lucy_luz

My husband and I are planning a 2 week trip to Greece in May or June. We want to go to Athens, some of the island and explore the Peloponnese Area by car to see some of the archeological sites.

Here is the itinerary I was thinking.

day 1 - arrive at Athens
day 2 - Athens
day 3 - Athens/Santorini
day 4 - Santorini
day 5 - Santorini
day 6 - Santorini/Naxos
day 7 - Naxos
day 8 - Naxos
day 9 - Naxos/Mykonos
day 10 - Mykonos/Delos/Mykonos
day 11 - Mykonos/Peloponnese
day 12 - Peloponnese
day 13 - Peloponnese
day 14 - Peloponnese/Athens
day 15 - back to DC

Questions:

1. I think I might need an additional day in the Peloponnese. Maybe I should eliminate 1 day from the islands and added to the Peloponnese.

2. I will also like to visit Delphi but don't know how to accomodate it into the itinerary.

3. Is 2 days enoguh in Athens? We are not big city fans but will love to see the Acropolis and other sights in Athens.

4. Is Santorini, Naxos and Mykonos a good choice for the islands? Is travel between these islands easy?

I will appreciate any other advice, from hotels to restaurants, places to go and places to not go.

Thanks for your help.
Lucy_Luz

rex

Bringing your message back up &quot;to the top&quot; - - sorry that you have received no replies so far (and I suppose that's what drove you to re-post with the highly ineffective message header rthat makes no reference to <i><b>Greece</b></i.

Best wishes,

Rex

stanbr

What are your plans for touring the Peloponnese? It is a pretty big area and isn't possible to do the whole thing in 4 days. Last year we took a car tour from Naphlion to Monivassia to Gythion through the Mani and returned to Athens and that took a full week. We never even came close to Olympia and we missed Mystras at Sparti because we arrived at closing time.
Perhaps you could let us know what you want to visit and then we can provide a more informed opinion of your itinerary.

Santorini and Mykinos are very popular islands and many people include them in their planning. Many people plan to do Mykonos because they want to see Delos. If you want to find an extra day or two you could take the Naxos Star from Naxos on a day cruise to Delos and Mykonos. That would give you an additional two days to play with.
Naxos is quite different with a large permanent population with agriculture as it's base. Accordingly it has more of a true Greek experience but still provides the tourist with good beaches, shopping,dining country villages and it has a reasonably large town to explore. It is a good choice.

lucy_luz

In the Peloponnese I would like to see Nafplio, Epidaurus and Mycenae which seem to be in the same area. Also will like to go to the famous Olympia site and Delphi.

Will love to go to the Meteora but seems kind of far.

i think I will take one day out from Naxos. You mention the Naxos Star, what exactly is that? Do you mean eliminating Mykonos completely?

Thanks for your help

stanbr

Naphlion is a good place to use as a base as it has lots of interesting things to do including touring three Venetian fortresses. In addition you can make easy day trips to Tiryns, home of Hercules, Epidaurus and Mycenae. You can also visit Argos. It doesn't get much press but there is a Venetian fortress and an ancient ampatheater there which are worth an hour of your time.
On the way to Naphlion you should consider stopping at Corinth and visiting the old Roman city there. It is primarily ruins but there are lots of statues and is worth the stop.

You may also consider Monemavassia and Sparta. Olympia and Delphi are not really close to these sites, so you may have to sacrifice one area for the other.

As I look at your plans I personally might consider leaving Athens and driving to the Peloponnese first. The driving is fairly easy but it would be my preference to do the driving early in the vacation and then heading out to the islands to kick back and burn off all that stress.

With respect to Mykonos, based on a number of posts here in the past, several people have indicated they are only going to Mykonos to see Delos. If that was the case you may be able to buy a couple of extra days for the Pelopponese by taking the cruise boat Naxos Star from Naxos to see Delos. As a bonus that cruise also spends a couple of hours in Mykonos.

If on the other hand you really want to spend time on Mykonos then that isn't a good suggestion.

Naxos is a rather large Island with many interesting places to visit in the countryside and your original plan to spend 4 days there will barly scratch the surface.

By the way this May and June my wife and I are doing a very similar trip to yours. We will be spending a few days in Naphlion and visiting Mystras in Sparta (which we missed last year) and then heading to Naxos for two weeks.

lucy_luz

Thanks for the advice. I will definetly going to leave the islands to last and do the driving in the first part of the trip. Maybe spending couple nights in Naplion as you proposed to visit some of the archeological sites.

I am thinking not going to Olympia since it seens out of the way but definetly do a day trip to Delphi from Athens. How far is Meteora from Athens? Is it worth a trip there? I have seen pictures and it looks beautiful.

As for the islands, is the combination I am propising seem OK? From what I read here, Mykonos get bad reviews. Should I go to a diferent island instead?

Thanks for your advice

brotherleelove2004

Each island has something unique and different to offer. Mykonos has become a charter-flight-package-holiday-honeymooners-delight sort of destination. It's supposed to have some wonderful beaches, but other than shopping and nightlife there doesn't seem to be much else there to occupy your time.

If Delos is important to you it's possible to take an excursion boat from Naxos to see Delos that way.

Near to Naxos is Paros which is a very nice island, large enough to require a few days to explore properly. If Santorini and Naxos don't satisfy your needs for island-hopping you could easily make a stop in Paros on the way back to Athens. Paros has excellent ferry service as well as an airport for Olympic flights.

lucy_luz

My husband and in our early 30 and don't want to go to an island that will be dead at night. Does Naxos and Paros have a nightlife? Is Mykonos not even worht it, even for 1 night? We are in our early 30's. How far is Delos from Naxos or Paros?

Thanks again. I can't wait to go to Greece!!!

brotherleelove2004

All the islands have some nightlife going in May and June, none of them will be &quot;dead&quot;. How lively it is just depends on the size of the tourist population in that particular month that year. No real way to predict it, but May is getting busier and busier as the years go by. If you want to dance, Mykonos, Santorini and Ios are your best bets. If you just want bars and restaurants, any of them will do.

Delos is about 20 miles from Naxos and about 25 from Paros. I'm not sure how long it will take to get there from these two islands, but I'm guessing about 2 hours each way.

Nikki

I took a tour from Athens that visited Mycenae and Epidaurus the first day, Olympia the second day, Delphi the third day, and the Meteora the fourth day, returning that afternoon to Athens. You could certainly drive this route yourself in that amount of time as well.

The Meteora is the most remote of these spots, so while it is spectacular, if you wanted to spend two nights rather than three, that is the spot I would eliminate. I loved Olympia.

Heimdall

Lucy_luz, none of the islands under discussion will be dead at night during the season. May is quieter than June, and June is quieter than July. Mid-July to mid-August is manic. So if you want it lively, schedule your trip as late as possible. Many of the nightclubs wait until early or mid-June to open for the season.

Mykonos is a fashionable island, and also noted for its gay scene, so nightlife tends to be more exotic than Naxos or Paros. Both of the latter, particularly Paros, are main hubs for the ferry routes, so there are always plenty of people around.

lucy_luz

How remote Meteora is from Athens?

Nikki

I just googled it and found the distance from Athens to the Meteora is 224 miles.

Gretchen

I would take the tour described from Athens. also, be sure to see the National Museum in Athens in order to enjoy the archaeological sites in other parts of Greece.

lucy_luz

If you had to pick between Olympia and meteora, What would you pick?