Greece - 3 week trip - requesting input
 

Hello all.

My family (me, my wife, 2 kids, 2 grandparents) are travelling to Greece in July. We are considering the following schedule:

Arrive July 6th in Athens.
Immediately fly or take high speed boat to Naxos for 7 nights.
Return to Athens on July 13th to spend 5 nights in Athens and Peloponnese (Nafplio, etc)
Leave Athens on July 17th and take bus to Lefkada for 7 nights
Return to Athens on July 24th to stay over one night and then fly back on the 25th

Does this sound reasonable?

Thanks for the feedback. We are open to suggestions..

High speed boats to Naxos are much more expensive than slow boats, but may not necessarily shorten your trip. All depends on your arrival time at ATH. The closest ferry port is Rafina.
In July, the high speed catamaran Superjet will leave from Rafina at 15.45, the slow ferry Blue Star Paros at 7.40.
Aegean Airlines planes leave ATH actually around noon.
You may also fly from Athens to Lefkas Island (airport Preveza, Aegean Airlines).
Or cut a few days from Lefkas and travel by boat from Patras via Kefalonia.
Some Patras and some Lefkas bound buses stop at Isthmia, close to Korinthos.

Usually highspeed ferries are the worst choices. An exception would be Hellenic Seaways Highspeed 4, 5, etc, which are large car-carrying catamarans. The smaller catamarans, e.g. Sea Jets Superjet and Sea Jet 2, are a nightmare in rough seas, and typically an hour behind schedule by the time they reach the islands.

With Highspeed 4 or 5 (not sure which of those will be going to Naxos next year) you will get there an hour quicker than with Blue Star, and for that pay about twice the price. That will add up for a family of six. Will it really matter much if you reach Naxos in 5 hours instead of 4?

My recommendation would be to take Blue Star (a conventional vessel) instead of a highspeed ferry. There are two daily sailings, one at 7:25 am and another at 5:30 pm. You can wander around the ship, go out on the open deck or visit one of the snack bars and restaurants. In July it is a good idea to pay an extra €4 or €5 for comfortable reserved seats. Take the Panorama tour of Blue Star Delos here: http://www.bluestarferries.com/site/...?sel=876&loc=2

Most ferries to the Cyclades, both highspeed and conventional, depart Piraeus at either 7-7:30 am or around 5:30 pm, hardly any in late morning or early afternoon. If those times are inconvenient for you, look into Olympic Air flights to Naxos. When flight schedules for next year are released they can be found on both Aegean Airlines and Olympic Air websites. Naxos' short runway is served by small Dash 8-100 turboprops, each carrying about 30 passengers. Seats sell out quickly once the timetables are released.

To clarify, the 7:25 am and 5:30 pm Blue Star sailings are from Piraeus. Neckervd, who posted while I was composing my reply, makes a good point about ferry departures from Rafina, which is, indeed, closer to the airport.

The 7:40 am Blue Star Paros from Rafina takes about 6 hours to Naxos because it makes an additional stop at Mykonos, while the 7:25 am and 5:30 pm Blue Stars from Piraeus take about 5 hours. On Fridays and Sundays the 5:30 pm Blue Star makes an additional stop at Syros, adding an extra hour to the voyage.

Sea Jets Superjet, which departs Rafina at 3:45 pm, may be worth considering if you can't make the morning ferries and don't mind the extra ticket cost. A couple of caveats, though: the Superjet schedule shows no sailings from Rafina on Fridays and Sundays; and, Sea Jets has a habit of publishing their timetables early, then changing the schedules later, causing problems for those who have booked tickets in advance. Occasionally the small Superjet is cancelled when winds are too strong, so it would be best to check conditions before you leave the airport. Amphitrion Holidays in the corridor outside Arrivals has latest ferry info.

Fly to Naxos. You'll be happy you did.

I really like Naxos, but I think seven nights could be too much. You might think about splitting the time between Naxos and Paros or Naxos and Santorini, all of which are on the same ferry lines.

High winds in July are a very strong possibility so if you decide to opt for one of the smaller catamaran ferries have a backup plan just in case the weather doesn't co-operate.

Is there a particular reason for going to Lefkada?
If there is no compelling reason then I might add to WWK's comment. While 7 days in my opinion is a minimum time to spend on Naxos the suggestion to see Santorini is a good one. While Santorini is overhyped and expensive there is a reason for that, which is the magnificent Caldera view. If you can find even a couple of nights for Santorini you will not regret it. One bonus for Santorini is it is serviced by jet aircraft and has many more flights than to Naxos. You can take advantage of seat sales on a 45 minute flight back to Athens. Aegean has a seat sale on right now.

Athens and the Peloponnese. Five days is really a minimum to spend here. Athens deserves two or better yet three days. Naplio on its own is worth two days and there are still day trips from Nafplio that are must sees for students of Greek history. Ancient Corinth, Ancient Nemia, Tiyrns the home of Hercules, Mycenae and Epidarus are all within an hour drive from Nafplio.
Again if Lefkada is not a major priority you can easily take those 7 days and expand your trip into the Cyclades and Peloponnese.
My thinking here is to cut down on transfers.

Here are some images of Naxos
Naxos Town http://www.flickr.com/photos/stanbr5...7632094558042/
A week in Naxos https://www.flickr.com/photos/stanbr...7645113682278/
Trip around Naxos http://www.flickr.com/photos/stanbr5...7634605629689/
Santorini
http://www.flickr.com/photos/stanbr5...7632154800782/

And finally Nafplio and the Peloponnese
http://www.flickr.com/photos/stanbr5...7632094108982/

It sounds like you are going to have a wonderful family experience.

Many thanks everybody for the replies.

I think we will fly to Naxos on Aegean Airlines based on the feedback. We arrive at 9:20 AM so that should be ample time to get on the noon flight to Naxos.

We are planning to stay the whole time in Naxos because we don't want to move hotels too often. It is realistic to believe that we can take day trips to Santorini and other islands in the Cyclades?

We found a very nice resort in Lefkada and wanted to experience that part of Greece. Has anybody been to Lefkada and do they recommend against it.

Thanks, again!

Paul

I would definitely fly if you can. We spent a week on Naxos and loved, would love to go back for another week!

A GOOD plan Paul... but you must try TODAY to book that Aegean flight. The planes (tho modern and very good) are super small only 35-40 seats, they sell out MONTHS in advance. Good Luck!

One tip for plane-booking; if you book online and put in "SIX" as the number of seats and the website says "not available" that may just mean that they only have FOUR. If so, go back in and try for FOUR ... in which case the kids & grandkids could fly, and the parents could take the ferry.

I meant kids & grandPARENTS ...

Just a clarification. The flight to Naxos for next summer are not yet up on the Aegean web site. Generally speaking they appear after January each year so you cannot book now. You should sign up for the Aegean and Olympic web sites and they send out news flashes regualrly.

Once you find the flight then you should book it because of what Jan said they do sell out quickly. There is no reason to wait for a seat sale the Naxos flight never goes on sale.

Thanks again all for feedback about Naxos and flights. We will be sure to reserve in January. I also emailed the airlines.

I want to consider an alternative to Lefkada. We will be in Paxos for the first week of our 3 week journey. We plan to be on the mainland around Athens and Peloponese the third week so we have the second week available to go to Lefkada or another island (Crete, Rhodes, Patmos, Other?). Any suggestions for a three generational family traveling together (ages 77, 74, 48, 44, 10 and 7). We want to stay in one place for the full week.

We would need to figure out if we would need to get back to Naxos for our return flight to Athens? I can't tell if they have 3 way flights (e.g. Athens to Naxos, Naxos to next location by flight or boat and flight back from next location back to Athens)?

Any ideas are welcome and appreciated.

Sincerely, Paul

Do you now want to go to Paxos (airport Corfu)?

Sound like quite a family adventure.

Since you mentioned Rhodes and Crete, I'll just say that some years ago DW and I were in Greece with a tour. Opting not to cruise to various islands, we spent a week in Athens, Corinth, Mycenae, Delphi, also Poros, Aegina. Then in Rhodes incl. Lindos, Kamiros. Then in Crete in Iraklion to see Knossis ruins, over to Fodele, Hania. And then back to Athens.

Sorry I meant to say we will be in Naxos (not Paxos) for the first week.

Naxos only has flights to and from Athens. Normal method of connection is to take a ferry to your next destination.
It is an easy ferry connection to Santorini although a week there may be too much. There are regular ferrys from Santorini to Crete.

A week in Crete is just barely enough time to settle in but if you concentrate on just one side you will have a good time.

We always go to the West of Crete and stay in the Venetian old town area of Chania. This is a city where you can literally step back into time. There are good good day trips from there including Ancient Aptera, Rethymnon and the boat excursion to Gramovossa with its beach and pirate fortress and then on to Balos lagoon for a beach time.
Chania http://www.flickr.com/photos/stanbr5...7632117917828/
Western Crete http://www.flickr.com/photos/stanbr5...7632115757899/

An alternative to using the ferry is to fly from Naxos to Athens then fly to Chania. That may be a tad expensive for a family of 6 though. Essentially most of the major islands yuou can connect to from Naxos by ferry like Mykonos, Santorini Crete Rhodes Paros all have airports so you can fly back to Athens from wherever you decide to go. There is no need to backtrack to Naxos to fly back to Athens.

"We always go to the West of Crete and stay in the Venetian old town area of Chania."

Just curious about why so many seem to prefer western Crete. I've done south-central (but years ago), but also extreme eastern. But largely un-developed back then. Can imagine going back and seeing what they've done with Phaistos, a Minoan city that was just a quiet ruin in an olive grove. Agia Galini was just a little fishing village in those days, and I know is a major tourist spot now, with an airport even nearby, but it still looks charming.

I have been to lefkada. It is lovely. But the Peloponnes is more interesting and has lovely beaches. I would wonder around this part of Greece. I do not know the resort you like on Lefkada, but Starwood now has 1 or 2 properties on the Peloponnes if you are looking for something up scale. If that is not what you desire there are some lovely beach towns on the Mani near Kalamata. Also the area south east of Corinth is delightful and near Naflion and near great ancient sights.

Have a great trip.