AbsoluteSergey

Have previously been to Athens, Mykonos and Santorini and looking for a new itinerary for this summer (pending re-opening) and a bit of a different experience than the Cyclades. We are late 30s couple, can be active but goal is to explore culture, great food and scenic locations, with some beach downtime. Fairly open to any route, including Crete, but thus far thinking of this itinerary:

Day 1 - Arrive in Athens, spend the evening here
Day 2 - Drive north, stop in Delphi, continue to Meteora
Day 3 - Explore Meteora
Day 4 - Drive west and ferry to Corfu
Day 5 - Corfu
Day 6 - Corfu
Day 7 - Ferry and drive to Lefakadas
Day 8 - Lefkadas
Day 9 - Lefkadas
Day 10 - Drive south to Nafplios
Day 11 - Nafplios
Day 12 - drive back to Athens and fly home


thoughts? If ferries/border to Albania re-open, I may want to add another day to Corfu and day trip to Surranda

HappyTrvlr

Sounds perfect!

dreamon

If there are serious consequences of missing a flight home, then I would prefer to be in Athens the night unless it's a flight later in the day. If your flight to Greece is a short one (e.g. you're coming from somewhere within Europe), then you could press on to Delphi on arrival and stay the night in Athens before departure. But otherwise, I wouldn't drive immediately after a long haul flight. Depends on your flight times.

KayF

If you can choose either, I'd opt for July. We've been to Greece a few times and August was incredibly hot and very crowded. July will still be warm but probably not as busy.

Heimdall

August is the traditional holiday month for Greeks, Italians, and other Europeans, so the islands are always crowded that month. Early July would be much better.

Check to make sure the car rental company allows you to take their rental car on ferries. Most likely not a problem with the short ferry ride from the mainland to Corfu.

Nafplio is only 2-3 hours from Athens International Airport by good road, so it would be possible to leave there in the morning and still make an afternoon flight, but anything could happen. I agree with Athens for the last night before an international flight.

AbsoluteSergey

We would be coming from New York, so I don't think we would want to get into a car and drive anywhere after a long red-eye flight and I agree, it probably makes sense to spend the last night in Athens again. How does Corfu compare to other Greek islands, in terms of food and scenery? I keep reading hit or miss opinions from folks. Lots of people are not impressed with the food. Not sure how true that is.

Heimdall

Corfu will certainly be greener than the Cyclades Islands, and it fits in with your itinerary. TBH I’ve never been to Corfu but it’s said to be a beautiful island. If you decide to give Corfu a miss, have you considered the mountain town of Ioannina? That’s even closer to Meteora, and has a beautiful lake. From there you could proceed down to Lefkada by road.

neckervd

Ioannina is a must anyway: ancient Greek theatre of Dodoni, famous stalactite caves, nice lake with shops and restaurants on a Island.
Corfu is completely different from Aegean Islands. The architecture of the older houses is influenced by Venice to which it belonged during Centuries until about 1800.
Greek food is more or less the same all over Greece. Corfu has some very good restaurants.
Lefkas is a gem, especially the Western coast with sandy beaches below high cliffs.