Why Greece
The mainland and the islands are two different countries. Athens, Meteora, the Peloponnese and northern Greece can be visited by car or coach all year round. The islands depend on the boat, therefore on the season, therefore on the wind — and they largely shut down out of season.
Six thousand islands, two hundred inhabited: "going to Greece" means nothing until you have chosen an archipelago. The Cyclades are white, windy and busy; the Dodecanese lie closer to Turkey and are greener; the Ionians, to the west, take the rain and stay green all summer.
Entry and stay
An EU and Schengen country: free movement with an identity card for nationals of the EU, the European Economic Area and Switzerland.
For other nationalities, the European Entry/Exit System (EES) has been in service since 10 April 2026 and digitally records every entry to and exit from the Schengen area, visa or no visa, against the ninety-days-in-a-hundred-eighty allowance. ETIAS, expected in the final quarter of 2026, will add a twenty-euro authorisation for visa-exempt nationalities.
Source: France Diplomatie and the European Commission, checked on 22 September 2026.
Getting around
The ferry is the structuring transport, and it governs the trip. Sailings leave from Piraeus, Rafina and Lavrio for the Cyclades, and from different ports depending on the archipelago — a ticket from the wrong harbour costs a day. Frequencies collapse from October to April: some islands drop to two boats a week, others to none.
The wind cancels. The meltemi blows across the Aegean in July and August and suspends departures without notice, sometimes for two days running. That is enough to miss a flight home: building in a buffer night in Athens before an international departure is not excessive caution.
On the mainland, the KTEL coach network reaches everything, villages included. Rail is marginal.
Money
Euro. Cards are accepted in hotels and restaurants, far less so in village tavernas, secondary ports and on small ferries. Withdrawing before leaving a large town remains the sensible habit: several islands have only one or two cash machines, regularly empty in August.
Before you go
The state archaeological sites — the Acropolis, Delphi, Olympia, Knossos — close earlier in winter and open late in summer, with schedules published site by site. The Acropolis also imposes a booked time slot in high season and caps admissions.
Toilet paper does not go in the bowl across much of the country: the older plumbing of the islands will not take it, and signs say so everywhere.
The shoulder months — May, June, September — give you a warm sea, ferries at full frequency, and prices a third below August.