would love some hotels recs too. o

h and by the way we are planning on going mid June of this year.

Plane to Mykonos, ferry to Santorini, plane to Athens.

You'll find clean bottled water everywhere. It's safe, no diarrhea.

Diapers and baby formula are readily available.

When are you planning to go? Please state your maximum daily room budget in Euro for hotel recommendations.

we are planning for middle if June of this year and looking to spend 150-200€ a night.

is similac available in greece?

Not sure about the brand, but there will be something comparable. Isn't Similac only available in the States?

You'll have a lot to choose from on Santorini for that amount. Here's a long list of choices separated by village: http://www.santorini.com/hotels-in-santorini/oia.htm

Kamari and Perissa are beach villages. Fira is the island's social/commercial hub and has a view of the caldera. Other caldera-view villages are Firostefani, Imerovigli and Oia. Firostefani is a lot quieter than Fira but is only 15 minutes' walk from Fira's main square. Imerovigli is 1.5 miles uphill from Fira and is very quiet. Oia is 7 miles north of Fira and is the most beautiful of the villages.

This map will help you visualize: http://www.santorini.com/hotels-in-santorini/oia.htm

any moms with advice?

hi there!

I just found your post!

we are also traveling to Greece in June 2011 with our baby. She will be 9months then. I have exactly the same questions you have about the stroller and ferries. Did you get any feedback from elsewhere perhaps that you can share with me?

Will appreciate anything you can share.
Tx

I'm not a mom, and it's a long time since my daughter was that age, but let me make a few comments. There is nothing wrong with ferry travel, and you will have to go by ferry between Mykonos and Santorini anyway. Flights are much quicker, of course, so if you can go directly to Mykonos upon arrival in Athens you won't even have to leave the airport, and the flight will take only about 35 minutes. The ferry from Santorini to Athens takes about 7 hours, and a flight only about 45 minutes.

I have watched many families with strollers on the Greek Islands, and the best ones for rough flagstone footpaths (common in Greece) are jogging strollers. You can even take them on the beach, but will struggle with a cheap umbrella stroller. They are heavier and more expensive, so it's your call on which to bring.

All supermarkets carry a range of baby products, and you will have no problem finding a European equivalent for Pampers, formula, etc. If you use the powdered version of Similac, it should be easy to pack enough for a short trip. No worries about the water — there are several brands of Greek mineral water, and they are all inexpensive. If you have any other concerns, suggest you consult your pediatrician.

Lastly, Greeks dote on children, and you will be welcome everywhere. Have a good trip.

I'd take the formula with you, but don't worry about the water or diapers

the ferry well may be cheaper even if it is longer which may work out better specially as you're having your son on your laps

Will you need a car seat on your destination? I travelled a lot with my dd in europe when she was a baby and never used a car seat in a cab, i bought a maclaren stroller when we went to the US when my dd was 6 months and have used it everywhere else since, a stroller and the baby carrier should be fine

Have a great trip

I found Santorini and Athens very tough with a stroller (cobblestones / steps in santorini, and broken footpaths in athens with a sharp drop down to street level). You will get a lot of use from the baby carrier. I brought my own stroller last year and found it very large / unwieldy in Athens so maybe a lightweight local one would be better.

In Cyprus we normally rent strollers and cot from a local toy shop for about EUR2.50 per day so perhaps some toyshops do this in Athens too (would be cheaper than buying one).

Ferry / plane never made any difference to our little one. I am always the one who gets seasick on the ferries but the Santorini / Mykonos one is generally fine. It's when you start crossing open seas on the way from Santorini to Crete or Athens that things get hairy!

Never had a problem with using local bottled water to make up formula. I'm from Ireland and don't recognise any of the brands you mention, so doubt they are available in Greece either.

Hope you have a great time

Jane

hi! thank you for you responses.

so we just got the kelty backpack carrier. my husband will be wearing it. the only concern with this is for naps. my son will only be 5 1/2 moths old in june, so we cant really eliminate the stroller. we have the baby jogger city mini. its pretty durable. i just hope it doesnt get beat up too much in greece.

im still undecided with the car seat. we are renting a car the last three days in athens for day trips out to corinth, delphi napflio, etc. so im thinking the car seat is a necessity? what do you think?

A car seat will definately be a necessity if you're planning on hiring a car, could you hire a car seat with the car?
because if you haven't got a plane seat for your son the car seat will have to be either counter checked or gate checked, i've never taken a car seat anywhere (i don't drive) but i've heard gate checking car seats can be better

Hi,
We are hoping to travel with our 10 month old to Athens and the Islands. Wondering how your trips went and if you have any tips or an itinerary to share? Were there any great hotels that provided cribs? How was getting around?
Thanks!

We went to Greece in May/June 2011 with our 7 month old son and had a lovely trip although we stayed entirely on the mainland. If you search under my name, you should find a review of the baby products we found especially useful for travel.
I breastfed our son and so we didn't have concerns re: formula, but to echo another poster above, there are plenty of different brands of mineral water available in Greek supermarkets.
Have you traveled with your little one before? Expect the first couple days to be difficult with the time change. You won't be able to "hit the ground running" with your sightseeing as your little one will need a lot of extra naps for the first couple days until he/she is sleeping through the night again.
Many hotels have pack-n-play type cribs available. We have our own travel crib (Baby Bjorn) which I highly recommend and in which our son sleeps quite well. I don't think he would have done as well in the cribs available from the hotels as they looked a bit rickety and certainly not comfortable. You might consider bringing a white noise machine to help your little one sleep through all the strange noises.

Athens has some incredibly uneven pavements and most archeological sites are very rough and uneven often with stairs ... I'm not sure I'd take a stroller at all. One of those snuggli things or a backpack thing a baby sits in would be better and more flexible I think.


I have pushed a 2 year old in a stroller all over France and found even cobbles can be difficult with 'normal' sized wheels.

Also... what's the allure of so much time on Mykonos? It's kind of a party place now and with a baby... I wonder of you might find more of interest elsewhere like Nafplion...

ParisAmsterdam the original OP wanted to visit Mykonos
Awvacation gave a new birth to the thread, asking about taking infants on a trip..... she didn't say anything about Mykonos.

But since you mentioned it, Mykonos is a party place for those who wanna party.. Have spent some very relaxing time on Mykonos, without mixing with the party crowd...

My daughter is now 2 but we had her in Greece to be baptised when she was 11 months. I used my uppa baby stroller just about everywhere and found it very good even on the beach if the sand wasn't too deep. I didn't visit any of the archeological sites (it was my 9th trip so I've seen most of the biggies)so I can't comment on accessibility with a baby.

I brought my formula with me and quite a bit of food and snacks she liked but she loved the greek food so the baby food was a waste but I'm glad I had the formula she was used to. You can find pampers brand diapers easily even the swimmer ones as well as lots of european brand diapers. I found the choice of jarred baby foods limited but one hotel gave me a food processor to make my own! There is lots of baby yogurt, lots of baby fruit and lots of jarred meat (veal and lamb) but not much for jarred veggies. From what my husband's family told me everyone makes their own baby food.

The islands we visited on that trip were Santorini (we stayed in Oia), Naxos (St. George area) and Paros (Parokia). We found Paros the easiest because Parokia is relativley flat so it was easy to push the stoller and the island has lots of nice beaches and we just wanted relax so it fit the bill. We had been to each of the islands several times before so we were comfortable with each place before hand.
We flew to Santorini on Aegean and then took a highspeed ferry to Naxos, ferry to Paros and a ferry back to Athens. The loading and unlaoding of the ferries was a bit problematic with people pushing a lot but the ferry ride itself was fine with her. I used sling carrier that held her on my hip getting on and off the ferries.

Greeks love babies and people will be very helpful in anyway they can (except for the ferries, that's each person for themself)!

Hi there,

We are traveling to Greece at the end of May with our son who will be ten months old at the time. We have a Baby Jogger City Mini GT stroller and are wondering if that stroller is too big to take with us. Any tips or advice you can provide would be great!

We are traveling to Athens for a couple nights, then Mykonos, Naxos and Santorini.

The large wheels on jogger strollers are very useful in Greece, especially on paths to beaches and ancient sites. I have a feeling of deja vu this morning with so many old threads reappearing. Scroll up the page to May 11, 11 and see my comments there.

We too, our City Mini stroller to Greece in 2011 and to Italy in 2012. It's great for travel!!