michelle_dorland

My husband and I are planning a 10th anniversary trip to Greece in Sept. We are thinking of spending the first 2 days seeing the sights in Athens, then 2 nights in Mykonos and 3 nights in Santorini. We'll probably have to spend last night near the Athens airport as our planned flight leaves in the early am.
What area should we stay in Mykonos and Santorini? Does anyone have hotel recommendations for us? We want a nice hotel, but prefer to not spend $400 or more/night.
Any hotel recommendations in Athens? Also, what neighborhoods are good to stay in?
I welcome any recommendations of things we should do/see in Mykonos and Santorini.
Thanks for your help!

greg

In that case, if your flight into Athens arrives early, fly to an island on the same day. It opens up another night on Mykonos. Spend last two nights in Athens.
For Mykonos, there is a significant difference in accommodation prices around the middle of the September. Probe the prices around 9/15. Before that is a high season, and after that turns into shoulder season. The downside is that the ferry schedule between islands also get reduced to off season levels. For Santorini, it is still a high season in September, but you can still ask for the best price and you might get an unpublished price if you ask the hotel directly for late September stay.

Even if your flight leaves Athens early, you can always arrange a taxi to the airport. By not staying in Athens twice, you recover a check-in/out as well as pack/unpack cycle by trading off an uninteresting night at Athens airport into a stay at Mykonos. Also, by doing this way, a delay of a day back from an island does not crater your return flight arrangement.

If this is the first time to stay in Athens, stay in the center roughly corresponding to a box formed by connecting Syntagma/Monastiraki/Acropoli metro stations. The hotels in Athens are not expensive compared to hotels in other European capital cities.

DebitNM

I do not claim to be an expert, but have just gone through this for our trip in October.

We are staying at the following:

Mykonos - http://lithos-mykonos.com/index_en.php [70 euros a night plus 8 for breakfast]

Santorini - http://www.aressana.gr/ [we got that through Costco Travel which didn't have THE best price, but we had a credit we needed to use up]

Athens - http://www.njvathensplaza.gr/ We got this on hotwire for $145 a night

wtm003

Bookmarking. Looking forward to the responses.

WWK

Congratulations on your anniversary!

We just returned from another stay at AVA Hotel, which is right on the edge of The Plaka in Athens. It's a small boutique hotel with spacious rooms, excellent staff, and unbeatable location- I think- for exploring Athens

For a splurge, look at The Exclusive Suite on the top floor. The suite has a nicely done bedroom, small living room, kitchenette, and large terrace that faces right into the Acropolis on one end, Hadrian's Arch on the other.

I don't know what it will run in September, but we paid about $400 in late May, with breakfast.

The hotel is within a very short walk of The Acropolis and The Acropolis Museum, and as I said, in the heart of The Plaka, for shopping, restaurants, etc.

We used to stay on Syntagma Square all the time ( Grande Bretagne) but truthfully I prefer this location and think it's a much better value.

michelle_dorland

Thanks for your replies. I will look at the above hotels.
Unfortunately, the flights we are looking at arrive into Athens in the evening so we won't be able to fly directly to an island. Also, I want to end my trip in Santorini. We like sightseeing first and then ending our trips relaxing in a beautiful location.

worldinabag

Hi


In Athens for a bit more above your budget you can take the Luxury Romance package at the Grand Bretagne Hotel - http://www.grandebretagne.gr/

For Santorini I would definitely stay where there is caldera views. It really is magnificent. I stayed in Firostefani. Further on is the village of Imerovigli, about as high as you can get! Oia is a a huge favourite. And then there's Fira, the main town which wouldn't be my pick.

kwren

Bookmarking for my empty nest trip

WWK

I agree that you should book a hotel in Santorini that offers caldera views. Brotherleelove2 ( I hope I have his screen name right!) has offered tons of suggestions on where to stay in Santorini, so look for his name. I think Oia is much nicer than Fira. Both towns have heavy crowds at sunset, but other than that Oia is much more manageable and beautiful. Plus it's home to Amoudi Bay, a section of town just below Oia where there are lots of amazing seafood restaurants!

On another subject... About The Grande Bretagne. The public spaces are absolutely gorgeous. But the guest rooms vary widely, even if you spend a good amount of money. We've had several stays there in tiny dark rooms with no view. That's why we stopped going there.

brotherleelove2004

Room rates on Santorini range from €25-1600/night. What is your maximum daily room budget, in EURO (not stars), and what are the services, amenities and facilities that you require?

michelle_dorland

brotherleelove2004, we definitely want a hotel with a pool and a caldera view (room doesn't need to have the caldera view). Would be nice to have breakfast overlooking the caldera. We are looking to spend under 250 euros/night, but will spend up to 300 euros if needed.
Do you have any recommendations for areas or hotels that we should look to stay at in Mykonos?
Since it's an anniversary trip, we would like to splurge on a hotel at one of the islands. Probably in Mykonos, since Santorini is more expensive.

brotherleelove2004

Check Volcano View Villas, Scirocco Apartmentns, Loucas Hotel, Cosmopolitan Suites, Villa Ilias, Rimida Villas, Strogili Houses, Atrina Houses, Kima Villas, Nostos Apartments, La Perla Villas, Caldera Villas, Esperas Houses and Fanari Villas.

If you don't mind being away from Mykonos Town check out the Mykonos Thea Hotel.

Makeithappen

Bookmarking