Crete or Mykonos?
 

Greetings! I will be traveling to the Greek Islands for my honeymoon and have become stuck with my itinerary. We will be arriving on June 4th and I'm having a difficult time deciding on what Island to start the trip on. I'm debating between Crete or Mykonos. Or, can we do both?..Below are the days we have open. We are looking for beach living but also love to walk around and maybe do some sporting activity or just enjoy the towns. Any thoughts on which one you would suggest?
June 4th: arrive in Athens and depart for undecided Island?
June 5th
June 6th
June 7th
June 8th
June 9th-12th: 4 nights on Santorini in the Anastasias Apartments
June 13th: one night in Athens
June 14th: Depart

For a honeymoon, I would recommend Santorini. Mykonos is good for late night partying. Crete is good for history.

Any thoughts?

Mykonos has a late night party atmosphere and a younger crowd. I also saw people nude on several of the beach--but not everyone.

Crete is a much larger island with more ruins to see. I think the beaches are a little nicer. Not so rocky. Women were topless but not nude. Crowd was more in their 30's and 40's when I was there.

We love both Mykonos and Santorini and enjoyed Naxos too. Have not visited Crete but it's on the list! Crete is much much bigger than Mykonos so you wouldn't see very much of Crete in only a few days. Mykonos town is very picturesque, all white sugar cube houses with blue painted doors and balustrades with bright pink bougainvillea everywhere - so pretty.

I know you can fly from Athens to Mykonos and also Santorini to Athens. Maybe you could fit in Crete as well if you can find flights.

Another option is to fly from Athens to Mykonos then catch a ferry or catamaran to Naxos which takes an hour or two from memory then another ferry/cat to Santorini then fly back to Athens from there. That's what we did and it was great.

Good luck with the planning.
Kay

Forgot to say, try and visit Delos while you are on Mykonos. It's an uninhabited island about 45 mins away by ferry and has some fascinating ruins. The climb to the top of the hill is steep but the views are wonderful. There are tourist boats at the harbour that will take you there.
Kay

I think you need to decide what sort of island atmosphere you want. You have already picked Santorini, and are looking for a second island to add to the itinerary. Are you looking for nightlife, good beaches, archaeology, laid back cafe society, traditional Greek villages, or what? Everyone has their favourite island, but for different reasons, and there will be one that is perfect for you.

Thanks for all of the feedback. We truly like it all! We like to explore and experience our surroundings but also enjoy fine dining and cheap eats. We love to sit by the beach but sea kayaking sounds wonderful. Some people say we won't have enough time to enjoy Crete so that is pushing me toward Mykonos.

Fine dining and cheap eats? Mykonos will fit the bill for fine dining, but it won't come cheap. Sea kayaking? Where have I heard of that before? Oh, yes, my favorite island, Antiparos. It has a pedestrian-only main street lined with restaurants and tavernas. There are two sea kayaking companies on the island.

http://www.antiparos-isl.gr/
http://www.argonautsblue.com/
http://www.seakayak-greece.com/