2 days in santorini; 2 days in Naxos - need more time?
 

Hello all,
My new husband and I are traveling to Greece next week for our honeymoon! We are staying at Aris Caves in Oia for 2 nights and then on to Villa Mirandi in Naxos for 2 nights. Our plan is then to return to Athens for 1 or 2 nights but that's where the question comes in. Is 2 nights in each place going to be enough? We really can't do much about Santorini unless we go to another hotel (these were the only 2 days this month that Aris Caves had availability), but we could add another day in Naxos and shorten our time in Athens. My husband would like to dive some in Santorini so any info about that would be awesome, and we want to spend some time on the beach in Naxos. Any recommedations on this or anything else you might want to share would really be welcome. Neither of us have ever been to either of these islands (I was in Hydra for 1 day once) and we want our time to be romantic and restful. Can't wait to hear from all you experts!

Diving and snorkelling is very disappointing on Santorini. There's not much to see underwater but algae-covered rocks and seagrasses. The shoreline drops off very quickly to extremely deep water. There are no colorful coral formations or colorful schools of fish like you'd find in a tropical sea.

You really need 2 days to explore Athens, so if you can't add more days to your itinerary then keep it as it is. If you should decide to add another day to Oia you can just ask around the village at the hotels for available rooms. One place that doesn't advertise so would be a likely candidate is close by, the Lauda Traditional Rooms, about 100 yards away along the pedestrian footpath in the direction of Fira.

Have a great time!

First of all, congratulations!

My trips to Greece are 2-3 weeks duration, and that's not long enough. :-)

Since you are limited to six nights, make the best use of your time that you can. Although there are dive companies on Santorini (Kamari and Perissa), a trip would take up most of one day. There are many better things to do and see on Santorini.

Whether to shorten your time in Athens for one extra night on Naxos is a matter of choice. If you aren't into sightseeing and just want to relax, then an extra night on Naxos would be nice.

Day by Day

Day 1: boat to Mykonos. Over Easter weekend all flights and practically all boats were booked. Got Deck seat, should have asked if higher class available, since deck was very windy. Stayed at Belvedere – excellent hotel; 160 euro. Dinner at the Magic Garden – also excellent. Good Friday service flowed out onto the streets.

Day 2: Belvedere, Suite for 258 Euro. Lunch at Alefkandra, right on the water but the food was very average. Cafes nearby were fun. Dinner at hole in the wall for about 15 Euro.

Day 3: Belvedere, great room for 160 euro: Went to Ano Mera for 10 euro. Church was pretty. Walked to Kalo Livadi and then Elia Beech. Had lunch at Staurakopoulos Nikolaos on Elia Beach restaurant, was ok. View was great. Taxi back – 10 euro.

Day 4: Fast boat to Santorini; made sure I got a window ticket. Reserved Hotel Loucas, but room smelled like sulfur so left. Wandered into Nefeles Suites, negotiated room for 150 Euro per night. Great view in center of Fira, nice balcony. Dinner at Archipeligos – superb marinated Octopus appetizer and Calmari in Caper Lemon sauce with Basmati main course, 44 Euro + tip. Dropped into (probably) Kastro’s Bar which had great view over the cauldron and classical music for a 12 euro hot rum, much needed after sitting outside at Archipeligos.

Day 5: Stayed at Nefeles Suites. Walked to Oia, took my time and explored everything along the way, about 6 hours. Lunch on the path at last hotel before mid-point; great Greek salad for about 5 Euro. Dinner below Oia in Ammoudi at Kira Katina, super grilled octopus and beer for about 20 euros. Taxi back for 10 euro. Great sunset.

Day 5: Stayed at Nefeles Suites. Went to Peleo and Neo Kamina – really not much to see. There is NOTHING to eat at the old port, the only thing I could get was a grilled cheese sandwich. You can get a beer. Islands were underwhelming, just a bunch of rocks, but I did appreciate my view down on the islands later. The hot spring was not that hot, but was interesting. I’d recommend exploring other parts of the island. Dinner at Selene – which was mindblowingly excellent. Total bill including wine (without tip) 91 euro. All wines on list were between 20 and 35 euro, which is interesting. View of sunset was ok.

Day 6: Stayed at Nefeles Suites. Went to Perissa beach, which was nice. Lunch at club on beach was good and reasonable. Had a great Artichoke – Potato salad. The club also had umbrellas on beach so I spent most of the day there. Dinner at Senor Zorbas, which not only had an absolutely fantastic view of the sunset, harbors, all the boats going about; but also excellent Mexican food. The tortillas were hand made, pico de gallo was real; probably the best Mexican I’ve had outside the US. 2 taxi rides were 10 euro, one was 8.

Day 7: 10 euro taxi ride to Monolithos, lunch at Captain Loros. Decent taverna, nothing special. Right next to road, so view was not desirable. Moved to Hotel Sigalas at Kamari Beach. Great 2 room suite for 40 euro, 10 yards from the water. Bed softer and sheets better than Nefeles Suites. Only 3 rooms were occupied – so was nice and quiet. The beach was nice, but Perissa’s was better. Dinner at the Thalasso right next door. Very enthusiastic team, food was good.

Day 8: 710 flight to Athens – Thessaloniki. Taxi to airport – surprise - 15 euro. Left on time or thereabouts. Rented car from Sixt and drove to Kanistro. Drive on back roads around Trifolo – Epanomi – Iraklia was beautiful, as was peninsula past Kalithea. From Palouri to Kanistro was one of most beautiful valleys ever. Kanistro itself was nothing, not even a taverna. Lunch at Athisto, great souvlaki. Town was quaint, with nice views of the valley. Found room at Nea Skioni, 40 euro, right on the beach, with garden full of roses and other flowers. Beach rocky along the waterline. Dinner at one of the tavernas in town was ok, about 20 euro.

Day 9: Breakfast in town was dreadful, they put spam in the omlet and called it ham. Drive back was beautiful, via Mala and Siviri. Had lunch at Panayotis’ Taverna in park to right of beach in Nea Plagia. Excellent fried anchovies or something similar, greek salad and pickled beets. Its funny what you get when you can’t speak the language. The drink was tsipouro - like ouzo mixed with retsina. I prefer them separately. 29 euro. The beach there was super. Dinner the same place: grilled lamb, tzadziki and the house red, also excellent for a surprisingly cheap 11 euro.

Mykonos city center was the best, with cafes everywhere. Fira was too touristy, would probably have preferred to stay outside the center, towards Firostafini or even Imerovigli (especially the Belvedere hotel!), or even Siglas and just take a 10 euro taxi everywhere. I thought about moving but had already paid for 4 nights. Could have easily spent more time exploring peninsulas to east of Thessaloniki.

Both islands have scuba and horseback riding, but I didn’t make time for either.

Thanks to all who replied for your advice - I have another question about restaurants and beaches in Naxos - any recommendations?

My favorite restaurant in Naxos is the one at the beach at Mikri Vigla- I fell in love. The beach is gorgeous, and when I think of where I want to be in Greece, it's at the restaurant on Mikri Vigla. I don't know the name, but it's the only one I saw. We went there a couple of times and both times were great. Easy bus service from Chora.

Will you have a car? Villa Marandi is situated a few kms outside Chora (Naxos Town). The beach near the hotel may be all you want, but if not, Agios Prokopios is just over the headland from Villa Marandi. Beyond that are Agia Anna and Plaka. Mikri Vigla is the next beach beyond Plaka. All are long, sandy beaches.

For restaurants, you have a huge choice in Naxos Town. Avoid the ones lined up on the street along the harbor, and look in the maze of passageways leading up to the kastro (castle). It's fun wandering around, checking out the menus before deciding where to eat. There is one, <i>To Kastro</i> if memory serves, that has wonderful views of the bay. If you want a change from Greek food, there is an Italian and a Mexican restaurant (both very good) on the steet leading down from the town square to St George.