Expert Advice needed re Mykonos, Santorini & Crete
 

A friend and I will be visiting Greece for the month of August. We arrive on the 5th for 2 nights in Athens and then off to Mykonos, (Eva Hotel in Ornos), and Santorini (Astir Thira Hotel in Fira) each for 2 nights. We then go to Crete (Olympic Hotel in Heraklion)for 3 nights before flying back to Athens to meet the husbands (who will fly in from the US) and drive to a home in Porto Cheli until 9/2.

The question I have is transportation on the islands. Would it be better to hire a driver for the day or can we rent a scooter? Are buses reliable and have frequent schedules? In Crete we probably would rent a car. Can anyone recommend a rental company?

The other question is regarding restaurants and nightlife. We want to eat where the locals eat and would like recommendations. Good food at reasonable prices is what we are looking for. Also we are two 50ish women who would like to go out in the evening to listen to good music, dance and have a few drinks. Not looking for the young, loud crowd. Any recommendations?

I know this is a lot of questions, but thought I would put them all in one post.

Thank you for any help you can provide!

i'll try as best i can.
you should not need to hire a driver if you stay in the main portion of town in mykonos, (fira is close to everything in santorini). You will always take a bus to most beaches and yes, the schedules are usually on time and dependable. Really late return from beach to hotel can sometimes be long (i.e. bus skips a few normal time pick-ups). This is for both mykonos/santorini. Cannot recommend rental company in crete but if you google you should be ok. Greek drivers are not what you would expect in most places. i am not sure where you are from, but pedestrians likely do NOT have the right of way in Greece; agressive driving in common (just a warning but you should be fine).
As far as nightlife, ask your hotel where the local "tavernas" are or where the "bouzoukia (boo-zoo-key-yah)" are being played. That will for certain have locals, and you may find yourself the only English speaking people there. No worries, as many do speak English, you just have to ask. Usually the discoteques have more of a younger crowd, but you would be suprised. In greece people of all ages venture out to various nightlife activity. Not sure if this helped, but this is my personal 1st hand feedback.

ok - so maybe I don't need an "expert", but someone who either lives there such as thanos_GR or someone who has traveled to these beautiful islands before. Any advice would be appreciated since I already checked and the scooters seems to be all reserved already for when we plan to be there.

HI,

I am not sure what type of place you are looking for, for a few drinks and dancing, but in Oia there is a restaurant called Santorini Mui. They have Greek music and the patrons get up and dance. The food is also quiet good. Have a great time.

Bus services on the islands are reliable, and will get you nearly everwhere except the most out of the way places. In August they are likely to be very crowded (this comment almost got me in trouble when overheard by a very prominent Greek exile in London). ;-)

Regarding "We want to eat where the locals eat", someone on another thread said the locals eat at home. :-)

Enjoy your trip, but expect Mykonos and Santorini to be busy. Perhaps on Crete you can get away from the crowds with your rental car.

Yes, we expect it to be very crowded, but unfortunately that is the only time we are able to visit. As for the locals eating at home, I will be doing that once we are in the home in Porto Cheli. I have gotten some suggestions in previous threads for Santorini and Mykonsos restaurants, but not much can I find on Crete.

If your hotel is at Ornos beach on Mykonos, have the hotel pick you up at the airport or ferryport.

hello Kraspa

The bus from town to Agios Ioannis (end of line then bus reverse the journey) stops always at Ornos beside the small beach with shops and tavernas closby.

The service is hourly and in high season when you visit, the Agios Iannnis service operates until 1am. The last service FROM Agios Ioannis to the town is 1am so it will have already reached Ornos about 12:50am before reversing journey. I hope that is making sense to you.

Buses are reliable and their are many of them. In mid-summer thay have to be reliable and on time as many many peoples visit the baeches from town and return to town from beaches.

There are a few places to rent scooters but I think this may not be so good an idea. Many accidents. Sadly last summer in a quiet time of the early summer a young lady was killed when on her scooter. It happens again, and again and it is very sad.

The island is small and I do not think you need a car. Bus services take you to many beaches in thr south including Ornos and also to some of the remote northern beaches but here you may have to walk from where bus stops to the more deserted beaches there.

There is also a guided island tour for one half day. I do not think it is worth money as it takes you only to the beaches to look at and to Ano Mera.

Click my name for recent restaurant recommendations I make here.

One final thing I think you must know is not to rely on taxis late in evening in August. You will have very long wait to take you abck to your hotel at Ornos. On island there are only about 30 taxis and nightime late they are very very busy. Bus for you I think is better.

If you need more inforamation please let me know.

thanos

I rented a car on Crete earlier this month from a local agency called Elite, and was very pleased with them. A compact car with a/c cost 89 euros for three days, including full insurance coverage and delivery of the car to my hotel in Chania. We left Crete by ferry from Iraklion -- no problem, we just parked next to the ferry landing, left the keys under the mat, and phoned them to tell where the car was.

I was really glad we had the car, because it was easy to get up into the mountains to go hiking, also we drove through some amazing scenery along the western coast.

Thank you to everyone who replied. What I forgot to mention is that we have transfers from the ferry/airport to the hotels and back, it is the normal transportation during the day that we were concerned about.

I am sure the hotel staff will guide us to the right bus for where we want to go, it the return that worries me.

The last time we were in Greece (8 years ago), we were staying with a family and we usually did not go to dinner at the restaurants until 9:00/ 10:00 ish. Is this still the normal dinner time?

Kraspa

We have many northern European visitors here also who we know eat earlier than we sometimes do. Restaurants adjust.

I know of many who serve dinner from at least 7.30 evenings, some before that time also.

thanos