I Did Greece in 1 Lakh Budget From India- Including Flights. Here Is How You Can Do It Too

1. Budget Travel to Greece

1.1 5 Areas of Budget Travel to Greece

I did Greece in 1.0 lakh and that is how you can do it too. We all have this thought that a trip to Europe might be too expensive and may cross our budget. I covered Athens and Santorini in a 7 day trip.
That’s true that traveling to Greece or any other country abroad may burn your pockets but not even that much if you follow certain pointers
Basically we focus on 5 main areas of expenses

1. Travelling off season
2. Flights
3. Hotels
4. Food
5. Transport

1.2 Expense Summary

1. Flights- 49111k
2. Hotels -37028k
3. Food -10k
4. Transport & Tickets-4679k
   Total=1,00836 INR
   Date of Travel 11th November 2019

1.3 Why travel off-season to Greece?

Always try to travel in offseason. This way flights and hotel prices are way lesser as compared to prices in peak seasons. Santorini has offseason starting from November.
During November Maximum temperature is 18 and min 14 so it’s the best time to visit if you don’t prefer summers. The entire city is barely crowded during this season and that’s the best part.

All the villages of Santorini specially OIA has very narrow lanes that’s why during peak season it’s really hard to get pictures without any photo bombers

1.4 Flights cost- Delhi->Athens->Santorini

The major share of the expense of your trip abroad is flights. I booked flights for Greece, for November in the month of May. For 1 person Delhi to Athens and Athens to Santorini to and fro cost me around 49k. I have shown the breakup below.

But the catch is in the month of September when we tracked the flight again prices drooped even lower. So Before booking flights check the price trend at least for one month. Sometimes flights will long layover may cost you lower compared to direct flights. This is the flight I booked and found cheapest in all

Delhi-IST( Istanbul layover 4 hrs)[by Indigo Airlines]
IST -Athens

Athens-IST [Turkish Airlines]
IST-Delhi
It costed total of =39111k

I stayed in Athens for one day and the next day morning booked my flight for Santorini.
Athens–Santorini (Aegean Airlines)
Santorini-Athens
It cost me 10k return ticket

So total I spend on flights to and fro was 49111k and this was the lowest for Santorini via Athens from India

1.5 Hotels cost

During my trips, I always preferred hostels because they fit in the budget always. However, during my trip to Santorini, I wanted to stay over the caldera. During peak seasons most of the hotels right over caldera are overly priced.
Santorini has some of the most luxurious hotels, the most famous are cave hotels.
If you are looking for cave hotels right over the caldera, it will be over 15k for one night. The most exotic ones are even 50k per night.
You can check this article https://santorinidave.com/santorini-cave-hotels

I chose to stay in Sunset hotel Firostefani, it was right in the middle of caldera and view was totally breathtaking from the patio. We stayed here for 4 days. Complimentary breakfast was included for all 4 days. This was the best deal in this range due to its perfect location.

Also, it was exactly in the middle of the city with easy access to transport. The owner was really helpful. On day one, he provided us with a complete city map with must to be seen places along with opening and closing timings. Check below video to get a complete view of the hotel https://sunsethotel.gr/

Sunset Hotel Firostefani(Santorini)–>3 nights 1 room =>342 Euro
Athens –>2 nights
Day 1 -Urban lUxury resort for 2 -=>95 Euro [In the middle of the city]
Day 8 -Thanos Apartment => 36Euro [Near to airport location]

1.6 Food expense

Food is a bit expensive in Santorini and its hard to find vegetarian food. The only food which vegetarian people can eat there is pizza or sandwiches. A veg sandwich will cost you min 4 euros. If you are planning to keep things in the budget, eating outside daily 3 or 4 times a day will definitely burn your pockets.

So this is how I planned food expenses. In my hotel, breakfast used to be really heavy. I used to keep fruits or cake packets with me for later time of the day since we I could not not finish entire breakfast at once.

For the second meal of the afternoon, I used to rely on pizza or sandwiches. It used to costs me max 4 or 5 euros per person. Finding veg food is really difficult in Santorini and Athens.

Also, I carried Maggi packets and some ready to cook food packets of items as Poha, daal rice with me. You just need hot water and its readily available since all hotels provide an electric kettle. Dinner was sorted with this.

In Athens, I stayed in Airbnb both at the start and end of the trip. The only decision to stay in Airbnb is you have an entire apartment with a kitchen for yourself.It’s a good way to save on food expenses. In the entire one week trip, I spent approx 10k on food

1.7 How I managed Transport?

In Athens, I booked a city sightseeing ho-ho bus for the entire day. It cost me 20 Euro entire day pass to cover places under the Green and Athens line.
At the iconic Acropolis, there is a huge queue at the ticket window so alternatively, you can buy its entrance pass along with ho-ho bus ticket for 10Euro.

Ho Ho Bus has upper and lower deck both, in some of the buses upper deck is covered so its great way to get a full sight of Athens city.
They provide a map wherein you can keep checking the stop and can get down at any of them. From each of the stops, next ho ho bus frequency is every 15 mins.

In Santorini, it’s better to hire a car or 2 wheeler, it’s the best way to explore Island. Here are some of the options-
ATVs
Buggy (costliest)
Scooty

I hired Scotty for all 3 days in Santorini. City of Santorini has very narrow lanes so hire car if you are confident to drive with European road rules.
As per my views 2 wheeler is best way to explore the Island.

1.8 How much renting 2 wheeler costs in Santorini?

Cost:
20 Euro Rent and
10 Euro Insurance

Greece is an amazing country with rich cultural heritage. Its once a life time to be visited country. Here are some videos of Greece, you may find it interesting, check them out on my youtube channel.

2 Tour video of Fira to Oia Hike

3 Tour video of Firostefani to Fira walk

***Don’t listen to what they say,go and see it ***

4 Athens city guide

https://travelchecklistt.com/things-to-do-in-athens/

5 Guide to Santorini

https://travelchecklistt.com/santorini-3days-itinerary/