9-Night Greece Plan

Old Apr 11th, 2017, 12:41 PM
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9-Night Greece Plan

Hello folks,

We are planning an early June trip to Greece from US.

Here is what we have planned so far:

Day 1: Arrive in Athens. Fly straight to Santorini. Evening in Santorini
Day 2: Santorini
Day 3: Santorini
Day 4: Ferry to Naxos. Evening in Naxos
Day 5: Naxos
Day 6: Day trip to Delos & Mykonos
Day 7: Fly to Athens. Evening in Athens
Day 8: Athens
Day 9: Day trip to Delphi
Day 10: Fly back

It does seem a bit packed but this will probably be our sole trip to Greece so we wanted to cover as much as we can. Any suggestions/comments on the itinerary, pls let us know.

Also we'd like to get some suggestions for places to stay. In Santorini & Naxos, we are looking for for some kind of upscale beachfront resort. For Athens maybe something in the city close to the attractions. We are pretty flexible with our budget so pls let us know your suggestions.

Thanks much!
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Old Apr 11th, 2017, 01:07 PM
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Just one point about the day trip to Delos/Mykonos: they only go from Naxos 3 days per week, so you may not be able to do it on Day 6 or even at all. If you do the day trip, you won't have much time to see what Naxos has to offer either. Likewise with Athens. Your one day in Athens will allow you to see the Parthenon and a few other sites.

Delos and Delphi are two places I wouldn't want to miss if I had only one trip to Greece. Perhaps you should skip Naxos and go straight from Santorini to Mykonos, because boats go to Delos from Mykonos 7 days/week. That will allow you to spend more time on Mykonos as well, an island with nice sandy beaches and a beautiful chora.
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Old Apr 12th, 2017, 11:15 AM
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Thanks Heimdall! Will check with the ferry service guys to see if they can really fit into the plan.

How about the hotels? Any recommendations from the Fodors community?
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Old Apr 12th, 2017, 11:41 AM
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On Naxos we stayed at Hotel Galaxy and LOVED it! It is across from the beach - maybe a two minute walk. Very pleasant and helpful staff, very nice pool, very convenient for nearby restaurants, many of the rooms have great sea views and the decor is lovely. I so hope to return there one of these days!
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Old Apr 13th, 2017, 12:44 AM
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Ferries for Santorini > Naxos > Mykonos couldn't be simpler!

I agree with your plan to fly straight to Santorini, a 45 minute flight instead of an 8 hour ferry. Aegean Airlines and Olympic Air have flights spaced throughout each day, so you shouldn't have too long a layover in Athens.

From Santorini to Naxos your best choice is the afternoon Blue Star, which allows to to stand on the open deck the whole 2 hour journey to take in the views. There are some earlier ferries if you wish to reach Naxos sooner, but you will sit inside a cabin much like an oversized airliner. From Naxos to Mykonos the ferries take about 45 minutes, and most are high speed catamarans.

You won't have to book ferries in advance for early June, just wait until you get to the islands and buy them there. You can check ferry schedules on either www.gtp.gr or www.openseas.gr, but if you do decide to book in advance go to the companies own websites, e.g. Blue Star Ferries, Hellenic Seaways, or Sea Jets.

Mykonos has excellent flight connections back to Athens with Aegean Airlines and its sister company Olympic Air, Greek owned airlines with excellent reputations. You can book with either on https://en.aegeanair.com.
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Old Apr 13th, 2017, 01:03 AM
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Further to my last post: if you decide to skip Naxos and go straight to Mykonos you will most likely need to use a high speed ferry. Some stop Ios and Paros, and some stop at Naxos on the way. You won't have time to get off and look around, because turnover time is only about 15 minutes. You will be able to go out on the small deck at the stern to have a look at the port and the flow of passengers who are disembarking and boarding the ferry.

Naxos has the best views from the ferry, and you will see the kastro (castle) and the ancient Portara. Paros is less impressive from the ferry docks, because most of its best features are further into town. Ferries to avoid are Superjet and SeaJet 2, small passenger-only catamarans, but the others are okay, including Hellenic Seaways Highspeed 7 and Sea Jets Champion Jet 1 & 2.
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Old Apr 13th, 2017, 01:02 PM
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Thanks a lot Heimdall!

We definitely plan to take the Blue Star from Santorini to Naxos - heard they are more stable as well.

I kinda like to have everything booked upfront so I am looking to book the Day excursions and the ferries in advance. Any reliable sites that anyone knows of?

Most of the hotels recommended above (including Hotel Galaxy @ Naxos) do not seem to have any availability for early June. I'd appreciate if folks can recommend more options for hotels in Santorini/Naxos/Athens. Thanks....
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Old Apr 13th, 2017, 04:40 PM
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Just a shout out to all that post on the Greek page. We took you advice last September and flew to Naxos, ferried to Santorini and flew back to Athens. So glad we didn't go on the high speed ferry or the 8 hour ferry. Flying was a breeze. Thanks, everyone.
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Old Apr 14th, 2017, 12:13 AM
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Go ahead and book in advance if you feel more comfortable doing so, but you will still have to pick up the paper tickets at an agency on Santorini. Unless there is a line ahead of you, it takes less than 5 minutes to buy ferry tickets at an agency, and about the same length of time to pick up paper tickets you have pre-booked.

The website for booking Blue Star tickets is: http://www.bluestarferries.com/en/ . Buy an ordinary economy ticket, because on the Santorini > Naxos trip you will be wanting to stay on the outside deck. If you decide to use the ferry back to Athens, buy an aircraft-type seat for a few extra euros, or book business class. For the record, in all the trips I have taken to the Greek Islands I have only once booked a ticket online. That was for Piraeus to Paros on a highspeed in August, and even then proved unnecessary.

The reasons I recommended waiting until you get to Greece for buying ferry tickets and booking excursions are:

The 3:30 pm Blue Star starts its return journey to Piraeus at Santorini, and picks up more passengers at Naxos and Paros. Blue Star Delos holds 2,400 passengers, and it would be physically impossible for it to be full leaving Santorini and still pick up more passengers at the next two stops. There will be several other large ferries leaving Santorini for Naxos that day.

Waiting until you get to the islands to book day trips allows you to adjust according to weather. Nearly every day in June will be sunny and warm/hot, but some days can be very windy. Windy days are a good time to book inland excursions, but not when you will want to be doing an excursion on a small boat. Here is a company that offers tours on Naxos: https://www.naxostours.net/excursions/
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Old Apr 14th, 2017, 02:04 AM
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Regarding hotels, often you can still find a vacancy if you go to the hotel's own website even when the booking websites show no availability. If you haven't already found it, here is Hotel Galaxy's own website: https://www.hotel-galaxy.com Do Google searches for the websites of other hotels you are interested in.

Naxos usually doesn't get busy until later in June when the Scandinavian schools, first Sweden and then Norway, break up for the summer. It may be more of a challenge to find vacancies on Santorini, but there should be plenty on the beach side of the island if you don't mind not having a caldera view from your balcony.
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