Hi,
We are a family of 3 with a 4 year old kid. We plan to visit Greece in September and was wondering if following the itinerary http://www.fodors.com/world/europe/itineraries/greek-island-hopping-53/ Will it be too much? We will be flying from London. We are looking for 10-12 days. Any other suggestions on itineraries given we have a 4 yr old traveler with us?
Ta
-v
Greece Islands in September (with a 4 yr old traveler)
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If you do go to Santorini, make sure that your hotel is away from the cliff face.
This is extremely fast-paced, you'll be all the time on the go with only one full day on each destination. On my opinion 4 nights/3 full days is an absolute minimum on each island, yes, even for tiny Santorini. Advice depends on what you'd like to see and do on this trip and on your traveling style. There are 100s of islands to choose from. With Cyclades as a given, judging by the itinerary you were looking on... From London you have the advantage to have some direct flights to Mykonos and Santorini, so you may want to fly London to one island, visit one more island, then Athens then take a flight from Athens back to London. If you do not plan for Athens, either split your time on two, either on three islands, for example fly to Mykonos, connect to Santorini, fly home form Santorini or something like that. Paros (And Antiparos), Naxos, Syros could work fine as a third destination among those two. (is this 10 or 12 days, and are those full days or include arrival and departure? This is crusial to see how much you can fit in! Remember that each time you move from A to B you loose at least half day on transit!)
Personally I don't much care for itineraries that have you moving every 2-3 days. How well does your 4 y.o. travel? Would (s)he be happy spending a lot of time waiting at ferry ports and in transit?
I've been to all the islands on the Fodor's list, and my favourite of those is Naxos. It depends upon what you are interested in, though. Naxos, closely followed by Mykonos, has the best beaches of the four. Along with the beaches, Naxos has some picturesque mountain villages. Mykonos (if you include the island of Delos) and Santorini have the best antiquites. Santorini has the best views. Folegandros has a beautiful chora (main town) atop the island, but beaches aren't easy to reach from it.
With 10-12 days it would be better to limit yourself to two islands + Athens. If you are travelling early in September Mykonos and Santorini will still be busy, Naxos and Folegandros less so.
"If you do go to Santorini, make sure that your hotel is away from the cliff face."
It's a fallacy. The cliff is really only dangerous at the lowest level, and even there it's not a straight down dropoff. That's an optical illusion caused by the high elevation over the sea. Many hotels use the danger excuse to avoid having to accept children. Of course a child can slip and fall anywhere and there are some short retaining walls you have to be aware of, but if you excercise normal precautions with your child you won't have any safety issues.