8 days Greece itinerary advice
 

My husband and I are looking at Greece for a fall 2015 trip. We were originally planning a trip to Spain, but found out that we have far less time than we had hoped for (due to DH's work) so we are switching gears to Greece since we think it will work better for the time we have available to us.

We are trying to work around the time constraints and make the most of our time in Greece, see some sights we really want to see, but still keep our trip enjoyable. We are used to traveling at a busy pace. Hopefully he can talk his boss into longer vacation times in the future, but we're working with what we get. :) We'll have to make a second trip to Greece to see more of the islands and the Peloponnese peninsula.

Day 1 (Thursday): Flight out of Kansas 12:34pm
Day 2 (Friday): Arrive Athens 3:20pm, travel to Hydra, overnight on Hydra.
Day 3 (Saturday): Explore Hydra, overnight Hydra.
Day 4 (Sunday): Depart Hydra in the morning, pick up rental car in Athens, drive to Kalambaka and overnight there.
Day 5 (Monday): Explore monasteries, overnight Kalambaka.
Day 6 (Tuesday): Drive to Delphi (go out of way to Hosias Loukas), overnight Arachova.
Day 7 (Wednesday): Spend day at Delphi (would like to hire a tour guide), drive to Athens, drop car, overnight in Athens.
Day 8 (Thursday): Athens
Day 9 (Friday): Athens
Day 10 (Saturday): Athens
Day 11 (Sunday): Flight back to Kansas

From what I've read, Hydra is close to Athens and easy to get to, so that's why I've selected it over one of the other islands. I haven't read as much about Aegina, but perhaps I should research it as well since it also seems to be a good choice for a short trip. One day probably isn't enough to either island justice, but I'm hoping that it's long enough to at least give us a taste of a Greek island. I didn't want to cut our time in Athens short (from the planning I've done, I think we'll have plenty to keep us busy there for three days). I hate how far out of the way Meteora is, but I'd really like to see it.

Concerns, thoughts, tips? Is the order of the itinerary good? Any references for guides? We really enjoyed using a guide for the ancient sites at Rome and think we'd enjoy the sites in Greece more with a guide. Also, any tips on picking the rental car up in Athens? Should we pick it up in Piraeus?

Thanks!

I love Hydra, but it doesn't make sense for this itinerary. It's 2+ hours on a hydrofoil from Piraeus, the port in Athens. And the port is about 45 minutes from the airport.

In that amount of time, you could probably fly from the airport to any number of islands. See which ones you could connect to on arrival in Athens. Spend two or three nights, then fly back to Athens.

I would skip the rental car and arrange day trips to Delphi etc. from Athens. There are tons of companies that do that, and you'd have a tour guide along, too.

Hydra on arrival day: I don't have the fall 2015 boat schedule, but the off season last boat leaving Piraeus is usually around 17:00. For a plane scheduled to land at 15:20, this would be a tight schedule.

May be you check the opening hours of the Meteora monasteries. Some seem to be closed on Monday, others on Tuesday.

Personally I would prefer to skip islands all together and add time on mainland. But if an island is a must, actually I think Hydra makes more sense for two nights/one full day than heading all the way to the larger and more diverse islands. Aegina might be a good option too.

Piraeus is mainly more convenient than Athens center to drive on Athinon-Lamia national road, the motorway you have to pick driving towards Meteora.

If you follow the usual route from Meteora through Amfissa to Delphi, saving the Hosios Loukas Monastery visit on your way to Athens might make more sense. A lot depends when exactly on fall you plan to come. Hopefully archeological sites will operate on their summer timetable till end of October so you could visit part of Delphi ruins or the archeological museum arriving from Meteora if you wish, then overnight in Arachova, return to Delphi next morning if necessary, then visit Hosios Loukas on the way to Athens (Delphi to Arachova is less than 10 kms, Arachova to Hosios Loukas about 30km).