Adding Istanbul to our Greek itinerary - advice please.
 

I am reconsidering our itinerary to Greece next June to include a possible last stop in Istanbul then flying home from there. Our revised intinerary would be as follows:
1. Fly to Athens staying in Hotel Amazon for 2 nights
2. Rent car and drive to Nafplio staying in Hotel Leto for 3 nights
3. Return car to Athens and fly to Santorini staying in Rimida Villas or Delfini Villa in Oia for 4 nights
4. Ferry to Naxos staying in Hotel Galini for 5 nights
5. Fly to Istanbul for 3 nights staying in unconfirmed hotel and flying home from there.

Without going to Isanbul we would stay seven nights in Naxos then return to Athens on the long lesiurely ferry ride, stay one night and then return home. Do you think adding Istanbul is a good idea or are we trying to do too much in an 18 day trip? I don't like to pack in too much on a trip as we like to soak up the culture but I'm concerned that we may not have another opportunity to get to Istanbul.

It's a headache getting to Istanbul from the islands. There are no direct flights, so you would have to backtrack from Naxos-Santorini-Athens, before catching a plane for Istanbul.

There's also a flight on a small plane from Santorini to Samos, (please check with posters [email protected] or Brotherleelove2004 about this) , where you can catch a boat for Kusadisi. From Kusadisi, you would have to get to the airport in Izmir (about two hours away) for a flight to Istanbul.

Another alternative is the hydrofoil from Rhodes to Marmaris, Turkey.(This takes about 35 minutes- we just did it this way in July.) There's an airport about half an hour away from the port in Marmaris, and you could fly from there to Istanbul.

As you can see,it's complicated, but good luck!

Actually, you can fly to Istanbul during the summer months from Mykonos on 'atlasjet', a Turkish airlines, although at this time there are no indications of that option on their website. It won't reappear until sometime next year. http://www.atlasjet.com/en/ You can try to send them an email to verify. Click on "Communication" then "Write to Us."

From Naxos or Paros you can get a fast boat to Mykonos in time for the flight to Istanbul. I highly recommend it. Istanbul is an amazing city and you can see quite a lot in 3 days. It will be a very interesting contrast to Greece.

I stand corrected! That's very interesting news about AtlasJet. Something new? I don't think it was operating when I was planning my trip to Greece and Turkey. Thanks for the update.

Hi

I would leave out going to Nafplio if you need more time. Yes it's a very pretty destination but I would allow more time in Istanbul - it's an incredible city. There is much to see in Athens if you haven't been before so you could add another night there for example. I would leave Nafplio for another trip that would include other mainland destinations like Olympia, Delphi, Meteora, Mystras etc.

Thanks everyone for the interesting ideas and information. Lots to think about!

AtlasJet has been flying to Mykonos for at least 2 years, possibly longer.