We are taking our 15 yr old to greece and prefer to stay in one place and do day trips. I have read that Athens may not be a great base .....but we have free nights on Starwood. Is there enough to do for 5 nights in Athens or should we do 3 in Athens and 2 in Santorini? What day trips do you recommned from Athens?

I would say to spend 3 days in Athens and 2 in Santorini at Volcano Vacation Villas. If you run out of things to do in Athens, you can take day trips like Hydra.

Correction: Volcano View Villas

We just returned from Greece. Our 16 year old liked Santorinin the best you can take a day boat to the volcano, hot springs, and an island. Dio alot of climbing go on the sky tram and shop til you drop.
Athen was OK. go to the Acroplois, all day trip to Delphi. Hop on hop off bus and do some more shopping and food is to die for.

WE just returned from 7 nights in Santorini and 3 nights in Athens with our 11 and 13 year olds.

While we only had 2 full days in Athens and, to our surprise wished we had another day or two... I would not miss the chance to go to Santorini. It is beautiful and relaxing. We stayed in Oia, which we really liked.

The flight from Athens to Santorini takes less than an hour, but with getting to the airport early, etc, it takes half a day.

IMO three full days in Athens is plenty.

I found Athens very interesting, but I would split 3/2 (Athens and Santorini). You will not have any problems filling three busy days in Athens.

Definitely go to Santorini.

Tough choice. I haven't been to Santorini but I did recently spend 5 days in Athens (late April / early May 2006). We still have a substantial list of museums and sights that we would like to see in Athens despite our longer stay. That said, I fell in love with small town Greece and it sounds as though Santorini embodies this. If possible, I'd suggest you go ahead and do both Athens and Santorini. Don't plan any daytrips from Athens as you won't have time to see half of everything the city itself has to offer.

Here's another vote for 3/2 Athens/Santorini.

Athens is great but frenetic and Santorini is magical and as peaceful as you want to make it -- it's a nice pairing.

Still, if you absolutely want to be based in one place, Souion, Delphi and Hydra would be nice side trips from Athens and would offer a nice mix.