A fresh set of numbers from vacation-rental marketplace HomeToGo points to a banner year ahead for Greek tourism, and Athens officials can hardly hide their excitement. The platform’s annual travel-trends report shows that search interest from U.S. users for Greece vacations in 2025 has rocketed so sharply that the country now ranks No. 2 worldwide, trailing only Italy and surpassing perennial summer darlings France, Spain, Portugal, and Croatia.
Greek islands headline the 2025 wish list.
Crete earned silver on the individual-destination leaderboard after logging a 390 percent year-over-year surge in American searches, while Naxos grabbed the No. 5 slot with growth of 327 percent. Lefkada and Zakynthos—both part of the Ionian Islands—rounded out the top 10, signaling that Americans are casting a wider net than the well-worn trinity of Mykonos, Santorini, and Rhodes. “Naxos has become an international draw… for travelers from farther markets like the US,” Katsaras said in a prepared statement. Vaggelis Katsaras, who serves as deputy mayor for tourism for the Municipality of Naxos and Small Cyclades, credited the island’s beaches, hiking routes, and family-run tavernas for the newfound attention.
Why Crete and Naxos are exploding in popularity
1. Sheer size and variety: Crete, the country’s largest island, supports everything from knockout beaches such as Elafonisi to the Samaria Gorge, one of Europe’s most dramatic hikes.
2. Open-shoulder seasons: Both Crete and Naxos have ferry and flight connections that last well beyond the peak months, making April, May, September, and October realistic options for sunseekers who want elbow room.
3. Culinary cachet: Farm-to-table cuisine, centuries-old olive groves, and pocket-sized wineries play directly into Americans’ current obsession with hyper-local food stories.
4. Value proposition: Average nightly rates for vacation rentals on these islands still undercut those on Santorini or Mykonos, according to HomeToGo’s internal booking data.
5. Active-lifestyle appeal: Kite-surfing off Mikri Vigla, diving the Libyan Sea, or walking the Byzantine footpaths around Filoti tick the “experience” box many U.S. travelers now prioritize.
Other destinations are climbing the charts
While Europe continues to dominate, the report flags Sardinia, Mallorca, Paris, Tuscany, and the Algarve as additional hotspots for Americans. Vancouver and Bali were the only non-European names to crack the international top tier, underlining an across-the-board appetite for culture-rich, water-adjacent escapes.
Closer to home, inland regions are finally shaking off flyover status. Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Tennessee registered the highest domestic search bumps, proof that travelers are hedging against airfare volatility by scouting lakeside cabins and forested state parks.
Three macro-trends steering U.S. travel behavior
HomeToGo analysts distilled their findings into three headline shifts:
- A hunger for European escapes that blend “heritage and horizon”—think fortified medieval towns with a side of beach.
- A rebounding interest in classic capitals after several quieter pandemic years; Paris and Rome remain magnets.
- A pivot toward inland getaways within the United States, driven by flexible work schedules and the rise of road-trip culture.
What the numbers mean for would-be visitors
For travelers eyeing Greece in 2026, here’s how the data translates into action points:
Tips for Travelers
- Lock in ferries early. Popular summer sailings between Piraeus and Heraklion—or Piraeus and Naxos—sell out weeks ahead. Book as soon as timetables open, typically six months before departure.
- Use Athens as a strategic hub. Many island flights funnel through the capital, and spending the arrival or departure night in Athens safeguards against tight connections.
- Stretch your calendar. September offers sea temperatures in the 70s and smaller crowds; April showcases wildflowers on Crete’s rural plateaus.
- Consider a two-island combo. Pair Crete’s culinary scene with Naxos’ hiking trails for a diversified week—direct summer ferries link the two in under 3 hours.
- Mind the microclimates. Winds on the Cyclades can cancel boat routes; padding in a buffer day prevents missed flights home.
How Greece stacks up against the competition
Italy still sits at the pinnacle of HomeToGo’s overall ranking, buoyed by Tuscany’s villas and the Amalfi Coast’s theatrical clifftop towns. France’s Riviera, Spain’s Balearics, and Portugal’s Algarve each carved out spots beneath Greece, but none matched the Greek islands’ triple-digit growth trajectory. A wild card to watch is Brittany. The north-western French region grabbed analyst attention for its granite coast and oyster farms, positioning itself as a cooler-weather alternative to the Mediterranean.
Greece’s ascent to the No. 2 spot underscores Americans’ appetite for coastal escapes that combine mythology, mountain hikes, and Mediterranean plates heaped with feta and olive oil. With double- and even triple-digit gains in search volume, Crete and Naxos are angling for blockbuster summers ahead. Early-bird planners will have first pick of stone cottages, cliff-side villas, and those hard-to-book ferry seats, but even latecomers can leverage shoulder-season flexibility to snag their own slice of Aegean blue.
