Greece with Young Teens this summer
 

Hi there. Looking for some advice - We are two families looking to travel to Greece with five kids aged 12-14 this summer. Kids are all super interested in Greek Mythology and so we plan to do a few days in Athens and then hoped to travel to a couple islands. Initially thought Santorini and Crete. However, we will only be in the country 8 days and trying to make the most of it.

My questions ...
1) is Crete too far to realistically include? We read that the ferry was @9hrs,
2) Does anyone have any experiences with private/semi private multiple day boat tours. I can't imagine this will be in our budget but would like to look into it, given the short amount of time that we are there and also given the number of us.
3) Found a Percy Jackson Greek Mythology Tour company in Athens - has anyone done this before?

Thanks so much for helping.
Tanya

CRETE:
Most ferrreis are overnight ferries (with board restaurant and cabines), from Piraeus (port of Athens) to either Heraklion or Chania.
There are flighst too.
You may save time by flying directly into Crete and back from Athens.
ATHENS:
If you are interested in archeology, Athens and surroundings (Cape Sounion, Dafni - Elefsis - Korinthos/Akrokorinthos - Mycenae - Nauplia - Epidauros) can easily take you busy during at least a full week.

We did the overnight ferry from Chania (Crete) to Piraeus once. Cabins were fine, fairly basic, private toilet and shower. You could have a few days in Athens, catch the overnight ferry and have the rest of your time in Crete. I guess you'd want to be in Athens the night before your flight home, so maybe do Crete first with Athens at the end?

You could also have a great trip staying just on Peleponese mainland. Mycenae, Olympia, Corinth, and Nemea. Here is something that looks great for families. https://www.rugaofvamvakou.gr/en/o-xenonas-mas/ and this https://www.kidslovegreece.com/our_t...eek-mythology/

Another vote for staying on the mainland with its wealth of classical sites. A day trip to Delphi can be done by coach. We toured Mycenae, Epidauros, Nemea by car which might be more expensive for two families. If adventurous enough for long ferry rides, you may be up to the challenge of KTEL buses.

For kids “super interested” in Greek mythology, you can’t do better than dividing your time between Athens and the Nafplio area of the Peloponnese. Kids love testing the acoustics of the theatre at Epidavros and visiting an Olympic style stadium at Nemea.

http://www.visitnafplio.com/
Those are within easy reach from Nafplio, but if you want to spend a couple of nights elsewhere in the Peloponnese you can visit the site at Olympia where the first games were held. Incidentally, the beaches in southern Peloponnese, much to my surprise, are on the whole better than what you will find on the islands.

Best of all, there are no ferry or flight timetables to worry about — Nafplio is about 2hrs drive from Athens.

Athens, of course, has many things related to Greek mythology, and as FTOttawa mentioned above, you can take a day trip to Delphi.