sabbin

Could anyone tell me please if there are any flights from any Greek islands to Istanbul in late September? I appreciate your time. Sabbin

worldinabag

Hi

I had a note that Atlas Jet - http://www.atlasjet.com - flew from Mykonos to Istanbul. I can't see the route on the website though. Maybe email them. Otherwise you will have to go via Athens. We did the reverse with Olympic Air - Istanbul to Paros via Athens. Good luck.

brotherleelove2004

You may have received that information from me. I had noticed that AtlasJet flew to Mykonos in 2006, but I believe it was only during the peak summer months, and then only as an infrequent charter flight, not part of a regularly-scheduled timetable.

Sabbin, your only other choice from the islands without going back to Athens first would be to make your way to one of the Greek islands close to the Western Turkish coastline and from there take a ferry across into Turkey where you can either fly or bus it the rest of the way to Istanbul. The Greek islands for this are Chios, Lesvos, Samos, Kos and Rhodes.

sabbin

Thank you for your help.

This is my dilemma- I fly into Athens and out of Istanbul 8 days later. My wife has never been to Greece and I wanted her to see one or two of the Cyclade islands.

I was tentatively going to 1] fly to Santorini with a day trip to Folegandros
2]fly to Santorini and ferry to Naxox/Paros then fly to Athens to Istanbul
3]fly to Mykonos then ferry to Samos to Izmir and fly to Istanbul. Any thoughts again would be appreciated especially relating to feasability and ease of connections.
Thank you Sabbin

brotherleelove2004

With only 8 days you should fly to save the maximum amount of time in transit. Otherwise, by ferry you'd be wasting a couple of days making the necessary connections. It's possible that you can find passage on the Sky Express plane from Mykonos or Santorini directly to Samos but you'll have to contact them about that.

http://www.skyexpress.gr

The Samos ferry doesn't go to Izmir, it goes to Kusadasi. You'd have to take a bus or taxi the rest of the way to Izmir.

sabbin

Brotherleelove, Thanks- I think we are going to do Santorini/Naxos/Paros or Santorini/ Folegandros. Any thoughts on which would be better for first timers to Greece. Tx Sabbin

brotherleelove2004

If you want to fly back to Athens for a flight to Istanbul then go to Paros or Naxos. Both have airports. Folegandros does not.

Heimdall

Paros and Naxos are very small airports, with runways of 2,300ft and 2,900ft respectively. You don't say when you are travelling, but in summer air tickets from Paros to Athens are like 'gold dust'. Due to the short runway weight restrictions, outbound flights can take only 18 pax. Naxos has one flight per day (two on Sundays), but can take more passengers - about 30, as I recall. Book your tickets well in advance if you plan to fly from either of these airports.

sabbin

Thank you- We are travelling in Sept.
We may decide to fly to Paros from Athens and then ferry to Santorini and fly back to Athens. Depending on the ferry schedule it may be more time efficent to go to Santorini and do an overnight on Folegandros then fly to Athens from Santorini.
Any thoughts on the islands or schedule would be appreciated? Thankyou Sabbin

Heimdall

Hi Sabbin,

That should work. There are daily ferries between Paros and Santorini, including a Blue Star that departs Paros around 12 noon, and arrives Santorini around 3:20 pm. If you plan to fly out of Santorini, recommend you go straight on to Folegandros and save your days on Santorini for last.

Depending upon timetables, you may have to spend two nights on Folegandros instead of one. There is also a possibility you can find a ferry direct from Paros to Folegandros, but that won't be a daily service. Note also that after the first week of September, ferry companies begin to cut back their sailings. You will have to wait until next summer to see what the ferry timetables provide.

The nice thing about September is you don't have to book rooms and ferries in advance. Wait until you know when you can move from one island to another before making firm reservations.

sabbin

Thanks so much for your input. I may not have made myself clear on one point.
I was looking at 2 different itineraries-fly to Paros and ferry to Santorini or fly to Santorini and ferry to Folegandros and back to Santorini.
Any thoughts on which would be more interesting for first timer?. I will have to wait to see the ferry schedule to see which is more feasable. I appreciate everyone who has responded. Sabbin

travelerjan

If you have only 8 days you are going to have to give up your idea about Folegandros. It just doesn't work. In the first place you are not even flying home from Athens -- yo have to get to Istanbul.

In 8 days you want to see Athen (usually a minmum of 2 days --- after all this city has been waiting for you for 4,000 years, you should give it 2 days!), Then Santorini for 2 days, then Paros or Naxos (2 days), then back to Athens and OFF to Istanbul (1 day for travel), then on 8th day, out of Istanbul.

AND you want to get to Folegandros, when people keep telling you you can't get on the island and off on the same day? In September especially. The ferries will not fall in with your plan. Believe us.

Of course you won't, but you should.

sabbin

I believe you.
We will plan to visit Athens ,Santorini and Istanbul. That sounds manageable and interesting. Thank you to all who have helped. Sabbin