My friend and I are going to go to greece for a month and we don't know what to see and do. We would like to go to Athens, the islands, and where ever else. Can somebody give us a good basic itinerary. We are students with about 4500 euros each to spend on everything, not including flights. Thanks.

I would suggest that you have a look at
http://www.greekisland.co.uk/and decide which islands you really want to see. Choosing one or possibly two island groups is probably the best plan and from there you can pick out nearby mainland sites that you'd like to visit. Once you've done that, gtpnet.com will give you an idea of ferry schedules to help you plan your own itinerary and people here will be glad to answer any specific questions you may have.

also, go to the library and check out 2 eyewitness guides: greece and greek islands. they have a lot of pictures and the descriptions in high level to help you decide what looks good/interesting.
it's not a good book for travel details though ... you'll need a let's go or lonely planet for that. but the eyewitness books are perfect when you've no idea where to start

This website along with the Western Europe Branch of the Lonely Planet Thorn Tree website are excellent sources of travel information for Greece once you have some idea what you want to do. Remember to offer as much information as you can. What is your departure country? Offer information about your accomodation preferences and travel dates so you don't get info that doesn't apply to your needs. If you plan to stay in low budget hotels and youth hostels it won't do you any good to learn about the Grand Bretagne or a 5-island Mediterranean Cruise.

The Cyclades group of islands are popular. Ios is considered the Greek Party Island for 20-somethings, with Santorini and Mykonos running close behind but being more expensive. Lots of young people go to Crete, Kos and Rhodes as well.

Budget hotels will cost you anywhere from 25-50 Euros/night/each, hostels about half that. Figure on about 40-50 Euros/day for food and a cheap bed during the Peak Season, less if you stay at a hostel. 4500 Euros each will last a long time under these circumstances. I was on Santorini this last April-May. I think I spent about 800 Euros on a studio apartment for the month I was there, and another 600 on food, preparing some of it myself in my small kitchen. The more you eat in restaurants the more costly it becomes, but you can buy cheese, bread, fruits, veggies and snacks at any market to save your money. Drinks in tavernas and discos are expensive, so you might be spending a considerable portion of your budget there if you like to party.

I suggest you explore Athens and then take the ferry to the first island on your list. Stay until you're ready to move on. Don't try to stick to a rigid timetable, you'll enjoy yourself more that way. Allow yourself a couple of days at the end to get back to Athens for your flight home to allow for ferry breakdowns and/or high winds.

As you move through the islands you'll see that ferry schedules can change without warning so don't rely on the internet as much as locally posted departure schedules, but www.gtp.gr will give you the best all-around general information about getting from one island to another.

My wife and I honeymooned in Greece and had a fantastic time. It was a short stay, but we packed in as much as we could in two spots. We were in Athens for about 3 days, and stayed at a great tourist hotel in the Plaka, aptly named the Hotel Plaka (http://www.plakahotel.gr/index.html). It was nothing fancy by any stretch (although it looks like it's undergone renovations since we were there), but our room loked right up at the Acropolis which was stunning at night. There is also a rooftop terrace with a spectacular city view. We then went to Santorini for one week which was incredible. We saw everything that you could see on the island. There are tons of great restaurants, a couple of clubs, and really cool museum/archeological sites. Search online for a hotel, but note that if you stay in Fira (or most places on the caldera side) you will spend more. We stayed at a place called the Astra Hotel (http://www.astra-apartments.com/). Also look at staying in Oia at the northern tip of the island which may be cheaper.

The islands get all the good press and I fell for the opinion that you head for islands ASAP. Luckily I didn't believe some posters that 24 hrs. would be enough in Athens, so we spent 2 days on the front end, where we took tours to Delphi and the Argolis area, plus 3 days at the end just doing Athens in May. Although I hated the big bus tours, I did discover that there is a lot on the mainland worth seeing.

So we're going back next May and this time we're going to pick up a car at the airport and spend about 6 days in Nafplion and Thessaly (Ioannina, Meteora) before returning to the airport to fly to Rhodes. And we're going to spend another 2 or 3 days back in Athens again at the end to catch some museums and things we missed last year.

The question is "what are you interested in?" Relaxing or sightseeing, beaches, partying, antiquities, scenery, museums? That will be a big factor in the places you choose to go.

Right on, Polly!

My husband and I are going for 3 weeks starting the end of April 2006. It was very difficult deciding which Islands to visit. I read this board over and over and did Internet searches galore and kept changing my mind. I bought the book Greek Islands by Eyewitness Travel Guide because it had LOTS of pictures of the Islands; I am a visual person and my husband is a photographer. Using that book and intensive talking about what experiences we wanted, we were able to make a decision. Then I bought books on the two Islands we decided on (all thru Amazon) and read them to confirm our decision. A month is a good timeframe to see quite a bit depending on your style of travel. You need to really talk and decide if you want quantity or quality. Read the threads on this post when you tentatively pick an Island and see what kind of excursions etc. people write about. We are visiting Athens for our first 3 days, then flying to Crete for a week, then flying to Santorini for another week, and finishing off with 2 more days in Athens. My husband wants an entire week in Santorini to take pictures and Crete has such diversity that is why we picked those two. If I were your age with that much time I would look into the Ionian group. Just decide to go back some day. Here are a few URLs:
http://www.greektravel.com/
http://www.thegreektravel.com/
http://www.i-escape.com/country_summ...country=Greece

Have fun, research is half the joy of travel. ļ

beanshelly - where are you travelling from? i would recommend the ionian islands - kefalonia, lefkas, paxos, ithaca

We spend a couple of weeks in Greece in June/July 2004. We loved it! Here are some things we enjoyed:

OLYMPIA: very green and pretty; excellent small museum. We really enjoyed it.

NAFPLION - a beautiful port town south of Athens in Peloponese.
Hotel Illion: This is a charming little hotel up on the hill, overlooking the port. The service was excellent (they’ll do your laundry for you!), and it was reasonably priced. For 120 euro, we had a 2-story apt with a huge sea-view veranda. We loved it.
Beach: We spend a day at the beach in Tolo. Nice, nothing special, but enjoyed water sports.
Dinner: Taverna Palea Arhontiko - we had a reservation, and it was delicious.
Taverna o Vasillis – we also ate here, was good too
We stopped in Epidaurus on way back to Athens. Fascinating if you’ve never seen one of those ancient theaters with excellent acoustics.

ATHENS highlights:
o National Archaeological Museum – they just refurbished it, and it’s amazing!
o Syntagma Square Metro Station – they have a really interesting archaeological display from when they were digging up /building the subway system.
o We would have liked to see a performance at the Theater of Herodaticus, but nothing appealing was showing on the days we were there.
o Sounion – try to plan it so you get there at sunset. It’s breathtaking. But don’t go on a Fri or Sun afternoon—too much traffic.
o Obviously: the Acropolis and walking thru the Plaka area is not to be missed!

We went to Santorini and Mykonos and stayed at pricy resorts and I think you might be on budget. We loved both islands. I guess there's a reason so many people go there! Let me know if you have any questions. On the islands, we basically just swam, ate, shopped, and slept. It was paradise!