish or go to a very fancy city restaurant. Even in the most developed resorts, with inflated “international” menus, there is often a basic but decent taverna where the locals eat.
Greece is one of Europe’s safest countries, with a low crime rate and a deserved reputation for honesty. It’s quite possible that if you leave a bag or wallet at a café, you’ll probably find it scrupulously looked after, pending your return. Nonetheless, theft and muggings are becoming increasingly common, especially in Athens, a trend that has been increased by the economic crisis. With this in mind, it’s best to lock rooms and cars securely, and to keep your valuables hidden. Civil unrest, in the form of strikes and demonstrations, is also on the increase, but while this might inconvenience you, you’d be very unlucky to get caught up in any trouble as a visitor.
Though the chances are you’ll never meet a member of the national police force, the Elliniki Astynomia, Greek cops expect respect, and many have little regard for foreigners. If you do need to go to the police, always try to do so through the Tourist Police (171), who should speak English and are used to dealing with visitors. You are required to carry suitable ID on you at all times – either a passport or a driving licence – though it’s understood you probably won’t have it at the beach, for example.
The most common causes of a brush with the law are beach nudity, camping outside authorized sites, public inebriation or lewd behaviour. In 2009, a large British stag group dressed as nuns was arrested in Mália and held for several days; they managed to combine extreme drunkenness with a lack of respect for the church. Also avoid taking photos in forbidden areas such as airports .
Drug offences are treated as major crimes, particularly since there’s a mushrooming local addiction problem. The maximum penalty for “causing the use of drugs by someone under 18”, for example, is life imprisonment and an astronomical fine. Foreigners caught in possession of even small amounts of marijuana get long jail sentences if there’s evidence that they’ve been supplying others.
Voltage is 220 volts AC. Standard European two-pin plugs are used; adaptors should be bought beforehand in the UK, as they can be difficult to find locally; standard 5-, 6- or 7.5-amp models permit operation of a hairdryer or travel iron. Unless they’re dual voltage, North American appliances will require both a step-down transformer and a plug adaptor (the latter easy to find in Greece).
All the major ancient sites, like most museums, charge entrance fees ranging from €2–20, with an average fee of €4–8. From November to March, entrance to all state-run sites and museums is half price and free on Sundays and public holidays.
Mykonos with famous windmill © Shutterstock
EU citizens (and those from some European countries not in the EU) need only a valid passport or identity card to enter Greece and can stay indefinitely . US, Australian, New Zealand, Canadian and most non-EU Europeans can stay, as tourists, for ninety days (cumulative) in any six-month period. Since Brexit took full effect in 2021, this includes UK nationals. Such nationals arriving by flight or boat from another EU state party to the Schengen Agreement may not be stamped in routinely at minor Greek ports, so make sure this is done in order to avoid unpleasantness on exit. Your passport must be valid for three months after your arrival date but should ideally have six months left on it.
Visitors from non-EU countries are currently not, in practice, being given extensions to tourist visas. You must leave not just Greece but the entire Schengen Group and stay out until the maximum 90-days-in-180 rule, as set forth above, is satisfied. If you overstay your time and then leave under your own power – i.e. are not deported – you’ll be hit with a huge fine upon departure, and possibly be banned from re-entering for a lengthy period of time; no excuses will be entertained except (just maybe) a doctor’s certificate stating you were immobilized in hospital. It cannot be overemphasized just how exigent Greek immigration officials have become on this issue.
Monolithos beach, Santorini island © Allard One/Shutterstock
Despite the EU healthcare privileges that currently apply in Greece , you should consider taking out an insurance policy before travelling, to cover against theft, loss, illness or injury. Before paying for a whole new policy, however, it’s worth checking whether you are already covered: some home insurance policies may cover your possessions when overseas, and many private medical schemes (such as BUPA or WPA in the UK) offer coverage extensions for abroad. Students will often find that their student health coverage extends during the vacations.
Make any claim as soon as possible. If you have medical treatment, keep all receipts for medicines and treatment. If you have anything stolen or lost, you must obtain an official statement from the police or the airline which lost your bags – with numerous claims being fraudulent, most insurers won’t even consider one unless you have a police report.
Other than in major cities and some towns, internet cafés have all but disappeared, due to the proliferation of wi-fi. Nearly all accommodation, most cafés (but not old-style kafenía) and an increasing number of tavernas offer free wi-fi to patrons, and an increasing number of municipalities are introducing free wi-fi hotspots.
Laundries, or plindíria, in Greek, are available in the main resort towns; sometimes an attended service wash is available for little or no extra charge over the basic cost of €8–10 per wash and dry. Self-catering villas will usually be furnished with a drying line and a selection of plastic wash-tubs or a bucket. Most larger hotels have laundry services, but charges are steep.
Greece is deeply ambivalent about homosexuality: ghettoized as “to be expected” in the arts, theatre and music scenes but apt to be closeted elsewhere. “Out” gay Greeks are rare, and “out” local lesbians rarer still; foreign same-sex couples will be regarded in the provinces with some bemusement but accorded the same standard courtesy as straight foreigners – as long as they refrain from public displays of affection, taboo in rural areas. There is a sizeable gay community in Athens, Thessaloníki and Pátra, plus a fairly obvious scene at resorts like Ýdhra, Rhodes and Mýkonos. Skála Eressoú on Lésvos, the birthplace of Sappho, is unsurprisingly an international mecca for lesbians. Even in Athens, however, most gay nightlife is underground (often literally so in the siting of clubs), with no visible signage for nondescript premises.
EU (and EEA) nationals are allowed to stay indefinitely in any EU state, but to avoid any problems – eg, in setting up a bank account – you should, after the third month of stay, get a certificate of registration (vevéosi engrafís). Residence/work permits for non-EU/non-EEA nationals can only be obtained on application to a Greek embassy or consulate outside Greece; you have a much better chance of securing one if you are married to a Greek, are of Greek background by birth or have permanent-resident status in another EU state. Since 2021, UK nationals can no longer officially work in Greece without negotiating this procedure but many continue to be casually employed, at least on a temporary basis.
As for work, non-EU nationals of Greek descent and EU/EEA native speakers of English have a much better chance than anyone else. Teaching English at a private language school (frontistírio) is not as well paid as it used to be and is almost impossible to get into these days without a bona fide TEFL certificate. Again, Brexit has made the situation more complicated for UK citizens.
Many people find tourism-related work, especially on the islands most dominated by foreign visitors; April and May are the best time to look around. Opportunities include being a rep for a package company, although they recruit the majority of staff from the home country; all you need is EU nationality and the appropriate language, though knowledge of Greek is a big plus. Jobs in bars or restaurants are a lot easier for women to come by than men. Another option if you have the requisite skills is to work for a windsurfing school or scuba diving operation.
Chania at sunny summer day, Crete, Greece © Shutterstock
Post offices are open Monday to Friday from 7.30am to 2pm, though certain main branches also open evenings and Saturday mornings. Airmail letters take 3–7 days to reach the rest of Europe, 5–12 days to North America, a little longer for Australia and New Zealand. For a modest fee you can shave a day or two off delivery time to any destination by using the express service (katepígonda). Registered delivery (systiméno) is also available for a similar amount but is slow unless coupled with express service. Stamps (grammatósima) are widely available at newsagents and other tourist shops, often for a small surcharge.
Parcels should (and often can) only be handled in the main provincial or county capitals. For non-EU/EEA destinations, always present your box open for inspection, and come prepared with tape and scissors.
Ordinary post boxes are bright yellow, express boxes dark red, but it’s best to use those adjacent to an actual post office, since days may pass between collections at boxes elsewhere.
The most reliable general touring maps of Greece are those published by Athens-based Anavasi (http://anavasi.gr), Road Editions (http://travelbookstore.gr) and Orama (http://oramaeditions.gr). Anavasi and Road Editions products are widely available in Greece at selected bookshops, as well as at petrol stations and general tourist shops countrywide. In Britain they are found at Stanfords (020 7836 1321, http://stanfords.co.uk) and the Hellenic Book Service (020 7267 9499, http://hellenicbookservice.com); in the US, they’re sold through Omni Resources (910 227 8300, http://omnimap.com).
Hiking/topographical maps are gradually improving in quality and availability. Road Editions, in addition to their touring maps, produce 1:50,000 topographical maps for mainland mountain ranges, including Áthos, Pílio, Parnassós, Ólymbos, Taïyetos, Ágrafa and Íti, usually with rudimentary route directions in English. Anavasi publishes a series covering the mountains of central Greece (including Ólymbos) and Epirus, some on the Peloponnese, the White Mountains and Psilorítis on Crete and Mt Dhýrfis on Évvia.
Greece’s currency is the euro (€). Up-to-date exchange rates can be found on http://xe.com. Euro notes come in denominations of 5, 10, 20, 50, 100, 200 and 500 euros, and coins in denominations of 1, 2, 5, 10, 20 and 50 cents and 1 and 2 euros. Avoid getting stuck with counterfeit euro notes (€100 and €200 ones abound). The best tests are done by the naked eye: genuine notes all have a hologram strip or (if over €50) patch at one end, there’s a watermark at the other, plus a security thread embedded in the middle. Note that shopkeepers do not bother much with shortfalls of 10 cents or less, whether in their favour (especially) or yours.
Greek banks normally open Monday to Thursday 8.30am–2.30pm and Friday 8.30am–2pm. Always take your passport with you as proof of identity and expect long queues. Large hotels and some travel agencies also provide a foreign cash exchange service, though with hefty commissions, as do a number of authorized brokers in Athens and other major tourist centres. When changing small amounts, choose bureaux that charge a flat percentage commission (usually 1 percent) rather than a high minimum. There are a small number of 24-hour automatic foreign-note-changing machines, but a high minimum commission tends to be deducted. There is no need to purchase euros beforehand unless you’re arriving at some ungodly hour to one of the remoter frontier posts.
Debit cards are the most common means of accessing funds while travelling, by withdrawing money from the vast network of Greek ATMs. Larger airports have at least one ATM in the arrivals hall and any town or island with a population larger than a few thousand (or substantial tourist traffic) also has them. Most accept Visa, MasterCard, Visa Electron, Plus and Cirrus cards; American Express holders are restricted to the ATMs of Alpha and National Bank. There is usually a charge of 2.25 percent on the sterling/dollar transaction value, plus a commission fee of a similar amount. Using credit cards at an ATM costs roughly the same; however, inflated interest accrues from the moment of use. When using a card, if you are given the option for the transaction to be calculated in euros or your home currency, always choose euros to avoid disadvantageous rates.
Major credit cards are not usually accepted by cheaper tavernas or hotels but they can be essential for renting cars. Major travel agents may also accept them, though a three-percent surcharge is often levied on the purchase of ferry tickets.
Palaia Kameni, volcanic Greek island, near Santorini, Greece © Shutterstock
It’s difficult to generalize about Greek opening hours, which are notoriously erratic. Most shops open 8.30/9am and close for a long break at 2/2.30pm. Most places, except banks, reopen around 5.30/6pm for three hours or so, at least on Tuesday, Thursday and Friday. Tourist areas tend to adopt a more northern European timetable, with supermarkets and travel agencies, as well as the most important archeological sites and museums, more likely to stay open through-out the day. If you need to tackle Greek bureaucracy, don’t count on getting anything essential done except from Monday to Friday, between 9.30am and 1pm.
To avoid disappointment, either phone ahead, check on the Greek Ministry of Culture website (http://odysseus.culture.gr), or time your visit during the core hours of 9am–2pm. Monasteries are generally open from approximately 9am to 1pm and 5 to 8pm (3.30–6.30pm in winter) for limited visits. Again, the opening times given for restaurants, cafés and bars can also be very flexible.
Three mobile phone networks operate in Greece: Vodafone, Cosmote and Q-Telecom/WIND. Coverage countrywide is good, though there are a few “dead” zones in the mountains, or on really remote islets. There are no roaming charges within the EU, so EU nationals pay the same price for calls, texts and data to numbers in their home country as they would at home; UK nationals should check the situation post-Brexit in 2019. For calling Greek numbers, however, you can save money by buying a pay-as-you-go SIM card from any of the mobile phone outlets. Top-up cards are available at all períptera (kiosks). North American users can only use tri-band phones in Greece.
Land lines and public phones are run by OTE who provide phonecards (tilekártes), available from kiosks and newsagents. If you plan on making lots of international calls, use a calling card, which involves calling a free access number from certain phone boxes or a fixed line (not a mobile) and then entering a twelve-digit code. OTE has its own scheme, but competitors generally prove cheaper. Avoid making calls direct from hotel rooms, as a large surcharge will be applied, though you will not be charged to access a free calling card number.
You can feel free to snap away at most places in Greece, although some churches display “No photography” signs, and museums and archeological sites may require permits at least for professional photographers. The main exception is around airports or military installations (usually clearly indicated with a “No pictures” sign). The ordeal of twelve British plane-spotters who processed slowly through Greek jails and courts in 2001–2 on espionage charges should be ample deterrent.
Standard Greek time is two hours ahead of GMT. Along with the rest of Europe, the clocks move forward one hour onto summer time between the last Sunday in March and the last Sunday in October. For North America, the difference is usually seven hours for Eastern Standard Time, ten hours for Pacific Standard Time.
Public toilets are usually in parks or squares, often subterranean; otherwise try a bus station. Except in tourist areas, public toilets tend to be filthy – it’s best to use those in restaurants and bars. Remember that throughout Greece, you drop paper in the adjacent wastebins, not the toilet bowl.
The National Tourist Organization of Greece (Ellinikós Organismós Tourismoú, or EOT; Visit Greece, http://visitgreece.gr) maintains offices in several European capitals and major cities around the world. It publishes an array of free, glossy pamphlets, invariably several years out of date, fine for getting a picture of where you want to go, though low on useful facts.
Within Greece, a lack of funding has led to the closure of all public EOT offices outside Athens and Rhodes, although administrative branches still exist. You can, however, often get information from municipal tourist offices, including advice on local attractions and public transport, as well as informal advice. In the absence of any of these, you can visit the Tourist Police, essentially a division (often just a single room) of the local police. They can sometimes provide you with lists of rooms to let, which they regulate, but they’re really the place to go if you have a serious complaint about a taxi, accommodation or eating establishment.
Agios Prokopios beach, Naxos island, Greece Cyclades © Shutterstock
In general, travellers with disabilities are not especially well catered for in Greece, though, as EU-wide legislation is implemented, things are gradually improving. Wheelchair ramps and beeps for the sight-impaired are rare at pedestrian crossings, and outside Athens few buses are have disabled access. Only Athens airport, its metro and airline staff in general are wheelchair-friendly. Ancient monuments, one of the country’s main attractions, are usually inaccessible or hazardous for anyone with impaired mobility.
The National Tourist Organization of Greece can help; they also publish a useful questionnaire that you can send to hotels or self-catering accommodation. Before purchasing travel insurance, ensure that pre-existing medical conditions are not excluded. A medical certificate of your fitness to travel is also useful; some airlines or insurance companies may insist on it.
Children are worshipped and indulged in Greece, and present few problems when travelling. They are not segregated from adults at meal times, and early on in life are inducted into the typical late-night routine – kids at tavernas are expected to eat (and talk) like adults. Other than certain all-inclusive resorts with children’s programmes, however, there are very few amusements specifically for them – certainly nothing like Disney World Paris.
Luxury hotels are more likely to offer some kind of babysitting or crèche service. All the same basic baby products that you can find at home are available in Greece, though some may be more expensive, so it can pay to load up on nappies, powders and creams before leaving home.
Most domestic ferry-boat companies and airlines offer child discounts, ranging from fifty percent to completely free depending on their age; hotels and rooms won’t charge extra for infants, and levy a modest supplement for an extra bed.
From travel safety to visa requirements, discover the best tips for visiting Greece