Greece Travel Secrets Blog

Sep 19, 2021

Hotels on Santorini

Hotels on Santorini, Greece, in the Cyclades, range from luxury choices to good cheap accommodation in Fira, with caldera views.

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Sep 15, 2021

What Is Metaxa?

What is Metaxa? Metaxa is an amber Greek spirit combining brandy made by distilling wine, sweet wine from Samos and a secret recipe of Mediterranean botanicals.

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Sep 14, 2021

Greece Updates Covid-19 Travel Rules for Domestic Flights to All Destinations

The Hellenic Civil Aviation Authority (HCAA), on Monday issued a new Covid-19 aviation directive (NOTAM) with rules for passengers traveling on domestic flights to all destinations in Greece.

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Sep 14, 2021

Covid-19: How the Unvaccinated in Greece Can Travel by Land, Air, Sea – Rules

All unvaccinated people in Greece from Monday, September 13, will be allowed to board all means of transport for domestic travel between regions (airplanes, ferries, intercity trains and KTEL buses) only if they have a negative Covid-19 rapid antigen test result.

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Sep 06, 2021

Greece Stays Open to American Travelers Despite EU Recommendation

Greece is among the European countries that have not followed an EU recommendation to curb nonessential travel for visitors from the United States and has kept its borders open for American tourists.

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Aug 30, 2021

Some Fish with your Ouzo?

It’s a quiet Tuesday lunchtime when we pass through Eleftheroton Square in Chalandri, one of Athens’s northern suburbs. Anyone living in the surrounding areas knows that this boisterous neighborhood is the best place to shop and go out, whether for a bite to eat or a drink. From small, quiet bars to gourmet restaurants, from cafés to wine bars, Chalandri has something for everyone.

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Aug 28, 2021

Crete: 10 Places to Experience in the Lasithi Region

The easternmost part of Crete is full of surprises. Add these spots to your list of things to see and do (map included).

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Aug 26, 2021

Athens Showcases Culture with ‘Art on the Road’

Athens museums, cultural spaces and all forms of art take the spotlight as part of the “Art on the Road” campaign launched by the municipality together with advertising firm Interbus.

The initiative dubbed “Art on the Road – Let’s Visit Museums” includes a series of actions (in Greek and English) showcasing Athens’ cultural past and present and aiming to support culture and artists which were impacted by the outbreak of Covid-19.

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Aug 26, 2021

Online Searches for Travel to Athens Increase in Summer, Says Survey

The interest of international holidaymakers for Athens has grown stronger during the last few months, with online searches for the Greek capital picking up pace in July compared to the previous months, according to a survey conducted by travel and tourism marketing agency Tourix.

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Aug 26, 2021

Central Greece Region: €40m for Reconstruction of Fire-hit Evia

The Region of Central Greece agreed on Tuesday to release 40 million euros for the reconstruction of Evia, devasted for over a week earlier this month by wildfires.

Funding will go towards anti-flooding works and restoring infrastructure, the regional council decided during a meeting on the August 3 fires that hit Mandoudi, Limni, Agia Anna and Istiaia-Edipsos.

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Aug 26, 2021

Santorini Among Top Rated Locations for Airbnb Stays

The popular Greek island of Santorini is among the top 25 highest rated locations for Airbnb bookings, according to a list presented by Big 7 Travel and assessed by Money.co.uk.

Research was conducted to identify the location with the highest-rated Airbnb services based on number of searches on Airbnb (from a survey of 1.5 million people), user ratings, number of reviews, and person capacity.

The top 10 highest rated locations for Airbnb bookings based on overall performance with ratings out of 100 were: Waikato, New Zealand with a score 100/100; Beijing, China (98); Kerry, Ireland (96); Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (93); Havana, Cuba (91); Moscow, Russia (89); New Orleans, US (87); Antarctica (84); Barbados (82); and Dubrovnik, Croatia (80).

Multi-award-winning Greek destination Santorini was ranked 12th with a score of 76.

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Aug 17, 2021

What Is Greek Raki?

Raki is an alcoholic drink made with distilled grapes and anise, and popular in Greece and other Mediterranean countries, including Greece’s neighbour Turkey.

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Aug 16, 2021

Greece Restarts Trade Fairs with Covid-19 Health Protocols

Greek authorities announced on Thursday that trade events and fairs would restart on September 1 with Covid-19 protocols in place to ensure safety of organizers and participants.

The General Secretariat of Commerce & Consumer Protection issued the hygiene measures and protocols which apply to all trade fairs and events including the 85th Thessaloniki International Fair (TIF) scheduled to take place in the northern port city on September 11-19.

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Aug 16, 2021

Renovation Works Begin at Syntagma Square in Athens

The Municipality of Athens recently began its announced renovation works to the lower part of Syntagma Square in the center of the Greek capital.

More specifically, the works concern interventions to the public space delimited by Filellinon, Karagiorgi Servias and Mitropoleos streets.

As underlined in an announcement, the municipality launched the works in the middle of August in order to cause the least possible disturbance in the movement of residents, visitors and vehicles.

The local authorities also informed that the works see no change in the width of the road leading to Filellinon street and that the three lanes for cars will remain as they currently are. Moreover, commuters will continue to be serviced by bus and trolley lines at the existing stops.

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Aug 16, 2021

Greece Extends Covid-19 Rules for Travel to and from the Greek Islands

Greece has extended the rules that travelers must follow when flying on domestic flights from the mainland to the islands and vice versa.

The directive, issued by the Hellenic Civil Aviation Authority (HCAA), extends the travel rules until August 23 at 6am and is part of the Greek government’s efforts to curb the spread of the coronavirus (Covid-19) in the country.

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Aug 16, 2021

Greece Tourism Recovery Moving Full Speed Ahead, Data Shows

Greece’s tourism sector is leading the way in Europe covering lost ground despite the ongoing coronavirus pandemic and the massive wildfires that hit the country this month, said the Financial Times citing global travel data provider OAG.

More specifically, according to OAG, the total number of seats on scheduled flights to Greece this month reached pre-Covid-19 levels, with the number of international flights up by 2 percent against August 2019.

Total August capacity for Europe, however, was approximately 31 percent below August 2019 levels.

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Aug 16, 2021

Rising Covid-19 Cases in Greece Not Tourism-related

Infectious disease expert Charalambos Gogos said on Thursday that the rise in Covid-19 cases in Greece over the past few weeks cannot be attributed to inbound travelers.

Referring to a spike in incidents – 3,605 new cases in the last 24 hours and 20 deaths – Gogos confirmed that the percentage of “imported cases” was “very small” at 0.59 percent, which he attributed to the fact that the majority of incoming tourists have been vaccinated.

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Jul 28, 2021

Greek Recovery Funds to Go into Acropolis Upgrade Works

Twelve projects including upgrade works on the Acropolis have been cleared for funding out of “Greece 2.0” – the country’s recovery plan approved earlier this month.

Alternate Finance Minister Theodore Skylakakis gave the green light to the release of funds which will be channeled into upgrades, the modernization of infrastructure and road networks, the digitization of archival material, the enhancement of the investment climate as well as other projects aimed at simplifying public procedures.

The finance ministry has allocated 10 million euros which the culture ministry will use to carry out a series of restoration and preservation works as well as for promotional actions of the Acropolis, an UNESCO World Heritage site and the country’s most visited monument.

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Jul 28, 2021

US Keeps Covid-19 Travel Restrictions Due to Delta Variant

The United States will keep all existing Covid-19 travel restrictions in place due to concerns over the spread of the highly transmissible Delta variant, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki announced during a press briefing on Tuesday.

“Given where we are today… with the Delta variant, we will maintain existing travel restrictions at this point,” Psaki said.

She also confirmed that, driven by the Delta variant, cases are also rising in the US, particularly among those who have not been vaccinated against the coronavirus.

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Jul 24, 2021

Chania, in Western Crete

Chania is the main city in Western Crete with a lovely setting and a beautiful harbour as well as several museums.

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