alexsandrapappas

Hi!

My husband and I have narrowed our trip down, finally!! We have decided to fly into Athens, leave straight away to Santorini, stay there for 3-4 nights and then head to Naxos. We want to stay in Naxos for 3-4 nights then head to Athens for the final 2 nights. My questions are:
1. Does that sound doable and enough time?
2. Is that the right order?
3. I heard there is a religious holiday on August 15th. We are wanting to Go for two weeks in Aug so will that make it difficult to travel? Will everything be closed? She we leave before the 15th or go after the 15th? Or will it not make a difference and I’m worrying for nothing?

once we book our flights I’ll be back on for recommendations on hotels and things to do!!! Thanks to everyone for their help so far!

kja

Doable, absolutely!

Enough time? Depends on your interests! I wanted much more time in Athens, and less in Santorini. To know whether it's enough time, I would think you would need to know what you want to do.

Heimdall

August 15th is the busiest day of the year on the islands. Far from being closed, everything will be jam-packed. If you are travelling around that date make sure you have transport and hotels booked well in advance.

Just to add: your plan certainly is doable, and I agree heading straight for Santorini upon arrival is the best plan. Ironically, Athens will be fairly quiet, since everyone who can escapes the city in mid-August.

fourfortravel

We thought Athens warranted more than two nights (we stayed for four nights), but depending on your interests you may think differently.

alexsandrapappas

If we book now (3 mo in advance) will that be ok?

travelerjan

August is ALWAYS crowded -- all of Northern Europe seems to jump into Jumbo Jets, and land by the 400s on tiny islands in Greece, at the same time that Greeks take the month off ... and Especially the week of Aug 15 -- which you have to regard as Combo of Memorial Day weekend, Labor Day weekend and 4th of July weekend all at once.

Your best Bet would be to start y our vacation at Aug 20 or later ... that's the time that European families must start getting their children into schools, so the crowds start thinning a little by then. If, for job/work reasons, you must leave on a Friday, and return to your office on a Monday, then best timing would be to fly on August 24 and return to US on Sept 8 or 9th.

My advice on booking priorities is, logistics first:
(1) Check Aegean Air Flilght availabilities from ATH - Santorini on the day you hope to Arrive in ATH
(2) See whether there's a RT from USA that arrives at a good time to connect with the Aegean Air flights you'd want
(3) Book Aegean Air and your USA r-tr tickets NOTE: Book the "flex" rate for Aegean, which allows time-change without penalty
... OR, the alternative method to reach Santorini
(1-A) On the Day you hope to arrive in Greece, Find a 1-way flight to Santorini from a major European city (let's say Rome, as an example)
(2-A) Find an airline flight From USA that's "open-jaw", Where you can fly into Rome that day in time for the Santorini flight, and then fly Back to US from Athens ... with or without a plane-change.
(3-A) Book both flights; allow enough time in Rome (2 hrs?) to retrieve luggage, go thru security & make that Santorini flight. This may save time and a "crush" in Athens airport.

... Do the above BEFORE you book lodgings, but you can research, and jump on lodgings as soon as you have flights.
SANTORINI -- Use booking.com and look at FIROSTEPHANI ... easier/cheaper to book than OIA, on northern edge of FIRA town, serenely away from the hubbub but easily walkable to town sights, shops, cafes, nightlife.
NAXOS -- In crowded High Season, take a look at lodgings near Ag. Prokopios beach or Plaka ... good bus service every 30 minutes to Naxos Port Town nightlife until at least midnight in August.
--- instead of depending totally on us for hotel and activity recommends, how about getting a good GUIDE book that doesn't depend on the advice of unknown people on a forum ... or pick up 3-4 guides at the local library, & order online the one that you like best. You cannot cannot get all the information you need simply from a forum.... nobody has the time to supply that much.

Heimdall

The sooner the better for mid-August.

EDIT: travelerjan and I were posting at the same time, and I agree with her completely about waiting until August 20th or later if you can. I don't know if travelerjan has ever been to Greece that time of year, but I have, and can assure you there is a significant drop in numbers the last week of August. Santorini has a longer season than Naxos, so it will still be crowded there into September.

Actually, this year the Sunday after the Aug 15th Assumption Day holiday is August 19th, and that's when many Greeks will be returning home from the islands. Northern Europeans may wait another week before returning home.

travelerjan

Heimdall I've been 2x starting 1st of September, beside information from guides and from internet forums about the last weeks of August, I've also consulted good friends in greece such as "Thalia13" and "Xaroula" and "NickArch" all of whom you are familiar with. I asked them about it when advising another newbie about whether to come in August. As u know, my own preference is for May-June even tho the water is "Brisk!" because I love the greenery, and by September the landscape gets somewhat brownish, after 3 rainless month.

alexsandrapappas

Ok- I think we are going Aug 20- Sept 2! It looks like we will be flying from Munich into Athens landing in athens at 2:45 pm. Would that give us enough time to catch a ferry or flight into Santorini that night?

alexsandrapappas

If we were to stay in Imerovigli instead of Firostefani, would there be places to eat and things to do? We aren’t into a crazy night life but we don’t want to be home in bed by 9 either! We love going to dinner and having a few cocktails after but no clubs or anything like that!

kja

Have you booked your flights yet? If not, consider booking all the way through to Santorini -- you'll have to change planes in Athens, but if there's any problem, it will be up to the airline with which you booked to get you onward.

Of course! Go to google maps, find Imerovigli, and look "nearby" for restaurants, etc.

Heimdall

With a 2:45 pm arrival in Athens there are three Aegean Airlines flights currently available you could take to get you to Santorini the same day: 17:15, 19:50, or 20:50. You will be flying between two EU/Schengen countries, so there will be no immigration or customs to go through. The 17:15 flight gives you 2½ hours layover, which is more than ample time between flights.

Booking all the way through to Santorini is a good idea for the reasons mentioned by kja. Some people find when they do that the total cost of air fares is more, so do dummy bookings both separately and together to find out which is cheaper.

It may even be possible to book a flight non-stop from Munich to Santorini, so check that too. I don't know which German airlines have direct flights from Munich to Santorini, but Eurowings (formerly known as German Wings) has a flight on Aug 21st for €134.99 including 23 kg checked luggage. https://www.eurowings.com/en.html

Then you can go to Athens at the end of the trip and book a return flight from there back to Munich or wherever you are going next.

alexsandrapappas

Ok we just booked! We land in Athens at 9:15am and fly out to Santorini at 1:30! Thanks for all you help! I’ll be reaching back out for more help in the near future, I’m sure!!

alexsandrapappas

Thank you again!! We booked two different hotels in Santorini. One in Imerovigli and the other in firostephani. We are staying in Plaka when we go to Naxos! I am SO excited!!!

our itinerary is:
arrive in Santorini at 2:45 and go to our hotel in Imerovigli. Stay there for two nights and then head to Firostephani for two nights. Head to Naxos and stay in Plaka for 4 nights. Head to Athens for the final 3 nights and we are staying at A for Athens.

We are going to try and do a day trip to Meteora. IS that doable? Also- do you think we need to rent a car in Naxos?

Odin

You booked a 4 hour layover in Athens for a flight to Santorini or are you arriving in Santorini at 1.30pm? You don't want to be spending most of that day just to get that short distance from Athens to Santorini, Aegean has a flight that leaves at 11.55am.

<<all of Northern Europe seems to jump into Jumbo Jets, and land by the 400s on tiny islands in Greece>> An exaggeration of course, not least as there are not many 747s flying, none or few within Europe and none of them can land on tiny Greek islands.

<<best Bet would be to start y our vacation at Aug 20 or later ... that's the time that European families must start getting their children into schools,>> FYI Scandis goes back to school anytime between 9 August and 19 August latest. Some Germans (depends on area) are also back to school by the 19th Aug, other parts of Europe are back beg-mid September.

Odin

Sorry I posted my previous post rather late.

You don't need 2 different hotels in Santorini - I would suggest you book something in Oia which IMO is the best location on the island. Or at least just stay in one place whether that be Imerovigli or Firostephani if they are places you prefer.

You don't have time for Meteora if you only have 3 nights in Athens.

alexsandrapappas

We decided to do two places in Santorini based on cost. In Imerovigli we are staying at a really nice place but don’t want to break the budget the first 4 nights so we decided to split it up!! I’m not sure why the travel agent gave us a 4 hour layover in Athens. I’ll see if he can update it. If not, could we leave the Athens airport, have lunch and come back?

as far as meteora, it looks like it’s pretty close to Athens? Is it just difficult to get to?

kja

Meteora is 500 km from Athens.

And 3 nights is very, very little for Athens.

alexsandrapappas

I’m seeing that now that everything is booked! I guess I’ll just have to come back to Greece again!!! We may end up adding one more night in Athens and taking one away from Naxos. As we keep planning we will get it narrowed down a bit more!