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Travel and Tourism in Greece
Travel alerts, currency, climate, transit, health, and safety information for visitors to Greece.
Practical Information
Travel alert status, currency, climate, and transit details.
- Travel Alert Status
- Level 1: Exercise Normal Precautions
- Time Difference
- UTC+2 (7 hours ahead of Washington, DC during Standard Time)
- Currency
- euro (EUR)
- Climate
- Greece has mild, wet winters and hot, dry summers. Athens daytime summer temperature averages 90°F and often exceeds 100°F for periods in July-August. Humidity is low and the heat is tempered by sea breezes. Summer evenings are comfortable outdoors. Spring and fall temperatures are pleasant, and winter temperatures are 30°-55°F. Snow flurries occur, particularly in the northern suburbs, but seldom accumulate. Air pollution is a major problem in Athens throughout the year, but the climate is otherwise healthy. Thessaloniki, in northern Greece, experiences high temperatures and humidity from the end of May until the end of September. Summer heat is sometimes tempered by late morning and early evening breezes. July and August nights can be uncomfortably warm. In winter, periods of mild, sunny, and spring-like weather are interspersed with uncomfortable cold periods. Thessaloniki has periods of chilly and damp weather, with considerable rainfall and occasional snow. Temperatures often fall below freezing in winter. Although snow does not linger, the city has been struck by blizzards. One feature of Thessaloniki”™s climate is the vardari, a strong northwesterly wind that appears suddenly and irregularly from the area of the Axios (Vardar) River Valley.
- Language(s) Spoken
- Greek (official) 99%, other (includes English and French) 1%
- Ethnic Groups
- Greek 91.6%, Albanian 4.4%, other 4%
- National Holiday
- Independence Day, 25 March (1821)
- Geographic Coordinates
- 39 00 N, 22 00 E
- Location
- Southern Europe, bordering the Aegean Sea, Ionian Sea, and the Mediterranean Sea, between Albania and Turkey
- Airports
- 82
Destinations
Regions and cities, top sights, national parks, UNESCO sites, and festivals for visitors.
The Greek Islands: Island-Hopping in the World's Best Archipelago
The experience of island-hopping in Greece is uniquely its own, a form of travel available nowhere else on earth in quite the same way. The combination of six thousand islands, a sophisticated ferry network, warm clear seas, and islands of wildly varying character creates an opportunity for extended exploration that can absorb weeks or months without repetition.
The Cyclades, the most famous island group, offer the quintessential Greek island experience: white cubic architecture, blue domes, windmills, and dramatic clifftop villages above crystal-clear water. Beyond Santorini and Mykonos, the Cyclades include islands of great individual character that receive fewer visitors and offer more authentic encounters with island life.
Health and Safety
Medical facilities, vaccinations, disease risk, and sanitation conditions.
Medical facilities are adequate, and some, particularly the private clinics and hospitals in Athens and Thessaloniki, are quite good. Some private hospitals have affiliations with U.S. facilities, and generally their staff doctors have been trained in the United States or Europe. Public medical clinics, especially on the islands, may lack resources; care can be inadequate by U.S. standards, and often, little English is spoken.