Greece in July-August hotel availability
 

Hi,
I'm thinking of a two weeks trip to Greece July 22-Aug 3. Would I be able to find hotel rooms on main land or they'd be all busy at that time? Last time I did it was a June and had no problem finding a room on the islands, however, this time I'd like to stay in main land going up to Thessaloniki. I'd like to stay 2 days in Athens, and from there book a week tour from a travel agent in Athens. With online day tour companies you stay one night in each city and you get up early to join the tour, it looks exhausting to me.
Any idea/hint would be greatly appreciated
many thanks,
Jinan, Lebanon

The days of your travel will be during the very high season in Greece.
While finding accommodation in Athens will not be a problem, everything else especially between Athens and Thessaloniki will be rather full.
Athenians tend to spend their holidays more and more in places that can be reached by car and travel less to the islands ( due to the high cost of ferries for a family + a car)

You say you'd like to book a tour through a travel agent, however you can make a booking also directly with the companies that organize these tours, such as Key Tours, Chat Tours, G.O Tours etc.

The tours have the advantage of a tour guide escorting you during the entire trip, if you think that they move very fast
though you can make your own bookings through an on line hotel site, such as booking.com

Depending on where you chose to overnight,hotels near the sea will tend to be full ( would not try to find a room on the spot), while hotels in places like Meteora or Delphi should not be very busy.

In any case i would recommend to book well in advance.

The current financial situation in Greece, with a large number of people out of work, will mean far fewer Greeks on holiday than would have been the case four or five years ago. But July and August are peak holiday times for the whole of Europe, so I'd definitely book in advance if you want to stay in full-service hotels rather than a pension or guest house.

Thank you for the replies and the suggested sites.

While many people flock there, Parga is not in the direction the OP says he wants to go ... which is in the mainland toward Thessaloniki, in the NorthEAST area. Parga is on the far NorthWEST coast, in Epirus, up toward Albania. I have never been there myself, and it may well be very attractive, but the tone of the many inquiries on Trip Advisor Greece forum suggest that it is a "package holiday" center, with many UK people booking there because of package bargains, perhaps other europeans as well. I get the sense that this is not what the OP is after.

Jinan, Perhaps being in Lebanon, you could get a flight direct to Athens and then back from Thessaloniki (or vice versa). You need to specify what things you want to see/do o nthe mainland. ... Do you want to go to the Peloponnese for Nafplio, Epidaurus, Mycenae then (all the way across the peninsula) to Olympia? Or do you want Delphi, up in the mountains? there are tours thru CHAT or KEY that do all of the above i about a week, admittedly at a price. Or maybe u are attracted just to inland villages & such? You could fly to Athens, see the landmarks there in 3 days, then take a bus or express train to Thessaloniki, go to the famous sites there (tomb of King Philip etc), then find a bus route down the Volos peninsula to some small shore towns, less touristy (tho u would still hve to book ahead). This would take some planning -- AND you need to read up (can u order a guidebook from Amazon? such as Rough Gude to Greece,the most detailed). You have a year to plan, luckily.

Jinan probably returned from her trip on Aug. the 3rd, if she decided to visit Greece that is.....

Yes, it's helpful to read the original post before replying! :-))

I'm doing research for a trip to Greece in 2009. Any advice?

Don't go! :-))

And if you do, book your hotels and ferries now before it's too late! :-D

Thanks, but I can't seem to book the ferries. I took your advice to use the openseas.gr site to backtrack forward but when I was there and tried to book the site wouldn't let me. Am I doing something wrong?

Try gtp.gr — oh, sorry, you can't backtrack on that website! Why don't you try Tardis? Doctor Who seems to be good at time travel. ;-)

Better choose Greece in 2004, which was a very good year :)

Yes, 2004 is a very good year! You might even get to see the Olympics. Better yet, go in 2000 and you can bring all your old drachmas! ;-)

Can't I just exchange my euro for drachma when I get there last year?

Maybe this would work the other way round: http://www.leftovercurrency.com/bank...k-drachmas.php

I expect there are people with drachmas tucked away who would be happy to exchange them for your your euros. On the other hand, perhaps they are holding onto them "just in case".

Those aren't like the ones I have. Mine are probably worthless: http://www.forumancientcoins.com/dougsmith/25group.jpg

If you don't want them, send them to me. ;-)