“How many days” is the most common Greece trip-planning question, and the honest answer depends on what the trip is for. Here are the trip lengths that actually work, by type — not the marketing version, the logistics version.
The one-island week (7 days)
The default that rarely disappoints: fly in, one island or one region, unpack once. Seven days makes a Greek trip feel like a holiday rather than a transit schedule, and it is the minimum for an island trip to breathe given ferry timings.
The classic ten days
Athens (2–3 days), one island (4–5), and one mainland stop (2). This is the trip most first-timers should take: the city’s sites, the sea, and one deep mainland surprise, in that order or reversed.
The two-week version
Add a second island or the Peloponnese loop. The temptation is to add four stops; the improvement comes from adding depth — two weeks with three bases beats two weeks with six, every time.
Under a week
It can work, but cut scope, not pace: one city or one island, no internal flights, no same-day ferry-to-flight connections. The most common Greek travel regret is a five-day itinerary built like a fourteen-day one.
The one-day rule that matters
Whatever the length, keep one unplanned day. Greece’s best afternoons — the taverna you followed a local into, the cove behind the chapel — do not survive a schedule. That recommendation is the closest thing this guide has to a secret.