Set on the island’s highest hilltop, Santorini’s ancient capital was once a thriving center of commerce and culture. Today, visitors can enjoy views of the Aegean while walking among ruins from the Hellenistic, Roman, and Byzantine eras, including a central agora, temples, porticoed administrative buildings, and an impressive theater.
The Benaki Museum, along with the Acropolis Museum and Hellenic National Archaeological Museum, is one of the premier museums in Athens. Tracing Greek history from the Bronze Age to the 20th century, it's home to thousands of artworks and artifacts displayed across three floors. Visitors can explore everything from Byzantine icons and traditional costumes to antique weapons and beyond.
Cretaquarium (Thalassokosmos, or “sea world” in Greek, Crete's gleaming white sea aquarium, is the largest in Greece. Showcasing the fascinating fish and marine ecosystems of the Mediterranean Sea, the aquarium is home to roughly 2,500 fish from more than 250 indigenous species, ranging from sand tiger sharks to microscopic sea horses.
Set in Chania’s Firkas Fortress, the Maritime Museum of Crete (sometimes translated as the Nautical Museum of Crete) takes a deep dive into Crete’s nautical history with models of ships from prehistoric boats to modern-day destroyers and landing craft, as well as ancient navigational instruments and other seafaring artifacts.
With its traditional mountain villages, idyllic beaches, and rambling forests, Pelion serves up some of Greece’s most unspoiled natural landscapes You might even recognize it from the big screen, as the 2008 hit Mamma Mia! was filmed there. Curling south from Volos, the peninsula is one of the undisputed highlights of Greece’s Aegean coast.
A local icon, the armored cruiser Georgios Averof served Greece in conflicts from 1910–1952—including both world wars. Built in Italy around 1910, the decommissioned cruiser is now moored near a replica ancient trireme in Athens’ Flisvos Marina. The Floating Naval Museum—Battleship Georgios Averof has four decks open to the public, including the officer and crew quarters, engine rooms, and kitchens.
The volcanic island of Nisyros (Nisiros, a craggy and fertile speck in the Aegean Sea, lies north of Rhodes and is part of the Dodecanese Islands, along with Kos and Tilos. An unspoiled treasure that has avoided the onslaught of mass tourism, Nisyros offers hot springs, fishing towns, Byzantine chapels, and ancient ruins to explore.
CretAquarium (Thalassocosmos) takes visitors on a trip through the Mediterranean, from its seabeds to the coastal habitats of the Greek Islands. Visitors young and old come to take in a variety of sea life on display, everything from stingrays and octopus to jellyfish and clownfish.
On an island ringed by postcard-perfect beaches, Kleftiko Beach stands out as the most spectacular. Set on the southwest corner of Milos, this stretch of coastline dazzles with white cliffs and sea stacks rising directly from the cobalt Aegean Sea. Explore the coastal caves where pirates once lurked, dive into the crystalline waves, and try to spot basking monk seals.
Aqualand Corfu Water Park is the island’s largest, most popular water park, with themed areas catering to fun-seeking visitors of all ages. Stretching across almost 3 acres (1.2 hectares), this family-friendly spot is home to water rides and slides, lazy rivers, and swimming pools for an action-packed day in the sun.
Go for a stroll along the 16th-century walls in Heraklion, the capital city of Crete, to get a sense of the island’s Venetian history. The walls were constructed during the time of Venetian rule over Crete, and they withstood a 21-year siege of the city by the Ottomans. Seven bastions and four gates make up the massive fortifications.
Overlooking the Aegean Sea and the neighboring island of Halki, the crumbling stone shell of Kritinia Castle crowns a 430-foot (131-meter) hill above the village of Kritinia. Originally built in the 15th century by the Knights of St. John, the castle features a ruined chapel and the coats of arms of Grand Masters.
Looking out over the Old Port and marking the entrance to historic Mykonos Town, Manto Mavrogenous Square (Plateia Manto Mavrogenous) is the lively epicenter of the island of Mykonos. The square boasts shops, restaurants, and cafes along its seafront promenade, while its white-painted, blue-shuttered buildings make for a pretty photo op.
This archaeological museum showcases priceless objects excavated during digs on the island of Rhodes. Housed in an imposing medieval hospital built by the Knights of St. John, the collection encompasses everything from ceramics and marble statues to mosaics and funeral urns.
The tiny Cycladean island of Delos is home to a UNESCO-listed archaeological site with excavated remains of classical temples, villas, palaces, amphitheaters, and baths. Admire the mosaics, statuary, bronze reliefs, and other treasures unearthed at the site inside the nine galleries of the adjacent Delos Archaeological Museum.
Located just 12 miles (19 kilometers) from downtown Athens in the coastal town of Vouliagmeni, Megalo Kavouri is one of the most easily accessible beaches for a quick break from the bustle of the city. This popular stretch of coastline has all you need for a day of sunbathing and swimming, including several restaurants and cafés, an offshore islet, a playground, and the remains of an ancient road.
Expand your knowledge about local history in Crete during a visit to Malia, once a thriving Minoan city with an impressive palace complex. The small site is home to excavations that reveal fascinating details, such as a luxurious bath, but Malia today is perhaps best known for the resorts and Ibiza-style nightlife of neighboring Malia town.
The Aptera archaeological site is home to the ruins of a powerful ancient city founded in Minoan times. From its strategic position above Souda Bay, the city thrived for millennia before being brought down by invasions and earthquakes. Today, visitors can explore the remains of a fortified tower, a city gate and wall, an amphitheater, and a temple.
A paradise for coin enthusiasts, the Athens Numismatic Museum is one of the most important of its kind worldwide. Admire its collection of more than 500,000 rare coins, weights, seals, medals, and gemstones from across the globe—all housed in the lavish Iliou Melathron residence. One of Athens’ most beautiful neoclassical mansions, it was originally home to Troy archaeologist Heinrich Schliemann.
Amid the bustle of Ermou, Athens’ main shopping street, the Greek Orthodox Church of Panagia Kapnikarea stands out. With a history dating back to the 11th century and the Byzantine era, it’s one of the city’s oldest churches, though the structure has evolved over time. The dazzling frescoes are by Photis Kontoglou, a renowned 20th-century icon painter, or artists from his workshop.
Thessaloniki’s contemporary Museum of Byzantine Culture is home to a treasure trove of Byzantine art and artifacts dating from between the fifth and 13th centuries, when the city was under Byzantine rule. Explore its halls stuffed with thousands of mosaic fragments, icons, inscribed stone tablets, and tomb paintings.
Archaeology buffs can trace Crete’s history from the Neolithic and Minoan to late Roman times at the Archaeological Museum of Chania, thanks to its collection of treasures found during excavations around the town and across western Crete. Located in the historic Church of St. Francis, the museum is a highlight of Chania’s old town.
Once a clubhouse for Venetian nobility, the 17th-century Palladian-style Loggia is now home to Heraklion Town Hall. Designed by Francesco Morosini, it is one of the best examples of Venetian architecture in the city. Visitors come to roam its covered walkway and courtyard.
Marvel at one of the world’s top collections of Byzantine icons and mosaics at the Byzantine & Christian Museum, housed in the elegant neoclassical Villa Ilissia. Drawing on more than 25,000 treasures from across the Greek world, the museum traces the development of early Christian and Greek Byzantine culture from the 3rd century until the modern era.
Stargazers and science buffs can marvel at the mysteries of the universe at the spectacular Eugenides Foundation New Digital Planetarium. Not only is the 278-seat planetarium one of the world’s largest, with almost 1 acre (4,047 square meters) of dome surface, it’s also known for being technologically advanced. It offers visitors spectacular virtual trips into space—when it’s not screening astronomy-themed IMAX movies.
The ancient city of Kamiros stretches along the northwest coast of Rhodes. Once among the most prominent cities in the Dodecanese Islands, it thrived off local figs, wine, and oil production. The Hellenistic ruins of Kamiros, including the remains of the agora, temple, and reservoir, were rediscovered in 1929.
The Museum of Cycladic Art houses one of the top ancient art collections in Athens, centered around the Cycladic figurines dating from 3000 BC to 2000 BC that inspired many 20th-century artists. Also admire Greek and Cypriot art spanning the millennia between 2000 BC and AD 300, as well as a multimedia exhibit of scenes from daily life in ancient Greece, plus occasional special exhibitions.
Perched atop a tall sheer rock face overlooking the Mediterranean, Monolithos Castle (Kástro Monolíthou) was built by the Knights of Saint John in 1480 to guard the shores from invasion and is renowned as one of the island's most impenetrable fortresses. Today the castle lies in ruins, overlooking the distant shores of mainland Greece.
Dating back to 1577, Kahal Shalom Synagogue is among the oldest synagogues in Greece. A museum in the former women’s prayer gallery documents the history and legacy of the Rhodes’ Jewish community, from ancient settlements to the mass deportations to Auschwitz in 1944.
Measuring just 4.35 miles (7 kilometers) long and 1.25 miles (2 kilometers) at its widest point, Chrissi Island, also known as Gaidouronisi, is small but undoubtedly lovely. This protected nature reserve off Crete’s south coast is blessed with pristine beaches, shallow snorkel-friendly waters, and swaths of old cedar forest.
