Working in Greece: Athens or remote? Marco’s experience

Why Greece, and why starting remote was never the plan 

 

“I liked the idea of remote work, but I also knew I was moving abroad completely alone. Starting in an office gave me structure straight away.” 

I had been thinking about moving to Greece for work for almost a year. The cost of living made sense, the weather was a genuine selling point and the idea of building a life somewhere completely new felt more exciting than scary. When I found a customer service job in Athens with accommodation included for the first month, it felt like the easiest way to actually make the move happen. The role was office-based at first, which turned out to be exactly what I needed.

Starting in an office gave me a team, a routine and people to ask questions to. Looking back, that first structure probably made the whole move abroad successful.

First month in Athens: temporary accommodation, costs and what to arrange

The company arranged a shared apartment for me in Koukaki, one of the neighbourhoods south of the Acropolis. Three other internationals had arrived that same week, one from the Netherlands and two from Germany. None of us knew Athens yet, which actually made things easier. We were all figuring things out together, from finding the nearest supermarket to understanding the metro system. During that first month in Greece, I mainly focused on arranging the practical essentials right away, like:

• Greek SIM card: around €10–€15 with mobile data 
• AFM number (Greek tax number): In Greece, this is arranged through the employer.
• Bank account: Many internationals use Piraeus Bank or Alpha Bank.
• Health insurance: In Greece, this is usually arranged through the employer as well.
• Transport card for the Athens metro and buses: around €30/month 

Having temporary accommodation during the first month made a huge difference. Instead of rushing into an apartment contract immediately, I had time to actually understand the city first and focus on the next step: deciding where in Greece I actually wanted to live next. 

Working in Athens: office life, customer service and building a routine 

I worked as a Customer Service Agent in Greece for a tech company supporting German and English-speaking customers through chat and phone. The office was near Monastiraki, right in central Athens. Most people in the team were also internationals working abroad in Greece for the first time. That immediately made the social side easier.

The actual workday gave my weeks structure very quickly. I woke up at the same time, commuted into the city, grabbed coffee with colleagues and slowly started building routines that made Greece feel normal instead of temporary. That part surprised me most. People often focus on beaches and sunshine when they think about living in Greece, but honestly, routine matters more than people expect. Once daily life feels stable, everything else becomes much easier too.

Daily life in Athens: neighbourhoods, food and monthly costs 

After the first few weeks, Athens started feeling less like a trip and more like real life.I found a coffee spot near Monastiraki where a flat white cost €2.80. My colleagues introduced me to rooftop bars in Psiri and local tavernas in Pangrati where dinner cost less than takeaway back home. Some realistic living costs in Athens: 

• Coffee: €1.50–€3 
• Gyros: €4–€5 
• Lunch at a local taverna: €8–€12 
• Dinner with drinks: €15–€20 
• Monthly groceries: around €180–€220
• Shared apartment in Athens: roughly €400–€600 depending on area 

The thing I liked most about Athens was actually outside of peak tourist season. The city felt more local, less crowded and somehow more relaxed. 

After the first month: why I moved from Athens to Thessaloniki 

I liked Athens, but I did not necessarily want to stay there long term. The city is busy, loud and constantly moving. That energy is exciting, but after a while I realised I wanted something calmer and more manageable day to day. People around me kept recommending Thessaloniki, so I visited for a weekend and immediately understood why. Compared to Athens, living in Thessaloniki felt: 

• More compact
• Easier to navigate on foot
• Slightly cheaper
• More relaxed socially

My monthly costs in Thessaloniki looked roughly like this:

• Shared flat near the waterfront: €340/month
• Groceries: slightly cheaper than Athens
• Coworking space twice a week: around €60/month
• Overall monthly budget: roughly €750–€900 depending on lifestyle

Curious about working in Greece? Browse our latest jobs in Greece, both office-based and remote roles available. 🧡

What remote work in Greece actually requires 

Remote work in Greece sounds amazing online, but it only really works if you create your own structure. This is what genuinely helped me once I started working remotely in Greece:

• Leaving the apartment every morning before work
• Keeping fixed working hours
• Having one or two regular cafés or coworking spots
• Using a backup SIM card for internet issues
• Separating “home” from “work” mentally

 

"Remote work gives you a lot of freedom, but you have to build the structure yourself. Once I figured that out, it started to feel like the best setup I had ever had."

It took me a week or two to find my rhythm. Once I did, remote work in Thessaloniki turned out to be more enjoyable and more productive than I had expected. The key was treating it like a real workday, with a start time, an end time and reasons to step outside in between.

Weekend trips from Thessaloniki: Chalkidiki, Meteora and the northern islands

One of the biggest practical advantages of living in northern Greece is how easy it is to get somewhere remarkable on a weekend. A few trips that are genuinely worth doing:

• Chalkidiki, around two hours from Thessaloniki by bus. Clear water, quiet beaches and much calmer after summer season. 
• Meteora, massive rock formations with monasteries built on top. A full weekend including transport, accommodation and food cost us around €120–€150. 
• Thassos, a quieter northern Greek island reachable by ferry from Kavala. I went in October and still swam in the sea.

That became one of the biggest lifestyle differences compared to my life before moving abroad. Weekends stopped feeling like recovery time and started feeling like actual experiences again.

Office first or remote immediately in Greece? 

I do not think there is one right answer. Some people already know Greece, already have friends there or feel comfortable building routines completely independently. For them, starting remotely straight away can work really well.  But if you are moving abroad to Greece completely from scratch, office-based work first can genuinely make the transition easier. 

For me, starting in the office first really helped. That first month in Athens gave me the time to arrange the practical things, understand how daily life in Greece works and build a routine before fully working remotely. I left with a bank account, a tax number and colleagues I still speak to now. Moving to Thessaloniki after that felt exciting instead of stressful. 

I am still living in Thessaloniki, still working for the same company and still spending Saturday mornings walking along the waterfront with a coffee in hand. What Greece gave me was exactly what I had hoped for when I first moved abroad: better weather, a slower rhythm, new friendships and a life that feels much more balanced than the one I had before.  

Ready for Greece?

Whether you see yourself building a routine in busy Athens or working remotely from somewhere calmer like Thessaloniki, living and working in Greece quickly becomes more than just a temporary experience abroad. For Marco, starting office-based first made the move easier, more social and far less overwhelming. Once he understood daily life in Greece, remote work felt much more natural.

Everyone approaches moving abroad differently, but having the right job and support at the start can make a huge difference.

Curious what your own move to Greece could look like? Explore our current jobs in Greece and find the setup that fits you best. ✈️