Has anyone done Homeric tours to Greece and Turkey?
 

I've been collecting information for Athens, Santorini, Rhodes, Mykonos and Istanbul & Ephesus. So far my best prices for the itinery wanted is Homeric and Gate 1 travel. Anyone with experience with either?

topping for me!

I don't think this is terribly helpful, as I have not gone with Homeric or Gate 1. I HAVE, however, done a tour of Turkey with Key Tours and had a really great time with them. I would highly recommend them. Also had some friends that went with Key Tours and they also had a wonderful experience. Sorry couldn't be more helpful.

I did pretty much that itinerary last summer but independently. If you have any specific questions, ask.

Naz
Thanks for the recommendation of Key Tours, I have not heard of them so I will look into what they offer!

Gerti
YOu went with HOmeric or Gate one? How did you like the hotels they gave you location wise? Did you do the Louis cruise? How were the staterooms? Thanks.

I also did this area independently ( which is very easy to do by the way) and would be glad to answer any questions.

Or read that section of our blog:

www. soultravelers3.com

Sorry, I don't know anything about tours, although we did some private ones at special sites.

cd. Sorry for the misunderstanding. I said I went INDEPENDENTLY, therefore can not comment on any tours or tour companies.

WTNow, your pictures are beautiful! You have a great life.

gertie, did you post a travel report? I would like to read it if you did.

RE: Independant
I googled Athen ferries to see if this was something we could do and was intimidated. I wanted to see where they went from Athens and the cost. I was lost. So, decided to go with some kind of package. If you both have information that I missed, please let me know.

How much time do you have? The ferries tend to be slow, so you might think about flying if your time is short.

There is a fast ferry between Satorini and Mkonos and coming into Satorini by ferry is special , but much depends on time.

You probably know these two websites, but they are helpful for this area:

http://www.turkeytravelplanner.com/consult/index.html

http://www.greektravel.com/

Ask questions in the Greek and Turkey forums here.

We did not book anything in advance and just made it up as we went, but then we do not have time constraints.

When in Athens we just asked in a travel agency about the next ferry to Santorini and booked it there the day before going.

We booked the ferries to Crete and Rhodes from Santorini. And we booked the ferry to Mykonos and back to Santorini when we were in Samos.

The travel agents are everywhere and can pull up all the information.We were traveling in high season and did not have to book ahead.

The only problem was Mykonos hotel at the height of high season on a week end. Still we found a place without too much trouble even though they said the island was totally booked up.

I have listed all the places we stayed at on my blog ( and we did not take our RV to Rhodes or Turkey. I got some ideas from my Europe on a shoe string book and a book or two on Greece and Turkey that I found on the way that people had thrown out.

It is not as intimidating as it seems and Turkey truly is the easiest place in the world to travel because they all seem to know each other. We would just let our hotels book things for us at our next place. We let our Fetiye hotel find our gulet cruise for us etc etc. In Turkey they will do anything to make a tourist happy, just ask.

When in Rhodes we found out about the ferry to Turkey ...VERY easy and nice and less than an hour.

Hope that helps a little. It is really nice to see these places without a big tour as the crowd of people really ruins the atmosphere many times.

If you are in Mykonos in high season, stay away from mykonos town and just see it when the cruise ship crowds are gone ( early morning and evening). They swarm in like ants to a crumb and ruin the place....makes you want to run for your life. It is too small of a town to handle that kind of crowd.

So avoid crowds as much as you can....and you can even in high season with some planning. Good luck!

Oops , thanks for the compliment on my blog pictures. I hope the information is useful for you too.

WTnow
Thanks for the Matt Barrett guide.

Hello WTnow,
how are you doing? Still travelling?
Gaspard (Mykonos, Syros ...)

Hey Gaspard!

I am doing great and we are in our little white village for the winter in Andalucia now. I am amazed at how much it looks like Mykonos town in many ways.

I am behind on the blog ( must finish Italy!!) but I was just making a calendar for my sis with pictures from Greece as she loves loves it. ( Making xmas gifts out of my 400, 000 pics is why I am behind on the blog!)

I hope you are well and happy!

cd...this is one of the great people from the Greek forum here. They were a great help to me when I was planning my trip. Lots of great people who know a lot there!

I used Gate 1 for our 18 day trip to Greece and they were fantastic ... everything worked like clock work ... I did not work directly with Gate 1 but my travel agent in Baltimore did. Am presently working with Homeric Tours to plan next trip and so far they have been very detailed and organized. Hope this helps.

Starwood
I ended up with Gate one also. We leave April 9. Thanks for the feedback!