Greece Itinerary
 

Hi all. I'm planning a trip to Greece for September, and below is the itinerary I've come up with:

Day 1: Arrive in Athens in the evening. Spend the night in Athens.
Day 2: Sightsee in Athens (Acropolis, Parthenon, Plaka). Evening fly to Chania.
Day 3: Downtown Chania, maybe a beach (Nea Chora, Falasarna or Elafonsisi)
Day 4: Gramvousa Balos Cruise
Day 5: Bus to Heraklion. Knossos.
Day 6: Ferry to Santorini, staying in Oia. No real plans for the afternoon, so may just relax on our balcony and enjoy the sights. Santorini Mou in the evening.
Day 7: Amoudi Bay, Sigalas Winery
Day 8: Caldera Tour
Day 9: No real plans for the morning. Evening fly to Athens.
Day 10: Early flight back home.

Any thoughts? I've already booked hotels and flights, so this is not that flexible, so I'm hoping this will work. Any suggestions for restaurants or shops or anything like that that I should try to hit?

Seems OK to me. You haven't made the common mistake of trying to fit in too many activities for the time you have at each stop.

Thanks. I have been accused of having overly full itineraries in the past, but I find the more trips I go on, the less inclined I am to try to cram in extra.

Another question - We won't have a car. I assume I can walk to Amoudi Bay, Sigalas and Santorini Mou from where we are staying in Oia. Will it be easy to find/walk to these places? Also, what is involved in a visit to Sigalas? Do they have formal tours/tasting or do you just show up and buy a few glasses or tastings?

We walked to Ammoudi. It's a long stairway down the cliff, but not too bad. However, we called for a taxi for the way back up to Oia because the stairs were completely covered in donkey crap that day (not sure if it's always like that) and we didn't want to deal with that going both ways.

Anyone know about Sigalas? Brotherleelove?

in Chania if you do the Gramvoussa/Balos tour, i don't think it makes sense to go to Elafonissi as well.....
These places are very similar.... with Balos being not as developed as Elafonissi..... I remember the first time i went to Elafonissi in 1992.... there were no beach chairs and only a small taverna, and only a few people there in mid June...
This has changed !!!! What you could do is visit Rethymnon, which has a beautiful venetian old city like Chania, or rent a car and drive to Plakias and Fragokastello area. There are nice sandy beaches on the Libyan Sea there, you will drive through Kotsifou and Kourtalioti gorge and enjoy another part of Crete. On your way to Rethymnon you can visit the only lake of Crete, Kournas, which is on your way......

You can easily rent a car for day on santorini. Our hotel made the arrangements.
We walked down to Amoudi Harbor. Sorry to hear that there are donkeys on that hillside now.AMoudi was my favoirte place on Santorini.

Sigalas is a small, award-winning winery in Oia with a tasting room behind the Taverna Santorini Mou. The facility is not elaborate but they are worth a stop if you enjoy wine tasting.

It's going to be a walk to get to the Sigalas winery. The winery is small but you can get small snacks to enjoy with the wine. The winery is on the road behind Santorini Mou but it would another 10 minutes on foot at least and on the way back it's all uphill. The winery is not really in Oia it's in Finikas I believe.

As far as i remember Sigalas is in Baxedes, which is a 10 min walk from Oia.
According to KTEL Santorini the timetable is at the moment :
From Fira From Baxedes
06:50 07:20
12:40 13:00
14:00 14:25

No, not in Baxedes, but behind Santorini Mou on the outskirts of Oia, near to Finikia.

Thanks all.

Clausar, I doubt I'll actually go to Elafonissi, since its out of the way, and that's my only day I'll really have time to wander downtown Chania too. Its good to know that I'm not missing much if I'm going to Balos anyway, though. I was trying to squeeze in more beach time, but I suspect we'll either stay in Chania or go to Nea Chora, which I understand is within walking distance?

For all practical purposes, I don't drive, so I never rent cars. People try to talk me out of this all the time, but it never works. I don't mind walking though. On a recent vacation, I walked something like 10 miles around Rome, so 10 minutes sounds very do-able.

I understand Sigalas is behind Santorini Mou, but where is Santorini Mou? In Oia, I know, but is it easy to find once you're there?

Santorini Mou is located on the main road at the beginning of Oia, just after you pass through the small settlement of Finikia. It's across from the Perivolas Villas.

Amicita, we visited Sigalas Winery on a recent visit to Santorini and really enjoyed it. It was easy to find on the map we were given at our Villa, and I also planned the walk on Google Maps. In the end we still stopped to ask at a store to ensure we were heading in the right direction though! We enjoyed the visit very much. We selected wines for tasting, had a light but delicious lunch along with a glass of our favorite, and purchased a couple of bottles of wine to take with us to Naxos.

Here is their website: http://www.sigalas-wine.gr/home_en.html, which states that the area is Baxedes. The winery is small but we thought it was beautiful and worth a visit. The walk wasn't far at all, however, we ended up taking a cab on the return only because we had the bottles to carry and were ready to get back. The winery called a cab for us.

We found out about it when we visited Ferendini restaurant, which was excellent Italian food on the Caldera, and is somehow tied to Sigalas. We had a great meal (with the best wine I had while traveling in Greece) and superb service at this restaurant, and the server told us about Sigalas when we shared that we were planning to do some wine tasting the next day.

If you enjoy walking and have time, I'd recommend the hike from Oia to Thira/Fira. It's long (about 7 miles) but it was really a highlight of our trip. Amazing views and a lot of fun!

I forgot to mention we also did the walk to Amoudi Bay and likewise encountered a whole lot of donkey crap on the lower steps. In my trip report I attributed this to horses, but donkey crap makes much more sense ;). We took the road back to town, which worked well for us because we wanted to walk but it was less steep than the stairs and avoided the donkey evidence. I did also see taxis waiting near the harbor.

I realize now that Sigalas is 'technically' in Baxedes. It's in the agricultural area below Finikia and Oia. I've always thought of as Baxedes just as the coastal area on the far side of the north end of the island. I hope I haven't confused anyone.

brotherleelove... you confused me... as i remembered that Sigalas was in Baxedes.....
Baxedes is a larger area than just the coastal part...
Baxedes in Greek means gardens, and comes from the turkish bahce, which also means garden....

Thanks all. This is very helpful.

I'm reviving this thread because I have a new question. What should I do my last day in Santorini? I am checking whether the hotel is flexible on checkout, but as of now, we will have to checkout early in the morning and then don't fly to Athens until evening. Any suggestions on good activities for a day like that?

Also, on Day 2 we fly out of Athens at 20:10. My plan that day is to walk from our hotel (near Monastiraki) to Roman Agora, Ancient Agora, Acropolis, Acropolis Museum and through the Plaka back to our hotel to get our bags and leave. Do we have time to do all that and make it to the airport on time? Also, I can't find a good map that shows exactly how to get to the Agoras. Are they easy to find?

Thanks!

I think you can do it on your last day. The Roman Agora and Ancient Agora are close together (we spent about 15-20 minutes in each). They are also at the located at the back end of the Plaka. The Acropolis and Acropolis Museum are a bit off. Its a hike up to the Acropolis which will take you at least an hour to walk around it and pause to take pictures, and then you will have to walk to the Acropolis Museum, which is a brisk 15-20 min walk from the Acropolis. And then at least an hour or two in the museum. You can have lunch in the cafeteria. Food was good and reasonably priced. Its do-able, but will be a brisk and tiring day.