Authentic Shore Excursion Offerings in Greece

In the summers, yachts moor just off the Bodrum peninsula while their owners come ashore for long, sybaritic lunches. Guests at the hotels dotting this stretch of the Turkish Riviera recline on chaises positioned on floating piers in the Aegean. At night everyone heads to the clubs to dance, drawn in by vocalists’ siren songs that waft onto the streets.

Last fall, my husband and I booked a two-week vacation to Greece and Italy. We aptly coined this our "empty-nester moon" as we had just sent our only 18-year-old daughter, Hailey, off to college. Many people take honeymoons, and some take babymoons, so we figured, why not take an empty-nester moon?

The tide is turning among Europe’s golden visa programs.

Enter if you dare, foolish mortals!

Looking for inspiration for your next big summer vacation? Or, perhaps you're in search of some suggestions for an exciting city break? Whether you're looking for far-flung travel suggestions in Europe or Asia or something closer to home on U.S. soil, we have you covered.

Four Seasons is already famous for its over-the-top private jet itineraries that have travelers with deep pockets flying between world-famous landmarks, cosmopolitan cities and adventures in national parks, safari camps and everything in between.

Greece inspires our dreams – we dream about its azure seas, its charming island villages and its myriad beaches, both broad and minute. We dream about the Acropolis, shining on a hill over fascinating Athens. This grand country, from mountaintop to city street, lives up to those dreams. Greece satisfies travelers looking for adventure, the great outdoors, relaxing seaside vacations and immersive cultural experiences.

Over half of Tripadvisor’s users say that helping the environment is important to them and sustainability increasingly factors into travellers’ choices about where to go.

I live in Athens, Greece, and often take ferries to explore the Greek Islands.

I was eating homemade crostata (jam tart) on a roof terrace in the Sicilian town of Cefalù and reading about Helius, the ancient Greek god of the sun. Sicily is supposedly the inspiration for the deity’s island in The Odyssey and this makes perfect sense – with more than 300 days of sunshine a year, Helius would like it here. The island is especially lovely in spring, when it’s quieter, cooler and more peaceful than in the scorching summer.Cefalù is an ancient fishing village almost exactly halfway along Sicily’s north coast. It’s prized by Italians as one of the island’s loveliest beach-side places. Barbara De Gaetani, a licensed tour guide who grew up here, told me the allure of the place is difficult to explain: “Many other places are gorgeous but not as seductive. You can feel life flowing here, and it’s no accident that many film-makers have used the town as a location.”

We are staying in the House of Light (from £62 a night, £90 in summer, sleeps three, on Airbnb), which is a work of art where even the shower drains through locally handcrafted ceramic. I pad along barefoot to the terrace and sit down on the stone bench in the sun, looking across a field of daisies, poppies and mallow to the crumbling dovecote.

In Paris, the splendid 1728 mansion of an American and French war hero is now Lafayette’s restaurant helmed by Michelin star chef Mory Sacko, where he is twisting brasserie staples with his signature Senegalese flair.