Flying from NYC to Greece is a long flight! Even if you do fly direct like I did, you'll want to see as much as you can to maximize your time. Group tours are expensive, Expedia bundles don't let you hop around, and pre-built itineraries might not have everything you want to see or do. So the next best option? Plan it yourself! I compared all of these before realizing I was going to have to organize it on my own. I won't lie to you that it can be a lot of work but once you're there it's worth it!

Get Organized

Before you even start doing research you're going to want to have some sort of an organizational system. Lots of moving parts can quickly get confusing and having everything in one spot is super beneficial to keep you sane.

I highly recommend our own Ultimate Travel Planner Notion Template! It comes complete with a My Trips Organizer, Loyalty Program Tracker, Reusable Packing List, Travel Journal, AND MORE!

You can also create your own basic spreadsheet in Excel or Google Sheets! Just make sure you have something so you can see everything in one spot.

Create a Budget 

Let's be real. Vacations aren't free, even though Euros are pretty and might feel like monopoly money. Take a look at your travel fund and see what you can afford. Is it a $5k vacation or $15k vacation? Everyone is in a different boat and knowing this will let you know what kind of hotels you can book and how much spending money you'll have once on your trip. 

You probably need a lot more spending money than you realize! Eating in Greece isn't super expensive but two to three meals a day does add up.

Don't spend money you don't have! Credit cards are great for points and miles, but you shouldn't be going into debt for a vacation. If you need help with building up your travel fund I have a great post on that to help you out!

The price of things will also vary wildly depending on the time of year. Summer is big tourist season for Greece as well as early Fall. This is good to keep in mind depending on how much you want to deal with crowds. I went in the middle of April, yes, it was cooler weather, but the crowds were reasonable. June-August are hot & significantly busier!

Determine Where You Want to Go

If it's your first time to Greece, I would say Athens is a must. It's also usually cheaper to fly into Athens first before the islands as it's a major international airport. However, before you start figuring that out, where in Greece do you want to see and how long do you want to be there? It's easy to say you want to go all over but traveling between places takes time.

Think of if this way, imagine someone who has never been to the USA before says they want to come for week and see NYC, LA, DC, Miami, Yellowstone Park, and the Grand Canyon. Sounds insane right? We love the optimism but it's just not possible to do all that in such a short period of time with all the travel logistics involved. Even two weeks would be a stretch! Greece is smaller than the US, but there's still a lot to see in each spot and you have to take travel time into account. You could lose a few hours to half a day trying to get to your next destination!

So what's the most important to you? Make sure there's enough time for those items and push off what you're willing to skip.

Here's how I broke down my itinerary:

Athens - Three Days

Crete - Two Days (This was NOT enough time)

Santorini - Three Days

Athens - One Day (Night Before Return Flight)

Originally, I was planning on going to Mykonos instead of Crete and allotted for less time as there wasn't a ton I wanted to see but I wanted to say I'd gone. It's one of the most popular Greek islands after all! After learning via someone who had been there before it's mostly a party island (which I knew) with little to do during the day (this is I did not know) I had to change course. With everything else booked individually I didn't have much wiggle room to adjust other reservations without a massive headache. This lead to spending extra money on changing flights but fortunately I was still within my free cancellation window for the hotel. So make sure you have all your ducks in a row before you start actually booking things!

Research Transportation

Most likely you're going to be flying into Greece! As I said above, I would recommend flying into Athens as it's most likely to be the cheapest option due to its size. However, if you'd rather start your journey on the islands, you can always book a separate regional flight from Athens for a few hours after you arrive to where you want to go as that's likely to be cheaper than booking an itinerary from your home airport straight to an island (make sure to compare though!). So you'd have one itinerary to Athens and a separate one to your final destination. This is actually where the booking concept "The Greek Island Method" comes from! Also note, if you do this, you have to leave, grab your suitcase, recheck your bag, and go back through security. You cannot just go to your next gate!

Since by now you should know where you want to go, what is the best way to get there? There are three main methods of getting around Greece: Driving, Flying, and Ferries. If you're going from one part of mainland Greece to another driving might be a good option. However, you can't drive to an island, so you need to find the best way to get there.

Ferries can be an inexpensive way to get between the islands, but each company travels at a different speed. For example, I took a ferry from Heraklion, Crete, to Santorini with Seajets for just under two hours and it cost me about $200 for two tickets. Other ferries took over four hours but were half the price or less. If I had flown instead, there were no direct flights so I would have had a layover in Athens, this would have taken even more time out of my day losing precious time on the island.

Flights may also be the faster way to travel! I took a one hour flight from Athens to Heraklion, Crete, but by ferry this would have been nine hours. Additionally, I took a 45 minute flight from Santorini to Athens which by ferry could have been anywhere from 5 hours to 12 hours. So you can see how drastically the time can change based on your travel method.

Do some digging on what works for you! Google Flights & Ferry Hopper are very helpful tools! I flew both Aegean & Sky Express for my regional flights.

Another note to pay attention to is how you plan to get around once you're at your destination. Athens has an amazing public transportation system that's very easy & cheap to use. However, on Crete I used Taxis through the FreeNow app and on Santorini the best thing was a car rental as taxis were outrageously expensive. Santorini also doesn't have Uber or FreeNow! 

Research Activities

You may have already started doing this when you were looking for places to visit, but it's really important to know what you want to see at each place. You can purchase tickets ahead of time or buy them once you get to locations. If you're interested in tours, you're most likely going to want to book those ahead of time as they may sell out, especially during high tourist season!

If you are going to Athens, Crete, or Santorini, check out my suggestions! If you're going to be doing things outside, I highly recommend sunscreen. Even in April I got burned in Athens! The Mediterranean sun means serious business. 

Research Accommodations

One of my favorite ways to book hotels is through Expedia! However, this is great for small hotels as they don't usually have loyalty programs and it will allow you to find locations you might not have otherwise known about. Expedia also has it's own rewards program which can give you discounts and other perks on certain properties. If you plan to stay with bigger hotels such as Hyatt or Marriott, I would definitely book direct as you'll earn points through their programs, which tend to be more valuable, and it's easier to adjust in case anything happens. If you like to book hotels with credit card points, that's another good reason to book direct so you can transfer points to redeem your stay!

Make sure when looking at small hotels to read reviews and look up the area of town it's in. I booked a hotel in Athens I absolutely would NOT recommend as I thought just seeing on the map and reading reviews was enough, but I accidentally put us in a rougher part of town. The walls were so thin we heard other guests being loud until 3am while we were still adjusting to the 7-hour time difference and the bathroom was super tiny. Your sleep is very important so make sure you're able to enjoy it! Fortunately, this hotel was the only one with any issues.

Booking hotels with free breakfast is also a great way to save some money on your eating costs each day!

Book Everything

Once you know where you want to go, how you're getting there, and where to stay...BOOK IT! 

Pay close attention when going through to book each item to make sure you have the right dates. This is where using the trip planner in our Ultimate Travel Planner template is super helpful. If you filled this in during your research just use that as a reference! We recommend the table view to see everything at once!

Make sure to save all of your receipts and confirmations numbers somewhere you can easily access them. When you're overseas I would have copies saved to your phone or even printed! You can also upload these to the documents organizer in the Ultimate Travel Planner.

Set Up International Data

I like to do this before I leave so once I hit the ground I'm up and running! You can set up an international roaming plan with your cell phone provider or purchase a third party eSim from a company like Holafly or Airalo. I'm personally a huge fan of Holafly and their Greece eSims have unlimited data & even calling! They also have an app which allows for one-click eSim install!

Get on the Plane

Double check everything the night before! Pre-pack your passport somewhere you can easily find it! Print off any documents you might need, download any entertainment, and get a good night's sleep.

I would get to the airport at least two to three hours early to make sure you have enough time to get through security (but of course you have TSA pre-check right?) & handle any potential hiccups. Be at your gate & enjoy the flight! Try to reset your sleep schedule on the plane! I know it's hard but the first 24 hours are the most important.

Arrive in Greece

Congratulations, all that planning has finally paid off! Eat all the food, enjoy a glass of wine by the ocean, explore the ruins, and make friends with all the cats! You've made to Greece! Στην υγειά σας!

Please leave us any questions you might have in the comments!

This page contains affiliate links and we may earn a commission if you make a purchase at no extra cost to you. Your support is appreciated!