As a follow up to my intinerary, i have been trying to figure out the ferry schedules. We plan to go from Athens to Naxos to Crete to Santorini and back to Athens. We were thinking about doing it all by ferry. the problem i am having is figuring out how to get from Naxos to Santorini on a single boat. Most of the travel books say there is such a boat, but i cant find anything on the internet. The best i have done is finding a boat from Naxos to Paros and another from Paros to Crete, and a boat from Naxos to Santorini, and another from Santorini to Iraklion.

Am i missing something or some line. Also, matt barrett's site says that i should not try and book these connections over the internet now, but that i should go thru a greek tour agent who will book the hotels and the ferries.

I think i can pull this off with a little help.

Did you say what you meant to say? First, you say Naxos to Crete and then you ask about Naxos to Santorini on a single boat.

Oops. You are right. I want to go from Naxos to Crete on a single boat but cannot find anything. I have found naxos to santorini and santorini to crete.

The reason you don't find a ferry is that you are swimming upstream ... you are ignoring the usual network of ferries. The ferry system exists to help Greeks get to/from Athens ... there would not be enough traffic to justify the ferry you want. No travel book I know about says there is a ferry direct from Naxos to Crete... and I've been to both islands multiple times in the past 10 years.

You want help, but do not give key info. Note; it is helpful when you start a new thread, to briefly re-cap the info from before; not every helper reads every single thread on this forum. I found your previous post and note that you say "at the end of summer" ... is that in August (still high season)? or early September? Makes a big difference in how crowded a ferry will be.

The efficient itinerary for you would be to FLY to Crete the first day (OR take an overnight ferry). Then take the fast-ferry to Santorini, then a Blue-Star regular ferry to Naxos, then a ferry back to Athens. However,our original post said that you were not going to try to fly the first day because your travel companion couldn't take it. The flight is only 50 minutes; a ferry to Naxos takes over 5 hours.

What DAY, DATE and TIME OF DAY your plane lands in Athens on Day One would make a difference in what we advise, and whether it's a nonstop from the USA, or a flight plan that requires a long layover also matters ... but you don't share these facts either. I suggest we start over, you give us more info, and we'll try to work out the best plan. We DO want to help, we just can't read minds, that's all!

There is no ferry from Naxos to Crete. Simple as that. Take a ferry from Naxos to either Mykonos, Paros or Ios in time to catch the Hellenic Seaways FlyingCat4 which travels daily between Mykonos and Crete with stops on these other islands.

http://www.ferries.gr/hfd

Take note of the no-sail dates.

Look closely at aloysnj's other post, and you will see that his plan is to take a ferry from Naxos to Crete, spend <b>three days</b> in Heraklion <i>and</i> Chania, then take a ferry to Santorini. That's a lot of wasted travel time for a very short stay on Crete. Aloysnj didn't seem to take in the fact that there is <b>no</b> ferry from Naxos to Crete, nor that his island itinerary is impractical. I think you are wasting your time giving advice.

Hi aloysnj,
We are planning a similar itinerary in Sept 2009 (first Greece trip). A day in Athens when we arrive by plane from Canada, then the next day a short flight from Athens to Crete (direct to Chania for 4 days) then bus to Heraklion for a day. From Heraklion, a ferry to Santorini (they run pretty much daily, 2-3 hours ride, and a a couple of no-sail dates when we are travelling in early Sept). From Santorini a ferry to Naxos and then a ferry from Naxos to Athens. What you suggest can be done, but give some more information at least on how much time you want to spend in each area. Then for sure you will get some great advice (that's pretty much what I did...)Good luck!

You guys are tough, and you should not presume that people wont take intelligent advice. The islands were not adjustable, but the route was, and based on your comments we did a change up.

We are going the last week in August and First week in Sept. I have adjusted the schedule so that we will fly to Chania on the morning of day two, and we are spending four nights on Crete. We will then ferry to Santorini for 3 nights and then ferry to Naxos for 3 or 4 nights, saving the last day for sights in Athens. We are more interested in an island holiday, so we dont plan on spending much time in Athens.

Spending day 1 in Athens and flying out the next day is not adjustable.

We adjusted the schedule to get more time on Crete and to better account for ferrying to the other two islands.

I am sure that i will have so more questions and i do appreciate the advice.

Well. Congrats on being flexible and listening to comments. Your trip is now much more do-able.

Make sure your transport is in place, and then u can cope with the island hotel challenge in high season ... get ready for some heavy internet time! TIP: since you're late to the game, you may find better results on housing IF you pick y our target places and TELEPHONE. Yes I know that means staying up until 2 am Eastern US time (taht's 9 am Greece time, and the hour when you are likeliest to find the hotel management near the phone). However, you get INSTANT feedback, and often, when they are busy, they don't bother to answer e-mails for days or even weeks. You don't have time to wait.

If you will be in Athens on Day one at a decent time (you still do not give us the DAY and TIME of arrival .. are u in the CIA thus have to keep this secret?), you could go online and try to get tickets to see the new Acropolis Museum ... divine. If that doesn't work out (either because you arrive too late in the afternoon OR because tix are sold out for that time), Plan B would be to check ticket availability for your last day in Athens.