Travel Guide for Holidays, Hotels & Tours in Greece

Greece and the Greek Islands are the holiday destination for many tourists coming every year here. We would like to help you planning your holiday in Greece, thus you can have the most exiting holiday in your life.

Greece suites everybody's taste: whether you travel to Greece for it's history and sights, sandy beaches and crystal clear waters, or if you prefer the nightlife and entertainment.

The Greek Islands are famous around the world, and each of them is special in it's own right, offering it's visitors beautiful landscapes, as well as historical and cultural places and of course, entertainment.

The Cyclades Islands include some of the most famous and popular Greek Islands such as Santorini, Mykonos, Naxos, Ios, Paros, Iraklia and many others. These islands are just perfect for your summer holiday with their amazing scenery, archaeological sites, gorgeous beaches and entertainment.

The Ionian Islands such as Corfu, Kythira and Kefalonia are beautiful islands with green nature, glorious beaches and sea and very hospitable people.

The list of popular Greek Islands can go on and on, just walk through our web site.

Greece is a country that has a long history, spanning back thousands of years. Ancient sites such as the Parthenon on the Acropolis in Athens, or the sacred temple of Delphi are visited by huge numbers of travelers every year. You can find interesting archaeological sites and other such places of interest all over Greece and the Greek Islands that there will always be something for you to see and to explore.

Whether it be Athens, Olympia, or Crete, your holidays can very educational and very relaxing at the same time as being.

Besides Greece offers a huge variety of hotels and accommodation including hotels of all categories, rooms, studios and apartments, as well as villas and traditional mansions.

You can make an online request on our site for hotel booking or tour reservations in Greece, we will reply you during the following 3 hours and provide you with requested information and prices. We have also "Flight to Greece" section, please contact us for detailed information.

Travel in Greece 2010

Planning your holidays to Greece, you can use our services: Flights to Greece,  Hotels in Greece, Ferry Tickets, Car Rentals over Greece and the Greek Islands,  Daily and Weekly Tours in Greece and Turkey.
Flights	Hotels	Ferries	Car Hire
Flights to Greece	Hotels in Greece	Greece Ferry Tickets	Car Hire in Greece
Diving	Camping	Spas	Cruises
Diving in Greece	Camping in Greece	Natural Spa in Greece	Cruises in Greece

If you like history, we can recommend you visiting Turkey with its ancient, cultural and biblical places: Ephesus, Priene, Milet, Didyma, Pamukkale, Pergamon, Istanbul, Canakkale, Cappadocia, Thyatira etc. For more details please visit our web page: http://www.onlineephesustravel.com. If you travel on a cruise line and interested in a shore trip from one of the ports in Turkey, please click on http://www.onlineturkeycruise.com.  Welcome to Greece to have holiday of your dreams!

Practical Information:
Costs
Greece is no longer a cheap country. Prices have rocketed since the adoption of the euro in 2002. It’s hard to believe that inflation is less than 4%, as claimed by the government, when prices have risen by a perceptibly higher margin since that time. Some dramatic price rises, particularly for accommodation and restaurant meals, have been evident in recent years.

A rock-bottom daily budget for a solo traveler would be €45. This would mean hitching, staying in youth hostels or camping, and only occasionally eating in restaurants or taking ferries. Allow at least €90 per day if you want your own room and plan to eat out, travel about and see the sights. If you want comfortable rooms and restaurants all the way, you will need close to €130 per day. These budgets are for individuals traveling in high season (July/August). Couples sharing a room can get by on less.

Your money will go much further if you travel during the quieter months of May to June and September to October. Accommodation on the islands particularly is a lot cheaper outside high season. You will also be able to negotiate better deals if you stay a few days. Families can achieve considerable savings by looking for self-catering apartments, shopping for food and drink at supermarkets and local produce markets and cooking for themselves.

Tipping
In restaurants a service charge is normally included in the bill and while a tip is not expected (as it is in North America), it is always appreciated and should be left if the service has been good. Taxi drivers normally expect you to round up the fare, while bellhops who help you with your luggage to your hotel room or stewards on ferries who take you to your cabin normally expect a small gratuity of between €1 and €3.

Money
Greece has been using the euro currency since the beginning of 2002, exactly one year after the Greek drachma (dr) went into the euro-currency basket, fixed at a rate of 340.75 dr to €1.
There are eight euro coins, in denominations of two and one euros, then 50, 20, 10, five, two and one cents, and six notes: €5, €10, €20, €50, €100 and €200.

ATMs
ATMs are to be found in every town large enough to support a bank – and certainly in all the tourist areas. If you’ve got MasterCard or Visa/Access, there are plenty of places to withdraw money. Cirrus and Maestro users can make withdrawals in all major towns and tourist areas.

Automated foreign exchange machines are common in major tourist areas. They take all the major European currencies, Australian and US dollars and Japanese yen, and are useful in an emergency. Note that they charge a hefty commission, though.

Cash
Nothing beats cash for convenience – or for risk. If you lose cash, it’s gone for good and very few travel insurers will come to your rescue. Those that will normally limit the amount to approximately US$300. It’s best to carry no more cash than you need for the next few days, which means working out your likely needs whenever you change travelers cheques or withdraw cash.

It’s also a good idea to set aside a small amount of cash, say US$100, as an emergency stash.

Note that Greek shopkeepers and small business owners have a perennial problem with small change. They rarely have any! If buying small items it is better to tender coin or small denomination notes as the seller will inevitably never have any change.

Credit cards
The great advantage of credit cards is that they allow you to pay for major items without carrying around great wads of cash. Credit cards are now an accepted part of the commercial scene in Greece just about everywhere. They can be used to pay for a wide range of goods and services such as meals (in better restaurants) and accommodation, car hire and souvenirs.

The main credit cards are MasterCard, Visa (Access in the UK) and Eurocard, all of which are widely accepted in Greece. They can also be used as cash cards to draw cash from the ATMs of affiliated Greek banks in the same way as at home. Daily withdrawal limits are set by the issuing bank. Cash advances are given in local currency only. Credit cards can be used to pay for accommodation in all the smarter hotels. Some C-class hotels will accept credit cards, but D- and E-class hotels rarely do.

The main charge cards are American Express and Diners Club, which are widely accepted in tourist areas but unheard of elsewhere.

Useful Phones Numbers
Bus Service
+30 22860 25404 +30 22860 25404

Taxi Service
+30 22860 22555 +30 22860 22555
+30 22860 23951 +30 22860 23951

Police
+30 22860 22649 +30 22860 22649

Port Authorities
+30 22860 22239 +30 22860 22239

Post Office
+30 22860 22238 +30 22860 22238

Cable Car
+30 22860 22977 +30 22860 22977

Akrotiri Archaeological Site
+30 22860 81366 +30 22860 81366

Hospital
+30 22860 22237 +30 22860 22237

Municipality of Thira
+30 22860 22231 +30 22860 22231

Community of Oia
+30 22860 71228 +30 22860 71228

Airlines

Civil Aviation Authorities
+30 22860 28400 +30 22860 28400

Aegean Airlines
+30 22860 28500 +30 22860 28500

Olympic Airways airport office
+30 22860 31525 +30 22860 31525

Banks

Agricultural Bank of Greece
+30 22860 22261 +30 22860 22261

Alpha Bank
+30 22860 23801 +30 22860 23801

Commercial Bank of Greece
+30 22860 22533 +30 22860 22533

Eurobank
+30 22860 25851 +30 22860 25851

National Bank of Greece
+30 22860 22370 +30 22860 22370
+30 22860 23136 +30 22860 23136

Piraeus Bank
+30 22860 25415 +30 22860 25415
+30 22860 25441 +30 22860 25441