Active & sport
Greece has world-class climbing on Kalymnos and Meteora, glacier-fed rafting in Epirus, road cycling on empty mountain passes, and diving on wrecks and reefs — and almost all of it works best outside July and August.
About Active & sport
Climbing is the standout. Kalymnos has several thousand bolted sport routes on tufa limestone above the sea and a season running March to November. Meteora offers multi-pitch traditional routes on conglomerate towers, with monasteries as neighbours.
Water: the Voidomatis in Epirus is cold, clear and gentle enough for children, while the Arachthos and Aoos run harder in spring. Diving has opened up considerably since Greece relaxed its wreck regulations — Alonnisos now has an accessible ancient shipwreck site.
On land, the road cycling in the Peloponnese and Pelion is excellent in April and October, and riding on the old forest tracks of Pelion and Zagori is one of the more unusual ways to see mountain Greece. Sea kayaking in the Ionian and Sithonia suits families.
Where it is at its best
Kalymnos
Dodecanese
Thousands of sport routes on sea-cliff tufa, and a season from March to November.
Rafting the Voidomatis
Epirus
Nine-degree spring water through the Vikos gorge; suitable from about eight years old.
Climbing Meteora
Thessaly
Guided multi-pitch on conglomerate pillars, above the monasteries.
Riding in Pelion
Magnesia
Forest tracks and old cobbled kalderimia on horseback.
Regions for this
Cyclades (off-grid)
Milos, Folegandros, Sifnos, Amorgos, Serifos, Kimolos. Same light, same sea, a fraction of the people.
Crete
Not an island so much as a small country: four mountain ranges, a Bronze Age civilisation, and its own kitchen.
Ionian (Eptanese)
Corfu, Kefalonia, Lefkada, Zakynthos, Ithaca, Paxos. Green, Venetian, and the closest Greek islands to Malta.
Sporades
Skiathos, Skopelos, Alonnisos, Skyros. Pine forest to the waterline and Europe's largest marine park.
Peloponnese
Mycenae, Olympia, Epidaurus, Monemvasia, the Mani. The densest concentration of history in Greece, and you can drive it.
Epirus & Zagori
Forty-six stone villages, the deepest gorge in Europe by ratio, and arched bridges over glacier-clear water.
Pelion & Magnesia
The mountain of the centaurs: chestnut forest running down to two different seas, and skiing above a beach.
Macedonia (north)
Prespa's lakes, Kastoria's furs and frescoes, Nymfaio's bears, and the highest skiing in Greece.