It’s true: it sometimes feels like Greece only has two seasons. Summer lasts a long time, and even during the depths of winter, there are days when it feels like June. Winter, meanwhile, is mild in the parts of the country most frequented by foreign tourists, and seems to suddenly sneak up on you sometime in October. In large parts of the country winter mostly means rain and wind, while snowy fairytale landscapes are found in the mountains (and on rare occasions even in Athens). But what about fall? Does Greece have one?

If you’ve only ever visited the islands of the Cyclades, with their arid hills and gardens with winter citrus, you won’t have come across the typical fiery scenery that we associate with autumn. However, in other places, like the villages of the Pilio peninsula, with their enormous plane trees in every square, and on the serpentine roads of northern Greece’s Mount Lailias, autumn sweeps in with fireworks, illuminating the hills in a spectacular way.

In the city of Ioannina and the Ioannina regional unit of Epirus, with its fairytale-like mountain villages, fall landscapes serve as a trump card in the off-season, as fog rolls around the valleys and vegetation turns every shade of orange and deep red, luring (mostly Greek) visitors.

Compared to in northern European countries, autumn comes late in Greece. While in some places the color of the trees has already begun shifting, you’re most likely to experience fall landscapes in all their glory from mid-October to early December.

Below are some images that prove that not only does Greece have an autumn, but quite a striking one at that.

 

 

 

 

 

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A post shared by ????? ??????? (@vasso_tsoulou)

 

 

 

 

 

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A post shared by emily_fily (@emily_fily_nature)

 

 

 

 

 

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A post shared by Koula Melachrinaki ? Greece (@koulamelachrinaki)

 

 

 

 

 

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A post shared by Anna (@anna_sarika)

 

 

 

 

 

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A post shared by Anna (@anna_sarika)

 

 

 

 

 

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A post shared by Kafetsis A. Fotis ?? (@kafetsis.a.fotis)

 

 

 

 

 

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A post shared by Tzeirani Eleftheria (@tzeirani.rita)

 

 

 

 

 

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A post shared by Anna (@anna_sarika)

 

 

 

 

 

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A post shared by Stavroula Stamoulakatou (@stavr_stam)

 

 

 

 

 

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A post shared by Stefanos Addimando (@stefanos.addimando)

 

 

 

 

 

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A post shared by George Tziovaras (@george_tziovaras)

 

 

 

 

 

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A post shared by Anna (@anna_sarika)

 

 

 

 

 

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A post shared by George Tziovaras (@george_tziovaras)

 

 

 

 

 

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A post shared by Anna (@anna_sarika)

 

 

 

 

 

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A post shared by Kalliopi Hatz (@kalliopi.18)

 

 

 

 

 

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A post shared by emily_fily (@emily_fily_nature)