Would love recommendations in planning a two-month trip to Greece

As a start, look at the travel itineraries by Rick Steves on this website. When we did Greece in 2013, we went from Turkey to Rhodes then flew to Santorni. From there we went to Athens to pick up a rental car where we drove to Delphi, Olympia and Nafplio. We really liked Delphi and loved Nafplio. We liked Olympia especially since we stayed at a bed and breakfast owned by an Olympic medalist and took cooking classes from his wife. However we found it wasn't as quaint as the other places we visited but we still enjoyed it.

We found lots to do in Nafplio so we extended our stay there because we loved it so much. This site did a good job of describing what to do in Nafplio. https://www.trvbox.com/nafplio-the-town-you-shouldnt-miss-in-the-peloponnese-greece/ From Nafplio we drove to the airport to drop off our car and then we did Athens. We traveled in May and spent two weeks in Greece (we had just done two weeks in Turkey.

My suggestion especially since you have a lot of time is to pick three islands and visit those first since things can get crowded in June. You might even swing over to Turkey since it is easy to catch a ferry from some of the Greek Islands. We loved the Yacht Classic Hotel in Fethiye, Turkey. They offered us at a very resonable rate a boat all day with a captain to explore the Agean Coast . It was the prettiest water I have every seen in my life with an abundance of fish that we saw when we snorkled.

I also suggest you pick up a rental car and plan a circular route from the Athens airport to various sites and end in Athens. If you want to visit places further from Athens that are best to fly into, then again go the circular route. Break up your trip into two week increments where you do islands for two weeks, then archaeology theme sites, then maybe culture or classes or tours then Athens. I think you will find it less overwhelming if you do it in segments. Look at suggested itineraies from other tours like Road Scholar or OAT since that can help you focus.

Good luck-you will have a great time in Greece!!

jstacy,

In the same situation, i'd start with a list of the places I most want to see, and list the number of nights you want to spend in each location. After that it should be fairly easy to choose a logical route. The RS Greece tour covers the Pelopponese fairly well, and there are lots of interesting sights to see there, including Olympus. Another location that I really enjoyed was the small island of Hydra, which is a short ferry ride from Athens. Another place that I really enjoyed and wanted to stay longer was Nafplio.

In order to choose places to visit, it would be a good idea to have a look at Matt Barrett's Greece website - https://www.greektravel.com/ and of course also the Rick Steves Greece guidebook. Matt recommends using one of the Greek travel agencies (listed on his website) to plan visits, which is what I did when visiting Santorini and Naxos. The agency that I used did an excellent job and I would highly recommend that approach.

As you're planning to rent a car, it would be a good idea to obtain an International Driving Permit, which is used in conjunction with your home license. While no longer "officially required", it's still a good idea to have one in Greece. This from the U.S. Embassy - https://gr.usembassy.gov/drivers-licenses/ . I rented a car on Santorini, and the rental agency did ask to see the IDP.

1) what specific places have you identified as being of interest to you so far?
2) are you open to car rental at any point, or will you stick to public transport?
3) Who is we? (Couple, group, children, etc.?)

If it were my trip, I would bookend the trip with time in Athens. Then I’d fly to Thessaloniki, explore the north by car as the weather warms (couple weeks). Then I’d return to Athens, rent a car, and explore the Peloponnese (a few weeks). I’d cap it off with some island exploration, but that’s where we really need to know more about your interests. There are so many options, it can feel overwhelming, but you have much more time than the vast majority of people here, so once you figure out your preferences, that will be easy to sort out. You can do it all independently, or do a small tour or cruise at some point if you need the assist.

A guide book will be helpful in organizing your thoughts and informing you what to ask, as just flipping through forums and websites can cause the overwhelm in my experience.

It's hard to give you precise advice for a stay that long, given that in two months you have plenty of time to travel around Greece without rushing to hit all the "must-sees." Above all, don't make the mistake of using tours like Rick Steves' as a model—they're designed for organized group trips and last a quarter of the time, if not less. So they aren't applicable as-is to your itinerary.

If I were you, I would just play it by ear without a rigid plan.

To narrow down your plans, you first need to decide if you want to visit any islands, which ones, and for how long. If you want to enjoy the sea and go swimming, plan your island time for June.

Be careful not to assume you can get from any island to any other—take a look at a map. There are hundreds of islands spread across geographically separate groups: the Ionian Islands, the Cyclades, the Sporades, the Dodecanese, the Saronic Islands, the North Aegean Islands, and Crete. Most of the time, you can't travel directly from one group to another.

As for the mainland, given the time you have, you can consider adding other regions to the Peloponnese and exploring other parts of Greece. You will definitely need a car to travel on the mainland; the train network is very limited, and bus routes are not set up for tourist sightseeing.

Since 2022, an International Driving Permit (IDP) is no longer required to drive in Greece, your standard U.S. driver's license is sufficient (the same applies to licenses from Australia and Canada).

VRBO is less common in Europe than Airbnb. Greece offers plenty of accommodation options of this kind without using these platforms—studios, apartments, and houses run by families or private owners. On the islands, they are actually much more common than hotels.

The official Greek tourism website:

https://www.visitgreece.gr/en

Thanks for the replies so far! Great info from each one! To answer some questions:

1. "We" are a couple of two, 77 and 72, active, but with some mobility issues with long flights of stairs.
2. What are suggestions for accommodations (other than Airbnb/VRBO)? We actually would prefer using local recommendations! We don't like to move around a lot, so stays of a week or more are our style.
3. One reply says international driver's license is not needed, but another says it is?
4. We are completely open to the islands we will visit. Have not heard good things about Mykonos
5. What is a reasonable itinerary to visit the islands? We don't have to hit all.
6. We hadn't thought about places outside of Athens. Where should we go if we rent a car?
7. I should have answered this first: what are our interests? We are big foodies, and on many trips we have planned around food, wine regions, famous/must see sites, and just driving along & stopping where we feel!
8. Since we have the time, should we visit Turkey?
9. We will be in Athens during Easter, does everything shut down? Suggestions on where to make reservations for lunch/dinner on Easter? After browsing the suggested websites, no doubt I will be back with more questions. TIA

Greece is about 70% mountainous on the mainland and quite a few islands are mountainous as well, so it really depends on what you plan to do. If you want to stick to the beaches or stay in flat areas, no one is going to force you to go mountain hiking or climb 150 steps to visit a monastery. So you don't need to worry about that. Just make sure to do a little research on where you’re going and, above all: why you’re going there.

As for accommodations, you have nothing to worry about on that front either. Like I was saying you’ll always have plenty of options, whether it's apartments, studios, or entire houses, ranging from simple to luxury. That makes up a huge part of the lodging options in Greece. You can even travel without booking anything in advance if you stay away from mass-tourism spots.

If you want to get an IDP (International Driving Permit), that’s up to you. However, it hasn't been legally required since November 2022. If a car rental company asks for one, they’re actually breaking the law, just go find another company. The Santorini example mentioned is a bit of an exception since Santorini is a total jungle where locals do whatever they want with tourists. The vast majority of car rental companies no longer ask for an IDP.

It would take you years to hit all the hundreds of inhabited Greek islands. The extremely (and overly) touristy Cyclades islands with their whitewashed houses only make up 22 of them. So even if you skip Mykonos and Santorini, 2 months would still be way too short to visit the other 20. You’ll have to make some choices, do some research, and not necessarily focus solely on the Cyclades.

Speaking of Mykonos, cross that off your list unless this is what you’re looking for:

https://youtu.be/dMpaksY4sTE

Generally speaking, I don't see how anyone can answer all your "where to go" questions without telling you to do your own research based on what actually appeals to you. Greece is a country where you eat very well and very healthily, with regional specialties just like anywhere else, so food (and wine) alone isn't really enough of a criterion to pick specific places to go, otherwise, the answer would just be "everywhere."

Don't worry about Easter yet. At this stage of your planning, you’re nowhere near the point where you need to be reserving restaurants or checking museum opening hours.

JoLui, reading all your replies, you definitely are knowledgeable and provide a wealth of information. For over a month, I have been researching Greece, trying to plan our vacation. We prefer to do our own itinerary as opposed to guided tours. We have done this for 30 years traveling thru Europe and only had a couple "oops won't do that again" situations.
Today was a big eye-opener for me, realizing how many islands there are to visit! The responses on this forum have exposed me to parts of Greece we hadn't even considered! Keep the advice coming while I delve deeper into planning two months in Greece.
My husband has an A++ personality, so the suggestions to just go will not work for him!
Right now we are considering going straight to one of the islands from the airport (ned to check into that!) and ending the trip in Athens, maybe exploring that area before spending time in Athens.
So many questions!

"One reply says international driver's license is not needed, but another says it is?"

I would recommend following the advice listed on the U.S. Embassy website (linked above), and taking an IDP "just in case". These permits are easily obtained at any AAA office for a small fee.

Right now we are considering going straight to one of the islands from
the airport.

You have 2 months! There's no need to head straight to the islands as quickly as possible. Spend your first few days in Athens upon arrival and start getting used to the "Siga-Siga" pace of life, it’s the best way to begin your trip.

https://realgreeks.net/culture/siga-siga/

Before saying you're going to an island, you'd need to know which island(s), how you're going to get there, why you're going there, and how easily you could move on to the next one. That's the principle of island hopping, which has rules dependent on ferry availability. Since there are pre-determined ferry routes that primarily serve the islanders, you can't just go wherever you want, whenever you want. The vast majority of islands are only accessible by ferry and don't have an airport.

You'll have better weather in June rather than May, so you might as well optimize your 2 months by scheduling the islands more towards June just before returning to Athens. Keep a few days at the end of your trip for Athens, that way you'll be there to catch your return flight. Athens deserves at least 5 full days to properly explore a part of it, it's far from being just the Acropolis and a few museums, so you can split your days in Athens between the beginning and the end of your stay.

Here's a draft that's already as advanced as it gets:

Day 1: Athens

Day 2: Athens

Day 3 to Day X: Various places

Day Y to Day 56: The islands

Day 57: Athens

Day 58: Athens

Day 59: Athens

I was thinking that it might help you to think of your month in Greece as 2 two week trips. I have made three 2.5 week trips to Greece and had no trouble filling the days each time.

A few hints for planning.

1. Everything is through Athens so being efficient means minimizing the times you do it. Still on our most trip to the Peloponnese we stayed the first and last nights near the airport because that is what worked. In that vein, your idea of going somewhere after your arrival is not a bad idea assuming you arrive at a reasonable hour. Our flight this time arrived in the evening so that did not make sense. But on two other trips we did fly to an island after arriving in Athens.
2. My biggest initial surprise when planning our first trip is how constrained you are with ferries. It is hard to go between island groups. On my first trip I had this idea that we would go to Rhodes, Santorini, and Corfu. logistically, it was very difficult. We ended up doing something totally different. We flew to Santorini upon arrival in Athens, took a ferry to Naxos and then flew back to Athens where we rented a car and drive to Nafplio.
3. Greece is challenging by public transportation. The train system is not the best. The bus system is variable for the tourist. We did very successfully use buses and ferries on our trip to Crete (renting a car for part of the time). I know people who do not rent a car there at all (and do so gracefully). But mostly we have rented cars even though we tend to use public transportation in other countries.
4. There is a lot to see on the mainland although everyone talks about the islands. This last trip we did not go to any islands focusing instead on the Peloponese. On our second trip we went to Crete and then Delphi and Meteora which are two sites on the mainland that are stellar. Overall, I have spent 18 nights on islands and and more than twice that on the mainland.

Edit-I was thinking you said you had a month but just saw you have two!!! But still maybe thinking in smaller durations would help you get going.