Greece With a Baby: Month, Terrain and Ferries

Get them wrong, and you have a hot August afternoon, a pram at the bottom of forty stone steps, and a ferry ramp you had not thought about.

This page deals with the logistics. It contains no advice about your baby’s health, sun exposure, heat or feeding, because those are questions for the health professional who knows your child, not for a travel page written months earlier for strangers.

Pick the month before you pick the island

The month does more work than any other decision on this list.

Greek high summer is hot, and it is hottest in the middle of the day, which is exactly the stretch a small child’s routine is least able to move around. It is also the busiest period on the ferries and in the towns, so the queues, the crowds and the sold-out sailings arrive at the same time as the heat. None of that makes a July trip impossible. It does mean a July trip is organised around the heat rather than around what you wanted to see.

The shoulder months answer most of it at once: late April to June, and September into October. Milder days, a sea that is still warm at the back end of the season, thinner crowds on narrow ground, and accommodation that is easier to book and cheaper to hold. Those months are the general recommendation for Greece anyway, set out in the best time to visit Greece, and they are the strongest single recommendation on this page. The month-by-month picture is in Greece weather by month.

We are giving months rather than temperatures on purpose. What the heat means for your child is a question for your own doctor or health visitor, and we do not answer it here.

The pram question, which is really a question about paving

The romantic Greek town and the pram-friendly Greek town are frequently not the same town.

A Cycladic hill village is narrow whitewashed lanes with steps cut into them. Dodecanese old towns are cobbled. Mainland stone villages are built into slopes. These are surfaces of worn marble, sea-polished cobble and wide joints, on gradients, and a small-wheeled travel buggy has a poor time on all of them. This is not a complaint about Greece, it is a fact about towns built long before wheels mattered.

Hydra is the clearest illustration in the country. No cars, motorbikes or bicycles are allowed anywhere on the island, and the town rises from the harbour in stepped stone lanes, with goods moving by mule. A pram there is something you carry.

So do the check before booking rather than after. Look at where you would actually be walking each day: from the room to the sea, from the room to somewhere to eat, from the taxi drop to the front door. Waterfront promenades, port towns, the newer parts of island capitals and the flat ground behind a long beach are what you want. The practical answer for many families is a carrier for the town and a pram for the flat, and if you take only one, the carrier is the one that works everywhere.

Two structural notes. A hire car changes the geometry of a baby trip completely, because it converts every outing into a door-to-door move with somewhere to put the bags and a place to sit out the hot part of the afternoon; the terms and the booking questions are in renting a car in Greece. And whether the hire company supplies a child seat, of the type and size you need, is a question to settle in writing at booking rather than at the desk on arrival.

Ferries, ports and boarding with a pushchair

Boarding is the part people have not pictured until they are doing it.

A conventional Greek ferry loads through a stern ramp onto the vehicle deck. Foot passengers walk up that ramp alongside the cars, in a queue, into a working car deck, and then go up through the ship to the passenger decks. With a pram and a bag, on a gradient, in a crowd, on a timetable, that is a genuine piece of choreography. High-speed craft are different vessels with different arrangements, and they are also the ones cancelled first when the wind gets up.

Three things make it manageable. Fold the pram before you join the queue rather than in it, and carry the baby up. Travel light enough that one adult can handle everything if the other is holding a child. And ask the operator, in advance, about your specific vessel: how foot passengers board it, whether there is a lift between decks, and where they would suggest you sit. That answer belongs to the ferry company and to the ship on your booking, not to a general rule about Greek ferries.

Then reduce the number of times you do it. Fewer islands and longer stays is the right shape for almost every family trip, and it is close to compulsory with an infant: each hop is a packing, a check-out, a port, a boarding and a re-orientation, all of it timed to somebody else’s schedule. How the network fits together is in Greek island ferries, and the pacing argument in the island hopping guide.

One island removes the problem entirely: Lefkada is reached from the mainland by a bridge, so you drive on. If a boarding ramp is the thing you are dreading, that is worth knowing.

Flights and airports

Infant travel arrangements belong to the airline, and they vary more than most people expect: whether an infant travels on a lap or in a bassinet, whether bassinets can be requested and on which aircraft, what pushchair you may take to the aircraft door, and what baggage allowance an infant carries. Settle all of it with the airline before you book rather than after, and re-confirm if the aircraft on your route changes.

On the ground, a pre-booked transfer is worth more with a baby than at any other time, because it removes a queue at the end of a flight and gives you a vehicle with a seat arranged in advance. The options and the trade-offs are in airport transfers in Greece, and whether your island has an airport at all, which changes the entire journey shape, is in which islands have an airport.

Nappies, formula and what you carry

The rule that saves the most trouble is simple: carry what your baby is particular about, and buy what they are not.

Supermarkets and pharmacies are the places to look for nappies and baby goods, in towns of any size. But brands, formulations and packaging differ between countries, and a small island’s shop is a small island’s shop. So if your baby takes one specific formula, or one particular nappy size that has been hard to find at home, treat it as something you bring rather than something you plan to source. That advice holds regardless of what any given shop turns out to stock, which is why it is the version worth printing.

Beyond that, the packing logic is heat and water: more changes of clothes than you think, shade you bring with you rather than shade you hope to find, and a way to keep things cool. Greek beaches and stone squares are often open ground with very little natural shade, and the shade that exists is usually attached to a business. What to pack for Greece covers the general list.

The Greek day already has a nap in it

This is the part that genuinely suits travelling with a small child, and it is worth using rather than fighting.

Greek daily life splits around the middle of the day. Many businesses, particularly outside the big tourist strips, close for a long afternoon break and reopen in the early evening, and dinner is late by northern European standards. That gives you a natural structure: out early while it is cool, back for the middle of the day, out again in the late afternoon and evening, when the towns fill up and the waterfront becomes the place everybody is.

Aligning a baby’s routine to that shape is easier than aligning it to a nine-to-five sightseeing day, and it is also how the country actually runs. The detail of what closes when is in siesta and opening hours.

Eating fits the same pattern. Greek dinner is late, outdoors, unhurried, and served in small plates rather than in courses that arrive on a schedule, which means a table with a baby at it is not a problem to be managed. Nobody is turning tables. Go at the early end of the evening if you want a quiet room and the light still up, and order as you go. Greek food and drink covers what to order.

Pharmacies, and the number

Pharmacies in Greece are easy to find, marked by a green cross, and staffed by qualified professionals who expect to be asked about minor complaints. The FCDO notes that “pharmacies across Greece stock a good supply of medicines, but there are strict rules around dispensing certain medicines, including antibiotics.”

Two planning points, and no medical ones. The first is that provision differs across the country: the FCDO states that treatment and facilities in Greece are “generally good on the mainland, but may be limited on the islands”, which is worth weighing when you choose between a large island with a city hospital and a small one whose onward route is a boat. The second is the number. In an emergency, dial 112, the European emergency number, which Your Europe states you can dial “free of charge from fixed and mobile phones everywhere in the EU”.

Everything clinical, including anything about heat, sun, water or feeding, is a question for your own health professional before you travel and for a pharmacist or doctor while you are there.

What a good baby itinerary looks like

One base, or two at most. Chosen for what the ground does rather than for the view. Reached with the fewest boardings you can arrange. In May, June, September or October rather than August. With a car if the island rewards one, and a carrier as well as a pram.

That is a smaller trip than the one you had in mind, and it is the one that works. Start from our Greece destinations and family trips, pick one place properly, and let the rest wait a few years.

Greece with a baby: FAQ

When is the best time to visit Greece with a baby?

The shoulder months, late April to June and September into October, give milder days than high summer, thinner crowds, easier ferries and cheaper accommodation. Greek high summer is hottest in the middle of the day, which is the hardest stretch to plan around with an infant. We give months rather than temperatures; what the heat means for your child is a question for your doctor.

Can you use a pram in Greece?

It depends entirely on where you stay, not on the country. Cycladic hill villages, Dodecanese old towns and mainland stone villages are stepped, cobbled and steep, and a small-wheeled buggy struggles on all of them. Waterfront promenades, port towns and flat ground behind a beach work well. A carrier plus a pram is the common answer, and if you take one, take the carrier.

How do you board a Greek ferry with a pushchair?

Conventional ferries load through a stern ramp onto the vehicle deck, so foot passengers walk up a gradient into a working car deck and then go up through the ship. Fold the pram before joining the queue and carry the baby. Ask your operator in advance about your specific vessel, including whether there is a lift between decks.

Can I buy nappies and formula in Greece?

Supermarkets and pharmacies in towns of any size are where to look, but brands and formulations differ between countries and a small island’s shop is small. If your baby is particular about one formula or one nappy, carry your own supply rather than planning to source it. That holds whatever a given shop turns out to stock.

Are Greek restaurants suitable for babies?

Structurally they suit an infant well: dinner is late and outdoors, tables are not turned, and food arrives as small plates rather than on a schedule, so nobody is waiting for you to finish. Going at the early end of the evening gives you a quieter room and daylight. Ask about a high chair when you sit down rather than assuming.

Which Greek islands are easiest with a baby?

Rather than rank islands, test each candidate on three things: whether the ground where you will stay is flat, how many boardings the journey needs, and how the island’s medical provision sits relative to your comfort. Lefkada removes boarding entirely, being reached from the mainland by a bridge. Hydra is the opposite: car-free and stepped throughout.

What is the emergency number in Greece?

1. Your Europe states it can be dialled free of charge from fixed and mobile phones everywhere in the EU, and it reaches police, ambulance and fire services. Save it before you travel. For anything clinical and non-urgent, a pharmacy is the normal first stop in Greece and pharmacists are qualified professionals.