Car rental and other questions - Greece
 

Hi Everyone!

I am hoping you can all help me. My husband and are are going to Greece for 3 weeks this coming June. We will be staying in Athens and on the following islands: Mykonos, Ios, Santorini, and Crete. My questions are these: What islands would we need to rent a car on and what ones can we get around by bus, taxi, etc? And then my other question is how much time do we need to leave ourselves to take the ferry back to Athens from Crete? We are staying in Chania and we fly back home on 6/25. I just want to make sure I am leaving us enough time. Can we come back the 24th? Or should we leave the 23rd?

Any help would be greatly appreciated, thanks!

Heidi Klukas
Seattle, WA

IMHO a car is a necessity in Crete, especially western Crete. You could book day bus trips while in Chania, such as a trip to the Samaria gorge or Knossos or the beach at Elafonissi.
I believe that the ferry is an overnight trip from Chania to Athens. We flew from Chania to Athens 7:00 am and connected with our flight home. The cost was approx. $ 40.00 US per person. Much simpler.

Crete is really the only island where a car could be convenient to have at your disposal, but there is an excellent bus service between Heraklion and Chania as well as to outlying areas.

Don't wait until the 24th to make your way back to Athens. If the winds happen to be too strong your boat won't leave the dock. The 22nd or 23rd is much better. Better still would be a plane.

Hi.
You will need a car on Crete. My husband and I rented a scooter on Mykonos. They have scooters that seat 2. We are not young, but still have enough balance to enjoy scooters. On Snatorini we rented a car. There is bus service on Santorini, but we liked the freedon of a car. I think all you need to do is to to fly or take the ferry back to Athens the day before you are to leave for home. If the weather focast is horrible, you might need to go earlier, but you should be fine. Have a wonderful time.

Believe me, you can't predict the winds. Give yourself a cushion of at least one day.

If you're working your way to Crete from Athens, I'd strongly suggest you just fly back to Athens from Crete. Crete is the one island where you'll really want a car. We ended up renting one for one day each on Santorini and on Mykonos which was fine. We were able to really cover the islands in a day and do a whole lot more than we'd be able to do trying to take busses.
Don't know Ios at all.

Thank you all for your input, it's greatly appreciated. I was thinking plane but my hubby thinks the ferry will be great for sightseeing. Any input on that? If we fly we will leave on the 24th, if we take the ferry I guess we'd better leave the 23rd from what I have read from you posts. Is the ferry ride worth the time as far as the sights go?

Heidi Klukas
Seattle, Wa

It's an overnight ferry. So not a lot of sightseeing. It is a fun experience though and you save on renting a hotel room.

There's also a Hellas Flying Dolphin

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

daytime express ferry that leaves Crete from Heraklion at 9:30 AM and arrives at Mykonos at 2:30 PM. stopping at Santorini, Ios, Naxos and Paros along the way, which would give you a good look at the islands from the sea. From Mykonos you could either fly or take another express boat back to Athens. Although the ferry schedules for summer 2005 are not yet posted you can see from this website that you can make a ferry connection from Mykonos back to Athens.

http://mykonos-accommodation.com/boats-summer.htm

Thanks for the input! If we take the night ferry do they have rooms that we can rent for just my husband and I?

Yes, small cabins are available on the car ferries, not on the Flying Dolphins. Any of the overnight car ferries will have rooms to offer. There should be no problem booking one in June, but to be on the safe side do it a day or two ahead of your departure if possible by going to the ferry port ticket office.