Best Options For Greek Dating Websites
Warmth, spirit, and infectious enthusiasm for life--these are the things that come to mind when thinking of the Greek culture. Family and family values are the foundations upon which this rich and vibrant culture is built.
In order to meet others who share the same Greek values and sensibilities, more and more Greek singles are turning to online dating sites. There are many Greek dating sites online, so before you join one be sure and do some homework first.
The following is a list featuring ten of the most popular and reputable Greek Dating sites out there today. You owe it to yourself to compare their features, to visit them, and to find the one that's just right for you!
Just Looking For A Hookup Instead?
If you're looking for something beyond a hookup, keep reading below for the best greek dating websites!
Top 10 Greek Dating Sites
#1: eHarmony
If you’re ready to join a dating site that’s committed to providing a great experience, we recommend you join eHarmony.
Although not specifically geared towards Greeks, there are so many users of eHarmony that there are more Greek singles here than just about anywhere else.
Launched in 2000, eHarmony is one of the largest, most trusted dating sites around today, responsible for more than two million marriages during this time. The dating site has a mixture of people from around the world, so it's easy to find someone no matter what you seek in a partner.
The eHarmony site is up to date and easy to use with a sleek, smooth interface and easy navigation experience. Apart from dating profiles, eHarmony has a 29-component personality quiz that matches you with the best singles -and a blog and dating tips.
Click on the following link to learn more about eHarmony now!
#3: EliteSingles
It can seem like a never-ending process to find someone who you would like to spend the rest of your life with. Do not give up. Instead, change your approach. This is why Elite Singles was created and has become a premier online dating site.
You will be able to access this site from your desktop computer and get started filling out your profile in no time at all. You will be joined by millions of other professional adults from around the world, over 80 percent of whom have a college degree. You will be sent matches to begin communicating with.
#4: Eligible Greeks
This popular online dating site invites you to "find your Greek partner for life, love, and marriage. Eligible Greeks boasts a number of free features, including but not limited to:
Visit Eligible Greeks now to experience more of what the site can offer.
#5: Agape Online
In the Greek language, "Agape" means love. Founded in 1998, Agape Online offers free trials to new members. Profile essays are featured on the site, giving members deeper insight into each potential match.
Your perfect Greek match may await you at Agape Online
#6: Greek Dating Net
Featuring a "Latest Visitor" section that features the profiles of members who have just joined or logged in, Greek Dating Net is another great way to meet Greek singles. Give a few words about yourself and what you're looking for in a match to get started.
Find out if Greek Dating Net is the right online dating service for you.
#7: Nice Greeks
Another leading Greek dating site, Nice Greeks describes itself as the place "where Greek singles become Greek couples." Thousands of members have been successfully matched by Nice Greeks. Joining the site is free.
To learn more about Nice Greeks, and to find out if this might be the service for you, visit Nice Greeks.
#8: Greek Connection
Proclaiming itself the "definite dating site for single people of Hellenic descent," Greek Connection is free to join. Once a month Greek Connection features the profiles of a few members on its homepage, increasing their visibility.
Greek Connection also features advice on how to initiate communication and even tips to help you with the grammar of any messages you send.
Though based in Australia, Greek Dating Site is a part of the "Online Connections" dating network. This means that your profile will appear on a number of Greek Dating Site's sister sites as well, increasing your chances of finding that certain someone.
Visit Greek Dating Site to learn more about the features offered.
#10: Zoosk
Rounding out our list of popular online Greek dating sites is another non-niche entry. Zoosk is not a "Greek" dating service but it does boast over 500,000 current paying members. So large a membership makes Zoosk a great place to find Greek singles.
Since it was started in 2007, Zoosk has served over 40 million members.
Greek Dating FAQ
What is dating in Greece like for foreigners?
About 93 percent of people living in Greece are ethnically Greek. Their parents, grandparents, and ancestors have all come from the country. Foreigners are rarer, though international tourism makes up a large part of the economy.
If you're in Greece on vacation or have moved to the country, you might be wondering how to approach the dating scene.
Many people have noted that foreigners are attractive to Greeks. This may be because it's rare to see people from different cultures, and so foreigners appear fascinating and exotic. If you go to a bar, you might find more Greek men or women striking up conversation than you'd expect.
The country does tend to have strict traditions regarding gender roles. Women are expected to take care of the house, their husbands, and their children. While it's not unheard of for married women to work, it is taboo for a woman to make more money than her husband.
Meeting people can be difficult. Despite foreigners being considered attractive, you might have limited social opportunities to meet new people. It's common for Greek people to go out for drinks and coffee - but they tend to go with close friends, and they stick to those friend groups rather than talking to strangers.
Why is meeting someone's friends a big deal in Greek romance?
In many cultures, group dating is the norm. There are also cultures that encourage people to meet large groups of friends first and then find a romantic partner within them. But Greek culture is a little different.
In Greek culture, a person's closest friends are called their parea. The term parea is similar in weight to family. Culturally speaking, a person's parea can be thought of as their found or chosen family. It's the group of individuals that a person has fostered close enough friendships with to want lifelong partnerships.
Most people in Greece have a parea. The group tends to be made up of a mix of genders and may include people from a person's workplace, college, or childhood. Unlike American friendship groups, which tend to be segregated into different social circles, the members of a person's parea all meet up and spend time together.
Because of this, meeting the parea is considered just as crucial as meeting someone's parents. Westerners understand the concept of parental approval being important for a relationship, so why not friend approval? If a person's friends dislike their romantic partner, the relationship doesn't tend to last long.
In keeping with that, there's not a culture of abandoning friends for new romantic partners. Romantic partners are expected to be integrated into a friend group, and if they aren't compatible, the friendships take priority. Parea friendships are often lifelong commitments, while romantic relationships can be seen as more casual.
What are some common traits of Greek men in relationships?
As with any culture, you'll find a wide variety of personalities and values among individuals. Every man is a different person, and you can't expect them all to adhere strictly to the stereotypical Greek dating traditions. These observations are based around Greece's overall culture, but they shouldn't be taken as strict rules.
Greek men are known to be loyal in their serious relationships. Monogamy is the standard for dating. When it's clear that the relationship will last, men tend to be invested in making sure the romance doesn't die.
Like other people in Greece, Greek men typically have a laid-back and friendly attitude. A daily siesta is also a cultural norm, which is a rest that occurs during the hottest part of the day. In the afternoon and evening, when the day is cooler, people go back to their lives.
Greek men also tend to prioritize family. Siestas are spent with family members, and meeting a man's parents is a pretty big deal. Most Greek men value honor strongly and want to treat their partners fairly, so they tend to be kind and well-behaved.
As mentioned, most Greek people have a parea made up of close friends that they prefer to spend time with. Food is also an important part of Greek culture, though the level of expertise a man has with cooking varies widely.
What role does marriage play in Greek culture?
Marriage has been a big part of Greek culture for a long time. Even though many Western countries today have begun seeing more non-traditional relationships, most Greeks still get married. Greece happens to have one of the lowest European divorce rates.
Marriage is especially common with practicing Greek Orthodox individuals. This denomination of Christianity has some strong emphasis placed on the value of marriage and family.
There have been some changes with modernization, though. Although gender roles are largely traditional in Greek marriages, it's less common today for men to ask the permission of a woman's parents for marriage. You might see it in more rural parts of the country, but most people don't adhere to the formality.
Despite this, casual relationships are fairly common in Greece. Parents don't tend to control their child's dating life, and they may not even criticize a child's partner when they don't like them. There are a lot of couples who cohabitate for years prior to deciding to marry. Some people opt not to marry permanently.
For a couple to be legally recognized by the government, they must be married. There is no precedent for common law marriages or de facto relationships. Historically, marriages had to be performed as religious ceremonies. More recently, civil partnerships can be legally recognized with a secular ceremony.
Greece does have a higher average age of marriage than some countries. Though marriage is traditional and expected, there's not a lot of pressure to marry right away. This is partly due to the laid-back social culture.
In some places, people are expected to get married in their 20s, and being unmarried at 30 is a social taboo. That's not the case in Greece. Instead, the average woman marries at age 29, and the average man marries at age 32. Plenty of people marry in their mid to late thirties. Your 20s are meant to be spent "finding yourself" instead.
This may be part of what contributes to Greece's low divorce rates. Another thing contributing is the length of relationships before marriage. In the strictest traditions, after a man receives the approval of his partner's parents, there will be a long engagement in which the two learn more about each other.
Even though strict tradition isn't often practiced anymore, the idea of a long relationship before marriage remains. Couples have a chance to learn about each other, about the other's family and friends, about each other's values, and about whether they can handle domestic cohabitation for their entire lives.
What does a traditional Greek family look like?
In Greek culture, the family is the single most important unit in a community. A person's family is where they get the majority of their economic and emotional support growing up. Many people continue having close bonds with family members after entering adulthood.
Greek families are known for being large and robust. It's true that in the past, the average Greek family had many members. But over the past few decades, families have become smaller as birth rates decline. The level of closeness between families remains as tight as ever, though.
Greek people take great pride in their families. Greece has a collectivist culture, which means that there's a strong emphasis placed on families and the social groups making up a community. Different families have different histories and social status in Greece.
In fact, the family name of a Greek person has an effect on how people perceive their honor, status, and reputation. Many people feel pressured to praise their family name and associate it with positive things. Greek people may also be fiercely defensive of relatives because preserving the integrity of the family name is vital.
The most common household structure is a nuclear family. Women are expected to perform the typical duties of a housewife including cooking, cleaning, childcare, and caring for their husbands. Men are expected to provide emotional support.
Extended families do tend to play a larger role than in many Western cultures, though, particularly the US. It's common for Greek people to live with their parents until well into adulthood. Some married couples may continue to live with their parents. Aging grandparents might also move into the home of their independent children so they can be cared for.
There's a stigma against nursing homes in Greek culture. Children are expected to care for aging parents. If a nursing home is involved, the cultural expectation is that children will be extremely involved in their parent's care and life.
Elderly Greek people are shown the highest respect. They are considered to have the most wisdom due to their life experience, so many people consult them when making a big decision. It's also common for people to be taught not to argue or sass their elders.
What superstitions are most common in Greek culture?
Greek culture tends to be more superstitious than most. Most superstitions can be traced back to paganism or religion. The exact cultural superstitions vary from area to area, but some of the most common include:
- "Catching" the evil eye
- Spitting to chase misfortune away
- Black cats as bad luck
- Broken mirrors as bad luck
- Mythical hobgoblins
- Tuesday the 13th as an unlucky day
- Saying the same phrase "jinx"
It's common for people in Greek villages to believe that a person's envy or jealous compliment can make them catch "the evil eye." When this happens, the person feels psychologically and physically bad. A special prayer must be done by an expert to cleanse the person from this pain.
People who believe in the evil eye wear charms to protect against it. You may have seen these types of charms before: blue beads with eyes painted on them.
Spitting is supposed to chase away the devil. When people talk about bad news, the people they're talking to may spit three times. Another cultural example would be that if someone compliments the beauty of a baby or child, they have to spit on the person they complimented to keep them from catching the evil eye.
Like in many Western traditions, black cats and broken mirrors are bad luck. Tuesday the 13th is an unlucky day rather than Friday the 13th.
In Greek tradition, hobgoblins are small and deformed creatures. They live underground, but between Christmas and January 6, they emerge onto the surface and play pranks. On January 6, otherwise known as Epiphany Day, a village priest sprinkles the rooms in every house with holy water to make the hobgoblins go back underground.
In the US, when people say the same thing simultaneously, they might say, "Jinx!" Rules vary, but oftentimes the "jinxed" partner can't talk for a period of time. Greek culture has a similar tradition. People who speak simultaneously will say "piase kokkino," which means "touch red." They'll then touch whatever red object they first find.
This is because Greek superstitions state that speaking simultaneously is an omen. If the people don't touch a red object, they're doomed to have an argument or fight.
What are the most important holidays and celebrations to Greeks?
Easter is by far the most important cultural holiday. Some Greek-specific holidays include:
- Name days, which are an annual celebration of the saint a person is named after, and considered more important than birthdays
- Carnival or Apokries, a two-week festival of parties and feasts
- Clean Monday, the first day of Lent, which families spend together
- Greek Independence Day, celebrating the country's independence from the Ottoman Empire
- Ohi Day, when Greeks celebrate the refusal of dictator Metaxas to let Italians invade the country
In Conclusion
It is important to find a match who shares your values. Whether you're a Greek single or just a single who admires Greek Culture and values, consider becoming a member of one of the popular and reputable Greek online dating sites listed above.
