lovetodance

We are staying in Athens Sept.27 & 28. Then we are heading to Santorini for a minimum of 3 nights. We were thinking of using Santorini as our home base and touring some of the islands. Or is it better to stay on each island that we visit? Please recommend accomodation, max 90 euro per night. Has anyone booked through VRBO Santorini "Amazing View"? Thank you

brotherleelove2004

Unless you'd be satisfied with just a few short hours' visit to the closest islands to Santorini, you really can't go for day trips. It takes too long and the ferries aren't that frequent. Overnight stays are almost always needed. The main exceptions to this would be Ios and Naxos, which are only a couple of hours away. You can take the morning boat either to Ios or the next stop, Naxos, then take the afternoon boat back to Santorini.

lovetodance

Thank you brotherleelove 2004 for your great tip. We will plan on our 3 nights in Santorini taking day trips to Ios and Naxos. Is 3 nights long enough in Santorini? Would you recommend any other islands to visit in the Cyclades to possibly stay overnight? We are returning to Athens on Oct.8 before heading home the following day.

Retsina

Both Ios and Naxos are on the same ferry route i.e. Piraeus-Paros-Naxos-Ios-Santorini so if you are returning to Piraeus (Athens) you simply go via Ios and Naxos and stay on them for however many days you wish, beginning of October is the low season and accomodation is easy to obtain on arrival. My preference would be to return via the western Cyclades i.e. Sikinos, Milos, Sifnos, Serifos. Far less touristy.

brotherleelove2004

Since you apparently have about 10 days, why not ferry to Santorini, stopping off for a couple of days on each island along the way, and then fly back to Athens from Santorini. This would give you the most exposure to the largest amount of islands possible. Aegean Airlines has the best airfare.

http://www.aegean-air.gr/aegeanen/home/

lovetodance

Thank you Retsina and Brotherleelove. We were going to reserve at Delfini Villas in Oia, but maybe we can just take our chances and wait until we get there, after visiting the other islands. That way we can be more flexible. The only island that we repeatedly heard was not to be missed was Santorini, so were undecided as to what other islands were a must to see. Rick Steeves recommends Samos, Lipsi as well as Paros and Santorini. We thought that we would take the hydro foil leaving from Athens to the islands. Flying back would be much faster. Has anyone been to Samos or Lipsi?

wowjojo

To get to samos you would have to go
back to athens to fly there or ferry
which takes 9 - 10 hours from pireus.

Ios is fine but I think you could skip
it for Paros, Naoussa is a very nice town, and/or Syros(Siros) which is
unique, the town is lovely (neoclassical mansions and spacious squares) and has a european flair, one of the most attractive
towns in Greece. Each of these islands is en
route to Santorini.

brotherleelove2004

You don't have to go back to Athens to get the ferry to Samos but you do have to go to Naxos to catch it.

From Naxos the ferry to Samos takes about 6 hours. From Athens it can take between 9-15 hours depending on which ferry you take.