Athens was the center of Greece's record 2026 West Nile season. Plan your evenings around it.

Yes, and in 2026 they mattered more than usual. Athens and the rest of Attica were the center of Greece's worst West Nile season on record, spread by house mosquitoes that bite from dusk through the night. Daytime sightseeing tends to bring few bites. Evenings on a rooftop or a taverna terrace, and nights with the window open, are what to plan for.

A record West Nile year in Attica

West Nile virus travels on Culex house mosquitoes and turns up in Greece every summer, mainly from July to September. 2026 was the worst year on record. ECDC, Europe's disease agency, counted 457 locally acquired cases in Greece as of October 21, and 220 of them were in Attica, up from 23 in 2025 and 7 in 2024. East Attica had 103, the most of any area in Greece, followed by North Athens with 63, South Athens with 22 and Central Athens, around the Acropolis, with 16. The Greece briefing gives the October 7 count, 218 of Greece's 445 cases, when ECDC and the European Food Safety Authority called transmission in Attica the most intense in the country. They counted 46 deaths nationwide by then and don't break deaths down by area.

Most infections cause no symptoms, and severe illness falls mostly on older people; ECDC reports most European cases in men 65 and older. There is no vaccine, so the evening routine is the protection. The 2026 season peaked across Europe in August and September and has declined since, and a 2027 trip depends on next summer's season.

Greece has had no locally acquired dengue, chikungunya or Zika. CDC has no travel notice for Greece, lists no malaria medicine and says the yellow fever vaccine is neither recommended nor required. Its Greece page also lists leishmaniasis, spread by sand flies that bite from dusk to dawn, and two tick-borne diseases, Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever and tick-borne encephalitis, with the advice to avoid bug bites.

Evenings and open windows

House mosquitoes wake at dusk, just as dinner starts on a rooftop or a taverna terrace, and keep biting through the night in rooms with open windows. Older Athens apartments usually have no screens, and Greek supermarkets stock plug-in vaporizers for the bedroom. From July through September, put repellent on ankles, arms and neck before a rooftop drink or an outdoor dinner, and sleep with the windows shut and the air conditioning on, or with a vaporizer running by the bed. Our repellent timing guide shows how long one coat lasts.

Tiger mosquitoes, established on the mainland, add daytime bites in gardens, parks and shady courtyards. A morning at the Acropolis, the Agora or in Plaka's lanes is mostly sun and stone and tends to bring few bites. On the southern coast, hotel gardens, watered lawns and beach-club evenings are likelier spots, so reapply after an evening swim. June tends to be the easiest summer month. Mosquitoes are out from May to October, so a spring or fall stay still calls for repellent, with fewer bites.

Where you're going

How the main parts of an Athens stay compare for a June–September trip.

Heading to the islands? Our Santorini briefing covers the dry, windy Cyclades, which had no West Nile cases in 2026, and the Crete briefing covers Greece's buggier, greener big island. The Greece briefing covers the rest of the country.

What travelers report

Paraphrased from TripAdvisor threads and linked so you can read them in full. None is dated or describes the 2026 season, and how often you get bitten depends on your room and whether the window stays shut.

• Santorini, Crete and Athens · late June

  Asked whether mosquitoes would be bad in the last two weeks of June, a poster who had visited all three places in late June reported no mosquito problems anywhere; another said Santorini caused no trouble, that Athens sometimes has some, and recommended a pharmacy repellent lotion. TripAdvisor ↗

• Athens · summer

  One poster said they had never had problems with mosquitoes in Athens, even in the hottest part of summer. Another disagreed, saying mosquitoes are present in the city and return every year, recommended a repellent sold in supermarkets, and mentioned a pharmacy in the airport arrivals area. TripAdvisor ↗

• Athens hotels and hostels · July

  A local said most hotels and youth hostels supply electric plug-in mosquito devices free in every room, and a visitor who spent a week in Athens in July reported no bites at all. TripAdvisor ↗

One rule outlasts the trip. A fever with headache, a stiff neck, confusion or a rash during or within two weeks after the trip means a doctor visit, and you tell the doctor you were in Athens, where West Nile circulated widely in 2026.

Traveler questions