Athens & Santorini - Late August or Mid October?
 

Hello,

My Wife and I are in the stages of planning a Europe trip and would like to know weather wise, would it be best to see Athens & Santorini (and possibly other islands) in late August or mid October? Our length of stay will probably be around the 10 day mark.

Thank you heaps for your help.

Hi bowds1122. I have been to both Athens and the Greek Islands in mid October and it was still warm and sunny enough to wear shorts, but you might need a light jacket for the evenings. I've not experienced either in August - but I don't think I'd want to. Most people in Europe take their holidays in August and flock to places like the Greek Islands. I personally think the sheer volume of holiday makers (and add to that, hordes of day trippers from cruise ships) heaving through the charming laneways, restaurants & shops of Santorini would take the edge off it for me. If it were me, I would be to go when it's a bit quieter. There will still be enough of a "buzz" in October to make for a great atmosphere, but you won't have to fight so hard for your place in the sun.

Have to agree with Wooders. It is hot hot hot in August plus most of Europe take August as holidays. We have always gone to Greece in the shoulder season and found it to have nice weather not too hot but still lots of sun and just enough tourists still around to make it interesting but not crowded. Early to mid October would be best if possible.

SOme of the restaurants were clsoing in the islands when we were there in early October,however, there were still enough of them open for us to visit.

Thanks for the responses.

Ok, so Early to Mid October is fine however the dates we are looking at now suggest around the 20th of October is when we would be arriving. This small difference in dates shouldn't affect ahything should they? Will enough restaurants etc will still be open for us?

It depends somewhat on which village you're in but there will still be shops and restaurants open just about everywhere. I think you'll have the most choices in Fira.

bowds, is there some particular compelling reason why you cannot shift your holiday time just a bit -- back to, say late September? Is this some kind of "package deal" that is very cost-saving? Or is it for getting your flight on "points" or is it because your employer will only allow those 2 dates?? It would help us to know.

You should know that in many of the islands, informally, "Ohi Day" ("No" Day -- a national holiday Oct. 28) is the unofficial time that all seasonal accommodations & shops sort of close down... a hotelier in Rhodes told me, we hotel & apartment owners actually have a sort of party that night, go around, have food and wine and celebrate, the Season's Over! So... even if open, a lot of places have a definite "closing-down" feeling.

Santorini does have a longer season because of tourist and cruise ship demand... and of course, Athens has a busy hum as its Autumn season hots up. Rather than a 2nd island, wich would take you a half-day to get to, and another half-day or more to get back to Athens, I propose another option. You might consider going to a Mainland place that is only 2.5 hours out of Athens and is lovely in the Fall-- Nafplio/Nauplion (it has MANY spellings). It's a gorgeous Old Town surrounded by water on a peninsula ... ideal "base" to see 2/3 world-famous ruins nearby ... also has tons of chic shops and great cuisine, because it's a fave "getaway" for upscale Athenians ... here's a slide-show by Fodorite Stanbr: http://travel.webshots.com/slideshow/551991579dJbWvh

I'm hoping that when you say "10 days" you do not count the first day if you land later than mid-morning, nor can you count departure day. For those 3 destinations, the most time-efficient sequence might be:
DAY 1 - on arrival at airport, take next avaialble flight to Santorini
Day 2,3, 4 -- Santorini
Day 5 -- AM flight back, pick up rental car at airport, drive 2.5 hours on modern highway to Nauplion. Possible stop en route 1/2 mile off highway = Nemea, an Ancient Games site #2 to Olympia... stadium, temple, etc...45 mins, enjoyabl.
Day 6-7 -- Nauplion area... possible drive to Epidaurus (the theatre!) or Mycenae (big fort!)
Day 9-10 ... Early start, return car, metro to central athens spend 1.5 days for landmarks.

If u wanted more time in Athens, I would lop a day off Santorini -- it's a gorgeous view, but IMHO, 48 hours is enough for a view, when Akrotiri, only major ancient site, is closed. I'm sure that many honeymooners will disagree with me. But it will be October, remember.

Frankly, I think the issue is that August is a poor time to visit Athens, but that October (particularly late October) is a poor time to visit Santorini. I recognize that the crowds can be a bit much during the height of summer in Santorini (and prices are through the roof), but I also find out-of-season island/beach resorts to be incredibly depressing.

Personally, I think August would be a better time to go.

Thank you all for your responses.
@ brotherleelove – Thanks, Oia would be our first choice of location, but at least we know Fira will have plenty of options.

@ travelerjan - Thank you very much for your comments.
Firstly maybe I should point out we are from Australia (for flight route reasons). Ok regarding the dates (please note they are not booked at this stage), my Wife and I are doing a big trip starting in Paris at on the 27th of August driving all through Switzerland and through most of Italy, currently ending around the 22nd of October in Rome.

We were thinking of either flying into Greece then onto Paris at the beginning of the trip and fly home from Rome or do Greece at the end of the trip where we could fly out of Rome direct to Santorini, then home via Athens.

It may be possible to shuffle the dates a week or so in either direction i.e. flying into Greece at the beginning of the trip on the 27th not the 17th of August.

Thanks for letting us know about the 28th of October, that may have presented a problem for us.

Thanks for the mainland suggestion, and for the itinerary example, we are definitely open to other options then what I have mentioned above. The “10 days” isn’t firm at all, we could easily allow a few more days.

Nauplio looks beautiful, very much the type of town(s) we are hoping to visit during our holiday.

@ travelgourmet – Thanks for the input, we’ll keep that in mind. It has been quite difficult deciding upon a route so far as many places are best at different times or exactly the same time of the year.

Santorini is a magical place if you explore it fully. We stayed in Oia and fell in love with the entire island on our daily trips around. We were fortunate to have amazing advice from our hotel host, George, at the lovely (but sadly now a Best Western)Hotel Museum. Every morning I would check in with him to tell him what part of the island we were exploring, and he would give us suggestions and tell us where we were to eat that evening.

We were there in late May and didn't see a cruise ship till June 1, which was luckily the day we were leaving.

We will definitely go back.

If you come in to GReece on 27th of August, you will miss the worst of the crowds, because Europeans have to have their children back in school about that time, so the big outrush from the islands is about 2 days earlier ... and then the first week of September is much better. And yes Nafplion has absolutely been a HIT with everyone I've recommended it to.

Oia is really a small village and may not be best for late October. If you choose to go in August, the islands will be mobbed.