Does anyone know of a good cheap hotel in a nice section of Athens for May2014?? Would prefer breakfast but not a must. Decent air conditioning a plus This is for 3 people in 1 room Thanks all

We enjoyed our stay at Athens Gate...great location http://www.athensgate.gr/index-eng.htm

A cheaper option we stayed at was Tony's Hotel...a 15 mins walk from the main sites, but very nice and we would stay there again - excellent AC and ver modern. http://www.hoteltony.gr

Any ideas where to stay on individual islands?

In Athens check the Metropolis Hotel, Attalos Hotel and Central Hotel.

"Any ideas where to stay on individual islands?"

Seriously???? It would be "helpful" if you named the islands you're going to visit and which village you've chosen for your stay there. We're good, but we're not mindreaders!

A good place to start would be to get yourself a copy of T. Cook's "Greek Island Hopping" so you can make informed choices.

Well brotherleelove2004--You are 100 % right-My bad-I booked the airfare bc a daughter wanted to go. I had done no research and didnt realize the extent of the Greek Islands at all. I have since checked books out of the library and bought some travel guides as well-And I am still confused as to where to go and what to do with these 3 weeks. Thanks for all the help everyone here. I just stumbled onto this site and now I am hooked!!!

Silverdogd, you get good advice when u give more facts --- you've mad a good start by getting books. Now what the travel-forum folks need are a few vital facts:

(1) WHEN? advice is very different if its early June or Late July-August (the latter is when the Jumbo Jets dump half of Europe onto the Greek Isles and prices go UP UP and so do crowds

(2) WHEN arrive, Day AND Time (you have different options depending on if your plane lands at 9: AM, or 5:30 PM … if early, u may go to island FIRST and then take Athens Last.

(3) PRICE for Lodgings -- your desired Range IN EUROS (here's an instant conversion site -- http://www.xe.com/ucc/) NOTE: Athens/Santorini/Mykonos will be highest … some islands may be 1/2 as much.

… and final advice - Look at a MAP. Some newbies choose islands that are DAYs apart by ferry. Brotherlee is right that the T. Cook book is a great planning aid -- shows clearly which are linked most closely.

Silverdogd, many first timers constrain themselves from the outset by booking flights first then come here. I would not say half, but stunningly a lot of people. What happens is that that pretty much box themselves out of one of the most powerful tool to manage cost and make the best use of time by matching the arrival/departure airports to the ground portion. This almost reduces cost and create almost one more day to visit places. There isn't too many tools like this: pay less and get more. Other maneuvers often require trade-offs, get less of something to pay less.

If your visit straddles the peak-shoulder season, week-day/ends, etc. it even pays significantly more to play with the sequence of visits. If visiting destination in A-B-C order is more expensive, perhaps due to only high priced accommodations are available, and if the sequence C-B-A is better and also acceptable, if you have not already booked the flight, you could have resequenced the ground portion easily.

As for hotels, you can quickly do a scan of many, but not all, hotels at booking.com. Enter dates and hover your cursor over the area to quickly grasp the price picture of the neighborhood for that time period. This is how I quickly test if landing in that town during that time period is a good idea. If I see mostly sold out status with stratospheric prices at few remaining hotels, I redo the itinerary to visit that location on some other dates.