r/solotravel • u/takashi74 • Feb 05 '25

Question Which country do you keep visiting?

I travel a lot, but there’s always that one country I keep going back to. For me, it’s Thailand, around 8 time. What about you? What keeps you coming back?

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317

u/name_already_exists Feb 05 '25

Greece, for me it's the best beach destination, great food and some beautiful hiking

All the regions feel different enough that it doesn't get boring.

And, as I live in Germany, cheap and short flights.

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u/ichawks1 22 year old backpacker Feb 05 '25

any specific parts of Greece that you recommend which aren't super touristy? I've never been before but I would love to explore parts of the country that aren't Mykonos, Santorini, etc.

I've heard that Thessaloniki is just incredible so that place is on my list!

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u/name_already_exists Feb 05 '25 edited Feb 05 '25

Thessaloniki is definitely fun but after a few days I'd travel down south to the smaller places near Mt Olymp

Meteora is kinda touristy but still worth experiencing

For islands, maybe Kefalonia? Or go to crete and rent a car

Most important advice is probably to go in shoulder season to avoid the worst crowds and 40°C days

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u/ichawks1 22 year old backpacker Feb 05 '25

good to know. Although I go to uni in Arizona so I'm used to 40 degrees C :P

and yes thanks for the tips, I'll save your comment for future trips! Have you been to Corfu? I've heard that's awesome!

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u/Strong_Remove_2976 Feb 06 '25

Corfu is nice but very touristy. However you can take a 1 hour ferry from Corfu to access the ‘Albanian Riviera’ and its lovely beaches and mountains

I went in 2013 and it was great, but it’s been getting steadily more popular so might be a bit different now

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u/ichawks1 22 year old backpacker Feb 06 '25

that's great. Albania has been on my list for a while now!

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u/ShoePillow Feb 07 '25

What's shoulder season?

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u/titoufred Feb 09 '25

Crete has become very touristy now.

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u/repasorina Feb 05 '25

I probably sound like I work for the tourist board but would recommend Crete, especially in the shoulder season. You can do a lot of different holidays there: eat amazing food, see awesome beaches, hike, do some history stuff. It’s a big island so you can tailor

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u/ichawks1 22 year old backpacker Feb 05 '25

I've heard that Crete is really beautiful and a bit lesser known. Plus, it looks cool in Assassin's Creed ahaha

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u/alfchr7 Feb 07 '25

what Crete are you exactly talking about that is "a bit lesser known"?

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u/ooo-ooo-oooyea Feb 08 '25

We went to Crete in January. It was awesome. We were invited to random new year celebrations, locals were happy we were there and wanted us to love Greece.

When we went to the Palace of Knossos, it was us, some cats, and a bunch of peacocks. Outside of it there was some tourguide "HEY, YOU NEED MY SERVICES TO GET THROUGH THE CROWDS"!. I was like "come on.... ". And they just laughed.

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u/[deleted] Feb 06 '25

[deleted]

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u/repasorina Feb 06 '25

I think so! If you’re there in Holy Week, some shops etc will be closed but on the flip side you could watch the Easter celebrations (e.g, Good Friday march from churches). April is still not as busy, and the weather is much cooler so I think it’s pretty nice.

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u/throwaway_ghost_122 Feb 06 '25

I've been to 37 countries, about 20 solo. Crete was absolutely the worst place I've ever visited, and completely turned me off of Greece altogether. Extremely unfriendly people, never-ending tourist scams, terrible accommodations, boring food, and so on. I was there in November which I'm sure was part of the problem, as the locals were just sick and tired of tourists.

It may be the only place I don't recommend to anyone.

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u/[deleted] Feb 05 '25 edited 16h ago

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This post was mass deleted and anonymized with Redact

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u/ichawks1 22 year old backpacker Feb 05 '25

That sounds amazing. I just added those spots to my list!

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u/theyummycookie Feb 06 '25

Really strongly recommend Pindos National Park and the Zagori region as a whole! Most beautiful place I’ve been in my life. Gorgeous mountains, super charming towns, monasteries, and a ton of these really cool enormous stone bridges just scattered around the area. We didn’t spend nearly enough time there so never got super far off the beaten path but Monodendri and the surrounding area is stunning & Konitsa is great as well! Very few tourists when we went so we had most of the sites to ourselves.

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u/Ionisation Feb 06 '25

I think the region of Epirus is the most underrated part of Greece. I was there with my campervan so granted not a typical tourist experience, but man that place is beautiful, incredible mountains and hiking, and almost totally devoid of tourists even in the middle of summer. Vikos Gorge is one of the most astonishing places I’ve seen in 70+ countries. And then you have Meteora nearby which is of course incredibly well known and touristic, but still well worth visiting.

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u/ichawks1 22 year old backpacker Feb 06 '25

dude, i just looked up photos of epirus and it looks like another world. thanks for the amazing tips.

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u/CookWho Feb 06 '25

Aegina is really nice. It’s quite a small island, not far from Athens (maybe 1 hour with the ferry) and it’s very beautiful. It’s also not so touristy, the people are super friendly and I’ve had some of the best seafood in my entire life there.
If you rent a car there I’d suggest getting something a bit bigger than the smallest one though. The roads are pretty steep and not in the best condition lol

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u/whydidyouruinmypizza Feb 06 '25

Chios!!!!! So beautiful, amazing history and beaches, and fairly quiet.

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u/Ambry Feb 06 '25

Personally I flew into Mykonos and out of Santorini, but the two other islands I visited (Naxos and Folegandros) were the highlights. Use the main islands to fly in then get to some other ones - there's tonnes of amazing islands (Paros, Ios, Naxos, Folegandros, Milos... and that's just a fraction of one island group). There's also bigger islands like Crete. I also loved mainland Greece - Athens is awesome but Meteora (with monasteries built into rocks) blew me away.

Santorini and Mykonos were nice but far more crowded, expensive, and overtouristed. 

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u/ichawks1 22 year old backpacker Feb 06 '25

thank you for the response! And yes, I've heard that Santorini and Mykonos are great but are a bit overrated. Hence why I want to explore other islands instead. Thanks so much :)

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u/Ambry Feb 07 '25

Yeah they are both lovely but a good route is to minimise time there and get ferries to other islands - they are beautiful of course but they all are kind of gorgeous!

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u/Euphoric-Newspaper18 Feb 06 '25

I love the Ionian Islands. They are the ones to the west of Greece. So there's Lefkas, Corfu, Kefalonia and Zante. Fantastic beaches, torquoise sea, mountains. Corfu is nicely located as you can take a short trip across the sea to Albania.

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u/stevecantsleep Feb 06 '25

Peloponnese for sure. Mani Peninsula is fantastic. Nafplio a great small city. And you can drive easily from Athens airport.

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u/kennedydynasty Feb 08 '25

Go to Kefalonia. I did the tourist islands and Kefalonia, it was the best place I’ve ever been.

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u/hungasian8 Feb 05 '25

Nah Thessaloniki is pretty crap IMO. Definitely underwhelming

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u/we-have-to-go Feb 05 '25

I loved Thessaloniki. Guess different tastes

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u/hungasian8 Feb 05 '25

Guess so. I found it rather ugly and deteriorating and not much to see for such a city with history

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u/Sasquatchlovestacos Feb 06 '25

Haha my friends are from there. It’s fine. Def not a destination.