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Country guide
Greece has the longest coastline on the Mediterranean and somewhere between 1,200 and 6,000 islands depending on how an island is counted, of which 227 are inhabited. That figure is the whole planning problem. Around 10 million people live in the country's nine regions, and the three largest cities - Athens, Thessaloniki, Patras - are all on the mainland, while the 21 UNESCO World Heritage Sites are spread across mainland and islands alike. Most trips split accordingly: the mainland for antiquity and the mountains that fill the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, the islands for the sea, with Crete, the largest of them, big enough to fill a week on its own.
Every city catalogued in this country so far, ranked by how much there is to see.
Photograph · Thomas Wolf, www.foto-tw.de · CC BY-SA 3.0 de
Ranked by importance — sitelinks, pageviews and heritage status, not editor preference.
98 places match
Category
Typical visit duration
Interests
The Acropolis Museum is a single-site museum: everything in it was found on the Athenian Acropolis or on the slopes below it, and nothing in it comes from anywhere else.
The National Archaeological Museum stands as one of Athens's principal institutions for ancient Greek art and archaeology. It occupies a substantial neoclassical building that has served this purpose since the nineteenth century.
The Benaki Museum is a museum of Greek culture in Athens. It was founded by Antonis Benakis and opened in its present form. The museum occupies a neoclassical building near Syntagma Square.
The Museum of Cycladic Art is a private museum in Athens dedicated to ancient Aegean cultures, with particular emphasis on Cycladic art of the Early Bronze Age.
The Byzantine and Christian Museum is a major museum in Athens, Greece, dedicated to the preservation and display of Byzantine and post-Byzantine art and culture.
The National Gallery–Alexandros Soutsos Museum is Athens's national museum for modern Greek art.
The Museum of the City of Athens occupies the neoclassical residence of King Otto, Greece's first monarch following independence. Located on Klafthmonos Square, this historic mansion represents a significant period of Athenian urban development.
The Numismatic Museum of Athens is a museum dedicated to the study and display of coins, medals, and related objects. It occupies the former mansion of Heinrich Schliemann, the German archaeologist who excavated Troy and Mycenae.
The National Historical Museum occupies the Old Parliament House on Stadiou Street in central Athens. The neoclassical building served as the seat of the Greek parliament from 1875 to 1935.
The National Museum of Contemporary Art Athens is a major cultural institution in the Greek capital dedicated to contemporary artistic practice.
The Hellenic Motor Museum is an automobile museum located in Athens, Greece. It presents a collection of vehicles spanning multiple decades of automotive history.
The Museum of Greek Folk Musical Instruments occupies a historic townhouse in the Plaka district beneath the Acropolis. Established through private initiative, it preserves and displays the sonic heritage of Greek regional traditions.
The Jewish Museum of Greece is a museum in Athens dedicated to preserving and presenting the history and culture of Greek Jews. It documents the long presence of Jewish communities in Greece, which spans over two millennia.
The Ilias Lalaounis Jewelry Museum is a specialized museum in Athens dedicated to the art of jewelry and decorative arts.
Frissiras Museum is a museum located in Athens, Greece. It is listed among tourist attractions in the city. The museum's specific founding date, architectural history, and institutional background are not recorded in available sources.
The Herakleidon Museum is a private museum in Athens, Greece. It occupies a neoclassical building in the historic Thiseio district, near the Acropolis and the ancient Agora.
The Athens University History Museum is a museum dedicated to preserving and presenting the history of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, founded in 1837.
The Epigraphic Museum in Athens houses the largest collection of ancient Greek inscriptions in the world. It operates as a specialized institution dedicated to the study, preservation, and display of epigraphic material.
The Athens Olympic Museum is a museum dedicated to the history of the Olympic Games, located in Athens, Greece. It celebrates the city's profound connection to the ancient and modern Olympic movement.
The National Archaeological Museum is the largest museum in Greece and the place where the finds of the great nineteenth-century excavations were gathered before anywhere else existed to hold them.
The Maria Callas Museum is a cultural institution in Athens dedicated to the life and legacy of Maria Callas, the celebrated Greek-American opera singer.
Source: OpenStreetMap contributors, Wikidata ·
Eight to twelve days can cover Athens, one mainland archaeological route and one island group. Every ferry leg consumes real itinerary time, so collecting ports across several island chains is poor use of a first visit.
Greece’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs provides the visa framework for entry. Passport nationality, stay length and the wider Schengen route determine whether an application is needed and where it must be lodged.
Athens is the main gateway, while ferries and domestic flights connect island groups and regional airports. Mainland buses and limited rail corridors require route-specific planning; ferry schedules should be rechecked close to travel.
April to June and September to October suit many archaeological and island itineraries without peak midsummer heat. Ferry exposure, island seasonality and mountain weather still vary by destination.
Greece prices transactions in euros (EUR). National card-acceptance and fee details are Not recorded in this bundle; confirm payment expectations with small accommodations, boat operators and remote businesses.
Greece uses 112 for emergency assistance and 230 V Type C and F sockets. A single nationwide tap-water recommendation is Not recorded, so use the relevant island or municipal guidance.
