I am traveling to Athens for work June 16-20. Looking at going a little earlier to check out some sights in Athens and would love to see either Santorini, Mykonos or somewher else recommended. Can't seem to find good data on what the weather is like during that time of year. Any info on itinerary would be helpful, the most I could spend between the two is a week arriving on Saturday or Sunday the 7th or 8th.

You can do Mykonos, Santorini, Naxos or even Crete within a week. Delos from Mykonos is a good option for a day trip.
Happy travelling,
Murat

Hi Kak - June is my favourite month for Greece - before the high season crowds ...

I've invariably had perfect weather. It can be hot (- 35C+).

Hope this helps ...

Steve

Weather on the Greek Islands is just about perfect in early June, one of the best times to visit. To find some actual stats, go to Weather Underground Trip Planner. I have input Jun 5-15 for Mykonos at http://tinyurl.com/ywdy7f.

For an itinerary there is nothing wrong with just Mykonos and Santorini. With a week to travel, two islands is just about right - any more and you will spend too much time riding ferries and checking in and out of hotels.

Both Mykonos and Santorini are well served by flights with Aegean and Olympic Airlines. Several ferries each day depart to those islands from Piraeus and (to Mykonos) Rafina. A daily catamaran service links Mykonos and Santorini.

Come back if you have more questions. There are several posters on this board who can advise you on hotels, and provide more details on flights and ferries.

okay, bearing in mind that I am trying to do a lot of this trip using frequent fliers and points, I think this is what I would like to do.

-arrive Athens on Sunday, june 8th
depart Athens monday june 9th to ferry to Santorini
-lodging in santorini primarily
-catamaran to myknos - is this worth in a day or should we try and store most luggage in santorini and overnight in mykonos?
- return to athens from santorini friday or saturday

general questions:
- how far in advance to ferry tickets go on sale and how soon should we be buying them?
- what is the approximate cost for the ferries, and does flying rather than taking a ferry make more sense?

I have been reading about the Olympic Air problems so I am leaning towards the ferries.

thanks in advance for your assistance.

As Heimdall said above, both Aegean and Olympic fly from Athens-Santorini.

The ferry takes a looong time to get to Santorini from Athens. I booked a flight on Aegean for May that costs less than 40 euros one way.

I'd recommend flying straight to Santorini after you arrive in Athens, unless you're getting in too late to make the last plane. AEGEAN is preferable to Olympic, but both are fine, especially since flights to and from the islands are very short.

Save Athens for the end of your trip, so that you can squeeze more time out of what you have available.

The hydrofoil from Santorini to Mykonos takes about 2.5 hours, so you can do it in a day trip, but I think you'll enjoy your time a lot more if you stay overnight.

Then the next day, you can fly back to Athens from Mykonos.

Have a great time!

There's an interesting earlier post with a link to an article suggesting that Olympic's future is uncertain. If I were you, I'd try to book all Aegean flights intra-island for next summer.

Kak113, best plan, IMO, would be to fly to Santorini, take the catamaran from there to Mykonos, and then go back to Athens either by flight or ferry from Mykonos.

There is no point doing a day trip or overnight to Mykonos, and then returning to Santorini - the ferry from Mykonos to the mainland takes about the same length of time as the catamaran from Mykonos to Santorini. Then you would still have to get back to Athens.

As for Aegean vs Olympic, with the uncertainty at the moment you may as well go with Aegean. From what I can gather the plans are for Olympic to be shut down and replaced by a smaller airline, with a concentration on domestic routes.