Greek Islands to visit from Athens
 

My boyfriend and I are flying to Athens and would like to visit a couple of Greek islands.

We have 6 days
Early to mid October
Want a good mix of nightlife, beaches and beauty
Would like time to spend a couple of days at the beach to swim, snorkel
Would also like to see little towns with scooters or something
We are in our late 20s early 30s

It's time consuming looking at all of the ferry schedules, hotels, etc if someone has good 6 day itinerary suggestions would be appreciated!!!!!

In October weather won't be very warm, and most islands will prepare for the off season sleep....

Athens is the ideal basis to fly to every island with an airport, there is no flight longer than 1 hour....
Islands that would be still warm in October are Crete and Rhodes.
The later in October you visit Greece, the less warm will it be.

It would be better if you could travel during September or at least the first week of October.

Nightlife, beaches and beauty, sounds very much like Mykonos... which i think will be the most active island that you can find during this period... ( even though there is less going on compared to the high season)

Having 6 days at disposal, i think you will only have time for Athens ( which has everything that you mentioned, including beaches ) and one island. :)

iris, that's all you have to say ? ;)

Watching the baseball game. The Mykonos Grand is a great place to stay with a lovely pool and an easy few steps to the ocean. Has a shuttle into town.

Everything else I leave to the experts who know Greece.

With 6 days at your disposal I would recommend flying to/from Crete or Rhodes (just one, not both), because they have the largest permanent populations, and more would be open in October. Also, as clausar mentioned, they stay warm longer into the autumn.

I believe all the big clubs on Mykonos close by the end of September, but there will still be some bars open. Cruise ship passengers visit Mykonos right up until the beginning of November, but they are there only during the day, so don't add to the night life. The thing that appeals to me most about Mykonos is the opportunity to visit the archaeological site on Delos.

BTW, you can still find lively nightlife in October (in Athens). All the clubs will be open, and you will have a great time! :-)

I am Greek, and since I have been to most of our islands, I believe that the ideal island for you is Sifnos.
It is not far from Athens (3-5 hours) it is a typical Cycladic island with great villages, beaches and nightlife. It is ideal for a couple like you, for me it is the most charming and romantic island in the Cyclades. It has some gorgeous settlements. Kastro, is the most romantic town Sifnos. Herodotus itself has described the city of Asti (now Kastro) as the jewel of Sifnos. It is built like a Castle, it has little byzantine churches from the Imperial Period, with icons from Constantinople itself. Take a walk in the town and see the beautiful white houses, lazy cats, ancient Columns attached to houses and reach the top of the town in which you can see the Church of Poulati which is built on the top of a sea rock, and see the Wonderful Sunset as the sea wind blows your faces.
Another beautiful town is Artemonas, a traditional town with bakeries and sweet shops which haven't changed for the last 100 years.
Apollonia is the capital of the island, it has all the nightlife and is also a wonderful town with blue domed Churches and white houses. It has some very good jewelery shops (Greeks believe we have the best jewelery in the world, we are making jewels since our existence) in which your boyfriend will buy you a ring if he is a gentleman. Don't forget to buy pottery, since Sifnos is famous for its pottery since the ancient times, i would suggest you to buy a "flaros" which is unique to Sifnos. Eat "loukoumades" with honey and cinnamon in "treis xanthoi aggeloi" its a must. Sifnos is famous for its food, as it is the island which gave birth to the best greek chef "Tselementes" which is the creator of Moussaka. The beaches have a distinct shining since Sifnos is rich in silver and Gold which made it an extremely wealthy State of Ancient Greece. Don't forget to visir the Crysopigi beach with its Monastery which has a legend with the Saracen Pirates. There is a great tavern called "Giorgos Lempesis" and it is by the sea, don't miss it.

I wish my information seem you useful, I wish you to have a great time in Greece :)

Petros, your descriptions of the islands are wonderful! If you aren't already a travel writer you should be. :-)

The season is indeed near it's end in October. I agree with Heimdall that Rhodes or Crete might be the best choice. I also agree that you only have enough time for one island.

Why are you flying to Athens rather than directly to an island? Where are you flying from? You are basically going to lose 2 of your 6 days just getting to/from whatever island you choose. It really doesn't make much sense.

If you are flying from within Europe for example, there are direct flights to some islands from within Europe. If you are flying from N. America then a connecting flight from Athens to an island would make sense rather than a ferry.

THANK YOU ALL so much for your comments. Still working through the details but we definitely have Santorini on the agenda and are considering Mykonos as well. PetrosB3 your description of Sifnos, I may be heading there instead of Mykonos. :)

Hi Excited,

Petros' glowing description of Sifnos is true of the summer, but you will find a very different island in October when most of those shops and restaurants are closed. There is no nightlife on Sifnos in October, except maybe a few small bars for the locals. The good news is: weather should still be warm enough for swimming and snorkelling.

Sifnos is on a different ferry route from the others, so you may find connections difficult. Ferries run three days per week between Santorini and Sifnos, and three days per week between Sifnos and Mykonos. These stop for the winter after the 19th of October. Connections are better between Santorini and Mykonos, with daily ferries until the 20th of October. These ferries are very small catamarans, which are cancelled in strong winds.

You need to be realistic about island hopping in October, when ferry connections are fewer and tourist infrastructure begins to close down. A combination of Santorini and Mykonos would work well, and since both islands are visited by cruise ships until early November, there will still be lots of shops and restaurants open. The big clubs on Mykonos close in mid-September, but there will still be bars open.

Thanks heimdall, even though sifnos sounds amazing i think we will have to visit another time during the summer. we are now considering flying directly to santorini, for a few days then ferry to Mykonos, then ferry to Athens for one day before our flight home. We were thinking Mykonos for three days so may take a day trip to Delos, antipaxos also looks beautiful but not sure we can get there from Mykonos. Any other recommendations on activities or dining would be awesome, we are foodies, and love trying new and different things!!

It sounds like a good plan to me. With 6 days, two islands + Athens is about right, and Santorini > Mykonos easy to do. You can visit Delos from Mykonos any day except Monday, provided winds don't stop the small excursion boats from running.

An alternate plan could be going to Naxos or Paros instead of Mykonos. Both are on the main Blue Star ferry route from Santorini. You could keep that in the back of your mind in case wind stops the Santorini > Mykonos catamarans from running. That is unlikely to happen, but if it does Blue Star will probably still sail. Antiparos (not Antipaxos) is easy to reach from Paros, but will be even quieter than Sifnos in October. :-)