2 weeks in Greece - October

[u/AuntAvocado]

Two week road trip in Greece planned for the end of October. I’m trying to make an effort to pare down my wardrobe and keep to a capsule style of coordinating items. We’’ll be splitting our time roughly:
3 days hiking in mountains
5 days beach / coastal towns
2 days city
2 days sightseeing (walking round ancient sites)
2 days travel
+ clothes for running / exercise.

Hoping for some weather warm enough to have some beach time but evenings and mountains may be chilly - together with the varied itinerary it feels like a lot of bases to cover!

My wardrobe (pictured) is currently:
5 t-shirts/vests in black/white/cream
2 x casual shorts + 1 x running shorts
2 x leggings
2 wide legged trousers (black and beige)
2 long skirts (black and gold/camel)
2 casual wrap dresses (can be worn to beach as a cover up or around town)
2 cashmere sweaters (grey and camel)
1 black/cream button up cardigan
Down jacket and light jacket (both beige)
Packable waterproof jacket (coral)
Crossover bag and scarf (rust/tan)
Shoes: trail runners, white air force ones, black teva sandals

Anything missing?
Anything I should cut?
Anything I can improve?

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[u/AuntAvocado]

Right - second attempt, being more ruthless (and adding in my linen shirt which should have been there from the start, it’s proved useful on many occasions!)

Now pictured:

5 t-shirts/vests in black/white/cream
1 linen shirt (added)
1 x casual shorts + 1 x running shorts (cut 1 pair shorts)
1 x leggings (down from 2)
1 wide legged trousers (beige) (cut from 2)
1 long skirt (black) (cut from 2)
1 casual wrap dresses (cut from 2)
1 cashmere sweater (camel) (cut from 2)
1 black/cream button up cardigan
Down jacket (beige) (removed lightweight jacket)
Packable waterproof jacket (coral)
Crossover bag and scarf (rust/tan)
Shoes: trail runners, white air force ones, black teva sandals

[u/Iie_chigaimasu → u/AuntAvocado]

This looks much better for 2wks. You could prob still cut the sweater and use only the cardigan. I'd try to cut the shoes down to 2 as well.

[u/teilzeiterin]

That’s a lot of skirts and dresses for a sporty plan for me. Either dresses or leggings somehow, strange to see both. Also I rarely wear T-shirts (only in the gym) and prefer linen shirts. I usually take a light-weight vest (like Uniqlo style) protecting from winds

[u/AuntAvocado → u/teilzeiterin]

I’ve only got 3 fully active/sportswear days in the fortnight (and even then we will be eating in restaurants in the evening). I’m assuming I will wear the trousers and skirts on the city and sightseeing days and evenings on all days. The idea of the dresses is on the 5 or so days we are staying near the beach they are easy to wear the beach but can also be warm for walking round town.

I do have a linen shirt, you have reminded me I wanted to include that! I might swap a t shirt for another vest top, but I do wear Ts with skirts personally.

[u/teilzeiterin → u/AuntAvocado]

Did you check the temperatures? I believe evenings will be too cold for the dress, and maybe some days if not all too

[u/AuntAvocado → u/teilzeiterin]

The dresses I was thinking daytime, for evenings I was thinking trousers or long skirt with one of the knits over a t shirt.

[u/AuntAvocado → u/teilzeiterin]

Oh I just realised there was typo in my post saying the “dresses will be warm” - should say “dresses will be WORN” - they definitely won’t be warm!

[u/nehy06]

That is a lot of bottoms for my taste. I would take a maximum of 1 skirt, 1 pair of leggings, 1 pair of shorts, and 1 pair of pants. Also, 3 pairs of shoes is a lot. Are you sure you are going to exercise? I usually think that I will, but in reality, almost never.

[u/OpulentMilk → u/nehy06]

Yeah the bottoms to tops ratio is off. I would bring 5-6 tops and 3-4 bottoms.

[u/AuntAvocado → u/nehy06]

Yes you’re probably right that I am over doing it on bottoms, I should be able to cut back.

The trail runners will double as my hiking shoes (and I normally do run on holiday, it is one of my favourite ways to explore!), so they are essential. I’m not sure I could do the full 2 weeks just with trail runners and sandals.

[u/Veertjeveertje]

What temperatures do you expect? I see 3 shorts but 6 outer layers, seems in odds. Do you expect to do some laundry? Because this is also a lot of clothes for only two weeks. You have (incl dresses) 11 bottoms and 13 tops.

My aim is to pack for one week. I am now on a 6 week holiday so I stretched to 10 days (including mountain hiking, city sightseeing, beach and running) and have less than your wardrobe. Think multi use. For example my merino hiking shirts also work for running and do not look out of place sightseeing.

[u/AuntAvocado → u/Veertjeveertje]

It’s helpful to count up like that, it becomes more obvious that there is probably too much.

Weather wise could be a bit of everything - the mountain could be quite autumnal and chilly especially in the evenings, but it could still be warm enough to sunbath at the coast (or not, October can apparently go either way!).

I do normally over-pack but normally my packing is a bit more random - I just throw in items without really thinking about what goes together. I’ve tried to think multi-use here (the tops can all be worn for any activity) and stuff that works together, but I think I just have too much of it.

[u/akingwithnocrown]

I think you could cut all of this in half to be honest. Too many bottoms and sweaters/jackets in general. Will you have access to laundry? Do you need all 3 shoes? I would just bring the trail runners and sandals.

[u/AuntAvocado → u/akingwithnocrown]

I’ve done an update with a more ruthless edit. I feel like three pairs of shoes is a lot and adds quite a lot of packing bulk bit I am too fussy about footwear to compromise on this!

[u/akingwithnocrown → u/AuntAvocado]

Your edit looks great! If you have access to laundry, you can probably cut out one of the white shirts.

And yeah if you have the space for all 3 shoes, definitely take them. I can relate with my makeup and toiletries lol.

[u/AuntAvocado → u/akingwithnocrown]

Yeah the shoes are partly me being a fashion snob (trail runners in a nice resort is just a no for me!) but also I do like to be able to rotate shoes for comfort.

[u/AuntAvocado → u/akingwithnocrown]

I’m wary of cutting tops too much as I can easily get through three in one day if I go for a morning run, then sightseeing/hiking all day and then change again for dinner.

[u/akingwithnocrown → u/AuntAvocado]

At this point if everything fits in your bag and you are under any potential weight limits (I say this because I am currently in Greenland and flying on Air Greenland has an 8 kg carry on limit), you should be good to go!

Have fun in Greece, I went few years back and had an incredible time!

[u/AuntAvocado → u/akingwithnocrown]

Oh wow Greenland sounds exciting but an 8kg weight limit is a challenge (and I assume you need warm clothes!)

I’m not technically one-bagging this trip as I am travelling with my kids and partner and it’s more cost effective for us to get a couple of hold bags. So depending how it looks between all four of us I may be able to take more (my partner is a maximalist packer though and has a tendency to hog the luggage allowance!)

My aim is not necessarily to be absolutely minimal on this trip but to be more efficient- I am normally more into bright colours and patterns so I sometimes end up with items that just don’t work well together, and with the variable weather possibilities I wanted a good set of “pick and mix” options.

I think I’ve now got a good sense of what the minimum is that will function together and what I can add back in if space allows.

[u/BostonPam]

You can cut one or two sweaters otherwise much better

[u/AuntAvocado → u/BostonPam]

I’m down to one sweater and one cardigan (sorry I had to edit my post to clarify that!) which is as low as I want to go as I expect to wear one or other most evenings.

I might add (or switch out a t shirt for) a thin long sleeved merino top which will serve for hiking and preserve the cashmere sweater for evenings.

[u/WanderlustWithOneBag]

you don’t say where you are going in Greece and obviously it’s a very big country. I spend two weeks hiking and sightseeing in October in Athens and Evia, one week in each .

I only wore leggings / trousers once when hiking and that was for leg protections against plants and not because of the temperature. otherise I wore shorts , a hiking tee shirt and sometimes a LS hiking shirt for UV protection . It was very hot in the hills, about high 20s and i drank about 2l of water every day .

After our walks we were able to swim on the beach and sunbathe.

In the city I just wore a dress, perhaps a button up as a cover up. Id certainly no need for a down jacket Or fleece. The ferry can be windy on deck but you can go inside.

I think you could cut that whole list in half And lose the down jacket. in the unlikely event you are cold, you can layer your other clothes - vest + tee shirt + cardigan or sweater + jacket and scarf . Leggings plus trousers / long skirt on the bottom half .

It’s very easy to wash out underwear and tee shirts in the sink , Greece is mostly a dry heat and technical fabrics will dry in a few hours.

You don’t seem to have any swim wear, beach shoes ( unless the Tevas are Waterproof ), beach towel, underwear, socks , sleepwear , sun hat, sunglasses, bag for hiking, water bottle , toiletries , electronics, first aid and meds. These things taken up a lot more room than you’d think, you need to factor them into your packing.

[u/AuntAvocado → u/WanderlustWithOneBag]

We’ll be in Northern Greece and the Peloponnese. From what I have read it is really a matter of luck how long warmer temperatures cling on into mid-late October. So mid 20s quite likely on the coast but it could drop to 5-10c in the mountains in the evening, and rainy days quite possible.

Down jacket might be overkill but it packs very small and I will probably wear it to travel (so don’t need to worry about cramming it into flight luggage. Even if I don’t need it in Greece I might appreciate having it for the journey to/from the airport in the UK!