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One of the great things about visiting Greece is no matter where you go you get at least a sprinkling of history along with your fun in the sun. It takes some of the guilt out of an otherwise decadent holiday and that’s just one of many reasons Greece is a popular destination. Hotels in Greece tend to be quite cheap by European standards but even so there are loads of hostels in Greece to make it even more affordable for those of us who want the most bang for our traveling money.

Athens is, of course, the capital, and also home to more Greece hostels than anywhere else. Hotel prices are generally reasonable, but they’ve gone up quite a bit since the city spruced itself up preparing to host the 2004 Summer Olympic Games. It’s a spread out city and quite a few hostels have locations on the outskirts, advertising that they are in a “quiet neighborhood.” The thing about Athens is, it’s fascinating and definitely worth a couple days or more, but it’s not a place you want to linger in when you’ve got all the islands to get to. You are best off paying a bit more for one of the Athens hostels near the base of the Acropolis and cutting your stay by a day if you have to. The metro system is quite nice in Athens, but you don’t want to waste half your day using it to go back and forth to your “quiet hostel.”

Once you’ve done your time in Athens, you’ll want to explore the islands that have given Greece a reputation as a fun summer getaway for Europeans for decades. You can take the metro from anywhere in Athens and be at Pireaus port in under an hour. And from there you can get to virtually any island in the Aegean Sea directly. The small island of Aegina is only about 30 minutes away with ferries leaving almost every hour. And Crete and Rhodes are much further, but there are scheduled ferries every day during summer.

One complication about visiting the islands is there aren’t too many traditional Greece hostels located on them. Each of the major islands has a few hostels, or at least guesthouses in the same price range with many of the same features, but the Greece hostels with large dorm rooms and central kitchens are somewhat rare on most of the islands.

The best part of this is that generally speaking small hotels and guesthouses are so affordable that these traditional Greece hostels aren’t really needed. Check the listings for the island you are interested in and you’ll find budget accommodations in the hostel category even if they aren’t in the dorm style.

One important word of warning though, Athens is a great destination all year, even though it’s a bit hot in the summer, but the famous islands are very seasonal. Many of the larger ones have limited ferry service outside of the summer, and many of the smaller ones are basically closed completely outside of summer. May through October is good and June through September is prime time. Outside of that you’ll find it frustrating to find a place that’s open.