Tours in Greece

Greece is a mainland with about six thousand islands attached, of which some two hundred are inhabited, and the first decision is always which of those two countries you are going to. Athens holds the classical monuments and sits within reach of Delphi, the Corinth canal, Cape Sounion and the Argolid; Thessaloniki, five hours north, opens onto Macedonia, the tomb of Philip II at Vergina, and the monasteries of Meteora perched on their rock pillars. The islands then split into groups that behave differently. Crete is the largest and effectively its own country, with Chania, Rethymno and Heraklion along the north coast and mountains and gorges behind. The Cyclades — Santorini, Mykonos, Naxos, Paros — are the whitewashed ones in the middle of the Aegean. The Dodecanese, Rhodes and Kos among them, lie against the Turkish coast. And the Ionians, Corfu and Zakynthos, sit on the other side of the country entirely, green rather than bare, and were never under Ottoman rule.

What people book follows that geography. Antiquity is the constant — the Acropolis, Knossos, Delphi, Olympia, Epidaurus — and it is one of the few places where a guide changes the visit rather than decorating it, because most of what matters is no longer standing. Water is the second half: day boats to the volcanic caldera at Santorini, catamarans around the Ionian coves, the crossing to Navagio beach on Zakynthos, snorkelling and diving almost everywhere. Then the walking, which is better than the country's reputation — the Samaria gorge on Crete, the trails between Cycladic villages, Meteora's monastic paths. And the food, which changes island by island and is worth arranging deliberately rather than eating at whatever is nearest the sea.

Practical. The season runs late April to late October, with July and August hot, expensive and packed; May, June, September and early October are the months locals will tell you to come. The sea is warmest in September. Ferries are the country's real transport network and they are cancelled for wind, which happens often enough in the meltemi season of July and August that a same-day flight connection is a bad idea — leave a night's margin before flying home. Distances between islands are longer than the map suggests. Cash still matters on small islands where card machines fail, and the euro is the currency. Tipping is rounding up or five to ten per cent for good service. Archaeological sites open early and close in the early afternoon in summer, and there is no shade on any of them. Sunday closing is normal outside tourist areas, and lunch runs late, from two, with dinner rarely before nine.