Greece sees massive travel surge and warm weather for Holy Spirit weekend

A warm spell with temperatures reaching up to 31 °C will dominate Greece during the three‑day Holy Spirit weekend (28 – 31 May). The forecast calls for generally sunny conditions across most of the country, with occasional local showers and isolated thunderstorms in mountainous areas of the mainland, the western Peloponnese, Crete and the Dodecanese.

The holiday is prompting a huge outflow of travelers from Athens. Ports in Piraeus, Rafina and Lavrio are scheduled for 19–22 departures, carrying more than 16 800 passengers, while the Argos‑Aroness archipelago will see 41 ferry routes for over 6 000 travellers. Occupancy on many vessels approaches 90‑100 %. Road traffic is also swelling, with severe congestion on the Kifissos corridor, the Athens‑Corinth and Athens‑Thessaloniki highways and the Athens‑Lamia axis. Delays of 10‑45 minutes are reported, and a truck‑ban from 16:00‑22:00 has been imposed to ease flow. KTEL operators have added dozens of extra services, especially from Kifissos and Liosion, to meet a roughly 5 % increase in passenger numbers compared with the previous year. Ticket prices for ferries have risen sharply, with some family round‑trips costing several hundred euros.