Hello! So happy to have you here! If you’re reading this travel guide you’re likely looking into traveling to Greece…WOOHOO! We are excited for you and definitely a bit jealous. 😉 We loved our time in Greece and wish we had more time there! If you’ve watched our travel vlogs on YouTube (watch here) then you saw that we spent roughly five days in Greece. We explored one day (2 nights) in Athens and then went to two Greek islands: Milos & Santorini. It just wasn’t enough time so hence why we added two days and made this a one week guide. Trust us on this, if you really want to have the best experience, you need to stay at each place for 2-3 days. Anyways, we spent a lot of time researching for the best and most picturesque places to visit in Greece prior to our trip, and now we are sharing our best tips to you!! Happy travels and let us know in the comments below if you ended up visiting Greece!
ONE WEEK ITINERARY:
Day1 & 2: Athens (Archaeological Sites + Traditional Greek Food)
Day 3, 4, & 5: Milos (Amazing Beaches, Sunsets + Fishing Villages)
Day 6 & 7: Santorini (Walking tour, Sunset in Oía + Volcano/Hot Springs Excursion)
*This itinerary does not account for the day you will arrive/leave or the possible time needed to adjust to a new time zone. Make sure to add that if applicable.
DAY 1 & 2: Athens
You’ll likely be flying into Athens. Take advantage of this incredible city! Athens is the capital and largest city of Greece. It is one of the world’s oldest cities as well. It has so much history & is definitely a must see.
Spend the first two days eating amazing Greek food, walking in the coolest streets & squares in the Old Town of Athens, and exploring as many of the archeological sites as your heart desires. Tickets for the archaeological sites can be purchased online here (https://etickets.tap.gr/). We bought our tickets in advance and were grateful we did because we were able to skip the ticket office line. We went a little before dusk and there was quite the long line. Which leads us to our first big tip: Greece is HOT during the Summer months so plan to explore the archaeological sites in the morning and evening time. Of course you can always go during the day, but dress accordingly & bring lots of water! When purchasing your tickets online, you have the option to choose between seeing just the Acropolis and the Parthenon or all of the archeological sites for 10 Euro extra/person. We recommend the second option.
Athens is a huge city, but luckily the main attractions are located in the Old Town and Athens Center. We recommend walking the streets and taking in the exciting atmosphere. Truly, walking around Athens was never that easy! Make sure to walk through Plaka, under the hill of Acropolis. This area is jam-packed with family-run shops, each with something alluring, from ceramics, musical instruments, handmade jewellery to specialty food shops stacked high with olives and spices. Kydathinaion is the main street of Plaka and the most interesting and beautiful part. We also recommend a walk around Monastiraki Square. Very touristy, but the views & atmosphere are exciting!
When it comes to food, we recommend you try the popular Souvlaki. This is the greek version of the Middle Eastern Kebab and we think a must-eat while in Athens! We also recommend you taste the iconic Greek oven-bake Moussaka and Greek Dolmades which are stuffed grape leaves shaped into little rolls and boiled until wonderfully tender. When it comes to street food we recommend:
- classic Koulouri, a sesame bread crown that’s loved by busy workers on-the-go
- Falafel or Gyros/Souvlaki
- Bougatsa, an incredibly delicious sweet pastry, prepared between layers of phyllo and decorated with sugar icing and cinnamon
- Tiropit, the most popular cheese pie or pita in Greece
- Spanakopita, a pie that is like tiropita, but filled with spinach, spring onions, and feta cheddar
- Anything that includes fresh feta cheese!
If you consider yourselves foodies we recommend going to the central market. When we looked into guided food tours most of them went there. 🙂
DAY 3, 4 & 5: Milos
The Greek Island of Milos is everything plus more you could want when visiting a greek Island. Like Santorini, it’s an island that is not only rich in spectacular sunset views and minerals but also in the things that travelers come to Greece looking for: beautiful beaches, inspiring views, a rich history, white-washed Cycladic villages, excellent food and good-hearted people. We had an AMAZING time on this island! We explored Milos by car because we had a toddler on board, but if we were traveling kidless we would have opted for an ATV. Hopping from beach to beach brought amazing views & incredible opportunities. We’re talking cliff jumping, private beaches, and crystal clear waters-just see for yourself in this video(click here)! Although Milos is gaining popularity, we still believe it is one of the undiscovered gems of the Aegean! These are top things we would recommend in Milos:
- Walk around Plaka and view the sunset from Plaka Castle (free parking spot that gets crowded every night so get there early enough)
- Sarakiniko beach – If you’ve looked at any tourism material for Milos you’ll have seen images of this place. Yes, it’s touristy, but YES it’s worth going to! We recommend cliff jumping 🙂
- Papafragas beach – Fairly steep to get down to the beach so if you have littles it’s probably not worth the stop
- Pollonia beach – Great family friendly beach. Great to wade in and hang out. Highly recommend!
- Mandrakia beach & fishing village – Cute fishing village
- Provotas beach – Close to Fyriplaka beach
- Fyriplaka beach – Super clear water with lots of shade.
DAY 6 & 7: Santorini
Just like in Milos we rented a car here. That wasn’t actually our original plan, but a bus ride from the ferry dock to our hotel would have cost us just as much as having a car rental. It ended up being a great decision because we could stop and go wherever and whenever. Plus, parking was not very difficult and we explored the most crowded areas in Santorini.
We recommend two days here taking in the beautiful views. For the first day we recommend you explore the capitol Fira by foot. After that, and especially if you don’t have a car, we recommend you walk to Oía via the Caldera Trail to watch the sunset. This is by far the best place to experience a sunset in Santorini. Be sure to arrive early as you will see that it becomes CROWDED.
A bit more about the caldera trail… . The walking path is a mix of paved, pedestrian streets and dirt hiking trails. On the way from Fira to Oía you will pass through the towns of Firostefani and Imerovigli and enjoy some of the most beautiful views of the island. Santorini really is a picturesque place that formed because of a volcanic eruption over 3,000 years ago.
For your second day we recommend an adventure excursion to a volcano, hot springs and Thirassia such as this one: https://www.viator.com/tours/Santorini/Santorini-Volcanic-Islands-Cruise-Volcano-Hot-Springs-and-Thirassia/d959-21977P13 ! If adventure travel really isn’t your thing than we recommend a catamaran cruise sailing around the island! 🙂
We hope you have a great trip! 🙂