Our family of 4 (children are older teens) are traveling in May/June for 9 nights to celebrate a graduation and 25th anniversary. We fly in and out of Athens and plan to stay in Mykonos and Santorini. We are thinking of 4 nights on each island and then the final night in Athens. We would love suggestions for accommodations on the islands around $400-500/night for 4, and for our final night in Athens. We would like a view/balcony on the islands, and a pool would be nice, and maybe a kitchen for one location. Since we are celebrating we would consider splurging on one location if someone thought a place was really worth it. We plan to fly/boat to either Mykonos or Santorini and finally fly back to Athens. Do you think we should go to Mykonos or Santorini first? Should we use a travel agent to help with transfers, flights, etc, or is it easy enough to do it on our own? We love adventures/activities (hikes, biking, water sports), so those suggestions are also welcome. Finally, we are going to be on Santorini for our 25th anniversary and would like to know if anyone knows of a place/person where we could renew our vows with a simple ceremony? Thanks.

Here's a bit of information about marriage/similar ceremonies: http://greecetravel.com/weddings/.

Re travel agent: I'm going to be in Greece in May also and I booked our island ferries and hotel using a travel agency, just to save the hassle of figuring out when and where to be and how to pay, etc. I worked with Erin at Aegean Thesaurus (http://www.greecetravel.com/aegean/index.htm) and she was great. Of course I haven't gone yet, but I liked how friendly, smart, and professional she was. Good luck, and have a great time!

Drew

You will love Greece in May and June. Those are my favourite months to visit

One thing I should mention though is that when fixing your dates for Mykonos try and make it Monday to Thursday. There is one weekend in May when thousands of students descend on the island from Athens. It's an annual event and I think it is to celebrate the end of their study year. The kids are polite and well mannered but it gets very, very busy.

Unfortunately, I don't know which weekend it will be this year but it may be best to stick to the week days I have suggested.

bill

It's probably easier to work with a travel agent, but it's also pretty easy to arrange a trip on your own.

If you are internet savvy enough to find this board and are willing to do a little research on your own, you can book the hotels and transport on your own and probably save $$ that way. It will also give you access to a lot more smaller family run hotels that travel agents don't use.

The only drawback to booking on your own is that you have to understand that ferry schedules aren't posted until about a month ahead of time. That means you will have to book hotels without knowing what specific ferry will take you from one island to another (but it's easy to find out where the ferries generally travel).

In Athens, the Electra Palace is a good choice, but your budget may allow for an even higher end hotel.

On the islands, are you looking for one apt. for all 4, or are two doubles acceptable? You should post your budget in euros, along with the room type you are looking for, along with the village you want to stay in on each island. In Santorini, I'd focus on Oia, but if the kids want nightlife, you might want Fira or Firostefani.

We spent our 25th anniversary on Santorini last May and had a wonderful time. Congrats on your 25th!

We made all the arrangements on our own. We flew Aegean to save time, and got some great fares since we booked just after the seats were released. You might want to price airfare for your dates to save precious time. We stayed in Oia at Andronis Suites, but that would not be the place for a family. Before we booked Andronis we had ressies at Aris Caves and you will not find nicer folks there. They have kitchenettes so you may want to try to see if they have an opening.

If you are into walking, we hiked along the cliff from Imerovigli back to Oia and the views were just stupendous. The trail actually starts in Fira so you could walk longer than we did.

Don't worry about the ferry timetables. In May/June you can get from Mykonos to Santorini any day of the week.

Any hotel suggestions?

In Oia, Santorini, would highly recommend Alexander's Hotel. Excellent accommodations, great staff and amazing views of the caldera. We got a very good deal on one of their 2 BD suites with full kitchen and huge balcony (it was off season, but should be in your price range). Alex is a very hands-on owner and he and his staff couldn't do enough to help us with anything, including car rental. Even had a bottle of local wine waiting for us on arrival.

www.alexandershotel.com

In Mykonos I would highly recommend Pelican Bay Art Hotel. They have a nice pool and great breakfast. The bus to town comes frequently, the beach is great and you can hike the shoreline between the public beaches which is beautiful.

Hello,
I got married in Santorini last year with the love of my life, Brad. Since we are both Americans and live far from Greece we had to find a wedding planner to organize the event for us and 20 guests. By accident I found a beautiful website http://www.santorini-weddings.info
I sent the same e-mail to all the wedding planners that I found on the internet and I am glad to say that the people of the specific site answered very quickly. Stella, the wedding planner, sent me an e-mail with many information and I got a pretty good idea of everything just with one answer. She was very helpful so I think she will be able to give you the details you want on your vow-renewal.

How about flights? Should I make them now for May/June? Thanks for all the info so far.

I forgot to add that we would like to pay around 160 euros for each room, figuring we would need 2 rooms; however, if we could get one room/suite that would be great for us. Our max per night is around 390 euros for us all. Hope that helps and again, thanks for all suggestions. I'm still gathering info, but plan to book hotels next week.