Southern Europe · Capital Athens
Each opens that government's own advisory for Greece — the authoritative version, updated far faster than this page.
Greece is a low-crime destination where the real risks are environmental and vehicular. Summer wildfires have forced evacuations of tourist areas in several recent years, and heatwaves regularly close the Acropolis at midday.
Rented scooters and quad bikes injure more visitors on the islands than crime does anywhere in the country.
Checked by hand against all five government advisories in July 2026: no part of Greece currently carries a warning against travel. The colour shows the general caution level only.
Advisories change without warning. Check the official one for your own nationality — linked at the top of this page — before you book.
Each pillar is scored 0–100 against every other country. Longer bar = more risk.
Biggest factor here: natural hazards. Earthquakes, floods, cyclones, drought and tsunami exposure.
The things worth knowing before you land.
Average daytime high and nightly low for Athens, over 2010-2019. Bars are rainfall; the colour band is how hot the days get.
Mildest and driest around April to November.
Patterns reported repeatedly by travellers and local police. None of this is about individual businesses — it's about set-ups you can learn to spot in seconds.
A friendly man invites you for a drink at a bar he recommends. Women join the table, drinks arrive unordered, and the bill runs to hundreds of euros with staff blocking the door until a card is produced.
How to avoid it: Choose the bar yourself. Never follow an invitation from someone who approached you in the street.
The driver refuses the meter and quotes a flat fare well above the regulated rate, particularly for ferry arrivals with luggage.
How to avoid it: The Athens airport to city centre flat fare is set by law and posted. Elsewhere, insist on the meter or take the next taxi.
The attendant does not zero the pump before filling, or gives change for a smaller note than you handed over.
How to avoid it: Watch the pump reset to zero, and say the note's value aloud as you hand it over.
Specific places that come up again and again — either in government advisories or in traveller reports. Everywhere else in Greece is not automatically fine, but these are the areas worth a plan.
Drug-related street activity around Omonia; Exarchia sees occasional political clashes. Both are fine by day.
Narrow, unlit, unfenced roads combined with inexperienced scooter riders. The most likely way a visitor is seriously hurt in Greece.
Attica, Evia, Rhodes and Corfu have all seen tourist-area evacuations. Register with the emergency alert system (112).
Island rental agencies frequently hand over scooters without checking licences. If you ride without the correct category on your licence, your travel insurance will not pay for the hospital, the repatriation, or the damage. Helmets are legally required.
Greek law requires a category A licence for anything above 50cc; many European car licences do not include it.
Vaccinations, malaria and outbreaks. This atlas does not give medical advice — it is personal, it changes, and it is the one thing worth getting from a doctor. Both national services publish current advice for Greece:
Check the official advisory before you book. This page reflects data as of August 2026. Advisories change without warning, and only your own government's advice affects your travel insurance.