Effective date: August 16, 2026
This Privacy Policy explains what information Athens Glance (“we,” “us,” “the site”) collects when you visit athensglance.com, how we use it, and the choices you have. AthensGlance is an independent travel publication operated from the United States.
Who we are
Athens Glance is an independently owned travel publication based in the United States. It is not affiliated with any tourism board, hotel group, or booking platform. Questions about this policy, or about the information we hold, can be sent to athensglance@gmail.com or submitted through our contact page.
Information you give us
- Contact form. If you write to us, we receive your name, email address, and the contents of your message. We use it only to reply and to keep a record of the correspondence.
- Comments. If you comment on a post, we collect the name, email address, and website you enter, along with your IP address and browser user agent (used for spam detection). Your comment and the name you provide are visible publicly; your email address is not. If you use an email address registered with Gravatar, your profile picture may be displayed alongside your comment.
- Email subscriptions. If you subscribe to new-post notifications, we collect your email address in order to send you those notifications. Every email includes an unsubscribe link, and you can unsubscribe at any time.
Information collected automatically
Like most websites, we and our service providers automatically collect certain technical information when you visit: IP address, browser type and version, device type, operating system, referring page, the pages you view, and the dates and times of your visits. This information is used to understand how the site is used, to keep it secure, and to improve our content.
Cookies and similar technologies
Cookies are small text files stored on your device. We and our partners use them for three purposes:
- Essential cookies — needed for the site to function and to keep it secure. If you leave a comment, you may opt in to saving your name, email address, and website in cookies so that you do not have to enter them again next time; those cookies last one year.
- Analytics cookies — used to measure traffic and understand which content is useful. See the analytics services listed below.
- Affiliate tracking cookies — set when you click a booking or partner link, so that our partners can credit a resulting booking to us. These are described in more detail in the next section.
You can block or delete cookies through your browser settings. Blocking essential cookies may prevent parts of the site from working; blocking affiliate cookies does not affect your ability to use the site or to book with any partner.
Embedded content from other websites
Our articles sometimes include embedded content such as videos, maps, or social media posts. Embedded content from another website behaves exactly as if you had visited that website directly: the provider may collect data about you, set its own cookies, embed additional third-party tracking, and monitor your interaction with that content — including if you are logged in to an account with that provider.
Images and media
Photographs published on this site may contain embedded metadata, and visitors can download images and read that metadata. We remove or avoid publishing images containing precise location data (EXIF GPS) where personal locations are involved.
Affiliate links and commissions
Athens Glance is reader-supported. Many of our hotel, tour, ferry, car rental, and travel-service links are affiliate links, mostly through the Travelpayouts partner network and its partners — including Booking.com, GetYourGuide, Viator, Airalo, DiscoverCars, ferry booking platforms, and airport transfer providers. If you click one of these links and make a booking, we may earn a commission at no additional cost to you. This is disclosed on every article and explained further on our affiliate disclosure page.
When you click an affiliate link, the partner sets its own cookie and receives your click, along with a tracking identifier that tells us which article and which link the click came from. That identifier describes the link, not you — it contains no name, email address, or other personal information. Our partners report bookings to us in aggregate. We do not receive your name, contact details, payment information, or booking specifics from them.
Once you leave our site, the partner’s own privacy policy governs what it collects. We encourage you to read the policy of any site you book through.
Third-party services we use
- WordPress.com / Automattic — hosting, security, and site infrastructure, including Jetpack Stats for traffic measurement, our subscription form, and comment spam filtering.
- Google Analytics — aggregate traffic and audience measurement. Google sets its own cookies and processes data under its own terms. You can opt out site-wide using the Google Analytics Opt-out Browser Add-on.
- Google Search Console — aggregate, anonymized search performance data. It does not identify individual visitors.
- Travelpayouts and its affiliate partners — affiliate link tracking and commission attribution, as described above.
How we use information
- To publish the site and respond to messages and comments
- To send subscription emails you have requested
- To understand which articles are useful and decide what to write next
- To measure whether our affiliate recommendations are helpful to readers
- To protect the site against spam, abuse, and technical problems
- To comply with legal obligations
How we share information
We do not sell your personal information, and we do not share it with third parties for their own advertising purposes. Information is shared only with the service providers listed above, to the extent they need it to provide their service to us, or where we are legally required to disclose it.
Data retention
Comments and their metadata are retained indefinitely so that follow-up comments can be recognized and displayed in context. Contact form messages are retained as long as they are useful for correspondence. Subscription email addresses are retained until you unsubscribe. Analytics data is retained according to the retention settings of the services above.
Your choices and rights
You may, at any time:
- Unsubscribe from our emails using the link in any email we send
- Ask us to correct or delete a comment you have posted
- Ask what personal information we hold about you, and request its deletion
- Block or clear cookies through your browser settings
To make any of these requests, email athensglance@gmail.com. We will respond within a reasonable period. Note that we may need to retain certain information where required by law.
California residents. California law gives residents the right to request the categories of personal information we have collected about them and to request its deletion. We do not sell personal information, including the personal information of any visitor under the age of 16. Requests can be sent to the address above.
Visitors from the EU and UK. Although Athens Glance is operated from the United States, we honor requests from readers anywhere to access, correct, or delete the personal information we hold, and to object to its processing. Contact us at the address above.
Do Not Track
Some browsers can send a “Do Not Track” signal to websites. There is currently no common industry standard for how to interpret these signals, and Athens Glance does not currently respond to them differently. We do not allow third parties to collect personally identifiable information about your activity across other websites through our site.
Children’s privacy
Athens Glance is intended for a general adult audience and is not directed at children under 13. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13. If you believe a child has provided us with personal information, contact us and we will delete it.
Links to other websites
Our articles link to hotels, tour operators, booking platforms, transport providers, and other travel resources. We are not responsible for the content or privacy practices of those sites. Once you follow a link, this policy no longer applies.
Security
The site is served over HTTPS and hosted on managed WordPress.com infrastructure with its own security measures. No method of transmission or storage is completely secure, and we cannot guarantee absolute security.
Changes to this policy
We may update this policy as the site changes or as legal requirements evolve. When we do, we will revise the effective date at the top of this page. Material changes will be noted on this page. We encourage you to review it periodically.
Contact
Questions about this Privacy Policy can be sent to athensglance@gmail.com or submitted through our contact page.