I am planning a trip to the Cyclades in August. I know it will be very busy at that time of year so am trying to book things in advance. A little background and a few questions...

We are traveling with kids aged 10, 12. We are traveling from California so probably won't get back for a long time and we only have 6 days in Greece. We were planning to do a day in Athens, a day in Santorini and then 4 days in Mykonos. This is the end of a longer trip for us and I want to stay at a nice resort in Mykonos (like the Mykonos Grand) to cap off our trip. They all seem to have 4 night minimums. Otherwise I might have done 2 nights in Santorini. I know we are hitting the most touristy islands at the worst time of year, but I don't want to waste a ton of time traveling between islands since we don't have many days. That said, I welcome input on our itinerary.

Assuming above itinerary, we need to fly Athens - Santorini and Mykonos - Athens. We will take a ferry between the two islands. I see flights available for 80 Euro + (lots of taxes!). Is it worth booking these now or do the prices generally come down closer to? Any tips?

I need a fast ferry between Santorini and Mykonos on August 10, 2011. Are these timetables unpublished at this point? Should I expect there to be a few ferries a day? And how long should it take?

Any thoughts on great things to do in Athens (in 24 hrs) would also be appreciated.

Thanks!

The trip from Santorini to Mykonos will likely take up most of one day when you consider checking out of your hotel waiting for the ferry the trip and then getting settled in your new location. Realistically you may want to consider just doing one island and Athens.
I would also suggest you leave your Athens stay until the end of the trip so you are not trying to get to an airport from an island at the last minute.
Ferry schedules for the summer are not out yet and you should expect to see them closer to April or May, but last year Flying Cat 4 did Santorini to Mykonos every day except a couple of Wednesdays per month. My memory may be a bit faulty but last year we left Santorini around noon on flying cat 4 and got to Paros around 1:30 from there it is probably another half hour or so to Mykonos. You see how a day can easily get eaten up by ferry travel.
As for the flights to Santorini and from Mykonos Aegean Air often has special fares. You may want to sign up to their web site and you will get notification of those specials when they come out. I have seen a couple of sales for early season but have not seen anything from Aegean recently. perhaps someone else can give you a better thought on waiting for the special fares. Keep in mind you are traveling in the absolute high season so if you wait too long you may be taking the ferry back to Athens.
have fun planning

August 11 is a Wednesday, so it that happens to be one of the Wednesdays when the FC4 isn't operating you'll still have the option of another ferry if Hellenic Seaways repeats last year's timetable. They offerd the Highspeed 3 as well as the FC4 for that route. It left Santorini for Mykonos at 4:20pm and arrived around 8pm. Go to the Hellenic Seaways website to see the schedules when they come out sometime in April.

Correction: They offered the FlyingCat 3, NOT the Highspeed 3. The difference is the size. The FCs are smaller than the Highspeeds.

Regarding your itinerary, I would strongly vote in favor of Santorini, an island with a very very special atmosphere there.
Mykonos is nice too, but mostly famous (if you get out of the resorts) as a glamorous party island and the city will be crowded far beyond any comfort limits in Augoust. But it has more and better beaches than Santorini.
Santorini will be crowded too, maybe a little less, and is definately much less of a party there, so it's up to what you are looking for.
In Athens you have really little time, so the obvious would be the ancient part and around downtown (Acropolis, Plaka).
Maybe leave Athens for the last day, as said above.
If you stay near a metro station then it will be very convinient to get to the airoprt.
have a great trip!

Hello Mamashi!
It seems that we have the same worries…. Actually I was planning to visit Greece this August too but I was almost desperate while trying to make arrangements concerning tickets. The time schedules seem not to have been published yet so I cannot plan my trip properly. The thing is also that I have only one week and I want to go to Mykonos and Santorini and of course Athens. Well, it is not that difficult to book hotels online but as I had no idea on these places, I was unable to decide what would fit me better. I ended up negotiating with a travel agency in Greece who said that they can offer me a package with all the services I needed. This helped from losing time in searching online and ensured ferry tickets from one place to the other. The name of the agency is TRAVEL ZONE and the good thing is that they answered almost immediately my requests. Actually, I had a lot of worries and I sent the a lot of e-mails asking for details. Fortunately, they are willing enough to provide me with information and make me feel secure for my trip.
What I forgot say is that they gave a list of hotels among which I chose the ones I wished to stay and that they had arranged transfers from the port to the hotel and from the hotel to the port. There are also sightseeing tours with guide in Athens and Santorini. So, I believe that this has helped me save a lot of time and I do not worry about the ferry schedules and the transportation between the islands.
I do not know if you are interested in asking a specialist to help you, but I think that you can just ask them if they can create a package to Athens , Mykonos and Santorini for 6 days. They may make you some suggestions that you were unaware of or they may know more about the ferry schedules. I give you the link of my package here http://www.travel-guide-greece.com/t...es/Jet-Set.asp so that you can see the details of it. If you send them an e-mail with your queries, this does not mean that you have to make a booking with that specific agent. Information is given for free, so give it a try!

If by "a day in Santorini" you mean two nights with a full day in between, then it will be rushed, but doable. If you mean arriving one day and departing the next, there is no point at all, because you will spend most of the first day travelling and checking into the hotel, and will have little time for sightseeing the next (FlyingCat 4 departs Santorini at 1200).

Last summer the corresponding Wednesday (Aug 11th) was a no-sail day for FC4. FlyingCat 3 left Santorini and 1620 on that day, but I wouldn't like to bet it will be running the same route again in 2011. As brotherleelove wrote, the FlyingCat 4 timetable will be available in April, but a firm FlyingCat 3 timetable probably not until May.

You do know the islands will be busy in mid-August, but I'm not sure you realize <i>just how busy</i>. August 15th is Assumption Day in Greece, a major holiday, when just about everyone tries to get away to the seaside the week before and the week after. Mykonos in particular will be heaving with party-goers. Beaches will be packed, and beach bars will start partying early in the day. It is also the time when most European schools take their short summer breaks and families head for beaches on other islands.

My recommendation, if Santorini is a must, would be to stay there the whole time, and avoid Mykonos completely. I enjoy Mykonos myself, but woudn't even think about going there in mid-August. Naxos is more pleasant for families, so if you want a beach holiday consider that island instead.

mamashi - With all the beautiful islands to choose from, I can't imagine taking a 10 and 12 year old to Mykonos in August. I agree with the above. Santorini will be busy but exciting to see. Stop at Naxos or Paros for your second island on your way back to Athens.

I am afraid that stanbr is right when saying that you’d better did one island and Athens. Keep in mind that check out procedures and transfer from one place to the other will take almost half a day and you trip will be really tiring. If I were you, I would save 2 days at each place or 2 days in Athens and the rest to one of the islands. Alternatively you can skip Athens and just go to the islands. I think that this will be easier for the children two.
However, if you insist on visiting all the three places you have to organize everything perfectly in order to lose any time. Moreover, you have to make specific calculations on how much time each activity needs, in order to have a good plan of your trip.
In any case, I wish you good luck!