Greek island recs and info request
 

Hello,

I am trying to plan a 1 week vacation in Greece. I'll be with my GF. we are flying into athens, and out 8 days later at the beg. of November. our budget will be on the medium/low side. we're not backpackers, but we don't want to spend $150 on rooms every night either.

I am more looking for:

1. itinerary suggestions for the islands
2. an idea about ferries, classes, and what these will cost
3. idea about hotel costs

has anybody done a trip like this, could give me an idea about a good itinerary/costs?

thanks!

Re: Greek island recs and info request
 

I had a little longer than you but I did

Athens --> Ios --> Santorini --> Crete --> then we flew to Corfu

Santorini was probably my favourite. Crete is too big, and pretty far to go if you've only got 8 days. You might want to check out Naxos.

Ferries weren't that much. I think it took about 3 hours to get to Ios and it was about 30 euros. The ferry from Ios to Santorini was a fast ferry and cost 16 euros I think.

IIRC, the fast ferries were about twice as fast, and twice as much.

In terms of hotels I don't know because we stayed in hostels. For reference though, our hostel in the middle of June in Santorini was 7 euros a night. So I'd imagine if you're going in non-peak season, hotels probably aren't that expensive on some of the islands.

Re: Greek island recs and info request
 

tx. what did you pay for your flight?

did you take any overnight ferries?

Re: Greek island recs and info request
 

I think Santorini is a must and Mykonos would be the other standard one.

I would not recommend Ios at all with your gf since its basically just a backpacker party haven, drink all night and beach all day. Maybe youre into that sort of thing but you can get it on any other island that has other stuff to offer as well without so many shallow 19 year olds running around...or it could be that I just had a bad experience there [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

There are plenty of other lesser visited islands that im sure are well worth checking out, though I can't speak for them personally.

As far as hotels, I shared a modest 2 bed room on the beach side of Santorini for 12.5e a night (25 total), this was the low season as well. 50m from the black sand beach, totally recommend. Unfortunately I can't remember the name, but it was owned by some guy who was just picked us up off the ferry with no reservation or anything.

Re: Greek island recs and info request
 

[ QUOTE ]
tx. what did you pay for your flight?

did you take any overnight ferries?

[/ QUOTE ]

i was working in Dubai so i flew from there. i don't even know how much it was. work covered it.

i took one overnight ferry from Corfu to Bari, Italy. me and my buddy just slept on the deck. there was a mad zoo of people in the main part of the boat trying to sort out rooms for the night. it wasn't very comfortable, and we are very used to sleeping in uncomfortable places. definitely if you're with your girlfriend i'd get a room if you do any overnighters. i don't really know what sort of itinerary you'd do where you would end up doing an overnighter.

i'd probably just try to go to 2 islands if i were you. it would be alot more relaxing if you could chill in each place for 3 days, rather than trying to stay 1 or 2 nights in a 3 or 4 islands.

I'd say Santorini, and I'd look into something else. chromepony was right on about ios. the bars there are open until 6am and it's just a big party. so if that's what you and your gf are into, then go for it...if not maybe mykonos, naxos, or paros.

Re: Greek island recs and info request
 

the greek isles in the beginning of november are ghost towns....but they are dirt cheap and still amazingly beautiful. the weather might still be good enough for swimming even. if youre going with your GF then the ONLY place to go is santorini.

Re: Greek island recs and info request
 

[ QUOTE ]
the greek isles in the beginning of november are ghost towns....but they are dirt cheap and still amazingly beautiful. the weather might still be good enough for swimming even. if youre going with your GF then the ONLY place to go is santorini.

[/ QUOTE ]

I went on a trip there last year, second week in October. We only swam 1 day out of seven. Many restuarants were closed. But rooms were plentiful and we still had a wonderful time. We were living in London at the time, flew to Athens and immediately jumped the train to Paeraes (sp?) where the ferries leave from.

We went to Milos and Sifos. Milos was bigger, had prettier scenery and nicer beaches. Sifnos had much better food. Neither was a party atmosphere, we found a couple sleepy bars to go in each. There is a place called 'The Captains Bar' or something similar on Sifnos that is run by an American woman from Virginia, she was nice.

Definitely get motorbikes. Every day we just got up, rode away and found sites we wanted to see, places to eat, etc.. along the way.

This site is a great resource.

KJS

Re: Greek island recs and info request
 

8 days isn't very much time. I wouldn't go to Crete, as it's big and the farthest away.

Santorini is stunning, and you could spend your whole time there. Maybe ferry to Mykanons and Santorini, then fly back San - Athens to save you some time.

I stayed in the south Islands the whole time, so I can't talk about Corfu, etc.

Re: Greek island recs and info request
 

Two islands max, one of them needs to be Santorini. I've been to Naxos, and it was a great island to get a feel for the culture of the greek islands, since not many tourists go there. If you can afford it, fly from the mainland to the islands. They'll be little puddle jumpers, but you don't want to spend your whole week on ferries. Ferry if you only go on one island.

Don't forget to spend one or two days in Athens. Gotta see the acropolis and other ruins.

Re: Greek island recs and info request
 

yeah, I am thinking

day 1: land in athens, spend day
day 2: ferry to mykonos (3 hours)
day 3: hang in mykonos
day 4: take ferry to santorini (a few hours on ferry)
day 5: hang in santorini
day 6: fly back to athens
day 7: fly back