Bucketwater

Hello,

Love to see the activity here and been very helpful browsing through the posts. Thanks in advance if you are able to offer any help or feedback. We're having our wedding in June, then in September, coming from Portland, Oregon, USA to Greece. We plan to just travel with carry-on rolling luggage and a backpack each.

We arrive in Athens, September 17th at 10:30am. Depart October 2nd 12:00 Noon
17-19th, Athens. 19th-23rd Santorini. 23rd evening Heraklion Crete. 24th-oct 1st Chania Province Crete. Oct 1st night take ferry back to Pireaus

17th, 18th - Athens - view Acropolis and other areas in town in 1.5 days.
Take Metro+Taxis as needed

19th - 23 Santorini in Imerovigli - Have already reserved room. Relax, enjoy island.
19th Take metro or bus to Pireaus for 7:30am ferry departure. Take bus from Thira port to Imerovigli. Use Bus as needed to get around island.
23rd Take evening ferry to Heraklion Crete. Spend night there. Pick up car in AM.

Sept 24rd - Oct 1st (visit Knossos on 24th AM). Then drive to village of Livadia on west coast. Stay at villa for week. Planning to visit sumarian gorge, beaches, do some walking, sunning. Maybe if we can pay a boat to take us fishing, snorkelling, sun bathing at private beach.

Oct 1st, drop car off in Chania, take night ferry to Pireaus, arrives 5:30am. Plan to take Metro or bus to airport Sunday AM. Thus we have a bit of cushion to get to airport for 12:00noon flight home. (hopefully)

Any feedback or advice to recommend, any glaring thing to consider we have overlooked? Car rental is included with our villa rental.

Our question is on the night ferry - this is on ANEK lines on a very nice boat (ELYROS).. We are wondering if getting the medium level (airplane style seating it was described to us) is fine? The pictures of this boat look incredible--very plush inside. We are young and long distance backpackers so we could sleep on a couch, for instance, with ease. Or should we really pay the 160euro~ to book a bedroom?

Thanks for your advice
Matt and Kara

progol

I'm not an expert here, rather a fellow traveler, and am traveling to Greece the same time you are. Overall I think your itinerary sounds great. No rushing from place to place, adequate time to slow down and relax -- especially after the stress of a wedding! Congratulations!

My only concern would be returning to Athens in time to make the return flight on 10/2. I would return to Athens a day earlier, should there be any weather-related delays with the ferry. Others here might feel differently, but I think you're risking missing the flight if you plan to arrive on the morning of the day you fly out.

I'm assuming the villa is Saturday to Saturday. If there is any flexibility in scheduling, then I would try to tweak the itinerary a little by flying directly to Santorini, then traveling to Crete and ending the trip in Athens. Same # of days, but this time you have a better cushion for your return flight.

Paule

Bucketwater

I could maybe do this.. Thanks for your feedback, I definitely see your point and I think we even discussed this. Just flights to Santorini were a lot more expensive of course than the ferry. Sure, we're spending plenty of money on our honeymoon but we still have a budget and I think that is an area we tried to reduce. We definitely tried to limit our 'going everywhere' attitude--since this is our honeymoon and we normally backpack 200~ miles for a week or two of our normal vacation, we want pure relaxation and lazy!

I guess I should look into how often there are delays. I certainly have made the assumption that start of October, a large ship, weather would not be an issue. Have you read much of this? Or has this concern been voiced to you by proprietors or anyone in Greece?

progol

My comments are my own opinion, so no, there was no particular person who has expressed this concern to me. I believe, though, that there are many experienced Greek travelers on this board that would put in a word of caution and recommend that you arrive at least a day in advance. Now whether that is airline or ferry-specific, I couldn't tell you.

I only know what I would do, as even the possibility that there might be a delay would definitely ruin the trip for me. Probably odds are that you'll be okay -- but for me, this would not be a time when I'd feel like betting!

Paule

Bucketwater

Paule,

I agree - and from what I have seen of flights, getting back to Portland, if I am not on one of the few more direct ones, there is some pure craziness to get back here... I saw many 26-36hr long flights w/ layover which indeed would not be a good final cap to the vacation.

I have now read a few of your threads and can wish you to have a very awesome time in Greece--and that is neat you are there the exact same time almost! Happy with the exchange rate over the past few days--it has gone back towards our favor. We are penny pinchers 99% of the time, but our honeymoon we have really splurged. Again, I think to compensate for 'character building' outdoor trips we have taken. We still need to get rooms in Athens and Heraklion. We have Absolute Bliss for Santorini and Keramoti villas for Crete. We are quite giddy at this since it is by far the nicest we've ever vacationed in our 30 years of life!

progol

Perhaps we'll cross paths on our way home -- we, too, will be leaving around 12:00 noon on 10/2!

After planning for a wedding, you definitely deserve a little splurge - enjoy your wedding and have a wonderful honeymoon!

Paule

Bucketwater

With all appreciation of Paule's comments and feedback, I'd still like to hear from someone who has traveled in Greece or lives/lived there, perhaps thoughts on the night-ferry and importance of being in Athens on Saturday for a Sunday flight vs being in Athens 5:30am Sunday for a noon flight.

Thanks much

brotherleelove2004

Making your way back to Athens by ferry the same day as your departure for home is inadviseable, but very many people do take the risk with no negative repercussions. I always recommend giving yourselves at least one day at the end to accomplish this to make sure you don't miss that flight. It just depends on how much of a gambler you are. At least your ship is a large car ferry, which would probably NOT be affected by winds unless they were very strong. Mechanical problems do happen as well, however, and can't be ignored as a possibility.

I am one of those who also flies to Greece out of PDX and can attest to the grueling, long hours it takes me to reach Santorini (27 hours this time!). The thought of flying out the same day as my return to the mainland with just a few hours as a cushion against delays/cancellations is something I've learned to avoid. Go back to Athens the day before, get a room, a good night's sleep and breakfast, then make your way out to the airport without all the last-minute stress of wondering if you'll make it or not.

GeoffHamer

I would agree with the advice about spending the last night near Athens.
Fares on www.anek.gr for that crossing are 46 euros in an aircraft seat or 83 euros in a two-berth cabin with shower and WC. The extra cost of a cabin is therefore 37 euros per person, or 74 euros for two.

astutefish

We are from Portland (Happy Valley) and are currently in Santorini. In fact, we walked the path from Imerovigli to Fira yesterday. One thing to keep in mind is that sometimes the metro is shut down in Athens because they've decided to go on strike for the day. It didn't happen to us but it did happen to some friends of ours who arrived 2 days earlier and it then becomes a little more difficult to get around by taxi or bus (because of the extra volume). I would recommend not cutting things too close in Athens. Not sure if you've bought your plane tickets yet but I would highly recommend flying KLM (Delta) to Amsterdam and then to Athens. We left at 1:30PM arrived in Amsterdam at 8:30AM, left for Athens at 11:30AM, arrived at 4:00PM (just 17 hours including the layover). On the way back we take an evening flight to Amsterdam and fly out the next morning. One recommendation for Santorini, I think watching the sunset from the Santo Winery is better than anywhere in Oia (which is overhyped in my opinion).

Bucketwater

folks thanks for the replies!!

Now I am pondering our schedule...We bought our tickets at I think a decent price, $1200 maybe 5 months ago, inbound 16hr 1 connection flight, outbound 17 hour 2 connection flight. Saw some 26-38 hours with layover which I couldn't fathom.

Due to when we get in (10:30am sat)..there is a ferry that night that could have us in santorini at midnight, or we spend that night in athens and leave Sunday for Santorini, which would put us on schedule to be in Athens Sat the 1st at 5:30am.. give us that full day. Additionally for ~$400 we could fly onward to Santorini on Saturday, which would add an extra night in Santorini (at some cost..), but give us all day sunday there. We'd probably still end up on the same schedule. Moving our schedule basically gives us 1 full day in Athens instead of 1.5 days, in exchange for padding the time more around departure. I think we'd be okay with that, its just going to increase some costs for us and maybe a touch of hassle to adjust the dates we've reserved in Santorini and Crete for lodging. I'll have to think just a bit more about it. Looks like probably a few hundred more $$$ by the time an extra night in Santorini and flight vs. ferry cost changes. or.. if we took ferry on Sunday probably about the same as we were planning on spending. hmm

Awesome to link up with some of you Portlanders!! astutefish, hope you are having a wonderful trip! We are not people watchers, preferring quiet and some walking to busy and 'happening' -- so we choose Imerovigli.

astutefish

Bucketwater - Imerovigli, Firastafani and Fira are basically just one long connected city. You definitely don't get the cruise ship traffic and shopping in Imervogli but it is not exactly what I would call off the beaten path. We rented a house in Monolithos and it has really worked out well. You can go visit the cities but return to total peace and quiet. Plus there aren't 75 steps down to the hotel like some of the places along the Caldera. It has really been a great time. If you have a car and go to Perissa Beach there is a restaurant there called Ntomatini which is really good food and the couple that own it (Costa and Lisa), he is from Greece and she is from Albany Oregon of all places.

Bucketwater

astutefish,

thanks for all the recommendations! We are aware that Imerovigli is not 'off the beaten path' -- we liked we could walk on the path to Fira when needed, as we are certainly hikers/walkers and going a few miles is very nice in our mind, to burn off calories esp when at the height of laze. But everything we heard about Santorini basically was described as too incredible to skip, even if touristy and generally expensive--it is such for a reason.
Our villa in Crete is quite off the beaten path, in the west coast by Lavidia http://goo.gl/maps/b1Sp


anyone else can give some help about if we should book the night ferry for an aircraft type seat or a bedroom? do the bedrooms have showers? If so maybe we'll do that so we can have a shower early Sunday AM before going to the airport.

as much as I can understand the desire to give the padding for an extra day before travel, being in Athens, given it is at the end of our trip, we're not going to worry about it -- changing dates with our lodging is not the easiest and it will kind of parse our athens time.

Since the ferries generally leave pireaus at 7am time... how is getting down there via bus or metro? As well taking the bus from Thira up to Fira and onward to Imerovigli? We are fans of public transit and I see it costs a few euros but taxi rides seem gouging like 40 euros which is insane.

thanks folks

KrisTiki

Umm realizing you are traveling across the world--you might schedule in some NAPS. The jet lag can be murderous. Although the excitement of being there will help you ward that off! (I usually last 3 days full speed, then crash for an afternoon/night)...Hopefully you are not like me!
I've always wanted to go to Greece, made it all around there, but never to Greece!