Independent travel in Greece. How to travel to Greece on your own

As A.P. Chekhov, “everything is in Greece”, which is hard to disagree with - the azure sea awaits visitors, high mountains with green slopes, charming picturesque islands and beautiful beaches, antique monuments ancient civilization And unique museums as well as fine local wines and National cuisine.
The main part of the country's territory (80%) is occupied by mountains and plateaus, and vegetation in the form of forests and shrubs covers 44% of its area.

The three main geographic areas are:

1) mainland (from Central Greece in the south to Thrace in the north);
2) the Peloponnese peninsula (connected to the mainland by the Isthmus of Corinth);
3) about 6,000 large and small islands in the Aegean, Mediterranean and Ionian seas (most are part of an island group called Greek archipelago; Crete, Rhodes, Dodecanese, Cyclades).

Huge cultural heritage in combination with a wonderful natural component provided the pilgrimage of millions of tourists to both mainland, and to the island (mainly a beach holiday), but at the same time there are still quite a lot of wonderful untouched corners. In addition to tourism, which is the main way to make a profit, agriculture is also developed - growing cereals, vegetables and fruits, as well as winemaking traditions that have long been strong (the favorable climate and soil contribute to obtaining an excellent product). Greece is the cradle of many things that are still actively used and developed throughout the world - theater, Olympic Games and ancient sciences.

The culture of winemaking also did not go unnoticed in the development segment tourist routes - « wine routes» pass through picturesque places with the possibility of visiting wineries and tasting the product. It is especially pleasant to make such sorties in the prefectures of Drama, Imathia and Kilkis.

The network of hiking trails is also well developed, especially in certain areas of the country, and lovers of long walks and hiking can always use one of the trails. For example, the Greek part of the international walking route E6 or E4 (more information at http://www.visitgreece.gr/en/touring/on_foot), as well as tracks in Argolis, Attica, Corfu, Cyclades (Naxos, Syros, Ios), Kefalonia, Lefkada, Rethymnon, Thessaloniki and Zakynthos.

We must not forget about the wide range water activities. Swimming, diving, riding water skiing, yachting is only a part of what the local sea expanses offer. The beaches of Paros offer excellent conditions for sailing, windsurfing, kayaking, fishing, as well as beach soccer and volleyball. Explore diving in Santorini sea ​​depths. Everything related to sails is good in Mykonos, thanks to the winds. And on land you can play golf or tennis. The small but picturesque Dodecanese Kalymnos is one of the most popular places for climbing fans. And climbing skills can be trained when climbing Olympus itself or crawling along the forest slopes of Taygetos.
Trekking lovers are waiting national park Walia Calda. Nearby, in Grevena, you can book a wonderful jeep safari.

There are also several airlines that will quickly and comfortably transfer you from point A to point B: Olympic Air (www.olympicair.com), Aegean Airlines(www.aegeanair.com), Athens Airways (www.athensairways.com).

Longer, but at the same time romantic and certainly interesting, the traveler can move around sea ​​views transport. main port Greece - Piraeus - provides a huge amount of transportation between the islands and the mainland. A general site through which you can book and purchase tickets for the desired ferry in the right direction- www.ferries.gr, and the main companies are Blue Star Ferries, Hellenic Seaways, Nel Lines, Superfast Ferries, Anek lines and Minoan Lines. On the aforementioned site, you can also purchase tickets for international crossings - for example, to Italy, Albania, Turkey or Bulgaria, as well as plan a cruise.

And finally, one of the most comfortable ways movement, independent of others, -. The roads here are of quite decent quality, they drive adequately (especially in comparison with St. Petersburg or Moscow), so if you have international law You can organize interesting outings or a trip with stops in different places.

Greek cuisine

Shopping in Greece

Visa

The famous saying about almost does not exaggerate the number of its advantages - in a country familiar to everyone since history lessons ancient world, indeed there is absolutely everything to leave a pleasant impression on your vacation. It is not only about the perfect tan, but also about the sea of ​​new experiences that await each of her guests during the trip.

Important Points

• Get a Schengen visa to Greece, according to experienced travelers And travel companies much easier than in other EU countries.
• Homeland of Odysseus popular destination For beach holiday, and therefore tours, flights and accommodation in Greek hotels should be booked in advance.
• The weather in Greece is shaped by mediterranean climate, But bathing season on its beaches does not begin at the same time and depends on geographical location resort.
• Do not forget to fill out a special form for purchases over 120 euros in stores that support the system Tax Free. You can return on departure at the airport from 16% to 21% of the tax paid.
• Greece has ski resorts.
• Women are not allowed to enter Holy Athos, but they can see the monastic republic from the cruise ship.
• It is possible and necessary to rent a car in Greece. Many sights are much more comfortable to see in your own mode, and car rental prices will not self-guided tour more than organized. Especially if you are traveling as a family or group.

Choosing wings

Many airlines connect Russia and Greece and directly from you can get to several cities and resorts:

• Popular with tourists, Aegean Airlines, Ellinair, S7 and Aeroflot fly directly from. The ticket price starts in the season from 300 euros, and the flight will take just over 3 hours.
• Connecting flights traditionally cheaper and with a change in, for example, you can get to Greek beaches near Thessaloniki for only 200 euros.
• They regularly send their aircraft and Aeroflot and Greek Airlines. The flight time is 3.5 hours, and the ticket price is from 320 euros. With docking in the same you can get to Greek capital for 200 euros. Transfer to board domestic airlines will allow you to get to almost any Greek island or resort.
• Charter flights on Greek beaches many airlines operate in the summer, and flights begin not only in, but also in St. Petersburg and other cities.

Hotel or apartment

Hotels in Greece have their own classification system and the deluxe category corresponds to the generally accepted five stars, C is equivalent to a two-star, B is a three-star, and when you check into a class A hotel, you will get the convenience of a 4 * hotel. For confidence in the choice is to study the reviews of previous guests.
A room in a 3* Athens hotel next to the metro station and free parking for guests will cost 35-40 euros. A hotel of the same category during the beach season will cost from 30 to 45 euros. In addition to the standard amenities in the room, guests will have the opportunity to use the pool, the Internet, and the road to the beach will take just a few minutes.
The Greeks willingly rent out their own apartments and rooms in them for tourists. On specialized sites you can find enough ads and offers. An apartment for two in resorts, for example, will cost from 20-30 euros per night, a separate house with a pool - from 70, and for a room in an apartment with the owner, a guest will be asked from 10 to 15 euros.

Transport subtleties

Traveling to Greece starts from the airport, and this mode of transport is well developed and very convenient here. Air routes connect the capital of the country with all the resorts, and many islands connect with each other. The only negative is not the most affordable ticket prices, but if your main goal is to save time, then aviation will make your vacation optimal in terms of logistics.
Ferry crossings is another popular mode of transport in Greece. Ferry ticket prices are very affordable and you can get from one island to another for 10-20 euros. Ferries also take buses on board, and therefore it is sometimes convenient to move from the mainland to the islands using this type of transport.
in cities as public transport are all the same buses and taxis. The capital has metro and trams. The price of one trip in Athens is 1.5 euros.
Greek taxi is an inexpensive and fairly common form of transport. True, at night the rates double. It is better to agree on the price of the trip at the time of boarding, or insist on turning on the meter so that there are no misunderstandings.

Nightingales are not fed with fables

Tourists who have been on trips to Greece note that the prices for food in its restaurants and taverns are very democratic, and the portions are large, so one salad or hot meal can be safely divided for two. Dinner with a meat main course, Greek salad, wine and dessert in a restaurant will cost about 35-40 euros for a couple. Breakfasts with freshly squeezed juices and delicious fresh pastries can be found in any cafe for no more than 8-10 euros per person.
Many taverns practice "lunch of the day", which includes salad, main course and dessert. This pleasure costs about 15 euros, but you will have to pay extra for drinks separately.
If you have rented an apartment, you can buy vegetables, fruits, cheeses and other products in the market. In this case, you are guaranteed fresh food from ideal ingredients and significant savings.

The best trip to Greece

beach season on South Balkan Peninsula starts at last days April, but the most comfortable conditions for rest come a little later - in early May. On the island of Crete, the most impatient jump into the sea already in mid-April, when the water on it south coast warms up to +23°С.
Greece - perfect place For summer holiday. Even at the height of the season, the heat does not burden their guests, thanks to the freshness brought by the sea breezes.
It is better to plan an excursion and educational trip to Greece for early spring or late autumn. At this time, the sun is not too hot, precipitation is minimal and sightseeing will not seem tiring.
ski season in the resorts of Greece begins in November and ends in mid-spring. Modern equipment guarantees athletes a stable and stable artificial snow cover during the entire period of skiing.

Greece is a member of the European Union, its visa is Schengen. If you already have a Schengen visa of any state, this question is closed for you. If there is no visa, then it must be done. The requirements for Schengen visas are standard, these are a questionnaire, financial documents, booking tickets and hotels. IN last years One can note a positive trend in the issuance of visas by Greece: it has become much more willing to issue multiple visas to Russians, while previously it issued mainly single-entry visas.

Buying airline tickets and booking hotels

Quite a lot of planes fly to Greece from Russia, you can find suitable option wherever you fly from. The offers of some companies are quite budget-friendly. In general, if you take tickets no later than a month before departure, you can confidently count on a price of about 100-130 euros for a one-way ticket from Moscow. Often, airlines arrange promotions for which it turns out to find cheaper options. It is convenient to search for tickets on sites such as skyscanner.com.

If you are flying to the islands in Greece, then pay attention to flights with transfers, usually it is carried out in Athens. This option is often much cheaper.

With hotels in Greece, not everything is so simple. In the high season, in summer, room rates become quite high. This is an argument in favor of booking in advance. The sooner you start planning your trip, the cheaper it will cost you. An excellent period for traveling to Greece will be the time of early autumn: September or early October. Prices are already low, and the sea is still warm. It is convenient to search for hotels on services such as booking.com.

Where and when to go

If you have the opportunity to travel to low season- This is the most profitable and pleasant option. The high season lasts from late spring to early autumn. On the other hand, holidays in Greece are good warm sea and good weather on the islands, so you won’t experience such pleasure at all in the off-season.

The nature of Greece is very diverse, everyone can find something that will appeal to him. In addition, wherever you go, you will not be bored: many excursions and interesting places can be found anywhere in Greece. The most equipped holiday destinations in Greece: Crete, Rhodes, Corfu, Peloponnese. Chalkidiki, Kos. Santorini and Mykonos are places that deserve a separate discussion. Incredibly beautiful, they are also associated with many legends. But the prices for rest here are higher. If you want to relax in seclusion and feel more peace, it is recommended to choose other islands.

The sea and beaches are good anywhere in Greece, and healthy Mediterranean food will delight you wherever you are.

All more people in our country are beginning to be treated as a group of "potential tourists". People's incomes, though slowly but steadily, are growing, gradually smoothing out the difference with some Western countries. Appeared more possibilities receiving additional income. Tourism is gradually ceasing to be shuttle-shopping, becoming civilized - leisure and sightseeing. Travel agencies began to multiply by leaps and bounds, not only in megacities, but also in provincial territories. People flocked to them en masse. Now no one is surprised by the number of countries visited. To foreign tourism, encourages the absence, or only the initial stage of development tourism infrastructure in places of potential recreation in our country. And there are enough places. The Black Sea coast, one of the places for Russian beach holidays, due to well-known political and economic factors, was temporarily forgotten, and is reborn only before our eyes. So far, the comfort of rest, its price factor, are turned towards foreign countries.

However, since not very long ago, all large quantity tourists began to think about independent organization your holiday abroad. I will try to bring to you the main pros and cons of an independent holiday in such a wonderful country as Greece. I worked on this issue and successfully implemented it for a vacation on the Greek island of Rhodes.

Since Greece visa country, which is part of the circle of countries united by the Schengen Agreement, the issue of obtaining a visa must be taken very seriously and responsibly. To apply for a visa on your own, you will need: a questionnaire, 1 photo, a certificate from work, a certificate of purchase of currency, a copy of insurance if you are traveling with a child, a copy of the child’s birth certificate if you are traveling without a father, a copy of the father’s consent for the child’s trip. All documents must be notarized. But, as it seems to me, at least you should have the Consular Section of the Embassy of Greece available to you. Moreover, prepare for repeated visits to it. From the beginning, the documents will be accepted without verification, if they find something that is not clear, they will call, ask to come in for clarification. Come, explain the reason (by phone - no), bring the corrected again. And, without a queue, most likely they won’t let you in, the magic phrase does not work here: I was already here yesterday, I just have to give ...

If the Consular Section is not available, then you will have to trust professionals from the Internet (I would not), or use the service travel agency, some provide such services without purchasing a tour. What documents will be required here, everyone will say on the spot. Everything depends on them.

Now consider the advantages of independent rest.
Of course, this is savings. From our trip, we exclude the services of numerous freeloaders, oh, excuse me, intermediaries. And these are travel agencies, a carrier, that is, you yourself choose the airline, its discount promotions, exclude the price of booking a hotel. You can easily find a holiday hotel directly. To increase the savings, you can try to stay in small private hotels. Some of them offer different types of food. They, of course, do not have beaches and, as a rule, are more remote from the sea. If the legs are young, this will not become a special obstacle, but even diversify your rest. The next plus is your mobility. You can not pre-pay for the entire stay at the hotel, and if you don’t like something, you can change the hotel, or even the city. If the tour is purchased through a travel agency, no matter how disgusting the hotel is, you are simply doomed to relax in it. I think this is the biggest plus!

Now, about some of the negative aspects, the so-called "cons". ABOUT self-registration documents we have already discussed. I will not repeat. The next disadvantage is the language of the host country. If you speak at least English, it's already easier. If not, you will have to learn sign language, acquire a phrase book. In a purchased tour, if the hotel staff does not understand you, this is the concern of the hotel and the guide assigned to the tourists. In your case, saving a drowning person will be the work of the drowning person himself.

And last but not least, I'll highlight this in a separate paragraph, HEALTH INSURANCE. With independent rest, its registration is a must. Prices for medical services in Greece are very high. Even the treatment of a banal dislocation can result in a tidy sum. I'm not talking about something more serious. Of course, pah-pah over the left shoulder, but hope in God, but don't make a mistake yourself.

Many offer a trip to Greece travel companies, but sometimes it is much more correct, cheaper and more interesting to organize your trip yourself. Let's find out how to do it and where to start.

Getting ready for the trip

You need to start planning an independent trip to Greece in advance. This country is part of the Schengen area, so you will need a visa to visit it. You can get a document at the consulate, after preparing a package of documents and filling out a questionnaire. To simplify the procedure, it is better to use the help visa application center vizaweek.ru, where you will be relieved of all formalities.

Next, you should decide on the itinerary of the trip and tickets. The optimal solution for independent travel there will be a fly & drive format when you get to the designated point by plane, and then just rent a car. This will allow you to be as mobile and free as possible, as well as visit many interesting places in Greece.

When going to the country, do not forget to take a first aid kit with you (the medicines we are used to are sometimes difficult to find in Europe) and leave a place in your suitcase for souvenirs and gifts that you will take home.

Traveling in Greece opens up many opportunities for tourists. By laying out the route yourself, you can relax on the beach, walk around museums, see the sights and generally discover your Greece. Here are some tips to help you choose a direction.

Green corners

Halkidiki is considered to be the coziest and greenest region of Greece. It's great to walk, swim and enjoy life. Also for such a holiday can be considered western part Crete (regions of Chania and Rethymno) and the island of Corfu. These places are perfect for families with children.

Historical places

In fact, Greece amazing country where there is something to see everywhere. But it's hard to imagine the journey through historical places Greece without Athens. If you are a fan of wandering around the city, be sure to leave yourself 2-3 days for walking around the capital and stock up on comfortable shoes.

Night life

If you are sick of a sleepy vacation by the sea and want a hot party, think about the place Malia (Crete). Here you will find huge sandy beaches and non-stop night discos. IN Northern Greece stop by Paralia Katerina - the amount of entertainment and nightlife restaurants will pleasantly surprise you. And not far from Athens there is the resort of Loutraki, which will also be remembered for its fun parties.

Romantic getaway

Traveling to Greece on your own can also be planned in such a way that this trip will be remembered as the most romantic event of your life together with your loved one. One of the most picturesque islands for romance, Corfu is considered. Here you can endlessly walk, enjoy delicious food and be just the two of you. And what could be better for strengthening relationships?

Why Choose Greece

Planning a trip to Greece on your own is a simple task. This is a small, comfortable country, very loyal to tourists and visitors. It will be easy for you here even with minimal knowledge of English.

Also in Greece there are a lot of hotels and hotels, both large chains and small family ones. So you can easily find yourself a room for the night in any city and for any budget, even without prior booking. By the way, in general, hotels offer a breakfast or breakfast and dinner system, since gastronomic pleasures in local restaurants- one of the obligatory parts of a trip to Greece.

In addition, holidays in Greece can be very versatile. Here, young and active people, families with children and elderly couples will find resorts and entertainment to their liking. If you want to please your parents with a trip to Europe, Greece will the best choice and they will definitely be satisfied.