Anyone been to Greece?

[Sandeep1]

Early stages of planning but want to know how you organized your trip? FYI, not doing a cruise. Would be flying into Athens, spending a bit of time there, and then some of the islands.

 

[low-key]

no, but I posed for a few statues their. lol, never have been but it sounds like it would be way cool

 

[WebmasterMaryJo]

We did a cruise with a stop in Athens this past May. Had a really nice tour if you are interested in doing something like that for the first day. It was one of our highlights of our trip.

 

[Welsh_Dragon]

Make sure that you find an hotel in Athens (not the outskirts or Piraeus); maybe something near Plaka or the Acropolis. There is a lot to see on the mainland within a couple of hours drive of Athens and once you are out of the City driving is easy. Almost everyone speaks English to some degree. You can ferry to most islands from Piraeus. They are all beautiful, so just choose the ones that you like the most. I prefer the smaller, less touristy islands, but I also have a soft spot for Corfu. When are you travelling?

 

[Sandeep1]

Make sure that you find an hotel in Athens (not the outskirts or Piraeus); maybe something near Plaka or the Acropolis. There is a lot to see on the mainland within a couple of hours drive of Athens and once you are out of the City driving is easy. Almost everyone speaks English to some degree. You can ferry to most islands from Piraeus. They are all beautiful, so just choose the ones that you like the most. I prefer the smaller, less touristy islands, but I also have a soft spot for Corfu. When are you travelling?

Would likely be in the summer at some point, July-August for good beach weather.

 

[Welsh_Dragon]

July-August

Athens will be like an oven in July/August. For touring I would aim for late May/ early June. Also in June you can island hop without booking your hotels in advance. Just go to Piraeus and hop onto whichever ferry takes your fancy. Have fun.

 

[holden]

I haven't been but take a look at the Adventures By Disney itinerary. It might give you an idea of places to visit/stay. That's what I did for our upcoming Canada trip.

 

[cedricandsophie]

Athens is a great city to wander around in. Get a rick Steves travel book for good ideas. And be sure to watch the changing of the guard, it’s fun.

As to other islands, we have done them on a cruise. The landscape is nothing special, but to look at the little villages and the views from the islands out to sea are wonderful. santorini has lovely little villages. We rented a car for a day and drove around. Oia is lovely. Have lunch there on a terrace overlooking the sea.

We liked Rhodes a lot. The old town is beautiful and great ruins outside of the city. Mykonos has good beaches, just be sure you are on the right one. We ended up on a nude beach which was entertaining. And the gay nude beach is even better! From Mykonos you can take a ferry to Delos for interesting ruins.



Mykonos.

 

[Praying Colonel]

Rick Steves did a recent show on Santorini, Mykonos and Rhodes that has some good info:

Has us interested in trying it in the future, probably spring or early fall.

 

[Sandeep1]

Athens will be like an oven in July/August. For touring I would aim for late May/ early June. Also in June you can island hop without booking your hotels in advance. Just go to Piraeus and hop onto whichever ferry takes your fancy. Have fun.

But how is the water temperature in late May? I've heard some mixed reports.

 

[Cindy's Mom]

I'd head on over to cruise critic and check out their ports of call pages and I'd ask around on thread that have ships stopping in Greece. I did that a couple years ago when I went for the first time to NYC, so very helpful.

 

[mom to minnie&mickey]

I would think twice about visiting Greece in August. Aside from the obvious scorching heat August is the traditional vacation time for the local greeks. Athens and all major cities empty out and all the islands and villages fill up. Ferries, flights and hotels are completely booked to/at most of the islands and countryside villages. Everything becomes double the price. The best time to visit in terms of $$ and availability is late May, June and September. The weather is definitely hot enough to swim but not unbearably so like July/August.

 

[DisneyLover1217]

I was just in Greece last month. We flew into Athens and stayed there for a day and then headed to Santorini for 4 days. We flew to Santorini as the flights there were not that much and it was a 50 minute plane ride versus a 4 and a half to as much as a 9 hour boat ride. We had a great time, Santorini was beautiful and Athens was a great city to explore. Have a great time.

 

[TavieP]

Early stages of planning but want to know how you organized your trip? FYI, not doing a cruise. Would be flying into Athens, spending a bit of time there, and then some of the islands.

Just went there for my honeymoon. It was a short one because of work obligations (I REGRET THIS) - we stayed in Athens except for one day trip to Hydra. It whet my appetite, I'm dying to go back now and spend time at the islands, as well as some of the things we missed from being in Athens such a short time (and one of the days was a national holiday so everything was closed one day.)

We went independently- not as part of a tour group- and stayed in a decent 3-star hotel near Syntagma Square - it was a good area for walking to the various fun districts. Took a half-day tour of the city by bus that included the Acropolis which I'm ultimately glad we did, although the particular tour company wasn't the most organized or well-executed. I wish I'd done a little more research before selecting that tour. (The tour was through Gate One Travel which I think I can mention here because I'm not giving it a positive review AT ALL. Definitely shop around!) There are a million tour options, so just avoid that one and read your reviews before deciding on one if you go that route.

The ferry to Hydra was pretty miserable - very difficult to find where it disembarked, super disorganized, and then once we were seated, it was unairconditioned, you weren't allowed on deck, and windows didn't open, and thus we absolutely sweltered for the whole 2-hour trip. We got luckier on the way back as the a/c worked on that ferry. Hydra itself was charming and we had a lovely walk along the coast.

All in all, a great time - great food wherever we went, absolutely gorgeous weather (first week of May.) Athens was very walkable, and the few times we needed a cab, although Uber works, it just gets you the city's regular yellow taxis, so something to keep in mind.

 

[BadPinkTink]

Just so you know we dont have the same level of aircon in Europe as in America. Most likely your hotel room and any public transport ie bus or ferry wont have air conditioning. Most restaurants and shops dont have air conditioning either.

 

[Sandeep1]

Just so you know we dont have the same level of aircon in Europe as in America. Most likely your hotel room and any public transport ie bus or ferry wont have air conditioning. Most restaurants and shops dont have air conditioning either.

Thanks, I'll keep this in mind when looking for hotels.

 

[mummabear]

We went nearly 15 years ago for our honeymoon.
We went to Santorini, Myoknos and Athens.

My two bits if advice are don't be cheap and pay for the tour, we went to Acient Delos and were fairly bored, then ended up being in ear shot of a tour and the guide was really bringing it to life.
Ever since we have paid paid for tours of places and never regretted it.
The other is that Mykonos is great, but Santorini is out of this world, if you are going to visit both I suggest seeing Mykonos first so that it isnt a let down

 

[1GoldenSun]

If at all possible, try to make it to Meteora. I think you can get a bus there from Athens. We were unsure about whether to take the time for it, and it ended up being our favorite part of the whole trip.

 

[Shakana]

I just want to say that the Greeks were some of the nicest people I've ever met in my life