fifth_element

Hi all,

we are two guys going to Greece between 3rd and 17th of July.

Can you tell us the best places to see in Greece including recommendations for B&B, guest houses, sight seeing, gay clubs, cafes and other places of interest?

Thanks a lot,

Peter

Gaspard

Buy a guide.
G.

pointofnoreturn

Your question is a little too broad. Your best bet would to buy a Greece-specific guide or even better, head to the library and check out a couple of travel books that cover Greece.

You mention gay clubs.... Mykonos is gay-friendly Greek island that has a reputation for good partying and clubbing.

roznancy

Greece is a wonderful place and has so much to offer with all the different islands you really need to do some research to figure out where you want to go. A great idea is to fly to Athens, catch a bus to the port, get on a boat and go island hopping. The smaller more remote islands are beautiful and rustic but if you want clubs and nightlife more mainstream places would suit you more. Also a lot of the islands don't have sandy beaches only rocks so not great for sunbathing! As the above post says Mykonos is good fun and has bars, clubs, etc.
Have fun!

fifth_element

Thanks a lot guys for your comments and help.

I know that I wasn't really specifying anything but we just start thinking of going there so we don't really have a proper plan yet.

We are thinking maybe, Athena, Mykonos, Rhodes, Crete and Santorini.

and as I mentioned in my previous msg. we are easy we just want recommendations from ppl that been there and know what is good to do and where is good to go...

Cheers

travelerjan

WAAAAY too many islands for 14 days (and it may be only 12days if you are counting the days you arrive and depart!!).

To prune, I would suggest you skip Crete unless you have a magic carpet. It is a huge island, really a country to itself; needs at least 5 days. And in planning,remember, each "hop" process will eat up at least half a day of your precious holiday time.

Are u thinking of using Flights between some of the islands to cut down "hopping" time? That will assume that you can get seats, and that you are made of money (in High Season). If both the assumptions are true I woiuld suggest an itineary like this:

DON'T start with Athens; you will have to be there at the end anyway. Instead, on arrival by plane (I'm assuming u are from USA), walk down hall to domestic-air and fly to your furthest island (by Aegean air if u can): Example:

(1)RHODES, for 2-4 days. Rent car to see other side of island.
(2) SANTORINI -- IF you can get seats on the small (18 pp) SKy Express ... stay 3 days.. stay in Fira if you want lots of night life in July
(3) MYKONOS (via Fast-ferry). Enjoy for 3-4 days. Party central!!
(4)ATHENS (via fast-ferry) Enjoy for whatever days are left; plenty of gay clubs (lots of nightlife does migrate to suburban beach areas in summer -- so Google for this).

...if you can't get the Air Express from Rhodes to Santorini, seee if you can get it from Crete to Santorini, and then make Crete your first stop, for 3 days, not enough but whatever.

Finally since u are doing this all in HIGH season and wanting to get around FAST, it is mandatory to secure your plane & ferry bookings FIRST -- only after that, look for lodgings.

Once u get those precious bookings, you can then ask for lodging & nite life recommends -- useless to give them to u if you can't get there.

And I agree - look at a guide book; we don't want to use all our energy telling you stuff you can find by turning a few pages.

thursdaysd

And there is actually more to Greece than islands. I really enjoyed both the north and the Peloponnese, so my definition of "best places" is likely quite different from a lot of others.

fifth_element

Hi guys,

Thanks for your help.

We'll be arriving Athens at 6.30am Athens local time on the 4th July. and the plan was as follows:

2 nights in Athens staying in Hotel Omega, 15, Aristogeitonos Str.
5 nights in Myknonos (via fast ferry from Athens) staying in Hotel San Antonio Summerland, 1800 meters northwest center of Mykonos town.
3 nights in Santorini (via fast ferry from Athens) staying in Tonys Villa, 1 tonys villa drive, Perissa Santorini
3 nights in Crete (via fast ferry from Athens) staying in either Matala dimitris villa, main road of Matala, Crete
or another options is Villa Ralfa We are located on the north coast of Crete and nearby is the busy tourist resort of Port Hersonissos
And we have one night extra, we thought maybe we can go to Paros for 1 night and stay in Hotel Eri, Parikia, Paros

And then go back to Athens to catch our flight back to Dubai on the 18th at 4pm.

It's our first trip to Greece and we would like to see the most of it. So we don't know if the places we chose are in good location or not and also we don't know if we can take fast ferry to go from island to other or not.
We found all the above accommodations through www.hostelbookers.com, but we did not book anything yet!
So please tell me what you think about our trip plan and the places we are planning to stay in?
If you think that any of the above islands is not worth doing, plz let me know.

Your quick response will be really appreciated as we have to start booking the hotels.

Cheers,
Peter

Gaspard

Why don´t you listen to tripadvisor people? If you want to play it smart in posting here and there, you will finish by booking hotels and ferries too late.
G.

fifth_element

Haha!!

What is wrong in posting here and there? and taking advices from both side? is that wrong?

And who said I'm not listening to them, I will listen to everyone as I need help and everyone is welcome to give an advice.

Cheers

Gaspard

Nothing wrong for me. I don´t have to make a decision. But don´t to plan too much. Chaos is a Greek word.
Gaspard

travelerjan

Peter, Peter, It does not compute -- you say you are getting to Santorini via fast-ferry from ATHENS! Why go back to ATHENS???

Then you say you leave Santorini and reach crete via fast-ferry from ATHENS!! Why?? have you even looked at a map?? DO you want to spend entire days going to athens and back?? Have you checked a ferry site yet, such as gtp.gr or openseas?

Even if you do get your head on straight about how to hop via ferry without endless backtracking -- are you aware that many of these most popular fast-ferry routes are already sold out in High Season?

Finally apparently you totally blew off the advice I gave you (from long experience) on 6/6 about getting your transportation secured FIRST.

Therefore, no advice here about accommodations. What is the point?
You know best of course. We would like to see you have a great time in Greece, because we know how fab it is, but the way you are going, it doesn't seem likely.

cd

Peter
Please post a trip report when you return. I can never figure out what people do who spend so much time on one island. I'm not being a smart a$$, I really want to know. Of course, I'm old and you're young, maybe that's the difference. My idea of seeing the islands is taking a cruise, which we did in April and loved it. Have fun!

fifth_element

Hi all,

I'm very very sorry, I did a big mistake... I was copying and pasting the same thing in each line.
Of course we are not going back to Athens when we leave from Mykonos to Santorini and the rest. I meant to say via fast ferry from island to another.

So this is the correct way now:

We'll be arriving Athens at 6.30am Athens local time on the 4th July.

5 nights in Myknonos (via fast-ferry) staying in Hotel San Antonio Summerland, 1800 meters northwest center of Mykonos town.

3 nights in Santorini (via fast-ferry) staying in Tonys Villa, 1 tonys villa drive, Perissa Santorini

4 nights in Crete (via fast-ferry) staying in Villa Ralfa located on the north coast of Crete and nearby is the busy tourist resort of Port Hersonissos

2 nights in Athens staying in Hotel Omega, 15, Aristogeitonos Str.
Then fly back to Dubai on the July 18 at 4pm.

And for the accommodation, as I said we did not book anything yet! We found all the above accommodations through www.hostelbookers.com

So we don't know if the places we chose are in good location or not

We don't know if we can take fast ferry to visit an island to other!!
Can you advice with the name of the port and how to book the tickets to travel from one to another.

CD,
I will post a report when I come back from the trip for sure... can't wait to go

So what do you think about the above now guys? is it good? shall I start booking the hotels?

Cheers,
Peter

brotherleelove2004

I think you should do some more research on the islands you've chosen before booking. It seems that you don't know enough about them to make informed choices, that you've gone with suggestions from a booking service (perhaps based on price?) without knowing enough about their locations to know what you're getting. Asking these questions here is not "research," it's taking a chance on the opinions of others. Opinions are a good place to start, but if you don't know what your options are how can you know what to choose? And keep in mind that a booking service is going to make recommendations to you that will pay them a commission, not because they think the hotels they recommend are particularly good choices.

Try looking for reviews of these hotels over on Tripadvisor.com. This would be a good place to start.

For ferry schedules go to www.openseas.gr/OPENSEAS/index_en.vm

fifth_element

Hi brotherleelove2004,

Thats right I don't know if those places are good or not. I just checked what they offer and chose them.

That's why I'm asking you people here what do you think and if you recommend other places.
So far, no one told me anything about where to stay... that's why I went to hostelbookers and start selecting from there.
If I was me, and someone asks me about my opinion, I'll recommenced couple of places that I know of and the person can make their decision themselves.
So that's why I'm seeking help here!

I decided about the islands and I want people to give me some names of hostels or B&B to stay in.

Cheers

brotherleelove2004

A good guidebook will go far in answering all your questions and will offer informed recommendations for island choices, hotels, restaurants, beaches, daytrips, archaeological sites, historical monuments, nightlife and just about anything else about which you might want specific information. And it will do it all in one book so you don't have to waste your time communicating with idiots like me.

FYI-Fodor's newest edition of there guidebook for Greece was just released.

As I recommended earlier, also try tripadvisor.com for reviews on any hotel that interests you.

Gaspard

He is already in TA-forum. Runs with the hare and hunts with the hounds.
G.

fifth_element

Thanks to everyone who helped me organizing my trip, I managed to book everything, very nice places, including the high speed ferries and I'm ready to take off with my friend on Friday.

Once again thanks for all your advices and support.

Cheers everyone!