The 43 Best Places to Drink and Do in Greece

White cliffs curve around a cove of pale pebbles and turquoise Ionian water, and the only way in is by boat or down a trail steep enough to discourage the casual visitor. That self-selection is the whole point. Fteri Beach on Kefalonia ranks second on World's 50 Best Beaches, and Europe's top-ranked beach overall, which means you won't be alone, but it's still quieter than anywhere that takes a shuttle bus.

Athens' first tequilaria, Barro Negro built its identity around agave spirits long before the city caught on. The shelves lean heavily toward tequila and mezcal, sipped neat or shaken into Margaritas, and the bar holds the world's first Paloma Embassy designation, which is as good a reason as any to start there. Ranked on both Europe's and the World's 50 Best Bars lists, it pairs a serious drinks program with tacos, making the argument that this was always a food group.

White thyme growing along the clifftops means you smell Porto Katsiki before you see it. A pebble beach at the base of towering limestone cliffs on Lefkada Island, it draws people willing to earn the view, since the descent is steep enough to thin out anyone who isn't sure they want to be there. The water runs a cold, improbable turquoise, and the general lack of sunbeds is, depending on your mood, either the whole point or a dealbreaker.

Two crescent beaches meet back to back on a narrow strip of land, which is the kind of geography that makes you wonder how anyone found it in the first place. The hike down from Afionas keeps the crowds honest, and the double bay on Corfu rewards the effort with calm, clear water good for swimming and snorkeling, steep green hills tumbling to the shore, and a quiet that feels increasingly hard to come by. Ranked among Europe's 50 Best Beaches.

The bioclimatic architecture lets Cretan light and mountain air do half the work before any treatment begins. This spa at a hillside resort outside Kissamos sits among olive groves with views toward the sea, and the whole philosophy runs on deliberate disconnection from screens and schedules. Vogue named it among the 100 best spas in the world. The team behind it traded a tech career for this, which explains why the antidote to overstimulation has been so carefully engineered.

Odori built its reputation around vermouth at a time when Athens wasn't paying much attention to it, and the bar has been pulling that thread ever since. Large French windows open onto terrace tables, while inside golden counters, verdant wallpaper, and ornate birdcages create a room that feels like it belongs on a different continent. The drinks list roams through vermouth varieties and brands, including the bar's own, with an eye toward low-ABV and aperitif drinking.

The rooftop cocktail bar perched above the Monastiraki flea market with the Acropolis filling the horizon is doing a lot of heavy lifting on its own, but the menu still tries to keep up. Drinks are organized around ideas, love and hope and realism, which is either pretentious or charming depending on how many you've had. The spirits range widely, with small Greek breweries and local wines keeping things grounded.

The marble bar and mirrored walls are doing a lot of work, but it's the sea-facing terrace, where gimlets meet a setting sun over the Aegean, that tends to settle the argument. This cocktail bar sits inside the Four Seasons Astir Palace and takes it seriously, with a forward-looking menu developed by a bartender whose CV runs through some serious London rooms. A Regional Top 10 Honoree at the Spirited Awards for Best International Hotel Bar in Europe.

Xinomavro, the grape that Macedonian winemakers love to compare to Nebbiolo, is reason enough to make the drive up the slopes of Mount Vermio. Kir-Yianni is a family-run winery with deep roots in the region, producing wines from some of Greece's most characterful native varieties. Come for a tasting, linger over the vineyard views, and leave with more bottles than you planned for. Named a Discovery by The 50.

Vangelis Gerovassiliou's 80-hectare estate wraps around the Thermaic Gulf on three sides, with Mount Olympus sitting across the water like it wandered in from mythology. A winery visit here doubles as a serious art tour, with sculpture turning up in the gardens, the terraces, the car park, and pretty much everywhere else. The wines draw on native Greek varieties, and the setting does at least half the storytelling.

A cocktail bar on Plateia Agias Irinis that takes its name as a manifesto: strip everything back and see what's left. What's left turns out to be drinks like a transparent Strawberry Bloody Mary made with what the menu calls "invisible strawberries," which is either a magic trick or a philosophy, possibly both. The room matches, minimalist and unhurried, with a sustainable ethos that doesn't make a fuss about itself. A Discovery pick from The 50.

A neon sign reading "Who made the rules?" hangs above the bar at this creative cocktail spot tucked down an alley beside Thessaloniki's Bezesteni Market. The interior is spare, lit by a chaotic tangle of fluorescent tubes, and the whole operation runs on a zero-waste philosophy that shapes the suppliers, the ingredients, and the drinks. It holds a Pinnacle Guide pin and a 50 Discovery nod, which feels about right for a place that's asking pointed questions via signage.

Tables spill out onto the pedestrian street of Athens' old textile quarter, and the double-height windowed walls keep things airy enough that you forget it's technically a bar. Senios runs from morning coffee through late-night cocktails without making a big deal of it, which is kind of the point: the team behind The Clumsies wanted to revive the idea of the neighborhood café-bar where nobody's in a rush to turn the table.