Greece tour packages are set trips that join the transport, the nights and the sights of a journey into one plan. They run on the islands, on the mainland, across the sea to Turkey and on board ships, and they sit beside the tours in Greece that travellers book one day at a time.
This page sorts the kinds, the lengths and the building blocks of each plan, and it links to the full pages on greece island hopping tours, greece mainland tours and greece cruise packages. Two sample plans, the 10 day greek islands tour and the 5 day athens tour, show how the pieces fit.
What are greece tour packages, and how did package tours begin?
Greece tour packages are set trips that join transport, nights and sights in one plan. A tour operator puts the parts together as one product, which the trade calls product bundling. The traveller then keeps to one fixed route, stop after stop, until the plan ends.
The core is transport plus the nights, sold as one item. Wikipedia names three extras that a package can add: a rental car, activities and outings. Transport runs by car, bus or charter airline and can include travel between areas. Greece tour packages use that frame to link a start in Athens with islands and ancient sites.
Tour operators organise package holidays, and travel agents sell them to consumers. Wikipedia adds that an agent can work for an operator or stand alone. This page names no seller of greece tour packages. It describes routes, not sellers, and the plans of this site are routes.
The first organised tours go back to the nineteenth century. A chartered train took a group of temperance campaigners from Leicester to a rally in Loughborough, 18 kilometres away. By the eighteen seventies the same organiser ran tours around the world, still for small groups. The idea behind greece tour packages starts with that short rail trip.
The package holiday abroad came in the nineteen fifties. A pioneer ran the first mass package holidays abroad, with charter flights between Gatwick airport and Corsica. Palma, Lourdes, the Costa Brava and Sardinia followed within four years.
By the late nineteen fifties and the nineteen sixties, one package joined flight, transfers and accommodation. It gave people in the United Kingdom a first chance to travel abroad. Wikipedia adds that package tours opened mass tourism to Crete at the start of the nineteen seventies. So the history of greece tour packages reaches a Greek island early.
Greece grew its own tourism in the same decades. Mass tourism took hold there in the nineteen sixties and seventies, as Wikipedia describes it. Large hotel projects were built in that time. The Summer Olympic Games in Athens and the New Acropolis Museum later added to the flow of visitors. That is the setting of greece tour packages today.
Visitors came to Greece long before any package. Greece became a province of the Roman Empire. Roman tourists then visited Athens, Corinth and Thebes, centres of Greek philosophy and science. Wikipedia counts 21 UNESCO World Heritage Sites in the country today. Greece tour packages therefore build on a very old habit of travel.
Which kinds of greece tour packages exist?
Five kinds of greece tour packages appear on this site. They are island hopping, mainland, combination trips with Turkey, cruises and day trips. Each kind follows its own route shape, and the shape decides where the nights fall. The island plans all start in Athens.
- Island hopping starts in Athens and moves from island to island, from Mykonos and Santorini to Crete and Rhodes.
- Mainland plans centre on ancient sites: Delphi in the five day Athens plan, and Mycenae, Olympia, Delphi and Meteora in the eight day plan.
- Combination plans cross into Turkey, with Istanbul, Cappadocia, Pamukkale and Ephesus beside Rhodes, Santorini and Athens. One plan adds Egypt.
- Cruise plans put the nights on a ship, on seven night Greece and Turkey routes, Aegean and Adriatic routes, and Aegean routes.
- Day trips are single outings from Athens, to Delphi, Cape Sounion, the Saronic islands, Meteora or the Corinth Canal, that return the same day.
The kinds differ because the country differs. Wikivoyage notes that whitewashed homes and blue-domed churches mark one region only, the Cyclades. It lists neoclassical buildings in Nafplio and pastel baroque homes on Corfu. A set of greece tour packages changes its look with each region it crosses.
Island hopping depends on boats. In the words of Wikivoyage, a ferry reaches every island, but the timetable depends on the season. Wikipedia ties the group to an early Bronze Age culture known for flat figures carved from white marble. Santorini appears in every island plan of greece tour packages.
Dodekanisa, the Greek name of the group, means the twelve islands, per Wikipedia. Rhodes is among its major islands. Turkey lies east of the group, so a combination trip can pair Rhodes with a stop on that coast.
Wikivoyage places Olympia, Mycenae and Epidaurus in the Peloponnese and the Meteora monasteries in Thessaly. Wikipedia files Delphi under Central Greece. A mainland plan of greece tour packages therefore crosses regions as it moves from site to site.
The kinds also differ in where the nights fall. Island hopping puts them on islands, a mainland plan in towns near the sites, and a cruise on the ship. A day trip needs no night away. Greece tour packages therefore span one day at the short end and two weeks on the longest island plan.
How long do greece tour packages run?
The island and mainland plans of greece tour packages here run from two days up to fourteen days. The mainland plans take two to eight days, and the island plans take eight to fourteen. The number of nights is always the number of days minus one.
Each plan counts its days first, and the nights follow from them. The list below sets the day counts of this site beside the nights they hold.
- Five days: four nights
- Eight days: seven nights
- Ten days: nine nights
- Eleven days: ten nights
- Twelve days: eleven nights
- Fourteen days: thirteen nights
The short plans belong to the mainland. The five day Athens plan holds Athens, the Saronic islands Aegina, Poros and Hydra, and Delphi. Wikivoyage lists the Saronic Gulf Islands first among the islands closest to Athens. That is how the five day plan of greece tour packages fits island days beside a mainland site.
Eight days appear twice. The island plan runs Athens, Mykonos and Santorini. The mainland plan runs Hydra, Aegina, Poros, Mycenae, Olympia, Delphi and Meteora. Wikivoyage sets Mykonos north of Paros and Naxos, and Santorini between Ios and Anafi. The eight day island plan therefore moves south through the Cyclades.
Ten days also appear twice in greece tour packages. One plan runs Athens, Santorini, Crete and Rhodes. The other runs Athens, Mykonos, Kusadasi, Patmos, Rhodes, Crete and Santorini. The eleven day plan runs Athens, Mykonos, Santorini and Crete.
Wikivoyage treats Crete as a region of its own, apart from the island groups. The first ten day plan therefore visits the mainland, the Cyclades, Crete and the Dodecanese in turn.
Twelve days hold the Cyclades plans. One runs Athens, Mykonos, Paros and Santorini. The other runs Athens, Paros, Naxos, Ios and Santorini. Wikivoyage names Santorini and Mykonos as the islands the Cyclades are known for. Twelve days spread four or five bases over eleven nights.
Fourteen days make the longest of the greece tour packages here. The route runs Athens, Mykonos, Santorini, Kusadasi, Patmos, Rhodes and Crete, then returns to Santorini. Wikivoyage names Patmos for its connection with early and Orthodox Christianity, and Rhodes for its archaeological sites and museums. The loop of eight stops calls at both between Kusadasi and Crete.
Read the length as a count of bases. A repeat visit, such as Santorini on the fourteen day plan, counts as a second stop. The page of each plan holds the day by day story. Choose among greece tour packages by the stops first, and count the nights second.
Which building blocks make up greece tour packages?
Greece tour packages are built from blocks that a vendor sells together. Wikipedia names two core blocks of any package tour, transport and accommodation, and says other services can be added. The plan lists each block before the trip starts, so the traveller knows exactly what is in.
Wikipedia names the seller of such a bundle a tour operator. The buyer receives transport and accommodation as one item. In greece tour packages, that item is a route: set nights in set places, joined by set legs of travel. This site writes each plan in that sense.
Wikipedia lists three kinds of transport for a package: a car, a bus or a charter flight. It adds that the transport can include travel between areas during the holiday. For greece tour packages, that kind of travel is the leg between two stops. It can be a coach ride on the mainland or a crossing to an island.
Wikipedia’s account of the early package holidays names a third block, the transfer. A flight, a transfer and a bed made up the bundle. A transfer is the short ride from an arrival point to the first night’s stay. Count it as a block when you read a plan for greece tour packages.
The services that can be added, Wikipedia states, are a rental car, activities or outings. In greece tour packages, the outings are the sightseeing blocks, such as a site, a museum or a boat trip. A plan names each outing, and a traveller counts them to see how full the days are.
Wikipedia’s page on tourism in Greece notes that every major city and town has its own archaeological museum. Each museum holds finds from the nearby area. A museum visit is one more block that a plan can place at a stop, whichever route it follows.
Meals are not part of the Wikipedia definition of a package tour. A plan either lists them or leaves them out, so read that line of any plan for greece tour packages. Treat a meal as an extra block until the plan says otherwise.
This site adds place blocks on top of the bundle. They are mainland stops, the Cyclades, Crete, Rhodes and the Dodecanese, ferry links, Turkey stops, cruise legs and day trips. Later sections of this page take each block in turn. Together they show how greece tour packages are put together.
How do guided and self-guided greece tour packages differ?
Guided greece tour packages put a licensed guide beside the traveller. Self-guided ones carry no leader, so the written plan is the traveller’s only companion. According to Wikipedia, a tour guide leads visitors in a chosen language and explains the heritage of an area.
A guided plan adds a person to the route. Wikipedia says tour guides supply information on heritage, whether cultural, historical or contemporary, to people on organised sightseeing. Their sites include museums and religious and historical places. Greece tour packages that visit ruins, museums and monasteries stop at places of exactly that kind.
Wikipedia adds that a tour guide normally holds an area-specific qualification, issued or recognised by the appropriate authority. When a plan for greece tour packages promises a licensed guide, ask which authority issued the licence. Guiding is not only indoors: the article lists hiking and biking among guided outdoor trips.
Guiding is an old trade. Wikipedia reports that tour guides accompanied travellers in classical antiquity. The modern profession emerged in the nineteenth century, it adds, alongside organised tourism. So a guided plan on greece tour packages belongs to a trade with ancient roots.
Tour operators organise package holidays and travel agents sell them to consumers, Wikipedia explains. An agent can be an employee of an operator or can be independent. That chain is the organised side of greece tour packages: one party plans the route, and another party sells it.
A self-guided plan keeps the same stops with no leader. Wikivoyage’s page on Santorini names a hiking trail between the towns of Fira and Oia. On a trail like that, the traveller sets the pace and chooses the hour. That freedom is the core of self-guided greece tour packages.
Dynamic packaging sits between the two styles. Wikipedia compares it to a private or custom tour, since guests create their own vacation. Guests can start from a company’s itinerary or draw up their own, it adds. Greece tour packages built this way leave the choice of blocks to the traveller.
The plans on this site are routes, so one route serves both styles. With a leader, the stops are fixed and explained. Alone, the same stops need tickets, timetables and a plan for each day. Either way, the route of greece tour packages stays the same.
How do combination trips work in greece tour packages?
A combination trip joins more than one place in one bundled plan. Wikipedia describes it as a newer kind of package tour, with multiple destinations on a single bundled itinerary. In greece tour packages, the places are Athens, islands and, in other plans, cities in Turkey.
Wikipedia sets the combination trip against the traditional package for a single location. The combination trip bundles flights, accommodation and intercity transportation into one plan. A route from Athens to Mykonos and Santorini fits that definition, since it joins three places. Greece tour packages of this shape follow one plan, not three.
Wikipedia lists flights, trains, buses and boats as the transport of a combination trip. Wikivoyage Greece links boat and plane travel to getting around the country’s islands. It calls intercity buses a very popular choice for travel inside the country. Those are the links inside greece tour packages that join the mainland and the islands.
Providers design themed routes, Wikipedia notes, with self-drive, city, beach and round-trip options. In greece tour packages, a city theme fits Athens or Istanbul, and a beach theme fits an island stop. The theme names the style of a route. The stops still come from the plan.
The same article lists stays that range from hotels and boutique hotels to hostels. It adds that these trips cater to different travel styles. A plan states the kind of stay for each night. Compare that line between two routes before you choose one.
This site holds combination plans with Turkey. One route runs Istanbul, Cappadocia, Pamukkale, Ephesus, Rhodes, Santorini and Athens. A second runs Istanbul, Santorini, Mykonos and Athens. A third joins Greece, Turkey and Egypt. These are routes of greece tour packages. A later section takes up the Turkey stops one by one.
Entry rules belong to each country on the route. Greece takes part in the Schengen Agreement, as Wikivoyage Greece notes. Wikipedia lists Turkey among the land neighbours of the Schengen Area. Read the official page of each country on the route before you leave.
Wikipedia adds that providers let travellers choose their transport and lodging through dynamic packaging. In greece tour packages, the stops form a frame, and the traveller adjusts the details inside it. The plan states what can change. Ask that question first, before you compare two routes.
Which mainland stops appear in greece tour packages?
Six mainland stops recur in greece tour packages: Delphi, Meteora, Nafplio, Mycenae, Epidaurus and Olympia. Four are ancient sanctuaries or citadels, one is a harbour town and one is a rock formation topped with monasteries. Each is a road trip from Athens, not a sea crossing.
Delphi is the ancient oracle precinct, set on the south-western flank of Mount Parnassus. UNESCO has listed the site, and the Wikivoyage page puts the long-distance bus from Athens at about 3 hours. As a building block of greece tour packages, Delphi fills one road day.
Meteora is a cluster of rock pinnacles near Kalambaka in northwestern Thessaly. Their tops carry 24 monasteries, six of them in use, Wikivoyage counts. Buses from Athens need about 5 hours, the same page adds. In the northern plans of greece tour packages, Meteora marks the far point of the run.
Nafplio is a small town in Argolis. Wikivoyage gives the road from Athens as 147 km, or about two hours by bus. The new Greek state chose it as its first capital. The Peloponnese page names it a base for trips to Epidaurus and Mycenae, a role that suits greece tour packages.
Mycenae sits in Argolis, and Wikivoyage says the port town of Corinth can serve as a base for it. The same page adds that from the palace hill the Saronic Gulf is in sight, beyond the Argolid. UNESCO lists the site with Tiryns. The name Mycenaean for a whole period of Greek history comes from the place.
Of about 300 healing shrines in the classical world, Epidaurus drew visitors from far away, Wikivoyage says. The ruins lie inland, about 12 km from the ancient city on the coast. Reaching them from Athens by car takes roughly 2 hours, the page adds. Plans in greece tour packages that cross Argolis pair it with Mycenae.
Wikivoyage dates the original Olympic Games at Olympia from 776 BC. Those games ran through the whole Classical Age and ended in the late fourth century. Olympia lies in Elis. The page gives the train or bus from Patras via Pyrgos as around two hours. Adding Olympia to greece tour packages means a drive into the western Peloponnese.
The times above come from Wikivoyage and differ by car or bus, so they show scale, not a timetable. A reader who compares the plans can use them to judge the length of each road day.
What does the five day Athens plan add to greece tour packages?
The five day Athens plan adds a sea day and a road day to greece tour packages. Athens comes first, then Aegina, Poros and Hydra on a sea day, then Delphi on a road day. Five days hold four nights, since the nights are the days minus one.
The plan has three parts. Athens opens it, a day among the islands follows, and Delphi closes the sights. Per Wikipedia, the Acropolis stands 150 metres above sea level on a flat-topped rock. In greece tour packages of this shape, the city rock comes before the sea day and the road day.
The Saronic Gulf Islands lie south-west of Athens, as Wikivoyage states. The page says the only major classical antiquities in the group are on Aegina. Little churches and museums are scattered across the islands. For greece tour packages, the group is a day of harbour towns with one stop for ruins.
Sponge fisheries are of economic importance on Aegina, Wikipedia records. Herodotus, it notes, called the island a colony of Epidaurus. Hydrofoils from Piraeus take forty minutes. Wikivoyage calls Aegina the easiest island of the group for a day trip. That suits greece tour packages that sail from Piraeus.
Poros is really a pair of islands with a bridge between them. A permanent shell exhibition, Shells from the Greek Seas, is on show in a library there, Wikipedia states. The same page lists the Bourtzi castle among the sights; an earlier church of St Constantine stood on the spot.
Hydra lies off the Peloponnese coast, parted from it by a narrow strip of water. Wikipedia names a 20-minute ferry from Metochi on the mainland shore. A sizable part of its visitors come from Athens. Dokos, a smaller island, shares its municipality. Hydra is one of the three islands in this sea day of greece tour packages.
Delphi then takes the road day, and Wikipedia places the precinct inside Parnassos National Park. The plan leaves out the Peloponnese sites and Meteora, which the longer plans add. Among greece tour packages, it is the plan that joins the three Saronic islands with Delphi.
What does the eight day mainland plan add to greece tour packages?
The eight day mainland plan adds a full circuit of classical sites to greece tour packages. Hydra, Aegina and Poros come by sea, then Mycenae, Olympia, Delphi and Meteora by road. Eight days hold seven nights, and the plan joins the Saronic islands to the mainland.
The order matters here. The plan opens near Athens with the three Saronic islands. It then turns to the road for Mycenae, Olympia, Delphi and Meteora, and ends in Athens. Greece tour packages built this way put the sea first and the long drives after it.
Two families meet in this plan. The sea part belongs to the island kind of greece tour packages. The road part belongs to the mainland kind. From Piraeus the Saronic Gulf Islands are a short ferry ride away, Wikivoyage notes. They suit day trips, so the plan can open with them.
The road part crosses into the Peloponnese. Wikivoyage lists the Corinth Canal among the natural wonders of the Peloponnese, 6.3 km long, at sea level. Bridges carry the roads from Attica across it. The road days of these greece tour packages begin with that crossing, and Mycenae is the first stop beyond it.
The moveable finds of Olympia sit mostly in one of three site museums, per Wikipedia. It adds that Pausanias counted over 70 temples, besides treasuries, altars and statues. After Olympia, the plan turns north to Delphi and Meteora. Those two stops form the northern leg of greece tour packages like this one.
Wikipedia links the name Delphi to delphys, a Greek word meaning womb. The French School at Athens is listed as the archaeologist of the site. Delphi is also a modern town and a municipality, set beside the ancient precinct. Delphi sits between Olympia and Meteora in greece tour packages of this kind.
Wikivoyage adds one fact about Meteora. The Meteora-Antichassia region is an Ecological Zone, declared by the Greek Ministry of Environment to protect rare birds and flowers. UNESCO also designated the area a Global Geopark. For greece tour packages, the last stop is therefore a protected landscape as well as a site of monasteries.
The plan ends back in Athens, where it began. It therefore sits in the mainland family of greece tour packages. It borrows one sea day from the island family, and that day comes before the road days.
Which Cyclades stops appear in greece tour packages?
Greece tour packages draw on five Cyclades stops: Mykonos, Santorini, Paros, Naxos and Ios. The Cyclades are the island group that lies between Athens and Crete. Each island adds a different kind of stop: port town, caldera, harbour hub, chora or hill village.
Early Cycladic art is known for flat figures carved in white marble, centuries before the Minoans of Crete. Greece tour packages treat the group as one block of the plan. The eight day plan joins two of these islands, and the twelve day plans join three or four.
Wikivoyage sets Mykonos Town around its harbour on a wide bay, with shops, art galleries and cafes along its streets. Wikipedia pictures Little Venice, the town streets and four windmills for Mykonos. In greece tour packages, Mykonos is the port-town stop.
Santorini is the caldera stop. Wikivoyage puts the caldera walls at up to 300 metres high and Oia on cliffs 150 metres high. It adds that Thira, the main island, takes the bulk of the visitors. Wikipedia describes the Bronze Age town of Akrotiri, where walls up to eight metres high stand preserved in volcanic ash.
Wikivoyage names Paros as the home of the biggest ferry hub in the Cyclades. The main church of Parikia, Panagia Ekatontapiliani, is called the church of the hundred doors, Wikipedia notes. Greece tour packages use Paros as the harbour stop, where one island link meets the next.
Naxos Town is also called Chora. The Portara, the entrance of the Apollo temple, stands on the peninsula of Palatia. Wikipedia counts seven sports clubs on Naxos that offer windsurfing and kitesurfing. Wikipedia adds that Naxian marble became roof tiles for Olympia and the Athenian Acropolis. Greece tour packages add Naxos as the chora stop.
A footpath climbs from the port of Ios to Chora, the main village. Steep stairways and narrow alleys keep the whitewashed village largely closed to cars. Legend places the death of Homer on Ios, and Wikipedia stresses that the story rests on tradition, not on records. Greece tour packages use Ios as the hill-village stop.
Wikivoyage points travellers who want fewer crowds to the smaller islands of Folegandros and Amorgos. It calls Naxos and Syros a middle ground, with moderate crowds and plentiful services. Greece tour packages with Naxos sit in that middle ground. The twelve day plan with Mykonos, Paros and Santorini matches the trio that Wikivoyage names for a newcomer.
What do Crete, Rhodes and the Dodecanese add to greece tour packages?
Crete, Rhodes and the Dodecanese take greece tour packages to the southern and south-eastern Aegean, beyond the Cyclades. In Greek myth, Wikipedia notes, Crete is the birthplace of Zeus. Wikipedia counts 125,113 inhabitants on Rhodes.
Crete appears in the ten, eleven and fourteen day plans, and Rhodes appears in the ten and fourteen day plans. Greece tour packages that go this far south add the Dodecanese and Crete to the Cyclades. Wikipedia calls Rhodes the historical capital of the Dodecanese.
The Heraklion area is the Crete stop. Wikivoyage describes Heraklion as the main hub of Crete, with the archaeological site of Knossos. It lists Chania as another city of the island, surrounded by beaches and the Samaria National Park. Wikipedia adds that two airports, at Heraklion and at Chania, serve international travellers.
Crete is mountainous, and its ranges leave room for valleys, plateaus and gorges. Wikipedia names the Amari valley, the Lasithi plateau, Omalos and Nidha. It adds that the island keeps cultural traits of its own, among them poetry and music.
Wikivoyage lists Crete as the next stop for travellers who have finished with the Cyclades. The ten day plan that goes from Santorini to Crete follows that advice. Greece tour packages with this move cross the Sea of Crete, which lies between the Cyclades and the island.
UNESCO describes the Upper Town of Rhodes as an ensemble from the Gothic period. In the Lower Town, mosques and public baths from the Ottoman period stand beside Gothic buildings. Wikivoyage lists Rhodes first among the Greek islands for access by air. In greece tour packages, Rhodes is the stop with the medieval city.
Patmos is a small island in the north of the Dodecanese. Skala is its only commercial port, and Chora is the capital, Wikipedia states. UNESCO says a monastery of Saint John was founded there in the late tenth century and has drawn pilgrims since. Greece tour packages with Kusadasi use Patmos as the monastery stop.
Wikipedia counts 37,089 inhabitants on Kos. In the centre of the main town of Kos stands the Plane Tree of Hippocrates, Wikipedia records.
How do ferry links shape the island parts of greece tour packages?
Ferry links join the islands of greece tour packages and set how long each leg takes. Wikivoyage states that the Cyclades have daily ferry and catamaran services from Piraeus, Rafina and Lavrio. The closest islands are four to five hours away by ferry, and Santorini, the furthest, is eight to ten.
The Piraeus Lion, a statue that once marked the harbour entrance, has a copy in the port’s archaeological museum. Every island plan of this site starts in Athens, so greece tour packages meet the sea at a mainland port. Wikivoyage points to Rafina as an option for arrivals at the airport of Athens.
Wikivoyage gives Piraeus to Mykonos as 3 hr 30 min to 5 hr 15 min by ferry type. From Rafina the range is 2 hr 10 min to 5 hr 30 min. So the boat type shifts a Rafina leg by over three hours. Wikivoyage lists Gate E1 at Piraeus for conventional ferries and Gate E7 for high-speed ones.
Wikivoyage points to island hopping for stays of over one week, because ferry schedules in the Cyclades are excellent. A reader of greece tour packages can weigh two links to Santorini. One is the ferryboat or catamaran from Piraeus. The other is a flight from Athens, which takes 30 to 45 minutes and avoids possible sea sickness.
The island parts also join each other by sea. Wikipedia lists Piraeus, Mykonos, Paros, Naxos, Syros, Leros and Rhodes as ports with a regular ferry link to Patmos. Mykonos and Rhodes are stops of the plans that call at Patmos. Greece tour packages with those plans use links between island groups.
Wikivoyage notes that out of season the ferry schedules are reduced. It advises a check with the operator before departure, since bad weather can delay or cancel sailings. The Mykonos page calls summer cancellations very rare. The Cyclades page names the meltemi, which blows steadily in July and August.
A spare day in greece tour packages leaves room for delays. Wikivoyage describes ferry travel as tedious in high season, when the boats are crowded. It adds that ferry tickets are on sale at agencies near the local port.
Wikivoyage names mid-July to late August as the time that needs pre-booking, along with Greek holidays. On the fifteenth of August thousands of Orthodox pilgrims travel to Tinos. Nearly all ferries from Piraeus and Rafina to Mykonos stop there. Greece tour packages that cross on those days need the tickets early, on that advice.
How do Turkey stops fit into greece tour packages?
Turkey stops fit into greece tour packages as one extra block of days placed beside the Greek islands. Both combination plans of this site open in Istanbul. One continues through Cappadocia, Pamukkale and Ephesus. It then spends island days on Rhodes and Santorini and ends in Athens.
UNESCO places Istanbul on the Bosphorus peninsula, between the Balkans and Anatolia and between the Black Sea and the Mediterranean. It adds that the city has been linked to major political, religious and artistic events for more than 2,000 years. In greece tour packages, that makes it a fitting first stop for a route that runs west.
Tourism has made Cappadocia a label for fairy chimneys, Wikipedia notes, and for hundreds of churches and monasteries. Its underground cities were dug for protection in periods of persecution. UNESCO adds rock-hewn sanctuaries in the Goreme valley that show Byzantine art. In greece tour packages, Cappadocia is the inland stop.
At Pamukkale, UNESCO notes, calcite-laden water has formed terraced basins and petrified waterfalls. The springs rise in a cliff almost 200 metres high. UNESCO adds that Attalid kings founded the thermal spa of Hierapolis at the end of the second century BC. Greece tour packages that stop here meet baths, temples and other Greek monuments on Turkish soil.
UNESCO calls Ephesus an outstanding example of a Roman port city, with a sea channel and a harbour basin. The settlements stood in the old estuary of the River Kaystros and moved west as the coast retreated. Greece tour packages use Ephesus as the Roman stop in a route that otherwise follows Greek sites.
Tourism is the primary industry of Kusadasi, Wikipedia notes, and the town lies on the Aegean shore. The same page lists daily ferry services to the Greek island of Samos. Greece tour packages that join both countries by sea can use that crossing. Wikivoyage places Ephesus 15 kilometres northeast of the town.
Marmaris is a port city on the Turkish Riviera, per Wikipedia. The same page adds that its castle became a museum with seven galleries. Summer visitors take day trips from it to Symi and Rhodes. In greece tour packages that go from Turkey to Rhodes, this short sea crossing ends the Turkey block.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Turkey runs an online e-Visa system for tourism and commerce. Its page says the process takes about three minutes. Its advice for the passport is at least six months left at arrival. Rules differ by passport, so check the official page first when greece tour packages include a Turkey block.
How do cruise legs fit into greece tour packages?
A cruise leg fits into greece tour packages as a sea stretch between land days. Cruise ships sail for holidays rather than for transport, Wikipedia notes, in contrast to ocean liners. It defines a port of call as an intermediate stop for a ship on its itinerary. The ship moves on after each visit.
Wikipedia records three deep-water harbours at ancient Piraeus: Cantharus, Zea and Munichia. The Long Walls fortified the route from the city to the port. Today a cruise leg in greece tour packages can begin there, with the Athens days behind it.
Wikivoyage puts the main cruise dock of Mykonos at Tourlos, about two kilometres north of Mykonos Town. Delos lies two kilometres off Mykonos, Wikipedia notes. The same page calls summer on Santorini hot and crowded with beach-goers and cruise ships. Seasonal businesses there begin to close late in October.
Wikipedia records a passenger terminal with waiting lounges at Akandia Port, the newer harbour beside the central port. Mandraki Port, the oldest on the island, is a start point for cruise-boat day trips to Symi. Every ferry and hydrofoil on Patmos docks at Skala, the only commercial port, according to Wikivoyage.
Wikipedia notes that Kusadasi is a port of call for cruise ships, with a port for passengers heading to Ephesus. Greece tour packages that include a ship call here reach the same ruins as a land plan. Wikivoyage calls the same trip an easy day by taxi or minibus.
A ship call and an overnight stay differ in where the traveller sleeps. At a call, the ship is the base, and the day on shore ends with a return aboard. At an overnight stay, the traveller wakes in the town. A cruise leg in greece tour packages therefore swaps hotel nights for nights at sea.
This site lists a seven night cruise route for Greece and Turkey. Inside a land plan, a cruise leg takes the place of the ferry days between island stops. Check the order of the ports and the time in each one. Do this before you choose greece tour packages with a ship.
How do day trips fit around greece tour packages?
Day trips fit around greece tour packages as one-day outings that start and end in Athens. Wikipedia puts Cape Sounion 69.5 kilometres southeast of Athens and calls it a popular day excursion for visitors. The headland is noted for its Temple of Poseidon.
Wikipedia notes that the philosopher Martin Heidegger visited the cape and called the temple ruins gleaming white. The same page says the cape was fortified in 413 BC to guard the ships that carried grain to Athens. For greece tour packages, Sounion fits a free afternoon in Athens.
A long-distance bus from Athens takes about three hours to Delphi, says Wikivoyage. Its page adds that classes and package tourists fill the sanctuaries from 10:00. An early start or a night nearby helps. Greece tour packages on the mainland can add a night in Delphi, as this site’s three day plan does.
The Saronic islands suit a day by sea. For Aegina, Wikivoyage gives 70 minutes aboard a conventional vessel from Piraeus. Hydra, a popular day-trip destination from Athens, needs around three hours by slow car ferry. A fast catamaran halves that to 1.5 hours. Poros lies 59 kilometres from the harbour of Piraeus.
Meteora is the longest of these outings. The bus from Athens takes about five hours, says Wikivoyage. It describes a direct bus that sometimes leaves at 7:00 and returns from Kalambaka at 17:15. Other routes change at Trikala. Greece tour packages for Meteora add a night in Kalambaka, as the two day plan of this site does.
The Corinth Canal is a road outing. Wikivoyage calls Corinth very close to Athens and easy to reach by bus, train or car. Landslides from its steep walls have forced periodic closures, Wikipedia notes. The tides of the two gulfs differ in timing and drive strong currents. The canal is mainly a tourist attraction.
A day trip joins a longer plan through a spare day. This site’s five day Athens plan already pairs the Saronic islands with Delphi, so those outings sit inside the route. Greece tour packages with a free day in Athens can add Sounion or the canal. Both start from the capital.
When do travellers choose greece tour packages by season?
Travellers choose greece tour packages by season because boats and sites keep seasonal timetables. Ferries thin out in winter, and the Ministry of Culture cuts site hours from September as daylight shortens. Island plans follow the boats, and mainland plans follow the hours of sites. The date comes before the route.
In the long season the Acropolis opens at 08:00, admits visitors until half past seven, and shuts at 20:00. From the first of September the closing time falls in steps, because daylight shortens. In the last two weeks of October the closing hour is 18:00. A plan from greece tour packages fits its Acropolis visit inside these hours.
Delphi has a long timetable and a short one. The long one is a twelve-hour day that ends at 20:00. The short one is a seven-hour day, 08:30 to 15:30. Admission ends at ten past three, so a late coach does not get in. Greece tour packages with mainland days therefore need an early arrival.
Easter changes site days on greece tour packages. Easter Sunday and Labour Day shut every state site, the Acropolis page states. On Good Friday the gates open only at noon and close five hours later. Holy Saturday is a short day too. Orthodox Easter is dated by a different method, so the plan checks the year.
Boats follow the weather. Wikivoyage Greece describes a thin winter timetable, in which certain ferries run once a week, or twice. In high season, extensive connections run from Athens, with further links between islands for hopping. So winter dates for the island parts of greece tour packages need slack for the sea.
Santorini keeps its own calendar. Wikivoyage Santorini counts over a dozen restaurants in Fira that stay open all year. In season, air tickets from Athens sell out well before the majority of ferry tickets. The same page notes that the flight is faster and avoids sea sickness. Island plans in greece tour packages weigh the flight against the boat.
Climate differs by stop. Wikipedia’s tourism page sets cold northern winters against considerably milder winters in the south and on the islands. Wikipedia dates the dry meltemi winds from late spring to mid-September. A route in greece tour packages can cross more than one climate.
How does heat shape greece tour packages?
Heat shapes greece tour packages through the opening hours of open sites. On one July day, a Ministry of Culture notice closed Phaistos on Crete from 12:00 to 17:00 for high temperatures. The notice names no other reason, so the midday hours are the ones at risk.
The Delphi page of the Ministry has a heading for the summer visit. It asks visitors to carry their own cool drinking water, although water is provided. It calls pale clothes that cover arms and legs, plus a hat, necessary for a pleasant, comfortable visit. These items suit every mainland stop.
The Delphi page asks visitors to bring water, while the Acropolis page lists eating and drinking among the prohibited acts. Rules differ from site to site. A traveller on greece tour packages reads each site page before the day. Water breaks then fit around the gate.
Wikivoyage starts the warmest weeks in mid-July and ends them when north winds cool the country. The midday sun is very strong in that spell. It adds that Athens can feel uncomfortably warm on summer afternoons, because concrete dominates the city. Plans in greece tour packages that start in the capital meet this heat first.
Santorini adds the sun on bare ground. Wikivoyage Santorini calls the UV index extreme after late spring. Trees are scarce there, so the cooler cave houses become the place to wait out the heat. Public life slows down in the hottest hours. Island days meet that slow pace.
Public transport carries the heat as well. Wikivoyage Athens says the metro gets very crowded at rush hour. It adds that in summer the air conditioning is not very efficient. A metro transfer in greece tour packages meets both facts.
Wikivoyage describes a hot day as sights in the cool morning, then the afternoon in shade or at the beach. The Acropolis and Delphi pages both list an opening time of 08:00 on their long schedules. A morning start fits both stops of greece tour packages.
Wikivoyage also warns island walkers, including those who go on foot to distant beaches. In hot weather it asks for a hat, sunscreen and water. It also asks walkers to stay off the paths when the day is at its hottest. The beach days of greece tour packages carry the same warning.
What do travellers pack for greece tour packages?
Travellers pack for greece tour packages by the ground, the sun and the sea. Shoes for stone, covered shoulders and knees at monasteries, a hat, swimwear and a boat layer fill the bag. Official pages and Wikivoyage name these items.
Shoes come first. For archaeological sites the Ministry page names shoes made for walking. Wikivoyage Athens adds that pointed heels damage the soft, slippery marble, so certain sensitive sites ban them. A bag for greece tour packages holds flat, firm shoes for the ruins.
Monasteries ask for covered limbs. Church dress codes, Wikivoyage Greece says, can ask women to cover shoulders and both sexes to cover knees. At the height of the summer season the check is light, because of the crowds. The eight day mainland plan in greece tour packages ends at Meteora, so it meets this rule.
At the busier churches and monasteries, Wikivoyage says, clothing to borrow waits at the door. Visitors take it on entering and hand it back on leaving. A scarf or a light shirt in the day bag of greece tour packages covers the shoulders without any wait.
Sun cover follows the season. Wikivoyage says government announcements on television remind Greeks to wear sunblock at the beach in late spring and summer. It adds that the Mediterranean sun can burn skin that is new to the sun. Sunglasses and a light sun hat complete the kit.
Swimwear belongs in the bag for the island parts of greece tour packages. Wikivoyage notes that lifeguards are rare on Greek beaches, and that Blue Flags mark the highest water quality. It adds that sea urchins cling to smooth rocks in shallow water, where they are easy to see.
A light layer suits boats and evenings. Wikivoyage Greece says dry air lets summer evenings cool to pleasant levels. It adds that open coasts and islands are breezy and can turn quite cold at night. Island days therefore end with a layer in the bag.
A small bag carries the day. The Acropolis page lets visitors in with a small backpack or handbag. Its cloakroom stands outside the gate, to the north, and refuses large luggage. The day bag of greece tour packages holds water, papers and the layer.
Which documents do greece tour packages need?
Greece tour packages need papers that match your nationality, and the Schengen rules set the frame. Wikivoyage says Greece is a Schengen member, so border controls between member countries are normally absent. Identity checks before a flight, ferry or train can still happen. Read the rule for your own passport first.
The operator of the flight, ferry or train carries out those checks, Wikivoyage explains, even between two Schengen countries. On the sea legs of greece tour packages, keep the ID card or passport within reach. Do not pack it in the large bag.
A normal visa from any Schengen member is valid in all countries that signed the treaty, Wikivoyage states. The country that grants it can add rights, such as a longer stay, valid only there. For the detail on your own passport, the page turns to the foreign ministry of Greece. Read that before you choose greece tour packages.
Wikivoyage states that public health care is free for EU nationals who present an EHIC card, formerly the E111 form. For non-EU nationals, only emergency care is provided free. Check the card dates before you travel. Travel insurance depends on your own policy, so read its terms on missed ferries before greece tour packages begin.
Save the emergency numbers before greece tour packages start. Wikivoyage lists 112 as the number for any emergency, with 100 for the police. For a simple, common illness, it points to the pharmacist. A sign on a closed pharmacy door names the nearest open one. A network of helicopter ambulances covers the islands, the page reports.
Tickets for the Acropolis are sold on site and online, the official ministry page states. The same page names four free occasions. They mark Melina Mercouri, International Monuments Day, International Museums Day and European Heritage Days. The last is a weekend in September. Match them to the days of greece tour packages.
The Delphi page adds a winter rule. From November through March, two Sundays of each month are free: the first and the third. Wikivoyage notes that timed-entry tickets are mandatory at the Acropolis. The Archaeological Museum of Thebes admits young people up to 18 free. An identity card or passport confirms the age.
Wikivoyage says Greece has strict laws on exporting antiquities, among them coins, icons and folk art. Even pieces of stone from archaeological sites fall under the rule. Objects made before eighteen thirty count as antiquities protected by the Ministry. Check every souvenir of greece tour packages against that rule.
How do travellers reach the start of greece tour packages?
Greece tour packages start in Athens, and the two gates are the airport and the port of Piraeus. At the airport, Wikivoyage says, metro trains and suburban trains use the same platform. Metro line M1 runs from the port of Piraeus through the city centre to Kifissia.
A train from the centre does not always reach the terminal, Wikivoyage warns. Trains in the gaps turn round at Doukissis Plakentias. The front of an airport train shows an airplane symbol, and the schedule repeats it. Those trains come every 36 minutes. Look for the symbol on the first day of greece tour packages.
Rail offers a second path. The suburban line from the airport crosses central Athens and runs on to Piraeus, Wikivoyage explains. Its trains come at longer intervals than the metro. Trains to Northern Greece and the Peloponnese leave from Athens central station. Compare the rail options before the first morning of greece tour packages.
The express bus is the other link. Unlike the metro, it runs around the clock, and traffic sets the length of the ride. The metro starts at 5:30 and ends at 00:30, with a later end on Friday and Saturday nights. Pick the link that fits the flight time of greece tour packages.
Inside the city, one ticket allows travel on metro, trams and buses with unlimited transfers for 90 minutes, Wikivoyage states. The airport lines sit outside that base ticket. Signs on Athens transit carry a transliteration into Roman letters, and English information is abundant. That eases the first day of greece tour packages.
Ferries and cruise ships call at Piraeus, the main sea port of Athens, according to Wikivoyage. Wikipedia places it on the Saronic Gulf. In general, ferry users on foot are closer than cruise passengers to the metro station. Walking distances vary considerably. Ask where the boat docks before the sea legs of greece tour packages.
Lavrio, 60 km south of the centre, and Rafina, 25 km east, are alternative ports of Athens. Wikipedia adds that regional buses link the airport with both. In the north, Thessaloniki Airport has direct flights all year, and the main rail traffic runs between Athens and Thessaloniki. Athens still serves as the start of greece tour packages.
How do greece tour packages treat walking and steps?
Greece tour packages mean steady walking on stone, cobbles and steps. The Ministry of Culture describes the Acropolis as a natural fortress of rock, 160 metres high. It calls the site partially accessible for people with disabilities and reduced mobility. Access differs from stop to stop, so ask before you book.
The official page gives the lift its own route. Visitors enter it from a path 350 metres long, which starts north of the central entrance. After a ride of about 25 metres, the visitor steps out on the plateau. The page asks for a phone call before arrival and says the service stops in heavy weather or strong winds.
Wikivoyage allows at least one hour for the Acropolis and two for a visitor with a passion for history. The museum asks for the same: one hour at least, and two for a lover of classical art. Read the notices of the official page before a day of greece tour packages in Athens.
On Santorini, Wikivoyage states that no road leads up from the old port of Fira. Visitors take a cable car or a donkey up the 588 zigzagging steps. The page warns that the stairs are winding, narrow in parts and edged by low walls. The island days of a plan meet such climbs.
Greece tour packages that call at Hydra rely on feet. Wikipedia calls the inhabited area so compact that people walk everywhere. Wikivoyage names only a donkey or a boat taxi beyond the town centre, both waiting at the port. The page adds that a room can need a climb up stairs.
Meteora asks for a climb. Wikivoyage says the active monasteries, except Saint Stephen, can only be entered after hundreds of steep steps. Saint Stephen is entered across a small bridge instead of steps. The tiny cable cars on the rocks haul supplies and do not carry visitors. The eight day mainland plan of greece tour packages includes this climb.
The Ministry of Culture page on Delphi allows a partial tour for restricted mobility. The slope is steep. A golf-cart type vehicle takes the visitor as far as the level of the Temple of Apollo. The visitor informs the Ephorate of Antiquities at least seven days before. Ask the provider of greece tour packages about such notice periods.
Who suits which of the greece tour packages?
Greece tour packages suit travellers by family. Mainland plans suit history lovers, Cyclades plans suit beach and view seekers, and combination plans suit a mix. The five day Athens plan suits a short stay. Wikivoyage lists the history buff and the sun seeker among the visitors Greece suits.
A first visit is the hardest to match. Wikivoyage says first-time visitors arrive with fixed pictures in mind and meet a country of regional variety. It places whitewashed houses and blue-domed churches in the Cyclades alone. A fixed route in greece tour packages spares a new visitor the choice among the islands.
History lovers fit the mainland plans. Wikipedia counts 21 UNESCO World Heritage Sites in Greece. Wikivoyage names Olympia, Mycenae and Epidaurus among the ancient sites of the Peloponnese. It also lists Aegina among the islands with significant archaeological sites, and the eight day plan includes Aegina. This family of greece tour packages joins road and sea.
Beach and view seekers fit the Cyclades plans. Wikivoyage calls the group the Greece of the travel posters, with white villages on hills and fringing beaches. Its islands page lists Mykonos and Naxos among the islands with great beaches. The eight day plan with Mykonos and Santorini is the short form of this family.
Wikivoyage says the Cyclades are crowded in high summer, so this family suits a traveller who accepts that. It suggests island hopping there to a visitor with more than one week. Every island plan of this site runs eight days or longer. Greece tour packages with ten to fourteen days give the widest room.
Combination plans suit a mix. Wikipedia describes a combination trip as multiple destinations in one bundled itinerary, with flights, accommodation and transport between cities. It adds that such trips give a structured itinerary with room for personal changes. The Turkey and Greece plans of this site fit that shape among greece tour packages.
The five day Athens plan suits a short stay. Five days hold four nights, so the plan spends them on Athens, the Saronic islands and Delphi. Wikivoyage lists Hydra among the great island harbour towns. Match the family to the days free first, then to the interests, when you compare greece tour packages.
Which foods fill the meals of greece tour packages?
Greek cooking joins ancient and Byzantine traditions with Middle Eastern, Balkan and Italian influences, as Wikipedia states. The meals of greece tour packages draw on it through meze, grilled fish, moussaka, souvlaki, feta and honey sweets. Wikipedia adds that the Mediterranean diet of Greece sits on the UNESCO lists of intangible heritage.
A Greek meal starts small. Wikipedia describes pikilia as a variety of small meze foods. Wikivoyage says ouzeris serve small plates, and dishes come large enough to share. It suggests one dish per diner and one extra for the table. A taverna table in greece tour packages follows that rhythm.
Bread and water reach the table soon after you sit down. Wikivoyage counts a waiter who clears plates while you still sit as a bad sign of authenticity. Traditionally, dishes remain until the guest has gone, even when space runs out. Keep these habits in mind when you read the meal breaks in greece tour packages.
Salad and cheese come early. Wikivoyage describes the village salad, horiatiki, as sliced tomato, cucumber, feta and onion with olives and oregano. Traditionally only olive oil dresses it. Wikipedia explains that ladera, meaning oily, names vegetable dishes cooked in olive oil. A salad is the first taste of it on any table.
The sea feeds the table. Wikivoyage says Greece has excellent seafood and names grilled octopus. By law, frozen seafood must be marked as such on the menu. Wikipedia lists roasted sardines and fried squid among the appetisers. The island plans of greece tour packages spend their days by the sea.
Mains rest on lamb and the grill. Wikivoyage describes moussaka as an oven-baked dish of eggplant, minced meat, tomato and white sauce. Wikipedia says a French-trained chef of the twentieth century built the modern version. Souvlaki is grilled meat on a skewer. Wikivoyage calls Greece a major producer and consumer of lamb.
Island and mainland tables differ. Wikipedia notes Italian influence in Ionian island cooking. Wikivoyage names spetzofai, braised sausage with pepper and tomatoes, as a dish of the Mount Pelion region. Wikipedia also names sofigado, a rabbit stew of Kefalonia, and gogges, a pasta of Argolis and Laconia. The eight day plan of greece tour packages reaches Argolis at Mycenae.
Breakfast and sweets lean on pies and honey. Wikivoyage sends travellers to local bakeries for tiropita, spanakopita and bougatsa. It lists baklava, thin pastry layers with honey and walnuts, and yoghurt with honey. Wikipedia adds pasteli, a sesame seed bar, and diples, rolled pastry fried and soaked in honey syrup. Honey sweets close the list for greece tour packages.
What do travellers check before they choose from greece tour packages?
Travellers check six things before they choose from greece tour packages. These are the dates against ferry timetables, the nights, the transfers, the group size, the cancellation terms and the documents. Wikipedia defines a package as transport and accommodation sold together, so each part of that bundle gets a look.
Start with what the bundle holds. Wikipedia lists transport and accommodation as the core of a package. It adds that tour operators organise package holidays and travel agents sell them. Transport can be by car, bus or charter airline. Read each part of the plan in greece tour packages line by line.
Check the dates against the sailings. Wikivoyage warns that islands close on a map can sit on different ferry routes. Its example is Serifos, Sifnos and Milos in the west against Naxos, Paros and Mykonos in the centre. Boats between those two groups run less frequently. Island hops in greece tour packages need a running route.
Winter changes the picture. Wikivoyage says weather delays are a decision of the port authority, not of the ferry company. It calls the timing of such delays extremely unpredictable. So compare the sailing day in the plan with the season. Greece tour packages that name the sailing day make this check short.
Count the nights in each place. A stop with no night is a day outing, and a stop with two nights is a base. Then trace the transfers between stops. Wikivoyage urges promptness at the port, since ferries leave on time. Compare these details across greece tour packages.
Ask about the group size of greece tour packages in general terms. Wikipedia describes dynamic packaging as a way to build your own trip instead of taking a set package. It compares the result to a private or custom tour. A group plan runs to one timetable. A private plan bends to yours.
Read the cancellation terms in plain words. Ask what happens if a sailing is cancelled. Wikivoyage says weather, strikes and mechanical breakdowns can still delay Greek ferries, though they run on schedule nowadays. The terms tell you who carries the change. Read them before you choose among greece tour packages.
Finally, check the documents of every traveller. The documents section above sets out the rules. The Greek Ministry for Foreign Affairs is the body Wikivoyage lists for the entry rules of each nationality. Check them against the dates of the plan before you choose from greece tour packages.
- Dates: the sailings run on the days of the plan.
- Nights: each stop has the nights you expect.
- Transfers: each link to a port leaves time to spare.
- Group size: the plan states it in plain words.
- Cancellation terms: they cover a cancelled sailing.
- Documents: every traveller holds the right ones.
What else do travellers ask about greece tour packages?
How much time does a first visit need?
No source names one number of days for a first visit, so this page gives none. The plans of greece tour packages here run from two to fourteen days. The sources state how long single sights take. Count the stops first, then the days.
Wikivoyage Meteora says that hiking to all six monasteries takes a whole day. It advises two days for a completionist. The page pairs Great Meteoron with Varlaam, a 10-minute walk apart, and Holy Trinity with Saint Stephen, 15 minutes apart.
The trails around the rocks total more than 20 kilometres, and the climb from Kalambaka to Holy Trinity is stone-paved. The page urges an early start in high season. The two day plan reaches Kalambaka on its first day and gives Meteora its second day.
The Greek National Tourism Organisation counts more than 100 archaeological sites and hundreds of museums. The five day Athens plan of greece tour packages joins Athens, the Saronic islands and Delphi.
Do greece tour packages run in winter?
This page lists routes, not dates, so it cannot confirm that greece tour packages run in winter. The Greek National Tourism Organisation does present winter as a time to visit Greece away from the summer crowds. Its pages name towns, slopes and festivals.
Its winter page names Nafplio and Galaxidi beside Nafpaktos. It places the biggest ski resorts on Parnassos and Kalavryta. Arachova lies close to the ski slopes.
The same page lists carnival customs in Thebes, Livadeia and Galaxidi, and puts the biggest parades in Patras and Xanthi. A second official page calls the carnival a three-week period in late winter and early spring. Thebes, Livadeia and Patras lie on the road plans of greece tour packages.
Wikivoyage Saronic Gulf Islands says hydrofoils sail frequently in summer but seldom, if at all, in winter. Conventional vessels sail all year. The five and eight day plans of greece tour packages include a Saronic sea day.
Can one plan join the islands and the mainland?
Yes. The five day and eight day plans of greece tour packages both join the Saronic islands to the mainland. Each of the seven island plans starts in Athens, on the mainland, before the boat or the plane takes over.
Wikivoyage Saronic Gulf Islands names Attica and the Peloponnese as the closest parts of the mainland. It sees a natural circuit through both, by way of the Corinth and Rio bridges. It adds that ferries connect the main islands, Piraeus and the Peloponnese.
The same page ties the airport to the port, because a metro line runs to Piraeus. A morning arrival can then connect with an island ferry the same day. That link is the hand-over from road to sea in greece tour packages.
The same page leaves Athens as a choice: see it at the start or at the finish of the tour. The plans of this site choose the start.
How far ahead are ferries planned?
No source gives a number of weeks for ferry tickets, so this page names none. The lead time depends on the crossing. Wikivoyage names a vehicle ferry that needs no reservation, and tools that search sailings by day. Greece tour packages meet both kinds.
Short crossings sit at one end. For a car, Wikivoyage Poros states that the ferry from Galata needs no ticket reservation. Small boats also link the two shores every 10 minutes. For Aegina, Wikivoyage lists hydrofoils every hour from 07:00 to 17:00.
Longer chains sit at the other end. Wikivoyage Greek Islands says one schedule tool shows indirect links between islands with no direct boat. Another lists every ferry leaving one island on a chosen day. Wikivoyage Rafina suggests a night in the port town for a traveller who lands too late for the last ferry.
Read the sailings in a plan of greece tour packages against these two ends, and ask who holds each ticket.
What changes between greece tour packages and an independent trip?
In a package tour, one vendor sells transport and accommodation together, as Wikipedia defines it. One party therefore holds the plan. On an independent trip you book each leg yourself. The route can stay the same. Greece tour packages change who books it.
Independent legs bring their own homework. Wikivoyage Delphi advises buying the return bus ticket from Athens one day ahead. That way the seat is certain and the terminal is found in time. Wikivoyage Nafplio places the Athens departures at Terminal A of the Kifissos central bus station, with tickets sold online.
At Meteora, Wikivoyage says the website does not carry the timetable of the local bus to the six monasteries. Ask at the bus station. It also advises checking whether a tour has licensed guides for entry into the monasteries.
A plan of greece tour packages puts these tasks in one place. On an independent trip, you check them stop by stop.