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2 weeks in Greece
I just got back from the trip to Greece, hopefully the itinerary will be helpful in determining what may be realistic if a bit grueling.
Costs came to $11K for 2 adults We had car tire issues requiring multiple pressure checks and topping up air. The ferry to Santorini was suddenly cancelled due to a strike - a major disruption - which led to an overnight ferry and all-nighter but also opened up time for more mainland trips. Be aware that some of the island old towns have an old town/castro that you cannot drive in so parking can be tricky and require walking in the old town, examples notably include Naxos and Mykonos. Weather was great this time of year. Just x2 half-days of rain in 14 days. Comfortable weather. Day 1 Flew into Athens in early AM Check in to AirBnb Panathenaic stadium Spanish fountain Zappeion Temple of Olympian Zeus Arch of Hadrian Syntagma square Change of the guard/Evzones Panagia Kapnikarea church Irini square Monastiraki square Old Mosque Hadrian's library and Tetraconch church Day 2 Athens Acropolis including Theater of Dionysus, Odeon of Herodes Atticus, Propylaia, Temple of Athena Nike, Parthenon, Erectheum Areopagus Acropolis museum Hill of the Muses, Kimon's tomb, Philopappos monument Pnyx Hill Prison of Socrates Ancient Agora of Athens, Temple of Hephaestus, Stoa, and Museum Metropolitan Cathedral of Athens Tylixto gyros near Monastiraki square dinner - highly recommended Day 3 Aristotle Lyceum Ecumenical church of St. Nicholas Agia Dynamis Church of Virgin Mary Gorgoepekoos and St. Eleutherius Holy church of St. Nicholas Rangavas Roman Agora Cave of Winds Pantheon of Athens Kerameikos archaeological site Mt. Lycabettus and church National Archaeology Museum Loukoumades near Monastiraki square snack/lunch - highly recommended Krasopoulio tou Kokora dinner - highly recommended Day 4 Went to airport, picked up rental car Drove to Sounion Temple of Poseidon and viewed Drove back to Daphni monastery and viewed Eleusis archaeological site Isthmus of Corinth Ancient Corinth archaeological site and museum Epidaurus archaeological site and amphitheater Drove back to Athens AirBnb Day 5 Drove to Akrokorinthos and hiked it Drove to Palamidou Fortress in Nafplio and hiked it Overnight Ferry Piraeus to Santorini Pidalio dinner in Nafplio - highly recommended Day 6 Viewed Oia town, churches Viewed Fira town, churches, and archaeological museum of Thira Akrotiri prehistoric site Emporeio castle Ferry Santorini to Naxos Scirocco dinner in Naxos - highly recommended Day 7 Viewed Naxos Castro Naxos Archaeological museum Catholic church of presentation of our Lord of Naxos Monastery of the Virgin Pantanassa Naxos Temple of Apollo - the Portara Archaeological site of Yria, sanctuary of Dionysus Bazeos castle Temple of Demeter and Basilica of Sagkri Ferry Naxos to Mykonos Viewed Mykonos old town Little Venice Church of Panagia Paraportiani Mykonos castle ruins Mykonos windmills To get to the Temple of Demeter on Naxos use Google Maps and not Apple - Apple took us the wrong way to a closed gate and very rough roads Avli tou Thodori dinner in Mykonos island (not in the town, near one of the southern beaches) - highly recommended Day 8 Ferry to Delos Delos Archaeological site and Museum Delos ferry back Armenistis lighthouse Kalafati beach Ferry Mykonos to Rafina Drove to Nafplio Sakis Grill gyros lunch in Mykonos - highly recommended Day 9 Acronafplia fortress Ancient Tiryns Ancient Argos and Theater Larissa Castle Ancient Mycenae and museum Beehive tomb/Treasury of King Atreus Drove to Kalamata Archaeology Museum of Messinia Kalamata Castle Ypapanti church Kalamata Harbor Day 10 Mystras Archaeological site, museum, churches, and castle Monument to Emperor Constantine XI Palaiologos Sparta Archaeological site Leonidas’ tomb Sanctuary of Artemis Orthia Drove to Temple of Apollo Epicurious at Bassae Drove to Patras The Temple at Bassae is well worth seeing but involves narrow windy mountain roads that take a long time to traverse Day 11 Archaeological Museum of Patras Patras Castle Odeon St. Andrew’s church - viewed the relics of the Apostle Andrew Patras Lighthouse Drove to Olympia Olympia Archaeological site, museum, and museum of the Olympic Games Drove to Delphi Taverna Vakhos dinner in Delphi - highly recommended Day 12 Delphi Archaeological site and museum - The Tholos of Athena Pronaia site was closed due to rockfall Drove to Hosios Loukas and viewed the monastery Distomo massacre Memorial Drove to Thebes Temple of Apollo Ismenios Site Cadmea Electra gaste Arcaheological museum of Thebes Holy Church of Luke the Evangelist - viewed the relics of Luke the Evangelist Drove to Kalabaka The church of St. Luke is open at 6 PM and I believe for 2 hrs or so. It is closed during the daytime but the grounds are open Day 13 Psaropatra lookout Roussanou monastery Main lookout on Meteora Holy Trinity monastery St. Stephen's monastery Varlaam monastery outside (closed this day) Great Meteoron monastery St. Nicholas Anapafsas monastery Drove to Athens The Meteora monasteries do not allow photography of the interior frescoes Day 14 Flew back to the US |
What did your stays cost you? $11k for 2 people for 2 weeks? Wow. That’s crazy. I don’t think my wife and I ever spent more than $3k in a 2 week vacation anywhere, Italy and Greece included, even when staying in 4* hotels. Unless you stayed only at 5* tourist hotels, I can’t see how that happened. I mean, it sounds like it was lovely, except for the Mykonos and Santorini parts.
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I'm not sure how you could do it all on $3K but that is impressive.
I visited Greece in 2001 and took a bus down and for x2 people back then a 10 day vacation with tour group came to $1400. Inflation has brought costs up a lot. Average hotel/Airbnb cost was $224 per night. Splurged on some like Mykonos and Kalamata but not on most. Airfare + baggage fees + taxi/Uber to airports and car rental came to $2125 Ferry fees for 4 ferry trips (Athens -> Santorini; Santorini -> Naxos; Naxos -> Mykonos; Mykonos -> Athens) + insurance for ferry cancellation and rescheduling (which happened unfortunately) for x2 people + 1 car came to $1216 Rental car with the all the insurances was $1124 and add in gasoline at $360, this comes to $1484 Entrance fees for all the museums/archaeological sites/attractions came to $1084 So I'm not sure how you did $3K for 2 weeks, 2 people, even just with airfare, ferries, and car rental taken into account unless it was a tour package or some incredible airfare deals. |
Well, it might seem impressive to you, but it’s all about budgeting properly. When we go to Athens, we take the metro to our hotel which costs way less than taxis. No u er in Greece, by the way. We didn’t pay more than $120 a night for our hotels. We don’t use Airbnb anymore, for various reasons, but, mainly because their cleaning fees are out of control, and even if one leaves the property spotless as we always have, we get negative reviews. We used it for 13 years continuously. We booked all of our hotels directly with the properties, not third party websites, which reduced prices considerably.
Car rental for almost $1500? When I was in Sicily in 2018 we had car rental fees of $1400, but it was my fault since much of it were tickets for entering ZTL, and a couple of speeding tickets. Gas usage was minimal, even after driving 1200 miles in two weeks. This trip, we only rented a car in Rhodes, and that was only for two days. Total cost? $76 including gas, which was included and we didn’t have to leave it full. Yes, we paid $38 a day to rent a car. $1084 to enter archaeological sites? In Greece? The fees to enter Greek archaeological sites are the absolute cheapest in all of Europe. Did you use the vip entrance only? Did you pay at the sites or “pre book”, which is a scam by some third party sites? We’ve never done a tour. Our flights were direct. Delta to Milan, as we always visit Italy before and after our vacation to visit friends and family. Boston-Malpensa $546 each round trip. Hotel in Rhodes, a total of 6 nights- $683- we got a discount because of the length of time stayed. Ferry Rhodes to Symi- R/T- $138. Bed and Breakfast on Symi $215. Not a single meal went over €75 except for two on Symi but they were well worth it because tables are usually hard to come by but we stayed in their hotel as well. We’re budget travelers, but as we’ve gotten older, we spend a little more because we can afford to and always look for better deals. We’ve been traveling for 40+ years, my wife’s been traveling since she was a child and knows better than I how to find great deals. I still can’t wrap my head around your $360 gasoline usage for a rental car for two weeks unless it was a very large Jeep or something, but, even then, it wouldn’t be THAT high. In 2024 we stayed on Milos and rented a Jeep (huge mistake) and even after 7 days still hadn’t even used the tank of gas it came with. But, every traveler is different, and has different needs and does things differently. Still can’t imagine spending $11k in two weeks on Greece. |
Originally Posted by happy_traveler_too
(Post 17685368)
Well, it might seem impressive to you, but it’s all about budgeting properly. When we go to Athens, we take the metro to our hotel which costs way less than taxis. No u er in Greece, by the way. We didn’t pay more than $120 a night for our hotels. We don’t use Airbnb anymore, for various reasons, but, mainly because their cleaning fees are out of control, and even if one leaves the property spotless as we always have, we get negative reviews. We used it for 13 years continuously. We booked all of our hotels directly with the properties, not third party websites, which reduced prices considerably.
Car rental for almost $1500? When I was in Sicily in 2018 we had car rental fees of $1400, but it was my fault since much of it were tickets for entering ZTL, and a couple of speeding tickets. Gas usage was minimal, even after driving 1200 miles in two weeks. This trip, we only rented a car in Rhodes, and that was only for two days. Total cost? $76 including gas, which was included and we didn’t have to leave it full. Yes, we paid $38 a day to rent a car. $1084 to enter archaeological sites? In Greece? The fees to enter Greek archaeological sites are the absolute cheapest in all of Europe. Did you use the vip entrance only? Did you pay at the sites or “pre book”, which is a scam by some third party sites? We’ve never done a tour. Our flights were direct. Delta to Milan, as we always visit Italy before and after our vacation to visit friends and family. Boston-Malpensa $546 each round trip. Hotel in Rhodes, a total of 6 nights- $683- we got a discount because of the length of time stayed. Ferry Rhodes to Symi- R/T- $138. Bed and Breakfast on Symi $215. Not a single meal went over €75 except for two on Symi but they were well worth it because tables are usually hard to come by but we stayed in their hotel as well. We’re budget travelers, but as we’ve gotten older, we spend a little more because we can afford to and always look for better deals. We’ve been traveling for 40+ years, my wife’s been traveling since she was a child and knows better than I how to find great deals. I still can’t wrap my head around your $360 gasoline usage for a rental car for two weeks unless it was a very large Jeep or something, but, even then, it wouldn’t be THAT high. In 2024 we stayed on Milos and rented a Jeep (huge mistake) and even after 7 days still hadn’t even used the tank of gas it came with. But, every traveler is different, and has different needs and does things differently. Still can’t imagine spending $11k in two weeks on Greece. Thanks for your insights. The metro would have saved me $100 or less. You can call taxis using Uber in Athens (and Istanbul, London, Rome, etc.) even if it may not be official. Uber in the US is unavoidable, or I pay long term parking which is a lot more expensive. Your flights to Greece weren't direct if you went through Italy. Your ferries did not involve a car. You got a discount due to lengthy stay - we didn't stay anywhere for 1 day except Athens because of the scope of the travel and driving. I liked AirBnb the most but it wasn't cheap and came to approximately $300 a night in a very nice part of Athens. Worth it to us. I'm also traveling with my sister, not my wife, so separate beds/larger space were a must and raised hotel costs. Car rental at ~$1000 is what I saw for Enterprise and Budget in Turkey, UK, Italy, and Greece. Nothing was less than $900. Perhaps you use a different agency. Or use a lot less insurance. We took full insurance and are glad we did as we acquired some scratches on the way and this covered it. Gasoline to drive 1700 miles in Greek mountains did come to $360. Not a Jeep it was a Suzuki Swace, mid-smallish car. Is that a surprise? To me it is not. Yes, the archaeological sites all added up to $1084. No VIP access, no 3rd party vendors. All purchased on site. Temple of Olympian Zeus is 20 euros per person. Acropolis is 30 euros per person. Acropolis museum is 20 euros per person. Hadrian's library is 10 euros per person. National Archaeology museum in Athens is 12 euros per person. Roman Agora is 10 euros per person. It all adds up. We saw a lot of sites and museums (40+) in many different parts of Greece and relished every minute of it. Greece does not have the cheapest deals. Turkey had that when I went in 2024 - by far, due to their 14 day museum pass, and I daresay even England had a better deal with the English Heritage pass and London travel pass. Greece (and Italy, from what I could tell) didn't have a plan you could use that way. Thanks for the tips and all the best for your next vacation. |
Originally Posted by trebizond
(Post 17685389)
Thanks for your insights. The metro would have saved me $100 or less. You can call taxis using Uber in Athens (and Istanbul, London, Rome, etc.) even if it may not be official. Uber in the US is unavoidable, or I pay long term parking which is a lot more expensive.
Your flights to Greece weren't direct if you went through Italy. Your ferries did not involve a car. You got a discount due to lengthy stay - we didn't stay anywhere for 1 day except Athens because of the scope of the travel and driving. I liked AirBnb the most but it wasn't cheap and came to approximately $300 a night in a very nice part of Athens. Worth it to us. I'm also traveling with my sister, not my wife, so separate beds/larger space were a must and raised hotel costs. Car rental at ~$1000 is what I saw for Enterprise and Budget in Turkey, UK, Italy, and Greece. Nothing was less than $900. Perhaps you use a different agency. Or use a lot less insurance. We took full insurance and are glad we did as we acquired some scratches on the way and this covered it. Gasoline to drive 1700 miles in Greek mountains did come to $360. Not a Jeep it was a Suzuki Swace, mid-smallish car. Is that a surprise? To me it is not. Yes, the archaeological sites all added up to $1084. No VIP access, no 3rd party vendors. All purchased on site. Temple of Olympian Zeus is 20 euros per person. Acropolis is 30 euros per person. Acropolis museum is 20 euros per person. Hadrian's library is 10 euros per person. National Archaeology museum in Athens is 12 euros per person. Roman Agora is 10 euros per person. It all adds up. We saw a lot of sites and museums (40+) in many different parts of Greece and relished every minute of it. Greece does not have the cheapest deals. Turkey had that when I went in 2024 - by far, due to their 14 day museum pass, and I daresay even England had a better deal with the English Heritage pass and London travel pass. Greece (and Italy, from what I could tell) didn't have a plan you could use that way. Thanks for the tips and all the best for your next vacation. Bergamo to Rhodes was €129 for the two of us round trip which is still less than what we would’ve paid if we flew from Boston to Athens or Rhodes, which still isn’t a direct flight. You’re nitpicking on small, inconsequential things that have zero bearing on the fact that we knew how to budget properly. $300 a night for an Airbnb in Athens is highway robbery, if you ask me. We stayed in a 4* hotel and it was still a lot less than $300/ night. Just because you NEED uber everywhere doesn’t mean everybody else does. I’m aware Uber exists in Greece, but, it’s avoidable and using the metro would’ve saved you a lot more than $100. You took your rental car onto the ferries? Did you tell them that you were going to? Honestly, it’s not worth the money. I don’t rent from American rental car companies abroad as they’re ALWAYS independently owned and operated even though I have enterprise, hertz and budget points accumulated, because I’ve always found their services abroad to be subpar, sono always rent from local companies, such as I did in Rhodes and that included full insurance. Don’t assume what you don’t know. Even driving 1700 miles in Greece or anywhere in Europe, such as I’ve done in the past, wouldn’t cost $360 in gasoline costs. Sorry, I’ve lived in Italy, in the north, with mountainous curvy roads, which has zero to do with gasoline usage, and can’t imagine using $360 of gas to drive 1700 miles. Perhaps you had a large automatic vehicle. I always drive a standard (manual) transmission. |
Athens: I would just had added the 2 Mitroupolis to Kapnikearea and visited the Cycladic Museum.
It might have been easier to visit Sounion from Rafina and sepnd the whole day 4 between Korinthos and Epidavros. Wyh not Mistras/Sparta - Kalamata etc.- Bassae - Olympia - Patras? |
Originally Posted by happy_traveler_too
(Post 17685394)
I never said we flew to Greece. Our flights to Europe were direct and our flight from
Bergamo to Rhodes was €129 for the two of us round trip which is still less than what we would’ve paid if we flew from Boston to Athens or Rhodes, which still isn’t a direct flight. You’re nitpicking on small, inconsequential things that have zero bearing on the fact that we knew how to budget properly. $300 a night for an Airbnb in Athens is highway robbery, if you ask me. We stayed in a 4* hotel and it was still a lot less than $300/ night. Just because you NEED uber everywhere doesn’t mean everybody else does. I’m aware Uber exists in Greece, but, it’s avoidable and using the metro would’ve saved you a lot more than $100. You took your rental car onto the ferries? Did you tell them that you were going to? Honestly, it’s not worth the money. I don’t rent from American rental car companies abroad as they’re ALWAYS independently owned and operated even though I have enterprise, hertz and budget points accumulated, because I’ve always found their services abroad to be subpar, sono always rent from local companies, such as I did in Rhodes and that included full insurance. Don’t assume what you don’t know. Even driving 1700 miles in Greece or anywhere in Europe, such as I’ve done in the past, wouldn’t cost $360 in gasoline costs. Sorry, I’ve lived in Italy, in the north, with mountainous curvy roads, which has zero to do with gasoline usage, and can’t imagine using $360 of gas to drive 1700 miles. Perhaps you had a large automatic vehicle. I always drive a standard (manual) transmission. Do you communicate this way with everyone or only with people you mean to insult? I don't understand the purpose of your posts - there's very little constructive and specific that someone can use for their future trips other than using a local car rental agency and booking hotels directly rather than through Expedia - fair points. Most everything else is idiosyncratic and couched in ignorance about the specific circumstances of the travelers, like flying through Italy to get to Greece (because you have family there - what about those who don't?), not taking a car to the islands (so how do you get from the coastal city of Naxos to the Temple of Demeter in the mountains of the island? - or do we rent a separate car for each island even if we're just there for 6 hrs?), lugging 4 large suitcases after a sleepless overnight flight on an unfamiliar metro, and driving manual (hard to do when 1 out of 2 people in the party drives only automatic), etc. That said, I think my 2 weeks in Greece was very different from your 2 weeks. No need for a reply, I have registered your points quite well thus far. |
Originally Posted by neckervd
(Post 17685395)
Athens: I would just had added the 2 Mitroupolis to Kapnikearea and visited the Cycladic Museum.
It might have been easier to visit Sounion from Rafina and sepnd the whole day 4 between Korinthos and Epidavros. Wyh not Mistras/Sparta - Kalamata etc.- Bassae - Olympia - Patras? I agree it lacked efficiency because we were so exhausted some days we didn't get out of the hotel as early as needed and some sites took longer than anticipated like Olympia etc. Big loss of time was backtracking from Patras to Olympia and then back at night from Olympia through bad weather/fog to cross over to Delphi at night. Likewise, Mystras took way longer to climb than anticipated but yes ideally it would be Nafplio -> Tiryns/Argos/Mycenae -> Sparta (stay overnight) -> Mystras -> Kalamata -> Bassae -> Olympia -> Patras (stay overnight) -> Delphi etc. |
Don't worry! you enjoyed your trip: that's what counts!
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