ZZ, if you still plan to visit Meteora you will be visiting religious sites. In other areas you may want to visit a church or monastery as well, and if you make it to the island of Paros don’t miss going into the 4th century (yes, 4th century) Panagia Ekatontapiliani in Parikia, one of the oldest and most beautiful churches in Greece.

We went to Athens/ Chania Crete October 12-22 last year. The weather was perfect, though September might have been better if we had wanted to spend time at the Beach. We had a driver in Athens who was wonderful! He picked us up from the airport and took us to the Athens Intercontinental. Our hotel was a little outside the city center, so we did have to take a taxi to get to the city center. He also took us on a day trip to Corinth, and on another day we went to Cape Sunion/ Temple of Poseidon with a stop at Lake Vouliagmeni on the way. Both of these day trips from Athens were amazing. We stayed a two to three days in the heart of Chania, Crete. It was spectacular and we didn't need a car once there. Our local (Piraeus) travel agent made all our arrangements for our trip to Crete. It was so nice to not have to worry about how we were going to get from the airport to Chania. I highly recommend Travelspot/ Dimitrios.

ah thanks for that tip, I did not realize the religious aspect of some of these places, I will make an discernible effort to dress appropriately then! :D.

thanks for the tips here and destination notes as well, I am going to factor this into my planner!

I meant, 5 or 6 nights would be a good amount of time for Crete. Crete could almost feel like a separate country. You might want to see if the mainland has enough appealing ruins and museums to occupy you before resorting to islands. But if you go to Crete, the archaeology museum in Chania has an excellently displayed collection of ancient Roman and/or Greek coins, in a vertical acrylic display case that you can see them from both sides.

That means wearing long trousers, not shorts, when visiting a church or monastery.

ah thanks for clarification, yes Crete has such an allure to it, but it does seem to be it's own world and would require quite a bit of time to enjoy it fully.

maybe I'll just skip visiting those sites then, I am almost exclusively a shorts guy, ha!

I’m a shorts guy too when in Greece, but change into trousers in the evenings. If you are going in late September or October it will still be swimming weather, but sometimes gets chilly in the evenings. That’s also when the mosquitoes come out on many islands, and I prefer not to be bitten.

Just wondering if you may have meant an ancient Olympia on the Peloponneasean Peninsula, site of the ancient games, instead of Mount Olympus to the east near Thessaloniki?

Happy Trvlr, that’s what I asked in reply #56, but never got an answer.

Totally agree with you. We as a family try and avoid tourist spots, and try and always stay in little villages in self-catering (kids prefer it to going out to eat). Crete always holds a special place in our heart.

good to know! thanks1

I am so sorry that I skipped over that question! to answer, I was thinking about Mt Olympus / Meteora and then Olympia in the peninsula. I am now eliminating My Olympus / Meteora in favour of more Peloponnese time and possibly Crete or other islands.

thank you, I want to make room for Crete, I hope that I can!

ah yes I replied to Heimdall as well after overlooking that part of the thread. :/

I was going to do both, but now I am going to omit Meteora + Mt Olympus and I am not even sure if there is time for Olympia while in the Peloponnese given distances and transportation. :(

I am coming to grips with reality and whittling away my trip destinations. I just want to get the most out of it bc international travel is so demanding time-wise as well as fiscally.

Air travel has certainly shot up, agreed.
Some advice I gave someone a while ago who had everything planned to the minute on a spreadsheet was, "Where have you allocated yourself fun time?"
Point being, you don't need to plan everything, just general ideas are good.

Don't stress about not seeing everything at once.

Hi there,

I recommend Rick Steves for Athens!!! He has a good guidebook.

I am not a Greece expert but if you are on a budget I would spend less time in Santorini and more time in the other Cyclades island (Naxos, Paros, etc). It will be more affordable. Ferry times are not such that it is easy (in my opinion) to do meaningful daytrips.

I would save Athens to the end of the trip and spend some time there. We love it, and it's more affordable than the islands.

Hope you end up going - it's magical.

If you don't go to Meteora, does that mean you will miss Delphi?

thank you, I tend to over-plan everything, hopefully that will change though, I rarely relax, but this is vacation not work, so I need to find that balance. :s