plk.voyage

Pierre-Luc and Karine's travel log

Greece & Cyprus 2025

It was our second time in Greece. The first time, we mostly island-hopped; this time we opened with seven slow days in the Saronic islands of Hydra and Spetses, then crossed to Crete for its cities and famous gorges, and finished somewhere new to us entirely: Cyprus, chosen for its warm early-October climate and its mix of culture and coast. Over thirty days we strung together iconic cities, scenic hikes, archaeological treasures, and quiet beaches.

If you’re planning something similar, the sections below break the trip into bases you can lift, stretch, or trim to fit your own time.

Map of everywhere weโ€™ve stayed on this trip.

At a glance

  • Duration: 30 days
  • When we went: mid-September โ€“ mid-October 2025
  • Style: slow islands + city breaks + hiking + archaeology + beaches
  • Getting around: ferries between the Saronic islands (Hydra & Spetses); flights between (mainland โ†’ Crete โ†’ Cyprus); rental cars on Crete and in Cyprus (both easy airport-to-airport). The small islands and cities are walkable; the gorges and archaeological sites need a car most of the time.
  • ๐Ÿงญ Route:
    • โœˆ๏ธ Fly into Athens, 1 night
    • โ›ด Ferry to Hydra, 3 nights
    • โ›ต Ferry to Spetses, 2 nights
    • โ›ด๏ธ Ferry back to Athens, 1 night
    • โœˆ๏ธ Fly to Heraklion (Crete), 2 nights
    • ๐Ÿš˜ Drive to Sitia, 2 nights
    • ๐Ÿš˜ Drive to Chania (via Knossos), 3 nights
    • ๐Ÿš˜ Drive to Palaiochora, 2 nights
    • ๐Ÿš˜ Back to Chania, 1 night
    • โœˆ๏ธ Fly to Larnaca (Cyprus), 4 nights (with a Nicosia day trip)
    • ๐Ÿš˜ Pick up a car; drive to Limassol, 3 nights
    • ๐Ÿš˜ Drive to Paphos, 4 nights
    • ๐Ÿš˜ Drive back to Larnaca and โœˆ๏ธ Fly to Athens, 1 night
    • โœˆ๏ธ Fly home
  • ๐Ÿ† Absolute best of the trip

The full trip details

๐Ÿ“Overnight in Athens

We’ve already explored Athens in our 2022 trip to Greece. On this pass we focused on art instead of history. Athens will also be a hinge point through the trip: we’re passing back through Athens between the islands and Crete and before returning home. While we won’t focus on the city we’re spending half-days in it a couple of times through the trip.

๐Ÿ† Best of Athens
โœ๏ธ Detailed log entries with photos (for this leg)

๐Ÿ“Hydra โ€“ 3 nights

We took the ferry from Athens’ Piraeus port (easy metro ride from downtown Athens). The island is car-free and, late in the season, calm. It was pretty much the reason to start our trip; we were there to decompress. Hiking on the island’s trails. Three nights was the perfect amount of time on the small island.

๐Ÿ† Best of Hydra
โœ๏ธ Detailed log entries with photos

๐Ÿ“Spetses โ€“ 2 nights

A short ferry hop from Hydra and still a quiet island. There are more vehicles on the island than we expected but we’re not about to talk about any form of rush hour. It feels more lived in than Hydra. We had chosen to try Spetses because it is often positioned as similar to Hydra but more authentic and less touristy. While true, it’s also a bit more rough around the edges too.

๐Ÿ† Best of Spetses
โœ๏ธ Detailed log entries with photos

๐Ÿ“Overnight in Athens

It’s a short(ish) ferry back to Piraeus and then a quick hop on the metro to get back to Athens’ downtown. It’s essentially a transit night between the Saronic Islands and our flight to Crete. Since Athens has a lot to offer in terms of food experience, it’s a good idea to use the stopover to book a great meal.

โœ๏ธ Detailed log entries with photos

๐Ÿ“Heraklion, Crete โ€“ 2 nights

We chose to fly to Heraklion as going by boat would have been a very long trip (it’s more than just an overnight ferry). Crete is also best explored with a car so that’s where we’ll pick it up before heading out. The city itself is nice but the interesting part are small.The archaeological museum and the Venetian fortress make the city worth a stopover before heading east. The two nights felt just right in terms of time spent exploring the city.

๐Ÿ† Best of Heraklion
โœ๏ธ Detailed log entries with photos

๐Ÿ“Sitia, Crete โ€“ 2 nights

We drove to Sitia to use it as our eastern base to explore the island. It’s not so much the town than the journey to get to it (the ancient olive trees at Kavoussi and the view over Spinalonga Island from Plaka are worth it). The reason to be out here is to go do our first Gorge in Crete: the Gorge of the Dead. The city itself is just a base to get to things.

๐Ÿ† Best of Sitia
โœ๏ธ Detailed log entries with photos

๐Ÿ“Chania, Crete โ€“ 3 nights

We drove to Chania. We found it the prettiest Cretan city and a good base for western Crete exploration. As we’re coming-in from the east, we stopped by Knossos on the way in. It’s worth the detour, not so much for the history but for what it represents. Overall, its the old Venetian harbour give the city its charm. Also, Chania is the best place to be based from in order to go and hike the Agia Irini gorge hike (even if it’s not close by any definition). Staying in the old town is definitively the way to go.

๐Ÿ† Best of Chania
โœ๏ธ Detailed log entries with photos

๐Ÿ“Palaiochora, Crete โ€“ 2 nights

We drove to the laid-back beach town of Palaiochora. It’s on the south coast of the island. We were happy to stop by the botanical gardens and another ancient olive tree on the drive down. The gardens are not to be missed. This is a great launch point for the Samaria Gorge. We made the mistake of not adapting our plans based on the weather. Two nights is fine if you’re doing the gorges and want some slack for the weather. The town itself is a good base but you’ll visit it in an hour.

๐Ÿ† Best of Palaiochora
โœ๏ธ Detailed log entries with photos

๐Ÿ“Overnight in Chania, Crete โ€“ 1 night

We drove back to Chania and elected to spend an extra day there as Samaria Gorge were closed. We missed the hike we wanted to do and had to drown our sorrows somewhere. Two full days in Palaiochora is too much for such a small town, just saying.

โœ๏ธ Detailed log entries with photos

๐Ÿ“Larnaca, Cyprus โ€“ 4 nights

To fly from Crete to Cyprus we had to fly back to Athens and from there to Cyprus. It’s an easy enough connection to do, it just takes a while. Larnaca was our first Cyprus base and an easy one. The town itself is pretty much on the seafront. We were taken aback by the concentration of American chain restaurants (TGIF, KFC, etc.) however. We drove from the city to do the Cape Greco coastal hike, and a day trip inland to Nicosia. Four nights is way too much to just explore the city but, with a car, it’s a good base to explore that side of the island. Unless you’re itching for a hike, Cape Greco can be skipped.

๐Ÿ† Best of Larnaca
โœ๏ธ Detailed log entries with photos

๐Ÿ“Limassol, Cyprus โ€“ 3 nights

We drove to Limassol and made an archaeological stops along the coast. The city is a good base for the Troodos mountains and Mount Olympus. Do not miss the cat monastery with over a hundred cats. The city itself is more a live-in city. If it wasn’t for the “surprise” wine festival and all of the cats, I’m not sure we would have preferred it to Larnaca.

๐Ÿ† Best of Limassol
โœ๏ธ Detailed log entries with photos

๐Ÿ“Paphos, Cyprus โ€“ 4 nights

We kept on driving and made our last archaeology-and-hiking finale in Paphos. From here we were able to get to two of the best hikes of the trip on the Akamas peninsula and through the Avakas Gorge. It’s a beach town with an old town that are somewhat far apart. Four nights was probably too much for the town itself, but using it as a base for day trips works. The old town has more charm but most of the services seem to be near the beach. We did well to set up on the beach front.

๐Ÿ† Not to miss in Paphos
โœ๏ธ Detailed log entries with photos

๐Ÿ“Last overnight in Athens โ€“ 1 night

A transit night to catch the flight back to Canada and sneak in a last good meal in the city.

โœ๏ธ Detailed log entries with photos

Useful links

๐Ÿ—บ๏ธ All the places weโ€™ve visited this trip on a Google Maps list
๐Ÿฅพ All the hikes we’ve done on AllTrails

Know before you go

A grab-bag of the practical stuff we learned as we were planning or as we traveled. Some of it we learned the hard way.

Border & passport

  • Cyprus is not in the Schengen zone, so flying mainland Greece โ†’ Cyprus means a passport check and an exit stamp in Athens. Leave yourself at least a two-hour connection.
  • Bring your passport if you’re crossing into north Nicosia, though in our case neither side actually stamped it.

Opening hours & closures

  • Heraklion largely shuts down on Sundays (like most Greek cities).
  • The northern (Turkish) side of Nicosia is quiet-to-closed on Fridays.
  • Public holidays close the archaeological sites โ€” Cyprus Independence Day (Oct 1) shut Kition on us. Check the Department of Antiquities holiday schedule before you plan a site day.
  • Many Athens bakeries close around 16:00, so go early for the good stuff or wait until 17:00โ€“18:00 for day drinking.

Driving in Cyprus

  • Download offline maps before you set off. We had zero signal at Agia Irini, for example.
  • Ask for a car with higher clearance; some of the roads to trailheads are rough and narrow.
  • If it’s a diesel, it may need an AdBlue top-up on your trip (a European requirement for newer diesels) โ€” it ended up costing us about โ‚ฌ23. Most service stations have it.

Driving in Crete

  • Download offline maps before you set off. We had zero signal at Agia Irini as an exemple.
  • Ask for a car with higher clearance; some of the roads to trailheads are rough and narrow.
  • If it’s a diesel, it may need an AdBlue top-up on your ride (Europeen requirement for newer Disel)โ€” It ended up costing about โ‚ฌ23. Most service station have it.

Cash vs. card

  • The Larnaca airport bus (route 425) was cash only.
  • At least one taxi pushed hard for cash.

Airport buses

Taxis and Uber might feel easier, but buses (or the metro in Athens) are nearly as convenient when you’re traveling carry-on, and at about 10% of the price. Signage can be challenging at times โ€” persevere and ask questions when you can’t figure it out.

Greek rentals & islands

  • Flipping the water heater on about 20 minutes before you want a shower is a constant in the islands. Not a big issue, but a reflex to develop.
  • Spetses doesn’t really use street addresses โ€” arrange a meeting point with your host in advance.

Restaurant bookings as you go

On this trip we tended to wait until we were in town to book. Online reservations can be challenging, but these days a WhatsApp message to the listed number tends to land you a table if you try somewhere between a week and a month ahead. Reserving the restaurants you don’t want to miss is recommended.

Weather

  • Gorge trails tend to close after big rains. Build in a buffer day and don’t leave your must-do hike for the last morning โ€” otherwise be ready to miss it, like we did this time.
  • We experienced diverging forecast data in some areas (quite a bit in Cyprus). In Paphos, for example, different forecast sources disagreed with each other for both the next few hours and the next day. The radar view can help, but don’t lean too hard on forecast data โ€” be ready for the weather to change.