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Help with Greece Trip
My husband & I will be gong to Greece with a tour group from Oct 7 - Oct 20. My schedule will allow me to have an additional 5 days (returning home to the US on 10/25). Our tour does not include any "island hopping" and we are thinking about adding Mykonos & Santorini. Is this enough time to see both islands? And as far as logistics I think we probably need to be back in Athens on Oct 24 so that we can catch a flight home on Oct 25; does that sound right? Any inexpensive hotels with shuttles near the airport that anyone can recommend? I'm thinking maybe getting a ferry to Mykonos on Oct 20 and then flying back to Athens on Oct 24... I'm not sure we could do that on the 25th as it looks like most flights leave early in the morning.
Thanks for any help! |
I always travel to Greece in October (early, mid, late) and have found it a wonderful time to travel there. Weather is "usually" sunny, mild, just a bit of rain and the Aegean still pleasantly warm to take a dip.
Just wondering why you picked the two most heavily touristed and expensive of the Greek Islands. There are many other islands that offer just as much scenery, lovely villages, beaches, mountains, and more tradition at lower costs and far less tourists. It is wise to get back to Athens at least one day before your flight home in case of strikes, delays, weather, etc. There are probably hotels with shuttles from the airport but they may be more expensive. It's very easy to get from the airport to Central Athens either by Taxi, Metro, or bus with the taxi being the most convenient but most expensive. The Metro is very good but some people may be intimidated by all the stories of pick pockets and how crowded the train gets. I've taken it many times and find it works for me very well. The bus is the least expensive, less chance of pick pockets but stops at Syntagma Square. If you have a hotel nearby it's great but if you have accommodations further away it means walking or taking a taxi. I always stay at the Attalos Hotel very near Monistiraki Sq. where there is a Metro Station and a short 10 minute walk. It's clean, safe and centrally located to everything one goes to Athens for. Five days split between 2 island may work but you'll lose time getting from one island to the other depending on how you get there. Closer combinations could be Sifnos/Milos, Paros/Antiparos, Aegina/Agistri or pick one island like Naxos which is one of the best of the Greek Islands with something for everyone and October will find it pleasantly busy but not over-the-top crowded like Santorini/Mykonos with its multiple cruise ships docked outside the islands spewing out thousands of tourists at a time. Check out this link to determine if Santorini is for you: https://greece.greekreporter.com/201...ing-santorini/ |
Most of the islands mentioned above will be dead by the end of October, or even by the end of September. Naxos has a large permanent population, so there will still be shops and restaurants open for year-round residents, while many others will be closed. Mykonos is likely to be quiet too, except for the small area between the old port and windmills where cruise ship passengers congregate. After the cruisers get back on their ships in the evening Mykonos will become very quiet. I think what I would do, if you want to see some islands, is fly to Santorini for a couple of nights and then take the Blue Star ferry to Naxos. There are flights from Naxos back to Athens on small turboprops. Santorini, again, is busy only in certain places while cruisers are on the island. BTW, at the end of October Santorini will be nothing like what you see in the link on #1. Actually, that late in the year I would skip the islands and go somewhere like Nafplio: http://www.visitnafplio.com/ |
We were on Santorini for five nights in early October, and loved it. No crowds, and certainly nothing like that article shows. Stay at Imerovigli, not Fira, to escape crowds. We liked the Gold Suites. |
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I was there as recently as this past July (high season, three or four ships each day in port) and it still didn't look like that article made it look. I doubt in October it would be anywhere near that bad, and Santorini is amazing. I wouldn't suggest in high season you go for there for weeks, but for five days in shoulder season it works great. You'd have time to also see some of the inland villages.
https://www.fodors.com/community/eur...-july-1659955/ |
After I wrote the earlier post I had a look at the Santorini cruise ship calendar for October 2018. During the last week of that month there was no day with more than two cruise ships, and one day had none at all. The cruise ships leave the island around 6 - 7 pm, and passengers have to start their way back a couple of hours before that to be sure the ship doesn't leave without them. That leaves the whole evening free of cruise ship passengers. By the end of October there won't be any crowds at all.
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Those pictures of Santorini were what I encountered in mid-May, 2017. It was NOT a good experience. :(
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There is no reason to go to the castle at Oia to see something that happens 365 days a year all over the world. When I stayed in Oia once in late May and another time in June, during sunset I sat on the balcony of my caldera view hotel with a glass of wine and watched the colours of the whitewashed buildings change as the sun began to set. It was beautiful, and reminded me of the way colours change at Uluru (Ayers Rock) in Australia during sunset.
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Thanks for all of the great advice. I would like to talk my husband out of Mykonos but he has a former co-worker with family there and they own a hotel (which btw is closed in early October :-) ) Naxos sounds promising and pics are gorgeous!
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