nosaj211

Hi all. I am planning 7 nights in Greece for mid-September. Could anyone give some advice on how we should arrange our time. Mykonos, Santorini, quick trip over to Delos, and no more than a day in Athens are the places we'd like to slot in there.
Arrival day- Mykonos
2nd night- Mykonos (half day to Delos?)
3rd- ferry to Santorini
4th-Santorini
5th-Santorini
6th-Santorini with evening flight to Athens
7th-Day/Night in Athens
Home
Is this shorting Mykonos too much? Santorini is more of a must see for us I suppose and didn't want to take away from it. But am I giving too much time to Santorini? Should we just axe Delos and spend the the whole day on Mykonos?
With the limited time, I'm pressed to decide on where to spend it.
Any insight is very appreciated! Thanks!

stanbr

If you really want to go to Mykonos you really should spend a half day on Delos.

If it were me, with only 7 nights, I'd consider dropping Mykonos and flying to Santorini. This will save you the better part of one day on the ferry. Consider a full 5 nights on Santorini. If you get bored in Santorini (not likely) you can always hop a ferry to Ios or Naxos for a night or two.
On your return, consider spending at least two days in Athens. There is lots to see and do in the Plaka area and two days isn't much time to do it all.
On a short trip like this, less is more.

luvtotravel

I think it sounds fine, although I would look into flying between Mykonos and Santorini. I remember it being a long ferry ride and will take up a full day for travel. Also, travel by ferry is not very dependable. Once we were delayed seven hours out of Mykonos to Rhodes.

Good idea to stay in Athens at the end of the trip. I find I always like to spend at least one night before my flight out to be sure I don't miss my flight due to air or ferry delays from the islands.

If you are flying a far distance, you may be dealing with jetlag on your short time on Mykonos. Will one full day be enough?

May I suggest Sun Rocks Villas on Santorini? It's located in Firostephani, within walking distance of Fira. We stayed in room #31. www.sunrocks.gr

brotherleelove2004

There's a 5-day/week high speed catamaran between Mykonos and Santorini that only takes about 3 hours.

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

Flying between Mykonos and Santorini means a flight back to Athens to change planes, there are no direct interisland flights.

thanos_GR

hello again lee

You are correct about not now flights between Mykonos and Santorini. Olympic used to fly the way but not for a long time now. I write tonight that I hear only Saturday that rumour is that there will be new service between the islands in 2006 summer. If I have definate inforamation and not rumour I will post here again as people ask about this many times.

A Happy New Year from Mykonos

Thanos

brotherleelove2004

Thanks, Thanos, that's good information to watch for. I hope it's true. It will make travel between the islands so much easier.

nosaj211

Thanks everyone for your insight. Brotherleelove, do you know if those high speed ferries run daily in mid-september as well? I looked at that website you posted, but it didn't seem to clear to me.

brotherleelove2004

This is last year's schedule for the high speed ferry. It shows that it ran daily until September 18 then changed to 5 days/week until October 2. It's likely that the cutoff date will be somewhere in the same time frame for this coming season.

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

nosaj211

Thank you Brotherleelove. I appreciate your help and patience!

joearena99

My two cents - I'd stay an extra day or two in Athens, at the expense of one/two less days in Santorini.

I'll probably be boo'ed off of this forum, but I don't think that Santorini is all that it is cracked up to be. Beautiful, yes, but it didn't seem like Greece to me. It is filled with high-priced shops/restaurants. There are some nice beaches on the far coast, but they're not as wonderful as other beaches in other countries/islands. The ruins at Akortiri were closed because of an accident. I don't know if they're re-opened yet.

My (late forties) wife and I went to Athens/Crete/Santorini/Athens this past September. We liked Athens alot, and loved Crete. Santorini was 'okay'. I almost got the feeling that it was created by Walt Disney - good looking but not real.

We didn't go to Mykonos, so I can't comment on the similarity between Santorini and it.

I'd almost recommend doing either Mykonos or Santorini, and then doing either one of the smaller islands, or spending an extra day or two on the mainland.

Again, just my two cents.

April

I agree with joearena99, except that I would skip Santorini entirely (or pop in for a day, just to see it) and spend those days on Folegandros instead. I too would add a day or two in Athens. Seemingly horrid on the surface perhaps, it has interesting layers!

jjashworth

Hi,
We were in Greece in the fall and loved it. Athens was much nicer than we thought and 2 nights should be spent there. We ferried to Mykonos and stayed 2 nights, enough for that island. We did go to Delos and it was most interesting. We spent 2 night sin Naxos which was great and less commercial than Santorini or Mykonos. I would spend only 2 nights in Santorini as the main thing to do there is shoop and watch the gorgeous sunset or take a boat ride around the area. It is fairly eexpensive there, unlike Naxos, and although beautiful, didn't have the sightseeing as much as beaching and sitting at the pool. I would fly from Mykonos to Santorini if you have only 7 days. We took the ferry from Athens, then from Mykonos to Naxos via Paros, and then one from Naxos to Santorini, flying home the night before staying at the Sofitel, right at the airport. Well worth the extra cost of the hotel as it was so easy!
Hope this helps
, jeanne

mark_c

Santorini is a fantastic island. But any more than one night is too much. You need to see the sun set over the caldera from Ioa but the cost of food & drinks is scary. Crete's worth a visit and Rhodes old Town is fantastic.

DejaVu

If you've never been to athens before, I agree with others that you should schedule two days there instead of just one. You could easily fill up two days just on the Acropolis, Agora, Plaka, and the National Archaeological Museum. Often Athens gets a bad rap but it's really an interesting and charming city.

Senga

We did Athens/Mykonos/Santorini/Crete/Athens for 15 days last September and loved it. Athens was clean, exciting and very easy to get around by foot or the excellent subway system with all the main sightseeing in a condensed area. Mykonos (Mykonos Grand) was our favourite - very relaxing and excellent customer service from the staff. Santorini is worth seeing but 2 days would be sufficient. We loved the hotel and beach in Crete (Mythos Palace) but the customer service and attitude of the staff/residents left much to be desired. We would return to Mykonos in a heartbeat but wouldn't return to Santorini feeling that if you've seen it once, that's enough. My only suggestion is to wait until you have more than 7 nights to do Greece - it's worth the wait.