Greece in April
 

Hello, I'm hoping to get some direction with planning a 6-day trip to Greece in April for my husband's 50th bday. I bought the RT plane tickets NYC to Athens, and I know that we want to visit one of the islands for a few days as well, or maybe more than 1, but that's the extent of my "plan" so far. My main questions are: 1) Would you recommend trying to see 2 islands in that amount of time (basically 4 days since we will spend a couple of days in Athens/in transit) or limit it to just 1? and, 2) Which island(s)? They all look beautiful, but Santorini or Crete are the ones that I was leaning toward. Also, I just realized in another thread that we will be there during Orthodox Easter (travel dates 4/14-4/20), which sounds like it may be really crowded. Any advice with that in mind? Oh and also: is it warm enough to possibly swim? Thank you in advance.

You will need to book flight or ferry out to the islands well in advance for the period leading up to Easter. April 14th, the day you arrive, is Good Friday, a wonderful time to observe Greek Easter festivities. If you can book an early connecting flight to Santorini upon arrival in Athens you could see the wonderful celebrations in Pyrgos that evening:

https://santorinisecrets.com/greek-easter-santorini/

Another option would be to spend the Easter weekend in Athens and look for festivities there. Then go to Santorini on Easter Monday when most of the traffic will be heading the other way, back to Athens. Whatever you do, recommend being in Athens the last night before the flight home.

“Is it warm enough to possibly swim?” For most people the answer would be no, but I remember as a teenager swimming in the lakes of Wisconsin in late April, only a few weeks after the ice melted. They were very quick dips, I hasten to add. These days I find the water in Greece too cold to swim even in late May.

End of April, Early May
 

We made a trip to Greece in 2018 during the end of April/Early May. We had been to Athens before so we did a direct connection in Barcelona to Santorini. The weather in Santorini was perfect, not too hot, not too cold. The innkeeper told us that the tourist season in Santorini keeps extending earlier and later into the year. That said, we went from Santorini to Naxos (via ferry), which only really opened up as of May 1, and then on to Mykonos (via ferry), where we found many restaurants in the beach areas were not yet open. We did not try swimming in the ocean, but did find it comfortable at our hotel pools.

We did not visit Crete, but have friends who had been there the previous December and they said the weather was pleasant.

Thank you so much for this advice!

Thank you so much for these tips!

How many nights do you actually have on the ground? Do you want to spend some time in Athens? It's too bad you already bought your tickets because otherwise I would recommend flying from NYC to Santorini, if you choose Santorini. Last May we flew from Boston to Santorini with a lay-over in Zurich. This way you don't have to worry about your luggage until you arrive in Santorini.

Because you don't have a lot of time, I recommend visiting Santorini for 3 nights, and then visit Athens for 3 nights, assuming you have 6 nights on the ground. I would also recommend Naxos instead of Santorini but it looks like Naxos doesn't really open up until May 1, according to CoastalCA. A lot of people will tell you Santorini is too touristy and crowded, but it's crowded for good reason. The caldera views are stunning! You could also rent a car for a day and travel around Santorini, which is wonderful and gives you a chance to see more of the island. I believe Santorini is worth seeing at least once in your lifetime.

Another option is to spend all 6 days/nights on Crete, which is a large island. I think 3 or 4 nights on Crete would be a waste of travel time, IMO.

Thank you so much for this advice. I think you are right about Crete not being worth it for that short amount of days. If you have any recommendations for where to stay in Santorini, please share! Thanks again!