Hello, I'm planning a 10 nights trip to Greece (end of Sep to early Oct). First time to Greece. Besides Athens, I'd like to visit Santorini, Delphi and Nafplio (Myceneae, Epidavros) but I'm not sure in which order.

I'd like to save Santorini for later part of the trip and not jump into it right away. I've read that it's a good idea to get back to Athens from the islands a day or two before the flight back home. To do that, it will chop up my itinerary a bit. Alternately, I found a flight that will leave directly from Santorini to Europe without back tracking to Athens. So I'm torn between the two options.

Option 1:
Sep 24 Sun - arrive ATH 2p
Sep 25 Mon - Athens
Sep 26 Tue - Athens
Sep 27 Wed - Nafplio - (Athens to Nafplio)
Sep 28 Thu - Nafplio
Sep 29 Fri - Nafplio
Sep 30 Sat - Santorini - (Nafplio to Santorini)
Oct 1 Sun - Santorini
Oct 2 Mon - Santorini
Oct 3 Tue - Athens (Santorini to Athens)
Oct 4 Wed - leave from ATH 2p
Option1 is chopped up, and I won't be able to fit in Delphi ... perhaps I should leave Delphi for another trip?

Option 2:
Sep 24 Sun - arrive ATH 2p
Sep 25 Mon - Athens
Sep 26 Tue - Athens
Sep 27 Wed - Athens - Delphi (Day Trip?)
Sep 28 Thu - Nafplio - (Athens to Nafplio)
Sep 29 Fri - Nafplio
Sep 30 Sat - Nafplio
Oct 1 Sun - Santorini - (Nafplio to Santorini)
Oct 2 Mon - Santorini
Oct 3 Tue - Santorini
Oct 4 Wed - leave from JTR 11a

Options 2 flows better and because I don't have to back track to Athens from Santorini, I have an extra day for Delphi. But is there any disavantage with leaving from Santorini versus Athens?
From Athens to Nafplio, I'm thinking of renting a car if the roadways are not too crazy, then I can stop and take a peek at the Cornith Canal. I'll have to drop off the car before heading to Santorini. Otherwise, I'll take a bus.
From Nafplio, looks like it will take a good part of a day to get to Santorini, hopefully before sunset.

Thanks in advance for your help.

IF YOU DRIVE ...
Driving from Nafplio, it takes 2.5 hours to get to the airport, then allow 30 mins to drop off your car, sign papers etc.

IF YOU BUS from ATH to Nafplio, it leaves from KTEL terminal at Kifissou St. -- Simplest way to get from central ATh hotel to KTEL terminal is taxi, 12E & 20 minutes.Nafplio bus leaves hourly on Half-hour and takes 2.5 hours, costs about €13 each way.

To RETURN BY BUS - from Nafplio directly to Airport, at the edge of Athens there is a stop where TONS of people get off -- eleonas. Why? because it is right by the Eleonas Metro Stop (see Map) http://www.in2greece.com/mappages/athens-metro-map.jpg
the Airport metro (it has an airplane symbol on the cars) goes almost express to the airport, only 40+ minutes, much faster than going back to bus terminal & switching to an airport bus.

No disadvantage to leaving from Santorini if you trust the airline -- Ryan Air and a couple of other bargain-basement airlines have had very bad reviews lately, but maybe it was just during the High Season.

Thanks for the feedback.

Flight from Santorini is from Edelweiss, which is part of Swiss Air, and onward flight is also with Swiss Air.

There are certainly lots less flights leaving from Santorini compare to Athens, so less backup plan is there is a mishap.

IME, the roads from Athens to Nafplio were generally fine, including the route through the Corinthian Canal.

Probably most bad reviews are about Santorini Airport rather than the airlines that fly there. Budget airlines offer bare bones service, but are popular because of their low cost.The Santorini airport terminal is very small, and gets overloaded during high season, but will be okay in early October when you use it. I haven't had a problem when flying in/out of Santorini.

If you want to see what customers write about Edelweiss Air, go to the Skytrax ratings website: http://www.airlinequality.com/airlin...edelweiss-air/