Top News

Around five million Brits head to Greece each year, making it one of the most popular destinations for those living in the UK.

As beautiful as many parts of Greece are, in the summer, it can get hot. Really hot. Exceptionally high temperatures of 43C are forecast this week, with Thessaly in eastern Central Greece and the Peloponnese expected to be particularly roasting.

The Hellenic Red Cross has urged the public to take precautions against the extreme heat, including avoiding prolonged exposure to the sun, staying well hydrated, and paying special attention to vulnerable groups such as the elderly, young children and outdoor workers.

If you’re after a filo-crusted slice of Greek holiday action, but the prospect of melting doesn’t appeal, then fear not.

Yahya Dawood, founder of Bnbstay and a Greece travel specialist with over fifteen years of personal travel across the mainland and islands, has three suggestions for cooler places to go.

1. Samothraki and Thassos – the North Aegean

“The mistake most people make is treating Greece as one thing on a map. Samothraki sits closer to Bulgaria than it does to Rhodes, and the difference is measurable. August highs sit consistently around 28°C, the air comes off heavily forested terrain, and the main reason people come is to hike gorges to the vathres: natural rock pools fed by mountain waterfalls, cold enough that you need a moment before you get in. There are no sunbeds and early-morning towel wars, but that’s entirely the point.”

Samothraki averages 28°C in August, with dense woodland, shaded gorge trails, and cold-water natural pools (vathres). No mass-market beach infrastructure. Thassos is almost entirely covered in pine forest that runs directly to the shoreline. The canopy holds temperatures in the high 20s where the southern islands regularly hit 35°C or above.

2. The Cyclades and the Meltemi

“People look at Mykonos in August and assume it’s the same as Athens at 40°C, but it isn’t. The Meltemi – a strong northerly wind that comes through from June onwards – keeps the ‘actually feels like’ on those islands somewhere around 23 or 24°C in the shade. The temperature reading looks high, but the air is constantly moving. The islands that catch it full-on – Folegandros, the elevated parts of Santorini – are the ones where you can sit outside at midday and actually feel comfortable, because the wind is doing the work.”

Tinos and Mykonos sit in the full path of the Meltemi, bringing the real-feel temperature significantly below recorded daytime highs. Athens stifles at 40°C; the wind on these islands holds conditions steady around 28°C.

Folegandros and Santorini, perched on elevated volcanic cliffs, catch an unobstructed sea breeze.

3. The altitude option in Crete

“Anogia is about an hour from Heraklion, and most people drive straight past it on the way to Knossos. It sits above 700 metres, it’s built in stone, and in August the afternoon air has an edge that you just do not get on the coast. Temperatures run six to eight degrees cooler than Heraklion. The combination – warm water, cool evening air, slow-roasted lamb in a square where you need a sweater after sunset – is rare anywhere in the Mediterranean in August, and most people have no idea it’s an hour from the airport.”

Anogia and Spili, set into the foothills of Mount Ida (Psiloritis), sit above 700 metres and run 6–8°C cooler than Crete’s coastal resorts throughout August.