Ferry vs. Ferry Island Hopping
 

I am planning a trip in May 2005 to Athens, Santorini and Crete. I was wondering if anyone knows how far Santorini is from Athens. Also I have been reading that generally you need to return to Athens before going to the next island (Crete). Do most people Fly or take a Ferry? Can anyone offer some advice about this? I am inclined to take a Ferry, since it seems safer since I am not to sure about the small planes. I was also wondering how far Crete is? I have been doing some research and found that apollo tours has been a great help and I might be considering them for a package deal. Has anyone out there used them? Heard about them? Any assistance you may provide would be great. Thank you !!!

Oops. I meant Ferry vs Flying Island Hopping as the subject title. Sorry.

Athens is less than 200 miles from Santorini. If you fly you will have to return to Athens for a connecting flight to Crete, but the Hellas Flying Dolphin ferry boat will take you from Santorini to Crete in a very short time, about 1.75 hours. Below is a link to the HFD website, but you can be sure that by next May the timetable will have changed. Crete is about 65 miles south of Santorini.

Buying a tour package for May in the Greek islands is a waste of your money. There will be rooms available everywhere at Low Season Prices. Unless you absolutely can't be comfortable without a confirmed reservation, just wait until you arrive at the ferry port and you will be met by many locals who will be offering you rooms. Or you can pick a village in advance and make your way there from the port by bus or taxi and look for rooms (domatia) then. It's easy and much less expensive.

You can do your own research and decide what you might like to do on whichever islands you visit. If you want a tour of the Minoan palaces on Crete just wait until you get to Iraklion and book it at any travel agency. It's easy and won't be as expensive as booking a package. Flexibility is a virtue when travelling, and Greece is a great place to pick up the skills.

http://www.greekislands.gr/hfd/

Hi,
I would recommend that you fly from Athens to Santorini, take a ferry to Crete, and then fly back to Athens. There are some fancy ferries that go from Crete to Athens. YOu could get an over night ferry with your own room and bath. But you can not fly from Santorini to Crete with out returning to Athens first, therefore the ferry is best. Have a great trip.

Hi halsa -
If you take a fast ferry (Flying Dolphin) to Santorini from Athens it takes about 4.5 hours. Regular ferry is about 8 hours.
There's a lot of open water and not really too much to see along the way; there will be a stop at Ios or another island but that's it - but the approach to Santorini, when you see the caldera, is really something, and you'd miss that if you flew. That said, I would likely fly if I were to go from Athens to Santorini again. The ferry seems long and boring.
I don't know that the inter-island planes are always small (especially Athens to Santorini, which is a popular route)... and anyway, you're going to fly on a plane to get to Greece, right? What makes you more nervous - flying on a behemoth jet that weighs tons and tons, or flying on a plane that is closer in style to the original type of Wright bros. kind of craft? Just something to consider... also, we met a couple on Mykonos who had run into a problem with ferries not running due to wind (it happens sometimes there) and they had had to take a plane to Athens to get their flight home. It was a "normal" sized jet. This was reassuring to our travel companion, who was freaking out at the thought of possibly having to take a small plane if the ferry was cancelled.

If you are not a smoker I recommend booking a business class seat on the Flying Dolphin (or a cabin if you take the bigger, slower one). Regular class is chock full of smokers - you can't get away from it. They smoke in business class too but there are sections set aside and it is generally less crowded.

I wouldn't necessarily book a package for Greece. it depends on the kind of accomodations you want and how comfortable you are going without much booked. Lots of people use a travel agent for assistance with ferry tickets and even hotel, and that's sometimes not a bad idea (if you're like me and prefer things fairly planned) - you could do that when you get to Athens. But don't book a whole package before you go. I booked hotels over the net before we went and I know we could have got better deals if we'd waited but I wasn't comfortable showing up without something secured. I also wanted nice hotels and I felt it was nice to be able to bypass the cacophony of room hawkers at the ports.

To all that posted, thank you for your tips, comments and websites. Its greatly appreciated. Actually i was thinking about a tour for athens and inner city and the islands would just be for relaxing (no tour), just travel arrangments thjrough apollo travel to coordinate the hotels..Seems like they can get a better deal.. I think my pics are Athens (electra palace), santorini (volcano villas) and crete (agapi beach)..has anyone stayed at these hotels? Also, as for the flying vs. ferry, thank you for the comments, its sounds like the ferry b/w santorini and crete is short (1.75 hrs) and is the way to go...perhaps then flying to santorini from athens is the way to go? but then again i would be missing the view as one of you mentioned...well i guess i have some time to decide. Anyways thanks for the advice and posts, i love reading about all of your greece adventures and comments.

If you want to see the view of Santorini from the water there's an excursion on a small boat that will allow you to see it as well as the new volcano in the middle of the caldera and Therassia, next door to Santorini.

The Agapi beach hotel is 6Km west of Heraklion quite close to an industrial area. This is the ugliest area of Crete. Bear in mind that ferry schedules are only known a few days in advance. The slow ferries are best as you get a better view of the islands along the way and you can relax. May is out of season so bargain with the hotels when you arrive one usually pays around half the listed price.

My wife and I were in Greece this past May. In Athens we stayed at the Divani Palace Acropolis which was nice and right at the base of the Acropolis. We did not take any guided tour but chose to wander around ourselves. With admission to the Acropolis (Parthenon) you also get admission to many other historic sites around Athens and I think the cost was only 12 Euros. Everything was within walking distance. You must take an evening stroll along the path that surrounds the hill of the Acropolis and through the Plaka. Stop in at one of the many cafes and enjoy the evening.
Our next stop was Mykonos so we had to catch an early morning ferry. From Mykonos to Santorini we took the Flying Cat IV, a high speed cat and arrived in Santorini at 7:00 pm after stops at Paros,Naxos and Ios. We stayed at the Volcano's Villas in Oia (actually Finikia, a burb of Oia). Caldera view at 90 Euro a night. It was only a 5-10 minute walk from Oia but far enough away to avoid the sunset crowd. A bus stop is right out front and the bus system on Santorini is good. You must visit a little taverna across the street from the V Villas called Santorin Mou. Great food and drink and live traditional Greek music in the evenings.

Since Agapi Beach hotel is not in a good area..can you recommend another hotel in Iraklion (??) or perhaps is there a better hotel in Chania? Is going to Chania a better stop for Crete?