Greece is a great country to visit with kids! 

The interesting stories and captivating characters of Greek mythology have a unique ability to intrigue people of all ages and thus engage travelers in the history of the country.  If your kids have ever read a Percy Jackson book, you have probably already experienced this.  The food is delicious, not too challenging for young palettes, and cheap.  Most people speak English and, as far as foreign countries go, it is relatively easy to navigate.  We originally planned to spend 18 days in Greece, but had some other plans fall through and ended up staying for 22 days.  In this post I am going to share our full itinerary, where to stay, the highlights, and our favorite restaurants in each location!  I will also include a suggested 2 week itinerary for people who have less time.  

Our Greek Itinerary:

Modified Two Week Itinerary

(This removes Chania, which is beautiful but really similar to Nafplio and Rethymno.)

Day 1-3: Athens

Day 3-5: Delphi

Day 5-7: Meteora

Day 7-9: Nafplio

Day 9-12: Rethymno, Crete

Day 12-14:Imerovigli, Santorini

Athens has an amazing ancient charm and is bustling with cafes and plazas lined with restaurants and shops.  If you are interested in history, the Acropolis of Athens is a must see.  Athens is also surprisingly cheap.  The street art is abundant and livens up the atmosphere, creating a colorful contrast to the ancient sites scattered throughout the city.

Plaka is the oldest neighborhood in Athens, which is centered around the ancient Agora of Athens and the Acropolis.  The narrow, cobblestone streets are lined with restaurants, cafes, bakeries, gelaterias, and shops of every sort.  This neighborhood is completely walkable.  We were able to easily walk to all of the major archaeological sites, the National Gardens, and had endless food options to choose from.  To be honest, we didn’t really explore any other neighborhoods, but, if you are only going to be spending a few days in Athens, they should be in Plaka.

This Airbnb was perfect with an amazing location. Central Apartment in Athens - Plaka

Do not rent a car for your time in Athens.  We made the mistake of renting a car when we arrived at the airport.  The streets in Plaka are extremely narrow and we nearly got our van (with 6 people we had to rent a large van) stuck while trying to find the house.  It took us 45 minutes to find a place to park and then we paid 30 Euro per day for a car we never thought of using.

1. Visit the Acropolis Museum and the Acropolis.  This is a must.  I recommend visiting the museum first to learn about the history of the Acropolis and then touring the Acropolis itself.  I had planned to visit the museum and then see the Acropolis for sunset on the same day, but the hours for the Acropolis online were incorrect.  According to Google, the Acropolis closes at 8:00 PM, but when we got there at 6:00 PM, it was already closed!  The real hours are 8:00-17:00.  We reported this error to Google, but they still haven’t updated the info.  Reportedly there can be very long lines to buy tickets for the Acropolis. When we visited Athens, COVID was still keeping the tourist numbers very low (around 25% of normal levels) and when we got to the ticket office at 8:30, there was no line.  With all of this information, I would suggest visiting the Acropolis museum on Day 1 of your trip and then getting to the Acropolis at 8:00 AM sharp on day 2.  If you can time things to visit on a weekday, that would be ideal.

2, The National Garden.  This is a lovely green space in the middle of Plaka with abundant orange trees, some old cypress trees, a few animals, and a decent playground.  I always like to include some time in the day while travelling for my kids to really get their wiggles out and this was a lovely space for that.  In Syntagma square at the edge of the park, you can stop and see the Changing of the Guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.  This was pretty anticlimactic for us but you could swing by and check it out if your kids are into that sort of thing.  

3. Visit Little Kook for dessert.  This place is so cute, unique, and well done.  Our kids (and, to be honest, us parents as well) loved this place. 

4. Walk around the streets of Plaka.  There is so much to see there.  The street art in Greece is really cool and abundant.  There are so many cute shops and endless options for a yummy treat.  Just be aware that there is an abundance of anatomically detailed penis trinkets in Athens.  I guess this has something to do with the phallus being a symbol of good fortune in Ancient Greece, but you may want to prepare your kids for this.  There are also Greek Lover cards everywhere with detailed images of sex scenes.  You really can’t avoid these.

5. There are lots of other archaeological sites in Athens that we did not visit.  This itinerary has a lot of ancient ruins in the future and I didn’t want to burn out on ruins too soon.

O Thanasis: Very cheap, classic Greek cuisine, with indoor and outdoor seating.  We got way more than the 6 of us could eat for 50 Euro (and we can eat a lot).

Dopio: Tapas style restaurant with classic Greek dishes with a twist.  The portions were small here and it was a little more expensive but the food was delicious and the ambiance was on point.

Little Kook: Stop here for drinks and desserts as a midday treat or after dinner.

Delphi is home to the ancient temple of Apollo, where the famous Oracle of Delphi who is referenced an endless number of times throughout Greek mythology, resided. Many people take a day trip to Delphi, but this town is absolutely lovely and worth a few days of your time.  The views from Delphi of the Bay of Corinth, the valley below filled with olive tree groves, and the surrounding mountains are amazing.  

Delphi is small and there isn’t a bad part of town.  Just make sure you pick a spot with a balcony so that you can fully enjoy the amazing views.

Rent a car on your departure day from Athens and drive around mainland Greece to your next destinations.  The roads are easy to navigate and there is very little traffic. The Greek countryside is beautiful and there is no better way to see it than taking your time driving.  Do make sure you arrange parking or know where to park at each destination, because the streets are small and steep in most of the towns.  You need to be really comfortable with a manual transmission to drive one in Delphi since it is perched along a mountain side.  Once in Delphi, you can walk everywhere and will not need your car.

1. Archaeology museum and The Temple of Apollo.  Read up on the Oracle of Delphi and visit the museum first.  There are some really cool artifacts in this museum and I actually liked it more than the Acropolis Museum.  The Oracle of Delphi is an intriguing historical figure and it is fun to read some of the most famous oracular statements.

2. Hike all or a portion of the Ancient Path which was used by travelers visiting the Oracle in ancient times and leads to a sacred cave referenced in multiple Greek myths.  This can be done as a one-way hike from Delphi to the Corycian Cave, from the Corycian Cave back to Delphi, or as an out and back (11.3 miles out and back).  If you do it one way, you will need to arrange transportation to get you back to your starting point.  We didn’t have time to do the entire hike, so we just did a small portion of the ancient trail from Delphi up to a lookout point higher up on the mountainside.  It was all uphill but totally worth it.  The hillside was lined in the most ridiculous wildflowers I have ever seen when we were there in April and the views were break-taking.  We could also see the Temple of Apollo way below.  

3. Wander the quaint, narrow streets of Delphi.  This is a lovely little town and so pleasant to be in.

4. If you are looking for other things to do, you could also visit some of the nearby smaller towns of Arachova (a quaint ski town), Chryso ( a small mountain village very similar but less popular than Delphi), or Itea on the Corinthian Bay.

Vakhos Tavern: Moderately priced restaurant with great views serving Greek Classics.  This place had the best Mousakka we have tried in Greece.  

Taverna Dion: Another restaurant with standard Greek fare plus pizza.  The food was good here but not excellent.  We did really enjoy their outdoor seating and the service was great.

Mr. Rose Cocktail Bar: This is a gem!  The bartender here is a true craftsman and clearly takes a lot of pride in making an incredible cocktail.  I highly recommend grabbing a drink here if you can.  

Meteora is the name for a collection of massive limestone towers upon which monks have built impressive monasteries teetering on the edge of the cliffs.  The oldest monasteries were built in the 13th century and 6 of the original 24 are still functional.  We all tire quickly of visiting churches, no matter how beautiful they are, but these monasteries teetering on the edges of massive cliffs are something to see. The landscape alone is worth the journey and the monasteries simply act to accentuate the towering nature of the limestone pillars.

We didn’t have a great experience with our AirBnb host here, so I can’t recommend staying where we stayed.  I would recommend finding a place as close as possible to the old town in Kastraki or the central square in Kalambaka.  Both are quaint little towns.

Include some hikes/walks in your stay so that you can get a few different perspectives on the rock formations.

1. Visit the monasteries.  I had planned to do a whole day of visiting all 6 monasteries, but we were all done after 2.  We visited the Great Monastery and the Varlaam monastery.  Of the 2, we actually preferred the Varlaam monastery.  You can see the large barrel they used for water, the net they used to haul up supplies and people before there were stairs to the monastery, and a hilarious video of a monk being hauled up in the net.  I would recommend driving to the monasteries rather than trying to walk from one to the other along the road.  Stop along the way at various viewpoints to see the monasteries from multiple perspectives.

2. Hike the Vlachata loop to see an abandoned monastery, see many of the limestone pillars from above, and enjoy a pleasant walk in the countryside.

3. Hike the Footpath of the Holy Spirit. See the dedicated blog post.

4. Watch the sunset from one of the lookouts. (The end of the Holy Spirit footpath, the Psaropetra viewpoint, sunset rock, or the midway point on the Vlachata loop)

5. Eat at Meteora Restaurant.  This place was sooo good and affordable. The eggplant saganaki is one of my favorite dishes of all time.  I also tried the giant beans here, which is a local Greek cuisine and they were amazing!

6. Walk around Kastraki and Kalambaka to see the little shops, bakeries, and cafes.

Meteora cafe.  We only tried the one restaurant here and I would not miss it.

Nafplio is a coastal town in the Peloponnesus region of Greece located along the Mediterranean Sea, specifically the Argolic Gulf.  The city of Nafplio is a destination in and of itself, but it is also a good jumping off point for exploring the ancient Mycenaean ruins of Tiryns and Mycenae, famous sites in Greek legends about Perseus and Agammemnon

We made the mistake of staying in nearby Tolo, which is more affordable but not nearly as quaint and nice as Nafplio proper. I would recommend staying as close to old town in Nafplio as possible. 

Take the western route from Kalambaka to Nafplio instead of going back through Athens to enjoy views of the Ionian Sea and Bay of Corinth.  

1. Visit ancient Mycenae and Tiryns.  The Cyclopean wall, reportedly built by cyclops due to the size of the stones, and the circular graves are highlights of ancient Mycenea.

2. Stop for a tour at Koroniotis Winery.  This is a small winery started by a former chemical engineer who grew up in Peloponnesus who really knows his stuff.  The wines are fantastic and this is the most informative winery tour I have ever done.  He explained things so well and answered all 5,000,000 of Joey’s questions ;).  The kids ran around in the nearby olive groves and played with his puppy while we tasted the wine and did the tour.  I can’t say enough good things about this place.

3. Walk around old town Nafplio and visit the Fortress of Palamidid.  We spent too much time at the winery and didn’t have time to explore the fortress, but it looked really cool.  Old town Napflio is charming and lovely.  It is easy to get lost wandering among the narrow streets.

4. If you are there in the summer months, there are also plenty of water activities, such as boating, swimming, kayaking, snorkelling, etc.  In April, it was way too cold to consider getting in the water and we were happy to just enjoy the views.

Cavo: This is one of many cute restaurants located near the water on the edge of the old town.  The food here was solid and not crazy expensive but nothing exceptional.  There are tons of restaurants to choose from in the area.

Crete is the largest of the Greek islands and has plenty to offer in the way of mountains, coastline, ancient history, and culinary delights.  Did you know that Crete has huge, snow capped mountains?!  I didn’t.  Chania is a charming coastal town in Western Crete.  As I mentioned before, if I had to leave out one of our stops, it would have been this one. Chania was completely lovely, but Rethymno is more centrally located and offers access to more activities on the island but still retains the same coastal charm.  

All of the action is around the old town and the harbour. Stay as close to these as possible. We stayed in a lovely airbnb in Koumi Kapi, just a 10 minute walk from the Old Town and it was great.

Rent a car while in Crete.  The island is quite large and the major destinations are far apart.  It isn’t easy to use public transportation to get around outside of the major towns.  We drove from Nafplio to Athens and then flew from Athens into Chania, but you can also fly into Heraklion (the largest city on the island).

1. Walk along the Venetian Harbor and to the Venetian lighthouse.

2. Wander the streets and shops of Old Town.  Chania had the best shopping of anywhere we have been.  There was a huge variety of different art galleries, jewelry stores, knife shops, and clothing stores mixed in with the standard tourist fare. 

3. Visit the Municipal Market.  Unfortunately, this was under construction while we were there and we didn’t get to visit, but it sounds like a great way to see the delicious local produce and meat found all throughout Greece.

4. Take a day trip to the Botanical Park and Gardens of Crete.  This is a lovely hillside garden located about 20 minutes from Chania.  They have a wide variety of local and unique trees planted in a picturesque landscape.  The cafe and gift shop at the end offer local products and amazing views.  We all enjoyed this one.  Do be aware that the trails are steep and uneven.  I recommend wearing good walking shoes and not bringing anyone with unsure footing.

5. Hike the Samaria Gorge.  We visited Crete in April and the gorge doesn’t open until May, so we didn’t get to do this hike.  It I ever make it back to Crete, this will be at the top of my list.

6. Visit a nearby beach.  Again, it was way too cold in April but would definitely be on the list if you visit in the summer.  

We did not like the one restaurant we tried.  It was bland and generic.  We did, however, find a couple lovely cafes to enjoy.

Monogram: delicious, well crafted espresso drinks.

KROSS Coffee Works: also great espresso with a solid local following and nice outdoor and indoor seating.

Rethymno is located along the northern coast of Crete, about half way between Chania and Heraklion.  It has a very similar coastal charm as Chania, but is more centrally located and slightly more affordable.  While Chania makes a lot more lists of “Best places to visit in Greece” we all liked Rethymno better.  It’s hard to put our finger on why that is, but it somehow felt a little less tourist focused and laid back.  People were still selling things to tourists, but they were slightly less aggressive.  The restaurants seemed less generic and more varied. We also stayed in Old Town in Rethymno, which made our individual experience better. Finally, Rethymno is a nice spot to explore Chania, Heraklion, and surrounding areas by day trip without having to pack up and move again.  Based on our brief experience in Heraklion for the day, I would definitely pick Rethymno over Heraklion.

If at all possible, stay in Old Town.  You will have to park outside of Old Town and walk with your luggage, but it is worth the initial pain to be able to walk everywhere the rest of your trip.

Eat at the amazing and affordable Raki Ba Raki restaurant in Old Town.  We ate there twice!

1. Wander around the narrow, quaint streets of the The Old Town.  Take your time and get lost here.  If you see an interesting or appealing alleyway, take it.  There is great shopping and great food.

2. Explore the Fortezza.  Perched above the city, this old Venetian Castle offers spectacular views of Rethymno and the distant mountains.  We particularly liked the storage warehouses with their long, dark, tunnels.  There is a small entrance fee and be sure to check the hours before heading over.

3. Walk along the Old Venetian Harbor and see the massive tetrahedrons creating the modern sea wall.  We had a blast climbing on these huge concrete structures that look like they have been randomly thrown into place by a giant.  There was something particularly terrifying yet satisfying about climbing on these. Climb at your own risk, because falling in between them will result in serious energy. 

4. Visit Yiorgis Hatziparaskos to see the iconic octogenarian making huge sheets of phyllo dough by hand.  We were too late to see him making it but got to look at the final product and the shop where he creates his masterpieces.  

5. Visit the Archaeology Museum or the Historical and Folk Art Museum.  We didn’t make it to these but they look nice from the outside.

6. Day trip to visit Ancient Knossos in Heraklion.  This is the famed ancient city of the Minoans and the city of the legendary Minotaur (although no archaeological evidence of such a tale exists).  This was the most crowded place we visited in Greece and the ruins were partially imaginatively reconstructed by Sir Arthur Evans in the early 1900’s.  This degrades the site a bit in my mind, but it’s still worth seeing and imagining the massive city of around 100,000 inhabitants that used to be there.

7. Hike a nearby trail.  Depending on your fitness and comfort level, there are a number of surrounding trails.  You can hike to Preveli Beach, hike the abandoned Mill Town, or hike to the Psiloritis path to summit Stavros mountain in the Ida Range.  We did the Mill Town hike.  See separate blog post for details on this short but moderately challenging hike.

8. Tour an olive oil press/do an olive oil tasting. We did a very informal but personal tour at Paraschakis.  This is a small , family runned press that has two older generations of presses to see as well.  Set in an idyllic setting, this was a great stop.

9. Visit a winery.  There are several in the region.  We visited Klados Winery.  Unfortunately, we were late and couldn’t do the full tour here but the views are great and I loved their Rose.

10. Visit a beach.  It was too cold for us, but it looks like Rethymno has some expansive, decent beaches.

Raki Ba Raki: This place offers tapas style dishes with nice sized portions, good cocktails, and a wide range of Greek wines.  The food was amazing.  They made the best pork steak I have ever tried.  Their salads were perfect and really everything was perfectly balanced and prepared.  Do not skip dessert here!  We loved the table outside in the narrow alley but the indoor vibe is nice too.

This iconic caldera lined with white washed Cycladic style houses clinging to the edge of the cliff is one of the most picturesque places on earth.  I was torn about adding it to our itinerary and tempted to visit a smaller island instead; however, I wanted to see the iconic place for myself and decided in favor of Santorini in the end.  We visited in April, before the tourist season was in full swing.  This kept the crowds down but had some negative effects.  For one, getting to Santorini was more difficult because the sea jet boats were not running yet.  Secondly, it was quite chilly at 50-65 degrees.  The third downside is that many restaurants were not open yet for the season.  Taking all of that into consideration, I still feel like this was the best time for us.  I don’t like crowds and can imagine that Santorini would not be my style during peak season.  The island was also magical in the Spring with wildflowers in bloom everywhere.  Easter on Santorini was an experience of a lifetime.  For full info on Santorini, see our separate post.

If travelling with kids, I would recommend staying outside of the most crowded areas of Thira and Oia.  Imerovigli and Firostefani both have the same amazing views and classic Cycladic architecture and are centrally located without the crowds.  We spent the first half of our stay in Karterados which is another nice option.  The walk from Katerados was slightly more challenging, however, and it would not be my top choice for location.  If you aren’t worried about being on the caldera, Pyrgos and Megalochori are also quaint towns located more inland.  We really wanted a kitchen, so we rented houses through AirBnB but there are plenty of resort style options available as well.

Be sure to investigate your transportation to and from Santorini far in advance.  I assumed ferries and flights from Crete to Santorini would be abundant, but they are not during the off season.  We ended up taking a ferry between the two because there were no direct flights and the Seajet (the fast boat) was not running yet.  The ferry was a challenging experience to say the least and only ran one day a week.  I would also recommend renting a car in Santorini.  We did it without a car, using buses and taxis, but it was a real challenge and required A LOT of walking.

1. Walk from Thira to Oia.  This is an amazingly beautiful 11 km walk along winding city walkways, dirt paths, and caldera rim trails with only a small section on the road.  See our separate post on this hike.

2. Visit a black sand beach.  We loved Vlachata with its black sand and surrounding carved cliffs, but there are many to choose from.

3. See Akotiri, the ancient city buried in ash from the Thera eruption.  The story of this town and the eruption is so fascinating and the bio dome covering the excavation is worth seeing alone. 

4. Visit Santorini’s wineries.  Santorini has unique grapes and many lovely, small wineries.  We visited Gavalas Winery in Megalochori and had a great experience but there are several to choose from.

5. Watch the sunset from a caldera rim restaurant/cafe.  Oia gets all the sunset credit, but we honestly preferred the sunset views in Thira.  Do yourself a favor and try them both.

6. Visit Pyrgos and Megalochori and walk the two kilometer path between the two.  These are both quaint villages.  The central square in Megalochori has some low key but adorable cafes and many of the wineries are located here.  Pyrgos offers amazing views of the island and has a cool old castle to explore.

7. Take a boat ride.  We took a cruise to see the volcanic island of Nea Kameni and the hot springs nearby.  There are also day trips to surrounding islands and sunset cruises galore.

Yogi and Gyros, Thira: With the super inflated prices throughout Santorini, this place is a gem, offering delicious gyros for 3 Euro.  We loved the lamb doner, but the pork was good too.

Skala, Oia: Reasonably priced Greek restaurant with a seafood focus in Oia.  This place doesn’t have the caldera views but still has a nice ambiance and solid food.

Franco’s cafe, Pyrgos: This place is worth it for the view alone!  Perched high on top of the city, you can see for miles from here.  I highly recommend the Franco Spritz, but the house wine is also a solid bet.  They offer a limited menu of small plates, so this place is great for a snack or a light meal.  The prices are much better than in the bustling towns of Oia or Thira and the views are just as good if not better.

Final tips for travelling in Greece:

1. If you are travelling anywhere but Athens, rent a car.  Public transportation is not good.

2. Visit in the spring.  The wildflowers and moderate temperatures are perfect and the crowds are much more manageable.

3. Eat all the Greek food.  There is affordable, delicious food everywhere.

4. In general, the restaurants in the areas with the highest concentration of tourists (along the water or caldera) are overpriced and less authentic.  Find places tucked away in the alleys and full of locals instead.

5. Mix plenty of diverse activities into your itinerary (parks, hikes, beaches) so that your kids don’t get tired of ruins and museums.

6. Read up on your Greek Mythology with your kids before you come.  It makes all of the ancient sites more fun and engaging.

7. Be warned that there are phallic symbols everywhere and your kids will see lots of anatomically correct penis trinkets.

8. Visit Greece!  It’s cheap, easy, and full of amazing things to see and do.

Share your favorite places in Greece in the comments below!