We are not going to tell you Greece is safe
That is not evasion, and it is worth explaining, because every other page answering this question opens with a reassuring sentence.
No website is in a position to certify a country as safe for you. Safety advice depends on your nationality, on where exactly you are going, on when, on what you are doing there, and on conditions that change faster than any article is updated. The bodies that issue that advice - your own foreign ministry - do it for your passport, review it continuously, and carry the responsibility for it. We do none of those things.
So this page does something more useful than reassure you. It tells you where the real answer lives, and what the ordinary, boring, actually-likely risks are, all of which we cover properly elsewhere.
Where the official advice is
Check the government of the country whose passport you hold. These are the pages that get updated when something changes:
- United States - the State Department’s country information for Greece, at travel.state.gov
- United Kingdom - FCDO travel advice, at gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice
- Canada - travel advice and advisories, at travel.gc.ca
- Australia - Smartraveller, at smartraveller.gov.au
- Ireland, and EU states generally - your own foreign affairs department publishes the equivalent.
Read the current page for your nationality before you travel, and again close to departure. That is the whole method, and it beats any summary we could write.
In an emergency in Greece, 112 is the European emergency number and it works from any phone.
What actually goes wrong on Greek holidays
Here is what we can talk about honestly: the ordinary risks that apply to any busy tourist destination, and which come up far more often than anything dramatic. Each has its own page, because each deserves more than a bullet.
Roads and vehicles. The most likely serious thing to happen to a visitor anywhere in the Mediterranean involves a vehicle. Scooters and quads in particular are the rentals we tell people to skip, and mountain and island roads are narrower and less forgiving than the ones you learned on. See driving in Greece and renting a car in Greece.
The sea. Greek beaches are largely unlifeguarded, a lot of coasts shelve steeply, and the afternoon wind can put a current where there was none in the morning. Sea urchins are the most common minor injury of a Greek holiday by a wide margin. What the sea is like explains how to read a bay.
Heat and fire. Greek summers are genuinely hot, and wildfire is a real seasonal phenomenon with an official information chain behind it - the civil protection service, 112, and the daily fire-risk map. We describe the mechanism and name the authorities; we do not tell you which regions are at risk, because that changes daily and is not ours to say. See wildfires and heat in Greece.
Petty theft. Pickpocketing happens where crowds and tourists concentrate - busy metro lines, packed archaeological sites, ferry terminals in August. It is the same advice as any European city: bags closed and in front of you in a crush.
Ferries and the weather. Not a safety problem so much as a planning one: strong wind cancels sailings, high-speed craft first. When a ferry is cancelled covers what to do.
Health cover. An EHIC or GHIC is not travel insurance and does not cover private treatment or repatriation. Travel insurance for Greece explains the gap, and pharmacies and health covers day-to-day medical questions.
Travelling alone, with children, or as a woman
These are the versions of the question people usually mean, and they are better answered by specifics than by reassurance.
- Travelling solo in Greece covers the practicalities of moving around alone, including the parts that are genuinely easy here.
- Greece with a baby and Greece for families cover travelling with small children.
- Accessibility in Greece is honest about where the country is hard work - old towns, stepped villages, ferries.
The one thing we will say
Not about safety, but about preparation, because it is the part travellers actually control: the trips that go wrong are usually the ones with no slack in them. A ferry that cancels, a road that takes longer than the map said, a hot afternoon that flattens everyone - none of those is a crisis unless the schedule had no margin. Build in the margin. It is worth more than any amount of reassurance from a website.
Diagram by Greece Trips. Free to reuse with credit - CC BY 4.0.
Frequently asked questions
Is Greece safe to visit?
That is a question for your own government’s travel advice, which is issued for your nationality and updated continuously. Check the State Department, the FCDO, Smartraveller or your national equivalent before you travel. We do not certify countries as safe, because we are not in a position to.
What is the emergency number in Greece?
112, the European emergency number, from any phone.
What are the most common problems visitors actually have?
Vehicle accidents (scooters and quads especially), sea-related incidents on unlifeguarded beaches, heat, and petty theft in crowded tourist areas. Each is covered in its own guide on this site.
Is Athens safe at night?
Neighbourhood-level safety advice is exactly the kind of judgement we will not make in our own voice, because it varies by street, hour and circumstance and we are not there. Your foreign ministry’s advice covers it, and ordinary big-city precautions apply.
Do I need travel insurance for Greece?
An EHIC or GHIC covers state medical care for EU and UK visitors but not private treatment or repatriation. See travel insurance for Greece for what the gap actually is.
What should I check before swimming at a Greek beach?
We will not tell you a given beach is fine to swim at, because conditions change with the coast, the wind and the day, and we are not standing on it. What we can tell you is that most Greek beaches have no lifeguard and that a lot of coasts shelve steeply. What the sea is like explains how to read a bay before you get in.
Next
Read what the sea is like, wildfires and heat in Greece, and travel insurance for Greece - the three pages behind most of what people mean by this question.