Europe,  Greece,  Travel with Friends

The Ultimate Guide to Greece in October

November 14, 2018 /

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Well hey y’all, and thanks for clicking to read. We couldn’t wait to share with you our guide to get your best Grecian experience! Before we dig into the details, you should know that we went to Greece in October with a group of 7 friends total. Each of us would say Greece was easily one of the best places to visit. The people of Greece were the most kind and inviting people we had ever met. We felt loved and welcomed everywhere we went. Read below to find out all of the tips and must-dos of Athens!

Athens, Greece

First and foremost you should know that you will likely be flying into Athens if you’re flying from the U.S. We chose to spend one night and the entirety of the next day to explore there to see what the birthplace of modern society had to offer. Half of our group stayed in an Airbnb and the other half stayed in the Pella Inn Hostel for the night.

How to Get Around:

The Athens Metro is a reliable, clean, and inexpensive way to get around the city of Athens. It also takes you to and from the airport for less than half of what a taxi would cost. It should be noted that during peak hours it can get very crowded.

To be honest, we only used the Metro as a means to go long distances because Athens is a very walkable city! Athens is full of beautiful, Ancient Greek buildings that are littered throughout the city.

Things to do

  • Visit the rooftop bar of the Pella Inn Hostel. You don’t need to be staying at the hostel to visit. Simply ask the check-in desk if you can go up! Why should you go to a hostel for drinks you ask? Well the drinks are cheap and the views are amazing! The view from the rooftop bar was arguably the best uninterrupted view of the Acropolis and Parthenon you will get in the city. You can gaze in wonder, and imagine what a sight to see thousands of years ago as the ancient people sailed to the island.
  • Visit the Acropolis and the Parthenon. You can purchase a day pass to visit these historic sights as well as the Theatre of Dionysus (the Greek God of wine) and more. The buildings are in close proximity to one another which make it easy to see them all. Remember, we only had a few hours to tour Athens before we set off to the island of Crete. It is quite a hike to the top along the ancient marble streets. The views and history surrounding the area make it very worth it!

  • Visit the Olympic Stadium and Museum. This is an amazing place to learn all about the history of the Olympics and all the grandeur surrounding the events. Every city that has ever hosted the Olympics is engraved in Greek on a plaque at the end of the stadium. They also have all of the Olympic torches inside the museum (shout-out to the ATL)!
  • Pro tip: Bring your student ID! At nearly every historic location in Greece you can use your student ID to get up to more than half-off general admission. At 25 and 26, we may be pushing the believability piece that we’re still students, but it’s worth the shot to bring them!
  • Crete, Greece
  • Crete is a gorgeous island that completely portrayed every “Greek” ideal and stereotype we had going into this vacation. We should note that we explored maybe 20%-25% of Crete (and that’s probably an exaggeration). It’s a HUGE island, so there is an absolute treasure trove of other things to do in Crete than what we’ll be describing below. So go out to this beautiful island and explore! We know we will when we go back!
  • Getting There:
  • When it comes to getting to Crete you have a few options. You can fly or take a ferry. We opted to fly, but you may find the other options are more useful to you.
    Take a ferry from Athens Piraeus Port. They ferries run daily, and vary on the amount of time. Some take 9 hours, some take 4. It just depends on which boat you get on. You can usually tell by the price of the ticket, with the faster rides being the most expensive.
    Take a ferry from other Greek islands (Santorini, Mykonos, Rhodes, Kos, etc).
    • Fly to Chania or Heraklion Airport from virtually anywhere in Europe. We will say that while we had a very good experience at Heraklion airport, it has been continuously ranked as the WORST airport in the world to fly out of for the past 10 years straight. Long delays, cancelations, missing luggage, and not updated amenities are to blame- especially during the peak months of the summer.
  • How to Get Around:
  • As stated earlier, Crete is huge! We recommend renting a car, truck, motorcycle, paddy wagon, trike, jalopy, etc. you need something motorized to get around this massive, mountainous island! If comfort is your thing, be aware that the ATVs got a little chilly later in the day in October. We were quite a motley crew that day with our varieties of vehicles.
  • To Do:

Visit the city centre, Heraklion, Agios Nikolaos, Reythomo, and Chania.

    • Crete is where the Greek civilization as we know it originated. The old towns of the aforementioned cities are gorgeous! Most are port cities with beautiful, old Greek bastions on the seafront. We only visited Agios Nikolaos from the list above, but the others are on our list because they were recommended by the locals.
  • Speaking of Agios Nikolaos…GO! It’s beautiful, has crystal clear water surrounding its entire pay and port. It also has a really deep lake in the middle of the town. It is said to be where Athena bathed in ancient times. It’s also where Nazi Germany sunk some of its tanks as they de-occupied Crete. Local legend says its bottomless (it’s not, but it’s disproportionately deep). It currently hosts as a location for the world High Cliff Diving Championship.

Visit the Palace of Knossos.

    • This landmark was created between 1380-1100 BC. At first glance, you don’t realize just how large the grounds are and how much there is to see. Definitely bring your student IDs here because you’ll be able to get a discount!

Visit Lasithi Plateau and Psychro Cave.

    • We have to say that this was quiet a drive from our stop at the Palace of Knossos, but we had no idea how amazed we were going to be! The drive up the mountain was nothing short of treacherous, and the weather cooled significantly. As we continued the trek upward around windy, mountain roads we abruptly came to a plateau. It was the craziest thing! The views were spectacular. You could see farmland all along the plateau and the ocean in the distance. It was unlike anywhere we’ve seen before.

  • Psychro Cave is known as the birth place of Zeus. It was very dark, but there are stairs to lead you through a portion of the cave. It was very beautiful and interesting to see. We could definitely understand why the Greek legend said Zeus was born there!
  • Visit Elounda and the surrounding area. The hotels and beaches here are very exclusive. This is where our Airbnb was located, and we honestly didn’t know just how nice of a town this would be! There was even a summit between the leaders of Greece, Capris, and Egypt at one of the golf clubs while we were there!
  • If you visit this city, you MUST take a visit to Taverna Akrohoria! As we mentioned earlier, we arrived in Crete late at night & hungry! We googled, “late night eats,” and stumbled upon this taverna. We walked up, even though the lights were off, asked if they were open, and were immediately invited inside. The owner immediately took us in and gave us the BEST restaurant experience ever! We had an amazing Greek meal and immediately knew we were in an amazing place!
  • Santorini, Greece
  • How to get there:
  • We chose to ride a ferry. It was extremely clean, fast, and nice! The ferry is close to the airport where we rented the cars. We were able to drop them off at the airport and quickly board the ship.
  • How to get Around:

Walk.

    The island is small and is extremely walkable. We stayed in Oia which was definitely the coolest city in the island! We were able to walk everywhere we needed to. The boys in the group even hiked a trail that was a few miles long into the next town. This was THE time to visit Oia! Apparently in the summer tens of thousands of tourists hop off of cruise ships. That doesn’t sound nearly as enjoyable of a time as we had exploring the city with space to move.

Dune buggy.

    This was by far our favorite mode of transportation. You can drive all over the island in a few hours. It’s an amazing way to check out wineries, other cities, and the brewery.

Car, bus, or taxi.

    These options are also available on Santorini.

To do:

  • Thera walk. Some of the boys decided to take a nice, 3 hour walk to Thira from Oia. The views are unparalleled. This should be on your, “must do,” list for Santorini. Definitely bring some hiking shoes!
  • Visit a winery. The wine in Greece is just as amazing as you’d think! The grapes are harvested in The Fall which makes October a great time to visit. If you find something called The Seven Cities wines, you have to try it! The story is amazing. The same grape vines are grown in seven different cities to make very different wines.

  • Visit Santorini Brewing Company. This brewery is the only one on the island. It’s owned partially by a San Franciscan native who moved to Santorini. It was interesting because you can try the beer inside for a free tasting and buy the beer, but then you have to drink what you buy outside because of the laws.

Xoxo,

Brit+Belle

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