We're going the first half of June and have our sights set on:
1) Athens (1 day)
2) Fly to Santorini (4 days)
3) Ferry to Naxos (3 days)
4) Day trip to Mykonos/Delos
4) Ferry to Paros (3 days)
5) Ferry back to Santorini; stay extra day or fly back to Athens
6) Overnight Athens airport hotel
7) Fly to Istanbul in the a.m.
8) Istanbul (4 days)
9) Fly to Cappadocia (3 days)
10) Fly back to Istanbul (1 day)
11) Fly to Athens (1 night) and back home
We've only booked our flight from JFK to Athens on CrossAir ($650) and reserved first night accommodation in Athens. I'll reserve flight to Santorini via Aegean Airlines but since we are flexible, should we reserve a roundtrip from Santorini or take a one-way ticket and figure the rest out? Does it make sense to ferry back to Santorini just to catch a flight? As I said we are completely flexible although we would like to stick with the above itinerary.
Can anyone please comment? Many thanks!!!!
Greek Islands/Istanbul & Cappadocia-3 Weeks
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In September 2000, we went from Santorini to Naxos by ferry and then after a few days, we flew from Naxos to Athens. You may want to consider something like that. I think Paros may be a hub for the ferries, so possibly you could go there from Santorini rather than going to Naxos. Then after your stay on Paros, you could take the ferry to Naxos, and then fly back to Athens. (Not sure if there are flights from Paros to Athens.) That way you would avoid backtracking.
JoJo,
Have you thought about flying into Athens and out of Istanbul?
A oneway route would help avoid much backtracking and loss of cash on transport costs.
Fly into Athens for a couple days. Fly to Santorini for a few. Ferry to Naxos then onto Mykonos. Then ferry to Ephesus on the Turkish coast!!! From there you can explore Cappadocia by bus or flying then onto Istanbul! With all the wonderful sights you have planned it would be ashame to waste so much travel time and then skip Ephesus as well!
I am looking at a similiar itinerary next year.
Yes, Homer, it does seem like a lot of backtracking, however I'm worried about being sick of ferries going such a long distance (from Santorini to Turkey coast) -- and the time spent. That's why I thought flying would be better. Sure, we would LOVe to check out the Turkish coast somehow, having never done it, and going the South to North route you suggested. Again, just wondering what the people who have done it would suggest....we're open to ideas!
Me again. We flew into Rhodes from Athens, spent a couple of days there, then took the ferry to Marmaris in Turkey. From there, we went south by bus and spent a week along the coast. At the end of our week, we took the ferry back to Rhodes and flew to Santorini. It's a very long ferry trip, but a fairly short flight. Instead of going south, you could go north.
Thanks Susan, we've leave in 6 weeks and still unsure about our route! Yikes!! We'd still like to stick with our plan of places to visit -- but how to go about it? Part of me says play it by ear but I don't want to get stuck on uncomfortable ferries, gross overnight buses, don't want to sound like a wimp -- just trying to make best use of time. Perhaps it's time to employ a good Greek travel agent...? I'm proud to say I usually do my own itinerary in all cases....maybe I'm just getting jittery in my old age (37)!
Getting on Turkey threads....