Olympia
Greece
Where the games were held for a thousand years: a sanctuary in a green river valley, the original stadium you can still run in, and the Hermes of Praxiteles in the museum
Photo by Tony Hanks on Unsplash
Best time to visit all of Greece
April to June, and September to October (the valley is one of the hottest places in Greece in high summer)
Climate month by month
The next sixteen daysOpen-Meteo
Average high and low · °C
Rainfall · mm per month
Best months to visit This month · wettest 140mm in Dec
Where it is
37.64°N, 21.63°E Open in Google Maps
Things to do
Weeks of it- Run the length of the original stadium
- Stand among the fallen columns of the temple of Zeus
- See the Hermes in the museum
- Come early, before the coaches from the cruise port
- Walk down to the river
Olympia travel tipsthe general rules
Currency budget Greece
Good valueEuro, and cards work everywhere in the cities. Cash still matters at the village kafeneion, the roadside stall and the small museums, and a lot of the countryside rounds to the nearest note anyway.
ATMs & cards
Piraeus, Alpha, Eurobank and the National Bank machines are the ones to use; the Euronet machines in the tourist streets charge and push the conversion. Decline it. Draw in the town before heading into the mountains.
Avoid these
- Euronet
- the machines in the tourist streets
Use these instead
- Piraeus Bank
- Alpha Bank
- Eurobank
- National Bank of Greece
Decline the conversion. Draw in the town before heading into the mountains or the villages.
Wherever you are: if the machine offers to charge you in your home currency, decline. That is dynamic currency conversion and the rate is set by the ATM's operator, not your bank.
Safety all of Greece
Very safeVery comfortable. The valley is genuinely hot — it has recorded some of Greece’s highest temperatures — and the site has little shade. Wildfires have come close in recent summers and the site was defended in 2021; the risk is real in August.
Where to walk, and where to pay attention (4 areas)
Comfortable, including after dark
Worth more attention
- the site at midday in summer — one of the hottest valleys in Greece, with little shade
- wildfire season — fires have reached the edge of the site in recent summers
Our own assessment, not a sourced index.
Entry & visa Greece visa rules
No visa needed
Freedom of movement — no time limit, and no visa. Bring a passport or national ID card.
Other passports
No visa neededup to 90 days
90 days within any 180-day period, counted across the whole Schengen area, not per country. ETIAS, a paid online authorisation, is being introduced for these passports — check the official link for whether it applies to your travel dates.
Visa required in advance€90 (Schengen short-stay visa)
A Schengen short-stay visa is applied for before travel, at the consulate of your main destination.
How to get it: Apply at the consulate or visa centre of the country you will spend most time in, typically 15 working days ahead and no more than six months before travel.
Entry rules change often and depend on your passport, not where you live — the official page above is the authority, and the airline checks before you board.
Health & emergencies all of Greece
Good and affordableRequired to enter
No vaccinations are required for entry from Europe or North America.
Jabs worth having, and what happens if you need a doctor
Worth having
- Routine vaccinations up to date
Getting treated
EU/EEA and Swiss visitors are treated on the same terms as residents with an EHIC or GHIC card; UK visitors use a GHIC. Everyone else pays, and travel insurance is worth having for the repatriation cover rather than the treatment. Island clinics handle basics; anything serious means a transfer to Athens or Crete, which is quick but not instant.
Summer heat is the most common reason tourists need help — heatstroke and dehydration, not accidents.
Orientation, not medical advice — entry rules change and what you need depends on your own history. Check with a travel clinic four to six weeks before you go.
Food tip
Very goodPeloponnesian village food: lamb, wild greens, and the local olive oil, which is the real product of this valley. The village tavernas are geared to coach parties; the ones on the back road are not.
Getting around
Limited- UberWorks here
- BoltWorks here
- FREE NOWWorks here
FREE NOW the Athens taxi fleet · Uber which dispatches taxis here
- Against a taxi
- The same metered taxis, ordered rather than flagged.
Time zone and your working day
Europe/Athens — 7 hours ahead of you
1 hour of overlap with a 09:00–17:00 day where you are — 09:00–10:00 your time, 16:00–17:00 theirs.
No overlap with a 09:00–17:00 day where you are. Working from here means one of you keeps odd hours — their day starts at 02:00 on your clock.
office hours both at once night
Their 09:00–17:00 is 02:00–10:00 on yours.
The difference from the UK, Europe, the US and ten more
Worked out against America/New York, which is where this request looks like it came from.
Internet speedall of Greece
Why these are Greece's numbers and not Olympia's
Home broadband — Fair. Video calls and streaming for one or two people — fine for a holiday, thin for a household working. Broadband here runs at 70% of the global median of 130 Mbps.
Mobile data — Good. Maps, calls and streaming, and enough to tether a laptop for an afternoon. Mobile runs at 1.2× the global median of 109 Mbps.
Ookla publishes no separate figure for Olympia, so these are medians for all of Greece. Cities usually beat the national number and remote islands and national parks fall well below it — treat this as the country's shape, not as a measurement of the street you will be staying on.
A median is the middle of every connection tested there, old copper and new fibre together — so in a country part-way through laying fibre it sits well below what a fibre line actually delivers, and a rental on one can run several times this number. Half of the connections are slower; a fibre flat is rarely one of them. It says what a place can do, not what your rental does, so every listing on Holistay carries its own measured speed and the date it was tested.
Getting online: Airalo or Holafly — a data eSIM for Greece, installed before you fly and working the moment you land.
Source: Ookla Speedtest Global Index · measured June 2026
Must-see
Nearby day trips
Say a few words
Greek
- HelloΓεια σας — Yia sasyah sas
- PleaseΠαρακαλώ — Parakalópa-ra-ka-LO
- Thank youΕυχαριστώ — Efharistóef-ha-ri-STO
- Yes / NoΝαι / Όχι — Ne / Óhineh / O-hee
4 more phrases
- Excuse meΣυγγνώμη — Signómisig-NO-mee
- How much is it?Πόσο κάνει; — Póso káni?PO-so KA-nee
- The bill, pleaseΤον λογαριασμό — Ton logariasmóton lo-gar-yaz-MO
- Cheers!Γεια μας — Yia masyah mas
The trap: "ne" means yes, not no. No is "óhi".
Religion
Greek Orthodox
Orthodoxy is written into the constitution and is closely tied to national identity. Do not enter a church in shorts, and do not photograph during a service.
Do's and don'ts
Do
- Accept offered food or drink — refusing outright reads as a rejection of the host
- Share plates; ordering individually is not how a Greek table works
- Learn efharistó, it goes a long way
- Put toilet paper in the bin, not the bowl — the plumbing genuinely cannot take it
Don't
- Do not show an open palm towards someone — the moutza is a serious insult
- Do not nod up for yes; a single upward head tilt means no
- Do not rush a meal or ask for the bill early; the table is yours for the evening
- Do not photograph inside monasteries without checking, and dress modestly at them
Where to stay in Olympia
No Holistay rentals in Olympia yet — the platform is just opening up. Every listing here will have a video tour and the option to negotiate the nightly price directly with the host.
In the meantime, here is Olympia on the sites that do have the inventory — each search is already filled in:
- Booking.com hotels, guesthouses and apartments — the widest coverage almost everywhere
- Airbnb whole homes and apartments, and the better option for a week or more
How to get there
Fly into Athens International ATH
3h 30mfrom the airport· 310 km as the crow flies
3h 30 by road across the Peloponnese.
Also worth pricing: Kalamata KLX — two hours, and seasonal flights from northern Europe.
Google Flights · Rome2Rio for the trains, buses and ferries as well as the flights
