Athens on $30, $90 or $350 a day

Acropolis (€20 combo ticket covers 7 sites - buy online). Go at 8am when it opens. The Parthenon, the Erechtheion, the Propylaea, the Temple of Athena Nike. Allow 2-3 hours. The Acropolis Museum (€10) at the base - the best museum in Greece.

Walk to the Ancient Agora (€10, included in combo). The reconstructed Stoa of Attalos houses the Agora Museum. Walk through Monastiraki: the flea market, the food stalls, the Roman Agora. A souvlaki pita for €2.50.

Psirri taverna for dinner: horiatiki (Greek salad), taramosalata, and grilled octopus for €18-25 total. Ouzo or tsipouro included. The Athenian habit of eating at 10pm is infectious.

National Archaeological Museum in Exarcheia (€12 - the gold Mask of Agamemnon, the Antikythera Mechanism, the Poseidon of Artemision. The most important collection of Greek antiquities in the world. Allow 3 hours).

Walk to Exarcheia for lunch: a mezedopoleio (mezedes bar) for €10-15 with multiple small plates. Browse the Saturday market. Walk south to Kolonaki: the Lycabettus funicular (€7) for the 360 view.

Dinner in Koukaki or Plaka: home-cooked Greek food at a neighborhood ouzeri for €15-20. A carafe of house wine (€5). The Dionysiou Areopagitou promenade at night with the Acropolis lit above - free and extraordinary.

KTEL bus to Cape Sounion (2h, €7 each way from Pedion Areos park). The Temple of Poseidon on the clifftop - Byron carved his name in the marble; the view over the Aegean is the best in Attica.

Swim at the beach below the temple. Fish taverna lunch in Sounion village (€15-20). Return to Athens by late afternoon.

Final evening in Monastiraki: browse the flea market (best on Sunday mornings). Dinner at a Psirri taverna with live rebetiko music (the Greek blues - some restaurants have live music Thu-Sat from midnight). Walk the lit Acropolis one last time.

Acropolis at 9am with an audio guide or licensed guide (€20 entry + €15 for a good audio app). The Acropolis Museum (€10) afterward - the collection of original sculptures removed from the Parthenon, displayed so you can see the temple itself through the glass.

Lunch at a Plaka rooftop restaurant with Acropolis view (€25-35). Benaki Museum (€9) in Kolonaki for the afternoon - embroideries, Byzantine icons, Greek traditional costumes, and modern Greek art from antiquity to the present.

Dinner at Varoulko Seaside (Piraeus - 1 Michelin star seafood, €60-80 per person). Or Spondi in Pangrati (2 Michelin stars, French-Mediterranean, €70-100 - the most formal restaurant in Athens). Return by taxi.

Morning walk: the complete pedestrian circuit from Hadrian's Arch through the Ancient Agora, around the Acropolis Rock, to the Thissio promenade. 3 hours, mostly free. Stop at the Temple of Hephaestus - the best-preserved temple from the ancient world.

Metro to Piraeus (€1.40). The Mikrolimano harbor for a seafood lunch (€35-45 for fresh fish). The Piraeus Archaeological Museum (€4) for the Bronze Athena found in the harbor. Ferry-watching from the main harbor.

Return to Athens. Dinner in Psirri or Gazi: Aleria (modern Greek, one of Athens's best mid-range options, €40-60) or a traditional mezedes dinner at To Kafeneion.

Organized tour or rental car to Delphi (3h drive, €180km return). The sanctuary of Apollo - the most important religious site in the ancient Greek world. The Oracle's Treasury, the Temple of Apollo, and the Delphi Museum (€12) with the Bronze Charioteer.

Lunch in the village of Delphi (€20-25). The Castalian Spring and the Gymnasium below the sanctuary. Return via Arachova village for local wine and cheese.

Back in Athens late: dinner near the hotel. Kolonaki wine bar for a Greek natural wine (€10-14 per glass). The Athens wine movement is excellent and largely unknown outside Greece.

Private early-access Acropolis tour with a classical archaeologist before the site opens to the public - the Parthenon in the morning light, the stories behind each structure, the view over Athens from the Rock. The most affecting hour available in Athens.

Lunch at Varoulko (1 Michelin star) or Spondi (2 Michelin stars, best booked for dinner). Afternoon: private Acropolis Museum tour with a curator - the Elgin Marbles debate explained by someone who works with the originals.

Dinner at Spondi or at the Grande Bretagne hotel roof garden (the most elegant dining room in Athens, with Acropolis and Parthenon lit up across the square). A whisky nightcap at the GB Corner bar - Athens's best hotel bar.

Private boat from Piraeus to the Saronic Islands - Hydra (no cars, beautiful harbor, the most elegant small island in Greece), Spetses, or Aegina (the Temple of Aphaia, excellent pistachios). Departure at 8am.

Lunch on Hydra: fresh grilled fish at one of the harbor tavernas. Afternoon swim at a private cove. Return to Piraeus by sunset.

Dinner in Athens: Hytra (1 Michelin star, rooftop of Onassis Cultural Centre) for modern Greek cuisine with a panoramic city view. Or a private dinner arranged at a neoclassical Kolonaki house.

Private car south to the Peloponnese. Mycenae (the Lion Gate, Agamemnon's Treasury - the defining Bronze Age site in Europe). Private archaeologist guide.

Epidaurus: the ancient theatre with perfect acoustics (4th century BC - whisper from the stage, hear it in the top row). Lunch at a Nafplio restaurant. Nafplio itself - the most beautiful neoclassical town in Greece - for a walk.

Return to Athens. Farewell dinner at Funky Gourmet (2 Michelin stars - the most creative and boundary-pushing restaurant in Greece, molecular-influenced modern Greek cuisine). Reserve 4-6 weeks ahead.