My husband and I will arrive in Athens on April 24th and leave on May 5th. We like to visit Athens and 2 to 3 islands. We are interested in ancient sites and spectacular views. My questions are:

1. How many days in Athens?
2. Which 2 to 3 islands to see and how many days in each? We have Santorini as one of them.

Thanks for any help.

Hi HH,

I think that if you repost with Greece in the title that you will get more responses.

I traveled with a few of my freiends in Greece this summer after we all graduated from college. Athens and Santorini were wonderful. We also went to Mykonos- which if you like to party, is really fun. Sant. is amazing. We rented mopeds and drove around the island for a few days-wonderful. There are many great spots that we just happened to stop at... Have fun and good luck planning.

Since you've already chosen Santorini, your logical choices for a second island would be those close by, including Ios, Naxos, Paros, Folegandros and Amorgos. The most direct, reliable and frequent ferry route to and from Santorini from Athens includes the first three. I spent some time on Paros last year and really enjoyed it. It's not such a busy island as Santorini and has a lot to offer. There are several very nice beaches, some historical sites as well as being fairly inexpensive, especially in April and May. You could do a lot worse.

Anyone interested in ancient sites, and already in the central Cyclades, should somehow try to visit Delos. You can't stay there - it is an uninhabited island, but has some of the most spectacular ruins in Greece.

The easiest way to get to Delos is from Mykonos. There are also excursion boats from Naxos, and from Naoussa in Paros, but I'm not sure they will be operating that early in the season. One company that can arrange excursions to Delos from Paros is http://tinyurl.com/yfvcj2. Another is http://tinyurl.com/vjp23. You could contact them for more info.