Greece is a very popular holiday destination. The sunny Mediterranean country receives millions of annual visitors, from all over the world. Unfortunately, because the nation’s tourism industry is so lucrative, tourist traps are absolutely everywhere. If you aren’t familiar with the term, then a tourist trap is a place that overcharges tourists, because they don’t know any better.

While Greek people are friendly and very honest, there are outliers. Falling for tourist traps can cost you a lot of money, completely unnecessarily. This post will tell you how you can avoid tourist traps on your next trip to Greece:

Finding Accommodation

The first thing that you need to do is to find accommodation. It’s usually a good idea to do this before you travel so that you have access to the internet and don’t need to make a rushed decision. It can be very difficult finding the right hotel in Greece because many inflate their prices for tourists. The main reason for this is that in recent years, Greece’s economy has been struggling. Tourism is one of the nation’s largest industries and so is regularly exploited. You need to find accommodation that’s affordable, clean, and safe. You can do this by using guide and price comparison sites.

Local Restaurants

When you are looking for somewhere to eat, avoid large-chain restaurants. The reason for this is that they are usually extortionately priced. Instead, try to find smaller, local restaurants. Some scams do take place in smaller restaurants, although however much they are going to inflate your meal prices by, they aren’t going to cost anywhere near the same as large-chain restaurants’ meals. An excellent way to learn about local restaurants is to use a forum like Reddit and ask locals in the subforum that’s dedicated to Greece.

Outdoor Seating

A common scam in European countries is to charge tourists an extra fee for sitting out on the patio or balcony. Sometimes, restaurants and cafés charge an additional 10-15% just for the privilege of sitting outdoors. They do not charge locals the same. With this in mind, you should always sit indoors unless you are willing to pay the added premium. Outdoor seating is very pleasant, but it’s not worth an extra 10-15% on the cost of your order. The closer you are to tourist attractions, the more common this is.

Street Vendors

Avoid dealing with street vendors or people selling things on the street. Unfortunately, street scams are common throughout Europe. Greece is notoriously bad for street scams, but not because the locals are dishonest, just because it is a very popular tourist destination. In fact, most of the scams committed against tourists aren’t committed by Greek nationals, it is usually people from other European countries that travel to Greece to make money off of tourists. 

If anybody tries to sell you anything on the street, give them a wide birth. Only buy things from actual shops. Some street-food vendors are safe to deal with, however, but only if they have a proper setup.

Tour Guides

Something else that you need to avoid is rogue tour guides. Outside of all of Greece’s historical sites, you will find tour guides offering absurdly high prices for their services. If you are going to hire a tour guide then it’s generally a very good idea to do so online, or through an agency. You can get much more affordable prices from tour guides that know what they are talking about when you go through professional websites and agencies. Also, if you are in smaller, quieter areas, watch out for young people claiming to be students, that want you to pay them to take you on a tour.

Ticket Sellers

In addition to avoiding tour guides, avoid people claiming to sell tickets for tourist attractions outside of them. This is a very common scam. If you do buy a scam from these dealers, when you arrive at the ticket booth to get entry, you will be turned away and told that you have purchased a fake ticket. Most tourist attractions are aware of these scams and have staff positioned outside to stop people from propositioning tourists and trying to sell them counterfeit tickets. If you notice any people doing this, you need to report them.

Menu Switch

A scam that’s very common in restaurants is the menu switch. What happens is, that you go in and look at a menu, check out the prices, and then order the meal that you want. Once you have ordered your food, the shop’s owner arrives with a bill that is nearly double what you expected to pay. When you ask him what’s going on and tell him that you saw the prices, he tells you that you are wrong, and shows you another menu with inflated prices. This scam is extremely common. In order to avoid it, make sure that you take a photograph of the menu in any restaurant that you are going to so that you don’t get an inflated bill.

Taxi Drivers

Another common scam in many of the world’s tourist hotspots (including Greece) is for taxi drivers to charge absurdly high prices. If you are in a Greek city, then the best way to avoid taxi scams is to simply use the Uber application. Uber allows you to order your taxi online, pay upfront, and not have to deal with drivers asking for silly amounts of money. If you are going to take street taxis, then make sure that they have a badge and license.