Critique my plan for Greece
 

I am planning a trip to Greece for the spring of 2011. Yes, that is a long way off but isn't the plan and anticipation almost as much fun as the trip itself? Anyway, I have read extensively on this forum but I am still torn about what to do. I want to see Athens, Delphi, Meteora, and Santorini. I thought about taking an escorted tour with Globus, Trafalgar, etc. but I think we would get tired of a bus tour for nine days and I think we might get weary of historical sites. The historical sites are the main highlight for us but we don't want to feel that we are back in History 101 or Greek Mythology 102. Then I thought about getting a travel agent like Dolphin Hellas which has positive reviews here. Would a travel agent like Dolphin Hellas save us some money? I though they would have more power to negotiate prices for hotel rooms, etc. Anyway, this is our tentative plan and suggestions, criticisms, etc. are welcome.
(Numbers indicate the day.)
1. Atlanta to Athens (Overnight, using ff miles, when should we start booking this?)
2.Fly Athens to Santorini
3. Santorini
4. Santorini
5. Ferry to Athens (Is there nice scenery? Or would a flight be better?)
6.Athens to Delphi (3 day tour with Chat or Key)
7. Delphi to Meteora
8. Meteora to Athens
9. Sightseeing Athens - Acroplois, Plaka, Agora, the usual
10. Free Day in Athens (OMG< what will we do?) Perhaps go to the Temple of Poseidon
11. Fly home

WHAT DO YOU THINK?

I should add, we like sightseeing, history, other cultures, etc. We are not beach people. I would rather be in Greece when it is less crowded even if the weather is cool - not rainy and cold - but spring time cool. We probably will not swim or sunbathe. What else should I tell? OH! I Will be 60 yrs old next year and our 40th anniversary is next year. So two milestones to celebrate with a trip to Greece!

Of course, I will be thankful for suggestions!

Your itinerary looks fine to me. You have plenty of time to make all your own bookings. Most hotels won't accept reservations for next Spring until well after the first of the year.

The ferry back to Athens from Santorni takes between 5-8 hours depending on which one you take. The 8 hour trip is on a conventional car ferry with an open deck and you'll be stopping at 2 or 3 other islands. The rest of the time will be in the open sea with no views except water. The 5 hour trip is on an enclosed catamaran so the views are very limited.

Basically, that is a nice itinerary. I can't comment on the Athens - Santorini - Athens trip, because we arrived in Santorini on a cruise from Istanbul But we like S. very much.

I would try to add a day for Meteora. I assume you will be driving. There are several routes you can take. I would take the back roads at least one way to get a feel for the back country and visit a couple of monasteries along the way. I recall M. to be one of the most peaceful places I have been in Greece, especially in the morning. And those donkeys braying was kind of fun. I also went to the Oracle in Delphi first thing in the morning, before the tour busses arrived.

One trip I thoroughly enjoyed was taking the slow boat from Pireus to the island of Aigina. There I took the bus to the temple of ???? (that's why I think you are smart to limit your exposure to lots of historical info. You'll forget it anyhow). Off the beaten tourist route, relaxing. On the way back I took the hydrofoil.

I worked for several weeks in Athens and had the advise of the locals, but even in our earlier trips to Greece (from Bussels and from the US) we pretty much did our own thing. As you said, the planning is part of the fun, and this forum plus some others can provide you with sufficient help to plan the trip on your own. Then I would go to a travel agent and let them make the various transportation and hotel reservations and get a decent deal on the travel insurance. This will give you some fall-back office or person if anything goes wrong.

You probably will have to make the plane reservations yourself because you are using ff. Try to make these as early as possible, and don't be discouraged if you "first don't succeed". ff flight availability goes in sort of a curve - - relatively few early, then more as the time goes by, and then again very few as the travel date approaches. But if you work with a travel agent, it won't hurt to check if he/she has an "in" with some sales rep. of the airline you will be flying. It has worked for me in the past for a couple of times.

marlib1951,

Are you traveling alone? If no, and have a companion with you, Greece is still pretty safe overall, so, you may want to consider making your own...travel itinerary AND travel/tour/guiding :). What I mean by that is, you may, either by getting on the internet (several sites have all kinds of things) or go to a local border's or barnes and noble bookstore and get a tour guide for greece. Then select a basis and start excursions from there. Public transportation is pretty good and with very low cost you can go to any place for the day. Most people in greece speak English, so you will have no hard time finding where to eat, where to find the local bus/train stations, etc. Now, if you decide to make Athens your start point, then you can take daily excursions from there to peloponese, or all the way to fokida and even halkida. Great destinations.
Santorini: this place is worth visiting for the sunsets. Other than that, it can be overly crowded, and too much ...disco going on around :) or night clubs at that :). In addition, there is some really great wine if that's your cup of...tea!
I would recommend the trip to Delphi however, use that as a midpoint to another destination. Galaxidi! Past Delphi and closer to the Rio - Antirio canal, very picturesque town. Then you can return by bus either via peloponese or same route back to Athens. Then, you can take a two day/one night trip from Athens to Meteora, via Volos (and the Pilion villages). You can stay anywhere either in the Volos area or Meteora before you continue with your excursion and return back to Athens.
If this sounds too complicated or too challenging let me know. I can make other recommendations/suggestions, however I do believe it is doable as I have done this kind of thing several times (I was born and raised in Greece) as a resident there, as well as a visitor later (more recently in 2007).
Let me know if this helps, and if you have more specific questions, or you find my recommendations too vague so I can be more specific.
yannis

Happy Birthday next year and Happy Anniversary. I think Greece is the perfect place to celebrate both!!

Greece is a very easy country to get around and figure out. I like the suggestions you're getting as far as doing research on your own and then if you want, use a Greek travel agent to book. I've been to Greece a number of times and only once used an agent. They booked some ferry tickets for us because we were going on one of the smaller faster ferries and we wanted to be sure and have tickets. If you do use a travel agent, I would suggest using an agent that has an office in Athens so you can pick up tickets from them, make changes if anything goes wrong, etc.

I think it's great that you're heading straight to Santorini. It's a gorgeous island and a great place to relax and get over jetlag. My husband and I are not disco/large crowd people at all so we always stay in Oia. If you're going in the spring, you don't need to worry about crowds anyway. It's a perfect time to go to Greece.

I also LOVE Meteora. It's like nothing you'll see anywhere else. Driving through the countryside is beautiful too.

We always use ff miles for all of our overseas vacations. If we can narrow down a range of dates, we start looking for tickets as soon as possible. They can come and go at a whim. If they become available, grab them when you can. With you going in the off season, you don't have to worry about finding hotel rooms to fit your dates.

As far as taking the ferry from Santorini, that's really a personal call. It's a long boat ride from Santorini. It can eat up a day. It's relaxing, unless the seas are rough, then it can be miserable if you tend to get seasick. We usually will take a plane to Santorini and then take ferries back to Athens but stopping at one or two islands along the way.

Let us know what you decide to do. We all love to hear of people's plans. You're going to fall in love with Greece, its people, food, etc. Enjoy!

Thanks for all the suggestions! We want to avoid Orthodox Easter, don't we? The first of May is out for us - other plans. So that means the first or middle of April and the last or middle of May. We are now trying to decide if April or May would be best. Any thoughts?

Brotherleelove, I am thinking that a flight for the return to Athens would be better than a ferry ride - eight hours is a long time.

Treplow, I think you are right about a travel agent, having one would be extra security if something goes wrong.

yannis, thanks for the suggestions, I will research Galaxadi!

wug, another reason to rethink the ferry, seasickness! Definitely need a return flight!

Again, thanks to all of you who replied to my post!

I'd take a flight back to Athens... your time is limited and as noted there isn't much to 'see' aside from the 'wine dark sea'.

I don't know why you'd think a travel agent would be necessary... I don't see how they provide any extra 'security'. In fact I thought they were about as passe as travelers checks! LOL

Skip taking a tour. You mention "us" so that means to me there must be more than one of you. Rent a car and go to Delphi and Meteora yourself! A day for Corinth/Mycenae/Nafplion/Epidaurus is very doable with your own wheels. You'll be early in the season so there won't be hordes of tourists clogging the sites or the hotels. I'd go in May if you can... I was in Athens/Attica/Peloponnese the second week of May 2008 and the weather was just about perfect... not hot enough to swim but just right for walking around and not getting too warm.

Rob

Middle of may through Middle of June is the IDEAL time to visit Greece, period. Everything's open, nothing is crowded, pre-season prices, water's warm enough to swim. I go this time every year if I can manage, and take along "newbies", so I want to make sure that they have a super experience, no rain, good beach time too. I agree about you flying back to Santorini -- my trips are usually longer (16-17 days), but with only 10 days, your time is v. precious.

I'm just going to throw out a few suggestions. I know when I was planning our trip we changed our mind a few times about what we wanted to see based on some opinions of others. So just a thought - you say you don't want to over do the historical sights - which is easy to do in Greece. Your itinerary looks to me to be short on island time. For us, the highlight was the islands and the ferry boats, although the mainland historical sights were also important. What about leaving out Meteora? Unless it's a major sight for you, it's the further away and will take a couple of days. If you left that out you could even include a second island for a day or so, breaking up the long ferry from Santorini but still getting the ferry experience.

I would suggest on day five you ferry to either Naxos or Parox (both are "on the way" to Athens) for two nights. Then do Athens and at the end of the trip, rent the car and drive to Delphi. Then you can return the car to the airport and fly home (without going back into Athens). We spent our last night at a hotel about a half hour from the airport (easy drop off for early am flight) that was also about a half hour from the Temple of Poseidon. It made a woderful last evening (great sunset).

But even if you really want Meteora I would still take at least one ferry trip. For a lot of people it's a highlight of a Greek trip.

We found all accommodations in Greece to be very reasonable so no need to have a travel agent to get "better prices". Give people here your price ranges and you'll get lots of hotel suggestions.

Isabel, I'm with you. When I'm helping with trip planning for Greece newbies (and I do a lot of this) I always ask -- WHY are you going to a particular place??? Turns out sometimes they just saw a pretty picture of it and know very little more than that. Regarding Meteora, I ask, Would you do a 7 hour drive to see it?? Are you Greek Orthodox and it has deep religious significance for you? Are you OK with climbing hundreds of Steps? Do you have a long trip in mind (3+ weeks) so you have the time to spare?? sometimes it turns out that you can buy or download a video of Meteora... and use the 3 days or so for something that involves less travel and more time enjoying.

Travelerjan, I may rethink the Meteora idea. Delphi is a must, I don't think I would bother going to Greece if I couldn't see Delphi. I do know my mythology and the historical sites are important to me. Besides it might be nice go to the mountains and see some countryside. You are right though about Meteora, it may not be that important to me to see Meteora.

Isabel,I will think about the ferry back to Athens with a stay at another island but that seems rushed too. I don't know...

Delphi is IN the mountains and is all about "countryside" ... no need to venture further.

Hi marlib1951,

It is refreshing to see an itinerary with a concentration on the mainland, and IMO you should stick with just the one island (Santorini) so you don't miss out on anything else.

Meteora is not just about churches, but the unique landscape on which they sit. The three day Chat tour includes both Delphi <i>and</i> Meteora. Still, it is a long trip, so perhaps you are right to give it a miss. Without Meteora you don't need to spend three days on the trip to Delphi -- two days will be plenty. That would allow you to spend more time in Athens -- do you really think one day is enough? > <i>10. Free Day in Athens (OMG< what will we do?)</i>. < ;-)

Other options for the extra time freed by not going to Meteora:

1) Day trip from Athens to one of the Saronic Gulf islands, e.g. Aegina or Hydra (that will give you your ferry ride).

2) Trip to Nafplio and other sights in the Peloponnese (you could arrange this with Chat or Key).

Regarding time of year, since you don't plan to swim or sunbathe early April would probably be a good choice. Weather will be spring-like with a possibility of rain and cool weather, but there will also be warm, sunny days. As long as you avoid the week before Greek Easter you won't have to worry about traffic or crowds. Middle to late May would be even better, but still a chance of some rain. No guarantees either way -- I have suffered some cold weather in late May, with my Greek friends saying, "You should have been here in April, the weather was beautiful!" That's spring for you -- unpredictable. ;-)

:-)

Travelerjan, I knew that Delphi is in the mountains. I have done some research!

Heimdall, thanks for the suggestions. The mainland has so much to see, I don't think I need to go to another island. Perhaps I can visit other islands on another trip. Anyway, thanks for the advice I may visit Delphi on an overnight trip. As far as weather is concerned, you are correct it is a "crap shoot."

Heimdall is right, omitting Meteora and doing Delphi as an overnighter will give you either more time in Athens OR time for a lovely 2-day CHAT tour (#6T) to Nafplio & Argolid; here's a link: http://www.chatours.gr/sub_cat_page.asp#9 .. I often recommend this because it's not rushed, you see 3 historic sites but not "history overload" ... PLUS, you have ample leisure in what GReeks consider the most beautiful Old town in Greece -- Nafplio -- a "stairstep town" on the side of a peninsula, surrounded by blue water, a gem of Venetian architecture (it was the first Capital of an Independent greece, in 1828).

Outbound, the tour stops for a close-up of the Corinth Canal (deep but Narrrrow), then Mycenae, before lunch in Nafplio .... AND you have the whole afternoon, evening and next AM to explore Nafplio's streets, shops, Castles, Forts, AND one of Greece's finest sunset vista. You'd even have time for a swim on Nafplio's cute tiny pebbly beach on the other side of its peninsula. After lunch the 2nd day, the tour visits Epidaurus (that stunning ancient theatre, seating 15,000!), then back to athens by 7 pm. NOTE: Do not fret about making a hotel reservation that will have you leaving town for Delphi, coming back, leaving for this tour etc... all the Hotels are very accustomed to this, or else they couldn't get guests. They will hold your larger bag so you can take a small one along if you wish. If you don't get the same room on return, big deal.

This CHAT tour has a 1st class & Tourist version I prefer the latter, because its nice hotel is right IN Old Town while the other is 2mi outside town requiring taxis. Here's a slide show by Fodorite standbr of Nafplio's beauties: http://travel.webshots.com/slideshow/551991579dJbWvh and a good website of the whole area: http://www.visitnafplio.com/visitnafplio.com/Home.html

You may say WOW! why didn't anyone tell me about this place before?? They never promote this to Americans! Well, it's because Greeks love and want to keep it to themselves... it's the favorite weekend getaway of savvy Athenians. That's why the 2-day CHAT tour runs on Tues Wed, or Wed-Thurs.. not weekends. If you can fit it into your schedule, you'll never regret it!