JCinMD

My husband and I will be visiting Greece with our 21 year old daughter for 10 days the second week of May. We will be coming from Rome and need to get back to Rome for our flight for the states. I need some feedback and suggestions on our itinerary. We want to spend a few days in Athens and then visit a few islands including Santorini. I spent a month in Greece in the 70s and look forward to getting back,

Based on some of the messages I read, it sounds like we should start with the islands and then visit Athens last, to make sure we make our flight back to Rome. I am currently thinking we will visit Crete and Santorini. I spent 2 weeks on Crete and would like to see how it's changed. Alternatively, we could visit Santorini and then Naxos and Paros. We are interested in mostly relaxing, spending some time on beaches (although we realize it will be a bit cool), visiting towns and eating well. I have the following questions:
-Would you recommend Crete or Naxos/Paros besides Santorini?
-After flying from Rome to Athens, is it worthwhile to fly to Crete (assuming we go there) and then plan to get back via boats. Or should we go directly to Santorini and then fly back from Crete?
-Should I be making plane reservations now or should I wait for the specials? What about boat reservations?
-Do hotel accomodate 3 adults in one room or will we need 2 rooms?

I will continue to read recommendations on where to stay in Santorini, Athens and the other island(s) we will visit. Thanks, in advance, for your help!!!

brotherleelove2004

To do justice to Crete you'll need at least a week with a rental car. Otherwise go to Paros or Naxos.

For me flying is always best since I prefer not to spend as much time in transit as the ferries require.

Make your plane reservations as soon as you're comfortable with the price, but if you sign up for the Aegean Airlines email newsletter you'll be notified in Feb. or March of their promotional saver fares for May.

Many hotel rooms can accomodate 3 adults, it just depends. Sometimes you can see on the rate page of the hotel website what's on offer if it's not spelled out on the accomodations page. It might take you sending them an email to confirm what they offer.

If you want specific hotel recommendations for Santorini please state your maximum daily room budget and which village you have chosen.

brotherleelove2004

If you choose Crete it makes sense to take the Hellenic Seaways FlyingCat-4 ferry from Heraklion to Santorini instead of flying back to Athens for a connecting flight. http://www.ferries.gr/hfd/ But if you want to consider a direct flight on a small plane with smaller baggage allowances have a look at the Sky Express website: http://www.skyexpress.gr

travelerjan

The CRETE - SANTORINI CHOICE
Which island you visit first should be based on which offers the best connections after you arrive from Rome, at the Airport. In a perfect world, your Rome flight comes in, you catch a flight soon afterward to Chania, tootle around West Crete a few days, then get to Heraklion (don't stay in town, it's a Concrete City) for the daily 9:45 fast-ferry to Santorini.

However, if there's no good flight and you'd be stuck at the airport for 8 hours waiting, then look for a bargain flight to Santorini (not many these days!) and go to crete from there.

The NAXOS - PAROS - SANTORIN option:
Again, do-abiity depends on schedules. RIght now only 1 flight per day to Naxos or Paros ... 9 or 10 am on Olympic (after Mar 1, Aegean Air may get this contract and have a better, later flight schedule). If you can make one of these, you're golden! Otherwise, fly to Santo., for 3 days 2 nights, ferry to Naxos or Paros for 4 days. If you want to ferry back to Piraeus, avoid cutitng up a day by taking the 6 pm ferry, arrives midnight. NOTE: when taking long ferry ride such as this on Blue STar, buy "reserved economy" ticket... you can sit on deck as long as u like but when u want to read & doze u have a comfy rserved leanback seat inside.

Heimdall

My suggestion is book Aegean Airlines connecting flights from Rome to Santorini (via Athens) on the same ticket, and don't worry too much about about Saver Fares. Why? If you book the flights separately and your flight from Rome is delayed, you will have no protection with a Saver Fare. If you book the flights on the same ticket the airline will be obligated to get you on the next available flight.

Travelerjan is way off the mark with her comments obout flights to Paros and Naxos. The Public Service Obligation tender calls for three flights per day in summer to Paros. There is no possibility whatsoever that Aegean Airlines will be flying to Paros or Naxos next summer - they haven't even bid for those routes, and they never will. Try landing an Airbus 320 on a 2,300ft runway! Right now the only airline with aircraft that can serve those routes is Olympic Air, so they may be the only credible bidder.

travelerjan

As always, Heimdall I bow to your greater knowledge. I had been seeing all the posts on TA about the PSO routes being possibly being bid on, and didn't think about the runway limits making these particular PSO islands unappealing to Aegean.

If it's Olympic, I wonder WHEN they will add that 3rd flight to Paros ... mid-day, one would hope. Also wondering when or if Olympic would switch the Naxos flight to a later time in the day .... previous years, it was 12:30 or 1300 or so -- more possible for a connection at least. 8 or 9 am is impossible. Any thoughts on that front, Heimdall??

Heimdall

Hi Jan,

My interest in Naxos and Paros flights is because once in Greece I like to get to the islands as quickly as possible, and (against all advice) return to Athens the same day as my flight home. I have done a lot of research over the winter on the PSO routes (too much time on my hands?) to learn the way they work and how they affect flights to Paros and Naxos.

Yes, when summer timetables are released there will be a mid-day flight to Paros. Last summer it left Athens at 1340 and returned from Paros at 1445. I've no idea whether this summer will be the same, or if the Athens-Naxos flights will resume departing at 1230. We will just have to wait and see. #-o

Now, for the Public Service Obligation (PSO) tenders themselves <i>(feel free to ignore the rest of this post, it gets a little boring)</i> :

Naxos:

Six return flights a week and a total of 192 seats a week in each direction throughout the winter.
Eight return flights a week and a total of 200 seats a week in each direction throughout the summer.

Paros:

Ten return flights a week and a total of 170 seats a week in each direction throughout the winter.
Nineteen return flights a week and a total of 330 seats a week in each direction throughout the summer.

Since these are loss-making routes, no airline is likely to increase service above what they are contracted for. A further complication is runway length of 2,300ft at Paros and 2,900ft at Naxos. That means Dash 8-100 aircraft for Paros, flying half full on their return to Athens. Naxos can take a slightly larger aircraft - the old Olympic Airlines used ATR-42s. The new Olympic Air has retained only one ATR-42 in it's fleet for reserve, so I'm not sure what they will be using in future flights to Naxos - if not the ATR-42, most likely Dash 8-100 or the larger Dash 8-400 with a reduced load.

JCinMD

Thanks for all the information. Now I need to figure out which island(s) to go to. Will do more research. Will get back with more questions.

parosblue

Hi JCinMD, To add a little more advice to the list, I think you do have to choose for the time allowed. Crete is such a big island, you could easily spend all your time there. Go to the south coast, you won't regret it. You could fly to Crete, ferry to Santorini and fly back to Athens. Or just stay in the Cyclades. It's tough to choose, but it just helps you plan your next trip. In any case, you know that it will be wonderful!

JCinMD

Thanks parosblue. I spent 2 weeks on Crete many years ago and have great memories. If I go to Crete, I would want to carve out a section to explore. Where do you recommend concentrating? I have never been to Chania. Where in the south do you recommend. If we rent a car, how much of the island could we see in about 3 days? I'm not interested in spending the whole time driving!

travelerjan

A final question for Heimdall on those Naxos-Paros Flights: When do airlines consider that "Summer" begins?? May 1, May 15, June 1? July 1? For ancient sites, their "summer" opening hours begin in April (except when they don't). It's a puzzlement!

Heimdall

Good question, Jan! Even the Greeks don't seem to understand it, so how can we?

It's very difficult finding information in English on these subjects, and I don't read Greek apart from the very basics.

The information I gave in the above post came frome a document in the <i>Official Journal of the European Union</i>, found after a lot of Googling. It refers to summer and winter, but doesn't give dates for which those two seasons apply. The actual tenders used by the airlines in the bidding process are much more detailed, and will include those dates.

I pick up a timetable at Athens Int'l Airport every year, and the one I'm looking at is for the period March 2009 - October 2009. It shows three flights per day to Paros and one per day (two on Fridays) to Naxos throughout that period, so I guess summer season applies to the periods most of us travel to Greece.

travelerjan

THANX HEIMDALL ... at least that's a "clue" as to timing.