40th anniversary to greece
 

We are planning a september trip to greece and the islands for our 40th anniversary. This is our first there. We have been frustrated with deciding which islands and what hotels. We want to stay 2 nights in Athens, then either fly to Crete, and then ferry or hydrofoil to Santorini, Mykonos or Naxos. We plan to do this in 10 days, staying a few on each island, with 3 on Santorini. We need to know the hours and distance between islands and decide if we should actually leave Crete for another time and just do Santorini and Myconos or Naxos. We want luxury hotels, but not tremendous flashy, loud places. Beaches are not very important but views, nice rooms, especially non-smoking are. We welcome all your help and advice.
thanks in advance

You quite simply must stay at Hotel Grande Bretagne in Athens, take an Acropolis view room/suite with a terrrace and you won't be disappointed. Please see my Athens trip report for full details of this property.

Use this link to the Hellas Flying Dolphin website to determine travel times between the islands you've mentioned. Heraklion is the capital city of Crete.

http://www.greekislands.gr/hfd/

Santorini is 65 miles north of Crete. Naxos is 50 miles north of Santorini. Mykonos is 20 miles north of Naxos (all approximations).

If you should decide to leave Crete for another time I suggest that you fly to either Mykonos or Santorini and use the HFD to take you along to the remaining islands you've chosen. If you start on Santorini and end up on Mykonos you can fly back to Athens, or there's a fast boat (Seajet II) back to Rafina on the mainland where you can catch a bus back into Athens, a short distance away. If you start on Mykonos and end up on Santorini you can either fly back to Athens or take the car ferry.

I recommend the luxury hotels in the most beautiful, timeless and romantic village of Oia on Santorini. Here's a link to a website to help you with your options:

http://www.santorinihotels.com/hotels.php

Hi,
thanks for your good advice. We are feeling more comfortable with the trip. We have decided to eliminate Crete as it is too large to do it justice and will visit another time. We plan to spend 2 nights in Athens, then take the hydrofoil to Mykonos and stay there for 2 nights. Problem--Delos-closed on Monday and Tuesday we leave for Naxos. There donesn't seem enough time on Tues to go to Delos, come back to the hotel, get our luggage and make it to the ferry for Naxos. Is there a later ride there so we don'r have to change our dates or miss Delos? Two nights in Naxos and then the ferry to Santorini for the last 3 nights, flying out and staying at the airport or nearby for an early flight to the US. Also, just can't seem to have a response from Kitikes after the first e-mail they sent before we knew our dates. We would really like to stay there, even in their new suites. Any place we can e-mail to get a quicker response?
Also, brotheroflove--where are you from with all your terrific knowledge?
thanks,
jeanne

I think you might be able to do it. The Flying Dolphin doesn't leave Mykonos for Santorini until 2:30 PM.

It takes about 30 minutes to get to Delos and a guided tour lasts about 3 hours. You probably already know this. I did find the following on one website:

"Mykonos provides the easiest access to Delos and excursion boats leave from the small quay mornings, Tuesday through Saturday, starting at 8:30 a.m. Boats depart every half hour and return between 11 am and 3:30 p.m." Assuming you got on the 8:30 boat you could take a 3 hour tour and still be back on Mykonos by 1 PM at the latest, giving yourselves 1.5 hours to catch the boat to Santorini. That should be enough.

It would be easy enough to inquire with the excursion companies once you were there to see if one of them has a tour that will work for you. I'm sure your hotel concierge can assist with this. Or you could forego a tour and just do it on your own.

If you were already packed you could save time by finding somewhere to stash your bags at the port. Assuming the boat for Delos leaves from the same area as the ferry to Santorini, maybe the excursion company you use will keep them for you.

Why not just wait until you get to Mykonos to see if you can put the pieces of the jigsaw together instead of worrying about it now? For all you know the sea will be too choppy for the small boat and you couldn't get to Delos anyway.

I don't know what to tell you about Katikies. Others seem to have no trouble making reservations. If you're that set on staying there I suggest you spend the money for an international call to see if you can get a response that way.

http://www.katikies.com/

Before the numbers for the individual properties, dial 011 30 22860 (then the number). Their website also shows several fax numbers.

My knowledge comes from a love of Santorini and having spent 6 months there twice as well as having made shorter visits. I'm just passing on what I've learned through experience and what I can glean from other travellers as well as from the internet. God bless Google!

I live in Oregon.

Thanks so much for all your information. We are really looking forward to our trip. Will keep in touch.

We are definitely feeling better about our trip to Greece. We have booked airline tickets, have our Athens hotel and hopefully, our Santorini hotel. Our next problem is Mykonos. We are in our early 60's, would like the night life for a while but would not want to be hearing it at 2 in the am. We also don't want a tremendous resort that is really busy, although they seem to have non-smoking rooms which is very important to us. Some trip-advisor people either love or pan the same hotel which is very confusing. Kivotos Club had pros and cons, as did Tharroe and a few of the other better hotels. Who to believe? It also depends on who is doing the reviews and their ages. We would like some good advice for Mykonos and also for Naxos as we will be staying there for 2 nights. Really appreciate anyone's help--do we stay at the beach or near town if it is in a quiet area? Thanks ahead of time for your help!

jjashworth

You can have both quiet and in town. Do websearch for hotels in the Rochari (Rohari) district which is quieter area but only minutse from town centre. Some to look at:

Belvedere Hotel
Rochari Hotel
Carbonaki Hotel
Semeli Hotel
Elena Hotel

thanos

Hi Thanos,
Still need to find a way to get to Naxos from Mykonos on a wed sept 21st. When we looked up the ferry schedule there was nothing, but there was also nothing for Tues. Is there anyway you can help with this? It is our only clitch. If we can't get to Naxos on Wed. we will have to spend only 1 night in Mykonos and we'd prefer 2.
thanks for your help

I recommend Princess of Mykonos on Mykonos; it's a couple of minutes away from town by taxi. It has lovely views of the sea, has a pool and nicely appointed, large rooms. The common areas are prettily decorated with local art, and the breakfast room is cheery, and the buffet breakfast had lots of variety. The staff were very friendly and helpful. There is a restaurant on site that was so good that we ate there more than we had planned. The hotel boasts among its guests both Jane Fonda and G. Bush, Sr.

As it turned out, the whole time we were there the wind howled (never experienced anything like it, for so long!), so we spent more time in our room than we would have had the weather been nicer, and we were glad to be in very pleasant surroundings.

The Hellas Flying Dolphin will take you directly from Mykonos to Naxos. After September 19th it's out of service on Wednesdays and Thursdays.

Your other option is the ferry to Paros and then another ferry over to Naxos. Depending on when you go there are both car ferries and faster catamarans (Seajet II) between Mykonos and Paros.

www.gtp.gr

Once you're on Mykonos you can check for departure times and schedule changes.

Flying Dolphin:

http://www.greekislands.gr/hfd/

Thankyou all so much. I did finally check the ferry schedules and I can get to Naxos via paros on that wed so we are all set. We think we will stay at the villa marandi in Naxos. It looks lovely and has had great reviews. Anyone ever stay there? We are still a bit unsettled about Mykonos but the Princess Mykonos sounds nice. Thanks for all your help. When this is done we can sit back and have all summer to do our reading about what to see!
thanks so much

I've stayed in the general area of the Villa Marandi and enjoyed it. Looks nice from the road, for what little that's worth. Great beaches in the area, but you're a car (recommended), bus or taxi ride from the Hora.

It gets great reviews on trip advisors. There aren't a lot of truly upscale places on Naxos (fine by me -- I'll do upscale on Santorini and Mykonos, but opt for over intangibles on Naxos). But this one looks very nice. There have been Fodor posters who have stayed there . . . hopefully one or more will chime in. Tripadvisor gives it excellent marks.