If you're thinking of taking trip to Greece next year to see the 2004 Summer Olympics, you better get on your marks. Accommodations are filling up fast. Most of Athens' 18,000 hotel rooms are already booked for the games' two-week stretch, August 13 to 29, 2004, the U.S. Olympic Committee says.

That doesn't mean you can't wrestle your way into a room, or score tickets to a few events. Take a lap or two around these Web sites to find out what's available and at what prices. And in case you'd like to see more of the Greek Isles than Olympic village, we've included some sites for planning trips to the areas beyond Athens.

Score tickets. If you don't want to pay a scalper's mark-ups, your only best is to buy from the official ticket seller in the U.S. for the Olympics: Cartan Tours. Cartan sells tickets at face value, allocated in a multi-stage lottery that favors early-bird buyers. A sample offer: You can see both the bronze and gold medal matches for men's basketball for between $211 and $410, depending on which level seats you want in the Olympic Stadium venue in Athens.

Find a place to stay. It's never easy to find a room in tiny Athens, even when you don't have an Olympic-size event happening, says travel agent John Dekker with Carlson Wagonlit in Huntington Beach, Cal. Cartan also offers hotel packages. For example, a 6-night stay in the 4-star Glyfada Hotel in downtown Athens starts at $6,889 per person.

Rent a house. About 15,000 Greek families are opening their homes to renters. It's taking awhile for these homes to be vetted and for rental prices on them to be set. Two consortia have been established to help manage the home rentals. English-language Web sites are not yet available, but you can contact Alpha Hospitality 2004 (011-30-210-32-77-400; fax 011-30-210-32-77-444) or Hellenic Hospitality 200 (011-30-210-32-77-403: gmantzavinatos@eurobank.gr) for more information. Another option would be to consult your travel agent.

Package deals. If you can't find a room or tickets separately, consider a package deal that includes both. A recently available deal from CoSport, the official Olympic package provider, was the Omonia Grand C3 package, which includes accommodations in the 4-star Omonia Grand hotel, breakfast daily, tickets to five events (volleyball, basketball, cycling track, wrestling and athletics), accredited ground transportation, roundtrip airport transfers with meet and greet services, host services and a $200 donation to U.S. Olympic team athletes. This package runs from August 22 through August 26 (5 days / 4 nights), and costs around $7,300 for you and a companion. The price will fluctuate with exchange rates between the dollar and the euro.

Fly there. Getting there is half the hassle. Plan ahead to save money. Plane tickets are going on sale at the end of August. For airfares, your favorite online travel agency will offer many affordable priced tickets. Also remember, Europebyair.com, an online travel agency that offers many discounted flights around Europe.

More Olympic info. Once you learn where you'll be staying, and what events you'll be attending, visit the Athens Olympics Web site to get everything from driving directions to a schedule of events to details about each of the sports. The site also contains helpful facts on security, history and even how to volunteer.

Get out of town. And if you're going to travel to Athens, consider extending your stay to include a tour of this mythical country. For additional tourism information, call the Greek National Tourism Organization (212-421-5777) or visit its Web site.

And for guided tours of the rest of Greece while you're there, try TourOlympic, one of the major local tour providers.

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