Things to do in Greece

Greece is a mainland with roughly six thousand islands and islets off it. Fewer than 230 are inhabited. The first choice is not what to see, but which Greece you are going to.

How the mainland divides

The Pindus range runs down it like a spine, and Olympus tops out at 2,917 metres. Roads bend around all of that. Hours matter more than kilometres.

• Attica. The capital, the main airport, the ports the islands sail from.
• The Peloponnese. An island since the Corinth canal cut it loose in 1893. Mani tower houses, Byzantine towns, empty sand.
• The centre. Thessaly and the Pelion peninsula, with Epirus over the Pindus: Ioannina, Zagori, the Vikos gorge.
• Macedonia and Thrace. The north, five hundred kilometres of motorway from Athens, with real winters.

Which archipelago is which

The islands are not one thing. They differ in rock, rain and history, and the group matters more than the island. Crete counts as its own.

• The Cyclades. Bare, dry, whitewashed, mid-Aegean. The wind finds them first.
• The Dodecanese. Along the Turkish coast, crusader castles stacked on the antiquity.
• The Ionians. The green side of the country, wetter, Venetian rather than Ottoman.
• The Sporades. Pine to the waterline, and the first marine park in Greece at Alonnisos.
• The north-east Aegean. Samos, Chios, Lesvos, Limnos: large, farmed, quiet.

What the days are made of

Days here are sold whole, usually with a pick-up. What fills them changes with the island.

• Antiquity with a guide. The walls are gone and the plan is rarely obvious.
• A boat to the next island. Paros and Naxos sell day cruises to Santorini, Mykonos and Delos; Lefkada to Kefalonia and Ithaca; Samos across to Turkey.
• Walking. Gorges, mule paths between villages, high trails bearable in August.
• Eating. Market walks and cooking classes; recipes change island to island.

Most of it runs twice: a coach seat, or a private car. That price is per car, not per head.

Practical

• Season. Late April to late October. July and August are hot, full and dear; the sea is warmest in September.
• The meltemi. A northerly, hardest over the central Aegean in July and August. It cancels boats, so keep a night in hand before flying home.
• Ferries. Athens has three ports: Piraeus, Rafina, Lavrio. They serve different islands.
• Money. Cards work almost everywhere, cash still helps on small islands. Tipping is rounding up, or five to ten per cent.
• Hours. Kitchens run late, two for lunch and nine for dinner. Ancient sites shut early in summer and have no shade.