Good Travel Agent For Greece Trip?
 

Does anyone know a good travel agent that can help me book rooms, ferries, and flights at a decent price? My wife and I are fairly travel savvy, but just want our trip to be more streamlined and easy going. We are planning on doing a few days in Athens, Mykonos, Santorini, and Naxos or another less touristy island. We want to spend as little time as possible on ferries and planes though. Are we asking too much?

Thanks for any input!

An excellent travel agency in Athens that can help you arrange everything within Greece is Fantasy Travel. They have an extremely good reputation for reliability, communication and follow-up.

http://www.fantasytravelofgreece.com/english/index.html

Without hesitation, I'd recommend Uli @ Dolphin Hellas Agency. Friendly, helpful, extremely knowledgeable and thorough. Uli set up 3 hotels, 2 intra-Greece flights, and one intra-Greece ferry for us. We set up one hotel and one car on our own.

I'm not sure of your age or your interests, but I wouldn't spend too much time in Santorini. It was very pretty, but it didn't seem 'real'. Just lots of shops/restaurants. A view to die for, of course, but it wasn't my cup of tea. We loved Crete. If you can manage to get down south to Crete, I would think you'd love it.

Here's the info for Uli. Good luck !!!
Uli Perschau
Dolphin Hellas Agency
16 Syngrou Ave
117 42 Athens
Telephone: 011 30 21 09227772
Email: [email protected]
Website: www.dolphin-hellas.gr

The only way to avoid ferries and airplanes in Greece is to stay in Athens. After two or three days you may want to find some place else to explore.
Since you intend to visit a number of the Islands you will need to spend some time on ferries or aircraft. Obviously planes are a lot faster than ferries, however there is viruyally no inter isaln flights. All connect in Athens. Keep in mind the more Islands you want to visit the more time you will be spending in transit. I was shocked to discover that the hour long ferry ride from Paros to Naxos took us half the day when you include checking out of your room, waiting for the ferry and then finding another hotel at the next island. I always suggest that people try fewer islands and spend more time just relaxing and discovering the island you are on. I highly recommend Naxos and Santorini by the way.

Here is a second vote for Uli at Dolphin Hellas. Last year Uli booked us at Attalos hotel in Athens and she was at least 20 Euros cheaper than booking direct. We always use Uli for our Athens hotels, ferries and air to the Islands.
One has to be aware of prices though. She was not able to compete on car rentals over the internet or our favorite hotel in Nafplion or the Islands. Depending on when you go it is cheaper to just walk up to a hotel and get the best rate available, especialy in May and June. That may not be such a good idea in July and August though
Not to knock Fantasy Travel as it has had many good reviews here, but last June we sat beside a couple and a Fantasy travel agent on the rooftop bar of Attalos Hotel and listened to the agent make her sales pitch. I thought it was like visiting a time share in Florida. I have never had any pressure sales from Dolphin Hellas. I have just told Uli what I want and all the tickets and vouchers are waiting for us atthe hotel when we arrive.

Thanks for the help. Do any of you think there is a big benefit to booking with an agent rather that doing it yourself? We are on a budget and want the most out of our 8 day trip. Do any of these agents actually get you better prices on hotels or flights?

Thanks again for any help!

A third vote for Uli, great service.

Another vote for Fantasy Travel!

A fourth vote for Uli. She helps us with our trip and it's been a wonderful experience. Leaving next Wednesday (May 24th)

Do travel agents offer better prices on ferries and flights to the islands?

I think Greece is one of those places where you really can get a better deal working with a local agent.

Travel agents have no way of discounting airfare or ferry prices.

Fantasy travel was awesome. I wish I could find an agency like that in every country we visit. We never had to worry about a thing - every detail was expertly taken care of and they were very flexible. We went to Athens, Santorini and Crete.

We are flying into Athens in a week, staying for a day or 2 then flying (probably) to Santorini for a few days then taking the high speed cat to Crete. We got a quick first reply from Fantasy but haven't heard back from Dolphin. Any recommendations on places to stay in Athens or Santorini or places to avoid would be appreciated!

JWH - Sounds like you did a similar trip -where did you stay in Santorini & Athens and would you recommend? Did you fly or take water transportation to Santorini? We are trying to get this set up last minute and are really scrambling...

Sorry for the delay...end of school has kept me busy. Hope this info isn't too late. On Santorini we stayed at Perivolas and thought it was heaven on earth. In Athens we stayed at a big hotel recomended by Fantasy where we looked up at the Parthenon from our Balcony...seems like it started with a D...sorry, can't remember but we were satisfied. We flew into Athens then took the fast ferry to Santorini (we bought the first class tickets and had the upper deck to ourselves...we enjoyed the ferry trip). We then took the ferry to Crete and flew back to Athens the next day and flew back to the US. BTW- the last night in Athens we stayed at the hotel connected to the airport (nothing to see around there but soooo convienent). Hope this helps.

Hi there,
Remember that you must always shop around in order to get the best rates. I can only suggest having a look at www.GetawayCruises.com. Ask for a quote on any service or itinerary you want and then simply do the comparison.
Hope this was helpful,
Phillip P. Radopoulos Marnellos

Here's an UN-Vote for Fantasy Travel. Terrible service. Terrible CUSTOMER service. Turned my trip into a nightmare.

Hi, I'm currently working with Freedom Tours LLC out of New Orleans, which does lots of custom and small group travel to Greece and other locations. Our trip is early next summer, but so far their recommendations and references have been great. Their website is www.freedomtoursllsc.com. Ask for Annie, and tell her Bonnie Weissman referred you. They have a great website too.