Greece in late February/early March
Mar 31st, 2018 | 06:55 PM
#1
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Greece in late February/early March
My husband and I were invited to a family wedding in Israel on Feb 18. Having been there several times, and most recently 5years ago, we were more interested in limiting our time to a week in Isreal, with the focus on visiting family and finding a second destination to spend 2-3 week’s. Being only hours away from Europe and an inexpensive flight, it made sense to us to chose a Southern European destination as there are few places with ideal weather at the end of February/mid March. It had originally been our intention to go to Sicily for 3 weeks, but we decided that we preferred to go there in warmer weather. I want to extend a thank you to those of you who chimed in while we anguished over where to go during this less than optimal time of the year.
As we had previously been to Greece twice (3 weeks each time), visiting the Peloponnesus’s highlights, along with Athens, Paros, santorini, Mykonos, Crete and Rhodes, we decided that on this limited 2 week trip to Greece, we would try to focus on the more northern regions, starting in Thessaloniki, Greece’s second largest city. We made reservations for 3 nights only and decided to wing the trip depending on the weather.
It is not my intention here to do a full trip report as I did not take notes along the way, but I would like to summarize our experiences in visiting Greece during the off season. We flew from Tel Aviv into Thessaloniki by way of Athens. During the first two days we encountered rain, followed by snow on the third day. We were not surprised and we did walk around with umbrellas visiting many of the highlights. Our intention had been to spend the majority of our trip in the northern area, renting a car in Thessaloniki and heading down to Meteora, the one city that I hoped to see most. However, not knowing the road conditions, we decided not to rent a car at that point and instead took a train down to Athens.
We spent a total of 5 wonderful days in Athens, revisiting many of the sights and seeing some that we had previously missed. We likely could have seen all that we visited in 3 days, but we took it slowly as my husband suffered from plantar faciatis. I enjoyed Athens even more on this trip than on prior trips, although my husband missed the crowds and in his opinion, the festivities. IMO the weather, in the cool 50-60’s was just perfect. There was still outdoor dining and plenty of activity to make me happy. The cafes and restaurants were lively with music everywhere. For the duration of the trip, we only had one or two days with minor rain that did not deter us.
During one of our days in Athens we took a 3 island tour of Hydra, Aegina, and Poros. We had planned on seeing Hydra and Aegina each in separate days, but were dissuaded from doing so by a travel agent in Athens. This was great advise as there is not enough to do or see during the winter months. The cruise was terrific. It included a decent buffet lunch, a terrific musical duo playing Greek music and entertainers who danced and interacted with the passengers. This was a really enjoyable way of spending the day out in islands that are within a two hour boat ride.
We rented a car for our final week, revisiting Mycenae and Naplion where it had rained during our first trip to Greece. While Naplion is lovely, I would note that there were few tourists there and the streets were empty. We drive up to the fortress at the top of the city where we had stunning views of the town and bay below. The wild flowers were beginning to bloom.
We took a leisurely drive along the lovely coastal region abutting the Corinth canal, crossing over at patra’s new bridge to return to the mainland. Up until a few years ago, one had to take a ferry across. We drove along the coast leisurely on our way to Delphi, another destination that we had previously visited. It was a pleasure to return there.
From Delphi we headed for Meteora, a destination I had always regretted missing. I cannot say enough about this stunning area with its monasteries perched high on cliffs. My only disappointment was that I was unable to capture its magnificence on my camera. After two nights there, we headed back to Athens for our flight home.
In summary, we had a lovely trip and would definitely recommend visiting Greece in early March if that is the only time you have available. Of course, if you are looking to spend time at the beach, this is not the time to go. I consider March-April to be an ideal time to take in the many ruins, stroll the streets, enjoy the food and hike without the heat of the summer months.
I hope that this helps anyone contemplating whether to venture to Greece at the end of their winter season.
As we had previously been to Greece twice (3 weeks each time), visiting the Peloponnesus’s highlights, along with Athens, Paros, santorini, Mykonos, Crete and Rhodes, we decided that on this limited 2 week trip to Greece, we would try to focus on the more northern regions, starting in Thessaloniki, Greece’s second largest city. We made reservations for 3 nights only and decided to wing the trip depending on the weather.
It is not my intention here to do a full trip report as I did not take notes along the way, but I would like to summarize our experiences in visiting Greece during the off season. We flew from Tel Aviv into Thessaloniki by way of Athens. During the first two days we encountered rain, followed by snow on the third day. We were not surprised and we did walk around with umbrellas visiting many of the highlights. Our intention had been to spend the majority of our trip in the northern area, renting a car in Thessaloniki and heading down to Meteora, the one city that I hoped to see most. However, not knowing the road conditions, we decided not to rent a car at that point and instead took a train down to Athens.
We spent a total of 5 wonderful days in Athens, revisiting many of the sights and seeing some that we had previously missed. We likely could have seen all that we visited in 3 days, but we took it slowly as my husband suffered from plantar faciatis. I enjoyed Athens even more on this trip than on prior trips, although my husband missed the crowds and in his opinion, the festivities. IMO the weather, in the cool 50-60’s was just perfect. There was still outdoor dining and plenty of activity to make me happy. The cafes and restaurants were lively with music everywhere. For the duration of the trip, we only had one or two days with minor rain that did not deter us.
During one of our days in Athens we took a 3 island tour of Hydra, Aegina, and Poros. We had planned on seeing Hydra and Aegina each in separate days, but were dissuaded from doing so by a travel agent in Athens. This was great advise as there is not enough to do or see during the winter months. The cruise was terrific. It included a decent buffet lunch, a terrific musical duo playing Greek music and entertainers who danced and interacted with the passengers. This was a really enjoyable way of spending the day out in islands that are within a two hour boat ride.
We rented a car for our final week, revisiting Mycenae and Naplion where it had rained during our first trip to Greece. While Naplion is lovely, I would note that there were few tourists there and the streets were empty. We drive up to the fortress at the top of the city where we had stunning views of the town and bay below. The wild flowers were beginning to bloom.
We took a leisurely drive along the lovely coastal region abutting the Corinth canal, crossing over at patra’s new bridge to return to the mainland. Up until a few years ago, one had to take a ferry across. We drove along the coast leisurely on our way to Delphi, another destination that we had previously visited. It was a pleasure to return there.
From Delphi we headed for Meteora, a destination I had always regretted missing. I cannot say enough about this stunning area with its monasteries perched high on cliffs. My only disappointment was that I was unable to capture its magnificence on my camera. After two nights there, we headed back to Athens for our flight home.
In summary, we had a lovely trip and would definitely recommend visiting Greece in early March if that is the only time you have available. Of course, if you are looking to spend time at the beach, this is not the time to go. I consider March-April to be an ideal time to take in the many ruins, stroll the streets, enjoy the food and hike without the heat of the summer months.
I hope that this helps anyone contemplating whether to venture to Greece at the end of their winter season.
Apr 13th, 2018 | 04:20 AM
#4
Joined: Dec 2017
Posts: 66
Likes: 0
Great post!!! Thank you for sharing. It is true that spring is one of the best times to visit Greece especially for sight-seeing. This year February and March have been very kind to us, nice temperatures without many rainy days. Meteora is a marvel of nature indeed. I've been there several times, I have relatives around the arrive... Those rock formations are out of this world. Last time I visited it was during may... The green fields and flowers all around made the setting so vibrant and colourful! I am really hope that you enjoyed your time in Greece... If you want to get closer to nature you can also find plenty of thermal springs in Greece: Pozar Thermal Baths, Pella, Krinides, Kavala,Vouliagmeni Lake, Attica, Edipsos, Evia, Kamena Vourla, Fthiotida, Loutraki, Corinth, Kaiafas, Ilia.
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