Walks in Crete fall into three levels. Town routes are flat and short. Imbros Gorge is a moderate half-day descent. Samaria Gorge is a mountain day that needs fitness and planning. The towns are best in the cool of morning or evening, and fire warnings from April to October can affect the hills, so check the day’s notices. Local guides also lead old town tours, but the routes below work without one.

Sightseeing in Crete makes more sense by region than by theme, because a trip between regions eats half a day. State sites sell tickets through Hellenic Heritage, with shorter hours from September and again from November. Most also share the same closed days: 1 January, 25 March, 1 May, Orthodox Easter Sunday, and 25 and 26 December. Prices are in euros. West: Chania Old harbour: the Egyptian lighthouse, the Venetian arsenals and the Küçük Hasan mosque, all free to view from the waterfront.

Couples get the most from Crete by picking a mood and staying in one region. The island is 260 km long, so a romantic week is a series of short drives, not a tour of everything. Euro is the currency, and a little cash helps on small boats. Summer fire alerts matter from April to October, and a quick look at local notices before a remote drive is sensible. For golden hour Chania’s lighthouse at the end of the old harbour breakwater is the classic spot.

Lindos is the last stop on its stretch of coast, so excursions are best sorted by how far you have to travel. The village keeps visitors busy for a day or two, and anything further involves a bus, a boat or a long drive. This page sorts the options from nearest to farthest. Costs are in euros. On foot: 15 minutes St Paul’s Bay is the nearest outing. The path leaves the village and passes the ancient theatre, an open-air ruin behind railings, then reaches a small, nearly enclosed bay with a chapel on the shore.

Parents planning Lindos usually ask the same handful of questions. The short version is that the beaches and boats suit children well, the Acropolis suits older ones, and the heat shapes every plan. All prices are in euros. Which beach is best for small swimmers? Lindos Main Beach. It is organised, with sunbeds for hire, and the water deepens slowly. Pallas Beach is along the same bay front. St Paul’s Bay is prettier but you enter over rock, and sea urchins live on Aegean rock, so everyone needs water shoes there.

This planner sorts the things to do in Lindos by what they cost, from free to a full-day splurge. Lindos is a small village on the southeast coast of Rhodes, so the choices are easy to combine, and all prices here are in euros. Free The village lanes. Pebble-mosaic courtyards, old captains’ doorways and the bell tower of the Panagia church are all visible from the street. St Paul’s Bay. A walk of about 15 minutes from the village, past the ancient theatre, ends at a small bay with a chapel on its shore.

A romantic trip to Lindos is mostly about timing. The village is pleasant in the early morning and after sunset, and the sea and the lanes do most of the work. These ideas suit a honeymoon, an anniversary or any couple’s break, with prices in euros. Idea 1: golden hour at the chapel bay St Paul’s Bay is a small, almost closed bay south of the Acropolis rock. On the shore stands the chapel of Agios Pavlos, a popular wedding setting, and it can be visited free.

There are no packaged multi-day tours of Lindos, so a longer stay means building your own days around a few fixed points: the Acropolis, the sea and one or two outings. Below are two ways to do it, a slow version and an active one. Prices are in euros. Practicalities for any stay Cars do not enter the lanes. Park at the edge of the village in the Krana area, where some spaces are free and some paid, and use the shuttle between the car parks and the village.

The sights of Lindos form a line that runs from the top of the rock down to the water, and walking it in that order makes for an easy day. Each stop below lists what you will see and what to plan for. Prices are in euros. Stop 1: the Acropolis, at the top The rock above the village carries a Doric stoa, a propylaea, the Temple of Athena Lindia and the walls of the Knights’ castle.

Lindos packs everything worth seeing into a walkable loop, and no vehicle can enter the lanes anyway. This route links the lanes, the Acropolis, the bay and the beach front in the order that avoids the worst of the heat. Plan about half a day with stops. What to carry Wear trainers with grip, because the stone is polished and slippery, and leave the flip-flops at the hotel. Pack water and a hat.

Crete is too big to treat as a single tour. A straight drive from Chania to Sitia needs more than four and a half hours, and the north-south roads cross high passes. The sensible approach is to choose a half of the island, keep one hotel for the whole stay and build each day around a single target. Costs are in euros. In the hot, dry months from April to October, check the daily fire advice before heading out.

Parents planning Crete tend to ask the same handful of questions, so this page answers them in turn. Prices are in euros. The dry season from April to October carries a wildfire risk, so check the day’s fire notices before you drive anywhere remote. Where can children go when it is very hot? Cretaquarium is the strongest choice. It stands at Gournes, a 14 km drive east of Heraklion, and holds roughly 2,000 sea animals in about 60 tanks, from sand tiger sharks to seahorses.

Start with how many hours you can spare, because distances in Crete are deceptive. The island stretches 260 km, the mountain roads wind, and the best sights are scattered. Group your days by region and accept that some famous places do not fit into a single day from some towns. Fire danger peaks in the dry months from April to October, so look at the day’s fire and closure notices before you set off.

A tour in Crete is usually two purchases: the transport or guide, and the entry ticket for the site. Operators rarely bundle the two, so the headline price can look low. This page splits each popular outing into those parts. Everything is priced in euros, and the smaller boats prefer cash. Palace of Knossos Site entry: EUR 20 full, EUR 10 reduced, every month of the year, sold by Hellenic Heritage.

Crete rewards visitors who choose by interest. The island has four regional units, each with its own character, and driving between the far ends takes most of a day. This page lists what is on offer by theme, with the region in brackets so you can match it to where you are staying. Costs are in euros. Between April and October, summer wildfires are a real possibility, so read local fire warnings each morning and expect some trail closures.

There are four common ways to book a visit to Lindos with some structure: a boat from Rhodes Town, a sail from the village bay, a coach tour and a guided kayak day. Each has a different pace, and most prices below come from reseller listings, in euros. Use them as a guide and check the current figure before you pay. Option 1: the boat from Rhodes Town Best for: swimmers who want one relaxed day.

Central Heraklion is compact enough to explore on foot, and the best routes are free. The four below overlap at the harbour and Lions Square, so you can join or leave any of them. Guided walks run too, but nothing here needs a guide. Before you set off Summer afternoons are hot, from 30 to 38 C, and the north wind can be strong. Wear closed shoes with a good grip, because old stone, steps and uneven pavement are the norm.

Heraklion’s landmarks fall into two groups: Minoan remains from the Bronze Age and the Venetian city that grew up around the harbour. The sights are spread across town and its outskirts, so the order below follows how a day usually works, with the Minoan sites first and the Venetian centre on foot afterwards. 1. Palace of Knossos The palace is about 5 km south of the centre and is part of the UNESCO-listed Minoan Palatial Centres, inscribed in July 2025.

Heraklion is a working port and the island’s capital, not a honeymoon resort, and it does not have the cliffside hotels or secluded coves people picture in Crete. What it does offer is a handful of good evenings: old Venetian stonework, harbour light and a few places to eat well. Couples who want a quieter, prettier setting usually treat Heraklion as a short stop and head out of town for the rest.

Heraklion has the island’s main airport and its busiest ferry port, so many Crete trips begin here and fan out along the north coast. The key fact for planning is that the best-known sights in the far west and far east are too distant to reach from Heraklion in a day. For those, sleep close by. Route one: west along the coast Drive or take a KTEL coach from Station A to Rethymno, about 80 km and 1 to 1.

Heraklion is a working port rather than a resort, so family days here are built from a handful of reliable attractions and a beach outside town. Pick by weather and by how long your children can stay interested. Euro is the currency, and children’s rates apply at most of the sites below. On a hot day: the aquarium Cretaquarium at Gournes, about 15 km east of the city, is open every day.

Heraklion sits roughly halfway along Crete’s north coast, which puts several good outings within about 90 minutes. This list runs from nearest to farthest. Distances and drive times are approximate. Closest: Cretaquarium, about 15 km east The aquarium at Gournes is open every day of the year. It runs 09:30 to 19:00 from 1 April to 31 October and 09:30 to 16:00 from 1 November to 31 March. Adult entry is EUR 15 for the 1 April to 31 October period, so check the current winter adult price.

Most attraction tours around Heraklion follow the same few stops: Knossos, the Archaeological Museum, the Messara Plain in the south, a wine village or two, and, at the far end of the scale, the coach days to Spinalonga and Samaria. This page covers each in turn, from a two-hour guided walk to a full day away. Entry fees are usually extra, so ask what a tour price includes. At a glance Outing Site entry fee Knossos with a guide EUR 20, reduced EUR 10 Archaeological Museum EUR 20 in summer, EUR 12 in winter Phaistos and Gortyn Phaistos EUR 15, reduced EUR 8 Spinalonga by coach and boat EUR 20, reduced EUR 10, boat extra Samaria Gorge about EUR 10, tour day of 12 to 17 hours Knossos Licensed guides wait near the entrance gate, and their rates vary, so agree the price and the length of the walk before you start.

Heraklion is Crete’s largest city and its main port and airport, so it works best as a base for museums, Venetian stonework and short trips. Plan around opening hours. State sites close earlier in winter, and each site sells its own ticket. The currency is the euro. Cards are accepted at the big state sites, but small boats, kiosks and village tavernas often prefer cash. If you have half a day Spend it at the Heraklion Archaeological Museum, Xanthoudidou 2, beside Eleftherias Square.

A candlelit visit to the Acropolis itself isn’t on offer after dark, but the view of it from across the city more than makes up for that particular disappointment. Watch the Parthenon light up from outside The Acropolis closes by roughly 7:30-8pm even in summer, with no public entry after that. The illuminated Parthenon is genuinely visible from Lycabettus Hill or the Philopappou and Areopagus viewpoints instead, free and arguably more romantic than a crowded evening inside the site would be.

Some of Greece’s best-known sights only really make sense from Athens once you stop treating every one of them as a day trip. Meteora overnight Roughly 350km and 4 to 4.5 hours’ drive from Athens, Meteora’s monasteries need real time, and a same-day round trip runs 13 to 14 hours in transit for just 4 to 5 hours actually there. A night in Kalambaka fixes that, adding sunset and sunrise views over the rock formations without the rush.

The zoo most people mean when they say “Athens Zoo” is actually Attica Zoological Park, and it’s out near the airport, not anywhere close to the city center. Attica Zoological Park In Spata, roughly 20km east of central Athens, this park holds over 2,000 animals across around 350 species, a considerably larger and more varied collection than a quick city-center visit would ever suggest. Its dolphins moved to Clearwater Marine Aquarium in Florida in May 2025, so a dolphin show isn’t part of a current visit.

Plaka gets most of the attention, but the small, quieter neighborhood directly above it is genuinely where the walking route gets interesting. The Acropolis and Plaka, then keep climbing Start at the Ancient Agora and work through Plaka’s neoclassical streets, but don’t stop there: Anafiotika, tucked just under the Acropolis rock, is a pocket of fewer than 50 whitewashed houses built in the 1840s by stonemasons from the island of Anafi.

Not every place people call an Athens day trip actually is one; the distance alone rules a few of them out. Delphi Around 180km and 2.5 to 3 hours by car, Delphi means 5 to 6 hours in transit alone. It’s a genuine day-eater built around the Temple of Apollo and the archaeological museum, so treat it as the single plan for the day rather than pairing it with anything else.

The Acropolis is the one attraction in Athens where a guided tour genuinely solves a logistics problem, not just an information gap. A guided Acropolis and Museum tour Because entry runs on mandatory timed slots against a 20,000-visitor daily cap, a package that bundles the ticket, a guide and usually the separate Acropolis Museum admission removes the risk of missing out on peak-season dates, which can sell out 5 to 7 days ahead.

Arriving at the Acropolis without a timed slot is the single most common mistake sightseeing in Athens, and the cap behind it is a real operational limit, not a formality. The Acropolis A flat 30 euro, year-round, with no winter discount, and mandatory timed entry booked through the official hhticket.gr . The daily cap sits at 20,000 visitors, with roughly 3,000 tickets released for the 8-9am window and a decreasing allocation across the rest of the day.

Skip the queue for the Lycabettus funicular and take the path next to it instead; it costs nothing and gets you there just as fast once the cable car’s own line is factored in. Lycabettus on foot The switchback trail to the summit takes 30 to 45 minutes at a normal pace, with the reward being a 360-degree view that puts the Acropolis into the wider city rather than isolating it.

Two days in Thessaloniki is enough to hit every landmark that actually matters, and that’s the point: this is Greece’s second city, a real working port town, not a warm-up act for Athens. Day 1 works the waterfront and the Roman-era core around Aristotelous Square; Day 2 climbs into Ano Poli for the Byzantine walls and Hagios Demetrios, then finishes in the markets. Want more? The 3-day , 4-day , 5-day , 6-day and 7-day versions build in the actual day trips (Vergina, Mount Olympus, Halkidiki).

Three days is the sweet spot for a first Thessaloniki trip, and here’s the honest pitch: this is Greece’s second city, not a warm-up for Athens, and it earns three full days on food and Byzantine layering alone. Day 1 works the waterfront and the Roman-era core, Day 2 climbs into Ano Poli for the UNESCO Byzantine churches, and Day 3 goes deep on the museums, the markets, and the city’s Jewish heritage.

Four days in Thessaloniki is enough to work the whole city core at an unhurried pace and still add one real day trip, which is the honest way to spend a fourth day here rather than inventing more “city” sightseeing that doesn’t exist. Day 1 takes the Roman-Byzantine waterfront core, Day 2 climbs into Ano Poli for the UNESCO churches, Day 3 covers the museums, the markets and the city’s Jewish heritage, and Day 4 heads out to Vergina for the Macedonian royal tombs.

Five days in Thessaloniki buys three genuinely full city days plus two real day trips, and that split is the honest way to spend a week’s worth of energy here rather than padding the city itself past what it actually offers. Day 1 works the waterfront and the Roman-Byzantine core, Day 2 climbs into Ano Poli for the UNESCO churches, Day 3 covers the museums, the markets and the city’s Jewish heritage, Day 4 heads out to Vergina for the Macedonian royal tombs, and Day 5 is a straight pick between Mount Olympus and a Halkidiki beach day.

Six days is enough to work Thessaloniki’s city core properly and still get out of town three separate times, which is the honest way to fill a week here rather than inventing more “city” sightseeing that doesn’t exist. Days 1 to 3 cover the same spine as the shorter itineraries: the historic centre, Ano Poli’s UNESCO Byzantine churches, then the museums, markets and Jewish heritage. Days 4 to 6 turn into a real day-trip run: Vergina’s royal tombs, Mount Olympus, then a Halkidiki beach day or a swap to Edessa’s waterfalls and Pella.

A full week here still only spends three days inside Thessaloniki itself: Day 1 works the historic centre, Day 2 climbs into Ano Poli for the UNESCO Byzantine churches, and Day 3 adds the museums, the markets and the city’s Jewish heritage. Days 4 and 5 turn into real day trips (Vergina’s royal tombs, then Mount Olympus), and Days 6 and 7 close the week with a genuine choice: a Meteora overnight, or a Halkidiki beach day plus Edessa.

Thessaloniki is Greece’s second city, not a smaller Athens and not an island stop: a working port and university city on the Thermaic Gulf with Roman, Byzantine, Ottoman, and Sephardic-Jewish layers stacked into the same streets, plus a food scene locals will tell you beats the capital’s. Two to three days covers the core honestly: the White Tower, the Rotunda and Arch of Galerius, the UNESCO-listed Byzantine churches, Ano Poli’s upper town, and a proper food crawl through Kapani and Ladadika.

Two days still gets you the moment everyone comes for, that first caldera sunset over the blue domes, plus Fira and Akrotiri, no beach time, no volcano boat, no wine tour. It works as an honest layover plan, not a full trip. If you can stretch it, the 3 day itinerary adds a beach afternoon and Ancient Thera for barely more effort. Book these before you go: a caldera-view room in Fira (sells out weeks ahead in July-August), a caldera sunset cruise if you’d rather skip the Oia crowd entirely, and your Akrotiri entry time if you’re visiting in peak season.

Three days is the honest floor for Santorini: Fira, Oia, Akrotiri from the 2 day plan , plus a black-sand beach afternoon, Ancient Thera and a wine tasting. It’s enough to feel like a real trip rather than a speed run. Want the volcano and hot springs boat too? See the 4 day itinerary . Book these before you go: a caldera-view room in Fira or Imerovigli , a caldera sunset cruise , and a wine tasting tour , which books up in a small-group format weeks ahead in summer.

Four days takes the 3 day plan , Fira, Oia, Akrotiri, a beach day and wine, and adds a full day on the water: the Nea Kameni volcano hike and the Palea Kameni hot springs swim. It’s the shortest plan that actually gets you off the caldera rim and onto the caldera itself. For a slower version with Thirassia added, see the 5 day itinerary . Book these before you go: a caldera-view room , a volcano and hot springs boat tour (seasonal, runs mid-March through November only), and a wine tasting , all of which fill up weeks ahead in July-August.

Five days keeps everything from the 4 day plan , Fira, Oia, Akrotiri, a beach day, wine, the volcano boat, and adds a genuine escape from the crowds: a half-day trip to Thirassia and a wander through hilltop Pyrgos. This is the pace where Santorini stops feeling like a checklist. Want an extra island day trip too? See the 6 day itinerary . Book these before you go: a caldera-view room , a volcano and hot springs boat tour , and a wine tasting , all genuine sell-out risks in July-August.

Six days keeps the entire 5 day plan , the caldera villages, Akrotiri, a beach day, wine, the volcano boat, Thirassia and Pyrgos, and adds a genuine change of scenery: a day trip to Ios, a fast enough ferry hop that it barely costs you a beach afternoon. Want a slower final day instead of a day trip? See the 7 day itinerary . Book these before you go: a caldera-view room , a volcano and hot springs boat tour , and your Ios ferry tickets, which thin out on the busiest summer sailings.

Seven days is everything from the 6 day plan , the caldera villages, Akrotiri, a beach day, wine, the volcano boat, Thirassia, Pyrgos and Ios, plus one genuinely unhurried final day in the quieter villages of Emporio and Megalochori before you fly or sail out. This is the longest plan this family covers; if a full week feels like too much, the 3 day or 4 day itinerary still hit the essentials.

Santorini absolutely earns the hype: that first caldera sunset over the blue domes is one of the great travel moments in Europe, and it will not get old on repeat viewings. It also runs on euros, gets genuinely mobbed and expensive from June through September, and half of what you have already heard about it is slightly wrong. The white sand beaches, for instance, are not a thing here (the island’s beaches are black volcanic sand, red pebble, or pale limestone, and they are stunning in their own volcanic way).

Give Santorini three full days and it delivers everything you’re picturing: Fira’s caldera edge, Oia’s blue domes, Akrotiri’s frozen-in-ash ruins, and a proper Assyrtiko wine tasting, all without sprinting between transfers. Five days lets you add the volcano boat and a Thirassia day trip at a pace that actually matches what you paid to get here. This is the planning layer for the whole island trip, which village to sleep in, how to build a 2 to 7 day plan around the caldera cruise, Akrotiri and the wine region, and where to find the literal day-by-day version once you’ve picked a length.

Santorini earns its reputation on exactly three things, and they are all as good as advertised: the caldera views, the Akrotiri ruins, and the volcanic-soil wine, everything else on the island is worth ranking against those three rather than treating as equally essential. Here’s what to actually book time for, what it costs in 2026, and which famous stop (looking at you, Oia at sunset) is genuinely optional if you’re short on patience for crowds.

Two days is tight, so this trip does exactly two things and does them right: one day locking down the Athens essentials, one day proving the city works as a launchpad by driving out to Cape Sounion for sunset over the Temple of Poseidon, 70km down the coast. Building a longer trip? Jump straight to the 3 , 4 , 5 , or 6-day version , all of which build on this exact spine.

Two days in Athens means picking exactly two things and doing them properly: the Acropolis and its Museum on day one, the Ancient Agora and the old town on day two. Resist bolting on a third museum, you will enjoy what you do see far more. Need more room to breathe? Check the 3-day or 7-day version of this same plan. Book these before you go: Acropolis timed-entry ticket or skip-the-line tour on GetYourGuide , peak-season slots sell out 5-7 days out Athens hotel rooms on Booking.

Three days changes the math on the two-day version: you keep the Athens day and the Cape Sounion sunset, then add a full day on a real Greek island. Piraeus, the ferry port, is 25 minutes from the city center, and Aegina is a genuine day trip from there, not a rushed cruise-boat version of one. Tighter on time? Drop to the 2-day version . More time to spend? Step up to 4 , 5 , or 6 days .

Three days is the sweet spot for Athens itself, the city’s big sights without needing to bolt on an island or a beach to fill the time. This plan adds a full museum-and-sunset day onto the 2-day route ; need more room still, see the 5-day version. Book these before you go: Acropolis timed-entry ticket on GetYourGuide , peak-season slots sell out 5-7 days out Athens hotel rooms on Booking.com Athens food and walking tour on Viator , a good fit for day two’s old-town route Day Focus Rough entry cost 1 Acropolis + Acropolis Museum + Koukaki 30 EUR + 20 EUR 2 Ancient Agora + Monastiraki + Plaka + Anafiotika + Psirri 8 EUR 3 National Archaeological Museum + Kolonaki + Lycabettus 20 EUR Day 1: The Acropolis, done right Book the timed-entry ticket before flying out through the official hhticket.

Four days is where this trip stops being a city break with a day trip bolted on and starts feeling like an actual operations base: the Athens day, the Cape Sounion sunset, an Aegina ferry, and now a full swing through the Peloponnese to Nafplio and Mycenae, 130-140km away. Shorter trip? Drop to the 2 or 3-day version . More time? Step up to 5 or 6 days . Book these before you go

Four days lets Athens actually breathe: the Acropolis without a stopwatch, a full museum day, and a fourth day for Syntagma and the temples that the 3-day route has to skip. Everything below sits inside the city, no ferry required; add a fifth day and see the 5-day version for where it goes next. Book these before you go: Acropolis timed-entry ticket on GetYourGuide , peak-season slots sell out 5-7 days out Athens hotel rooms on Booking.

Five days is where the gateway idea really clicks: Athens itself, Cape Sounion, a Saronic island, a full Peloponnese loop, and now a day at Delphi, 180km and 2.5-3 hours through Mount Parnassus. That is one city and four genuinely different landscapes in under a week. Shorter trip? Drop to 2 , 3 , or 4 days . Have six? Step up to the 6-day version , which adds Meteora.

Five days is enough to stop feeling rushed in Athens: the Acropolis gets a full morning instead of a sprint, and a whole extra day goes to Kerameikos and the quieter museums the 4-day route skips. Everything here stays inside the city; stretch to a full week with the 7-day version . Book these before you go: Acropolis timed-entry ticket on GetYourGuide , peak-season slots sell out 5-7 days out Athens hotel rooms on Booking.

Six days is the full gateway run: Athens itself, Cape Sounion, one Saronic island, a Peloponnese loop, Delphi, and finally Meteora, 350km and 4-4.5 hours each way, the one stop on this list that genuinely wants an overnight rather than a bus-schedule sprint. Need less time? Drop to 2 , 3 , 4 , or 5 days , all built on this same spine. Book these before you go Acropolis timed-entry slot: reserve on the official hhticket.

Six days lets you slow all the way down in Athens, not just the marquee sights but the ancient cemetery everyone skips and the market that has fed this city since 1886. This builds one more day onto the 5-day route ; add a seventh and see the 7-day version for the flex day at the end. Book these before you go: Acropolis timed-entry ticket on GetYourGuide , peak-season slots sell out 5-7 days out Athens hotel rooms on Booking.

A full week in Athens means you never have to rush a single site, and you still get a flex day at the end to go back to whatever hit hardest. This is the 6-day route plus one more day; running shorter on time, drop back to the 4-day version instead. Book these before you go: Acropolis timed-entry ticket on GetYourGuide , peak-season slots sell out 5-7 days out Athens hotel rooms on Booking.

Here is the number that changes how you should plan this trip: Athens is 25 minutes by Metro Line 1 from Piraeus, one of the busiest ferry ports on earth, and about 70km from a sunset over the Temple of Poseidon. That makes the city the base for the whole trip, not a box to tick before the beach. Hydra, Aegina, and Poros are genuine day trips from here. Santorini and Mykonos are not, whatever a cruise brochure tells you.

Forget the “one night in Athens then straight to the islands” plan for a second, because the math does not work that way. Piraeus, the ferry port that reaches most of the Aegean, is 25 minutes from central Athens by Metro Line 1. Cape Sounion is 70km down the coast. Delphi is 180km. Meteora is 350km and genuinely needs a night away. Athens is not the layover, it is the hub every one of those trips launches from, and here is how to actually run it that way.

Athens rewards people who plan the Acropolis first and wing the rest. That one ticket now runs 30 EUR flat, books through a mandatory timed-entry system, and caps the whole site at 20,000 visitors a day, so it decides your morning whether you like it or not. Everything else, the old town, the museums, the sunset hill, slots in around it. Three to four focused days covers Athens properly; this guide gets the ticket logic right first, then the rest of the city.

Athens runs on one ticket you need to sort before anything else: the Acropolis, 30 EUR flat, booked into a timed slot that caps the entire site at 20,000 visitors a day. Get that locked in and the rest of the city, the museum next door, the old town below, the sunset hill above, falls into place around it. Here is exactly what each core sight costs, when it is open, and how far ahead to book; for the full write-up on each neighborhood and a day-by-day plan, see the complete Athens guide or the 2-day itinerary .