Greece help: TOO MANY ISLANDS!
 

We are planning a trip to Greece with our three kids (10,15,17) the first part of July ( 14-16 nights). I realize I’m a bit late to be planning (not my usual travel style) but I’m hoping I can put a great trip together with your words of wisdom. I have two guidebooks and more websites bookmarked than I can deal with. There is just SO MUCH to choose from. I would love some guidance. I’m sorry if this is too preliminary for some but I am grateful for any help.
What we love (based on previous trips):

1. Nature - hiking, mountain biking, beaches, and boat trips are always highlights for us
2. Food- we love exploring new foods, cooking experiences, wine for the adults
3. Culture - experiencing everyday life. We also love to learn about the history of the places we visit but are by no means wanting to spend a lot of our trip in busy, touristy sites. Some of us love art and architecture.
4. Accommodation: setting up a “home base” for part of the trip. Our teens don’t love hopping around and it makes us all happier when we can settle in a bit. No more than 4 stops. We usually rent a house for a longer period (5-7 nights). Smaller hotels are good for shorter stays. Max $500us/nt

My initial thought was to fly directly to Crete for 10 days, 3/4 nights on Santorini (or another island) and back to Crete for a flight home. Crete is large and seems to offer a lot of the things we are looking for above. I know we could spend a month there and not see it all.
I also considered something a bit more transient like this: Paros 3 nights , Naxos 7 nights, ??? 2 nights, Athens 3 nights.

Thanks everyone.

Crete is absolutely lovely, IMO, and 10 days there sounds like it would suit your family well.
But why return there for your flight out? Consider an open jaw flight (search for "multi-city" routes), into Crete and out of Athens.
And if you do that, put at least 3 nights -- maybe more -- into Athens at the end of your trip. (Or vice versa, depending on your preferences.)

I must admit that I'm not a great fan of Santorini, though many people love it.
Naxos would also make sense if you decide against Crete.

If you haven't already seen it, you might find some useful information in my trip report:
https://www.fodors.com/community/eur...reece-1460735/

Hope that helps!

Thanks so much for the ideas kja. Is there an island you would suggest close to Crete for a few nights instead of Santorini? I considered flying into Athens for a few days at the beginning of the trip and that could still be an option. I’m hesitant to end the trip in Athens because we have found that we don’t love big, busy cities at the end of our trips when we are finally rested and relaxed.

If you are at all interested in visiting Athens, starting there sounds like a good idea for your preferences.
I'll defer to others -- people who know much more than I! -- about your island options. I'm sure they'll chime in when they have a chance.

Crete would be a good idea, and you will probably need two bases to see all it offers. There aren't any islands closer to Crete than Santorini unless you count Kithira, between the port of Kissamos and the southern tip of the Peloponnese. The ferries from Heraklion that stop at Santorini usually go on to Naxos or Paros, so if you don't want to go to Santorini just stay on the ferry until the next stop.

Don't forget, Greece has a mainland too, and you could do all "What we love" without ever setting foot on an island. If you are able to fly directly to Crete there may be other airports apart from Athens from where you can fly home.

Although OP does not say so (why?) she's not from France but from Canada, which may change the family options for itinerary sequence. There are no direct flights from N. America to an island... if they take a nonstop from N. America. they must go to Athens, then get a domestic onward flight. The only way to fly direct to Crete is by plane-change at a Major European airport. This may complicate an "open-jaw" ticketing... who knows. If she'd share what their fllight plan is, we wouldn't spend time figuring out the best sequence/island choices. With ambitious hopes for 14-16 days, we can steer her toward the most efficient transit options, IF we know key facts (exact arrival date would also help).

Ferries from Crete to other Islands (in July):

Iraklio to Santorini - Paros/Naxos - Mykonos (catamaran, daily)
Iraklio to Milos (big ferry, every Tuesday and Sunday)
Iraklio to Anafi (medium sized ferry, once weekly)
Iraklio to Karpathos (medium sized ferry, once weekly)
Sitia to Karpathos (medium sized ferry, once weekly)
Rethymnon to Santorini (catamaran, Tuesday and Saturday)
Kissamos to Kythira (rather small paassenger and car ferry, 3times weekly)
Paleochora to Gavdos (caique, daily if the sea isn't too rough)
Chora Sfakio to Gavdos (caique, daily if the sea isn't too rough)

And because one CAN change an an airport other than Athens, it opens up many options!
I'm sure the OP can figure it out -- there are, after all, a lot of flight search engines out there.

Good morning everyone. Thank you for the responses. I will reply to each for ease of reading.
Heimdall - Santorini is the closest so we thought that might enable us to spend a couple of days and then easily fly home from Crete. I am definitely looking for island suggestions. Would you recommend Naxos over Santorini? We could do Crete/Naxos/Athens/Home?
trsvelerjan - We have many flight options from NA so I am not concerned with getting help with flights at this time but thank you for the offer. We can get tix to make almost any itinerary work from the research I have done. We will have 14-16 days in Greece not counting travel days. No we aren’t from France - not sure what the concern is with that. We are from Canada.
neckervd - thank you for the ferry info. We all want to experience at least two Greek islands (one of them being smaller) and Santorini seemed closest and most easily accessible. Do you have any other favourites?
kja - yes I have the flights under control. I really need help with itinerary which you so kindly provided Above. If you think of anything else please let me know. Thank you.

Hi Francewithfive,

Santorini would certainly be the easiest Island if you wish to return to Crete for a flight, but I don’t understand why that would be necessary as there are other islands with international flights, including Santorini itself. I, and probably travelerjan too, thought you were flying home to somewhere in Europe that had direct flights to and from Crete.

Neckervd likes to display his knowledge of ferry timetables, but many of the islands on his list would be impractical for you, especially on once-per-week ferries. If you’d like to go somewhere quieter than Santorini, the same ferries that leave from Heraklion (Iraklio) go on to Naxos, Ios, and Paros. Just buy your ticket to one of those and stay on the ferry when it stops at Santorini. You will get a glimpse of the famous cliff top villages as the ferry arrives and departs from Athinios, the Santorini ferry port.

Heimdall thanks for the info. Sorry for the confusion re our flights. It’s always hard to know exactly how people will read the initial post!
If we were to stay on the ferry and skip Santorini, which island would you suggest? Naxos and Paros have both been recommended in guidebooks but I haven’t heard about Ios. I am concerned that Santorini is incredibly busy in July, expensive, and maybe just a little more populated than what we are looking for. I think that after time on Crete, we would be looking for those quintessential small island villages, quieter beaches (is that even possible in July) and an island that is fairly easy to get around. No cruise ship crowds preferably. We could rent a car if needed.

Ios is a party island for young people in July and August. I’ve only been there on a ferry stop on the way to Folegandros, so have only seen the port area. Naxos is the next island after Santorini on the ferry route from Crete to Mykonos, but some ferries stop at Paros instead. Either would be a good choice. Naxos has a huge interior with traditional agricultural villages that many people enjoy visiting. Nearly every stays in Naxos Town or one of the beach resorts.

The island of Paros is smaller, but has a larger developed area, and the adjacent island of Antiparos adds more variety. The most popular places to stay are the port town of Parikia, or the former fishing village of Naoussa, that is now mostly touristic, but still beautiful. You can take an island tour with https://captainbenantiparos.com , and visit the archeological site on Despotiko, which is still being excavated.

Thanks so much Heimdall. I read similar things about Ios. I think we will keep our teens far away from the crazy Greek party scene. I am considering Naxos, Paros or Milos. All seem to have pros and cons. Naxos looks like it has more to do in terms of outdoor activities while Milos seems quieter with gorgeous beaches. This is a very tough decision. I think I will start to look into accommodation which might be the deciding factor in the end since we are a bit late for summer bookings.

If you choose Milos you will have to change ferries on Santorini unless you can time your departure for the Minoan Lines ferry mentioned by neckervd in post #7. According to gtp.gr it sails from Heraklio (note the different spellings for the same port) on Thursdays and Sundays, not Tuesdays and Sundays as neckervd wrote on the post.
https://gtp.gr/RoutesDetails.asp?rou...e=1,2&Intern=0

If you decide on Naxos or Paros you can stay on the same ferry all the way, but note that after the stop at Santorini some go to Naxos and others to Paros, but not both. Naxos is a family island with mostly low key nightlife, even in Naxos Town, so that would be a good choice. Paros and Antiparos are also family friendly, and Antiparos, where I stay, is a great place for families with teens. There are a few small nightclubs on the kastro (castle) square, but they don't getting going until around midnight. I'm always in bed by then, so don't even notice them. On either island it would be safe to turn your teens loose on their own for awhile in the evening as long as they are sensible.

"Neckervd likes to display his knowledge of ferry timetables, but many of the islands on his list would be impractical for you, especially on once-per-week ferries"
Wrong:
all Islands I mentioned (except Anafi and Gavdos) have daily flights to Athens.
I try just to give objective information without suggesting people to go to places like Santorini, Dubrovnik, Hallstatt, Neuschwanstein, Amalfi, Jungfraujoch or so.

BTW: if you arrive at Athinion by catamaran (like a sardine in it's can) from Iraklio, you see nothing of the caldera and of the cliff top villages.

Sorry for the confusion about the Minoan ferry calling at Adamas. It runs on Thursdays, of course (since years)!

Neckervd, the OP said she doesn’t want to end her trip in Athens. The islands you mention don’t have international flights, and she is considering going back to Crete for the flight home. Any island with once-per-week ferries would be impractical for that. There are other islands besides Crete with international airports, but the ones you mention have only flights to Athens as far as I know.

Good luck with her getting a flilght from Crete to Canada, without a change in Athens or elsewhere in Europe.

"I’m hesitant to end the trip in Athens because we have found that we don’t love big, busy cities at the end of our trips when we are finally rested and relaxed."
I hope you have actually looked at flight options. One time, we came home from Santorini to NA. That fits not coming home from a big busy city. However, that meant catching a 6am flight connecting to a late morning trans-Atlantic flight elsewhere, with wake up time in Santorinia at 3am. That was hardly a relaxed way to end our vacation.

" I am concerned that Santorini is incredibly busy in July, expensive, and maybe just a little more populated than what we are looking for. "
Santorini is busy even late into the season. The reason is mostly because of the numerous huge cruise ships. We knew about this, so we visited placed we did not care to spend time with the cruise passengers before they came on shore or after they left the island. Even at Akrotiri in Santorini, when we arrived at the opening time, there was perhaps two special high end small group tours entering the site at the same time allowing us to have the whole place to ourselves. But by the hours end when we left, people after people were pouring into the site. Same for after hours. Many budget cruise boats leave the island before the sunset. Only the passengers from highend cruises leaving the island very late at night or staying overnight remain on the island for dinner. The expensive part are the Caldera view accommodation in Oia or Fira. If you are willing to get away from these places, either no caldera view or in between places like Imerovigli or Firostefani, the accommodation prices are less expensive.

" I think that after time on Crete, we would be looking for those quintessential small island villages, quieter beaches (is that even possible in July) and an island that is fairly easy to get around. No cruise ship crowds preferably. We could rent a car if needed."
Crete has many quintessential small island villages and quieter beaches. The cruise passengers stay around Iraklio.

IF you still plan on a stop @ Santorini, my suggestions would be
(1) keep it short, (2 days/3nights max! 36 hours even better) since your family's declared interests, especially beaches, hiking, nature, local culture are not met there -- now if you loved high-end shopping, costly meals, high-end "spa" hotels... then you'd be at the right place
(2) Stay in Firostephani, easy walk to Fira, handy bus transport to Oia, many hotels w caldera views, BUT overlooked by cruise mobs or package tours -- their busses zoom right by on main road. U also could look at Imervogli, but would more likely need a car &you'd have kids nagging to be driven somewhere
(3) IF possible, time your stay for Fri PM thru Mon AM, fewer cruises on weekends
(4) To minimize the Oia mob scene, drag your kids outa bed & get there by 8:30-9am if possible... the hordes arrive about 10 & jampack the lanes, it's time to scram. And Do NOT fall for "sunset in Oia" propaganda - it's a nightmare! see these Oia pix - santorini crowds - Google Search Many restaurants in Firostephani or Fira have gorgeous sunset views, without crowds
(5) A view the mobs don't make the effort to see -- Ancient Thira, atop a high high bluff, above eastern beach. You'd need a car rental for it or 2 taxis (only 4 psgrs allowed), up to high park-space, then a path upwards. Fab views everywhere, ruins too. U can walk down (18 switchbacks) & bus back to Fira.