The Freely guide to summer in Greece (away from the crowds)

The Greek summer is eating honey-drizzled saganaki in the sun. It’s diving off wooden boats into turquoise water. It’s dancing all night to the bouzouki. It’s the yia yias tending herb gardens and old men playing games of tavli in the park.

From the ancient ruins of Athens to the iconic islands of Santorini and Mykonos, Greece in the summertime is a postcard for that sweet, sweet Mediterranean lifestyle. People love it; in fact, last year, the country welcomed 23 million tourists, making it one of Europe’s most-visited destinations.

But trust us, it’s still possible to dodge the crowds and get a dinner reservation this summer in Greece; you just have to stray from the beaten path – and this is the one guide you need for that.

Getting there

From Australia

You can fly to Greece from several major airports in Australia, including Sydney, Melbourne and Perth. In total, 29 airlines currently offer a route there – including Scoot, Qantas, Thai Airways, Emirates, Swiss and Malindo Air.

Travel time is around 21 hours if you fly from Perth to Athens, or 26 hours from Sydney to Athens, and this will always include at least one stopover in cities like Doha, Singapore and Istanbul.

‍The capital

Athens is one of the world’s oldest cities, widely considered the cradle of western civilisation. Today, it’s a bustling nucleus that blends ancient marvels with modern flair.  

It’s well worth spending a few days sweating your way around the nearby ruins, taverna-hopping through Plaka (the city’s oldest neighbourhood), combing the Monastiraki Flea Market for treasure and admiring politically charged street art in Exarchia.  

The city’s international airport is a stone's throw from the centre, and Athens is also served by several ports – with the main one being Piraeus, one of the busiest in the whole Mediterranean.

A bit of background

Things really kicked off for Greece back in the Neolithic period in about 7,000 BC – though human-like footprints found in Crete are estimated to be more than 6 million years old!  

The subsequent millennia witnessed the rise and fall of powerful city-states, notably Athens and Sparta, with the 5th century marking Greece's golden age and the construction of monuments like the Parthenon.  

Over the centuries, Greece endured Roman, Byzantine and Ottoman rule – with each leaving indelible marks on its heritage. The modern Greek state was established in 1830.  

Recent times saw the Greek economy experience a tumultuous debt crisis in the wake of the 2008 Great Recession, which it has largely (but painfully) recovered from. The country is currently hosting tens of thousands of refugees, with boatloads of people fleeing conflict, persecution and poverty arriving in places like Lesbos and Chios from Turkey every day.  

Greece is also currently facing political challenges around the rise of the far right, but remains safe for tourists.