Honeymoon help please!-- Cyclades!
 

We are going to Greece in mid-May for our honeymoon.
Tenetive itinerary:
Land in Athens May 18, stay 2 nights. Rent a car or take a bus to Delphi and Meteora for 2 nights. Back to Athens to catch an overnight ferry to Santorini. Stay in Santorini May 22-27(approximate.)
Flying out of Athens on June 3.

We cannot decide on another island to visit. We plan to relax and experience a bit of nightlife in Santorini, and would like somewhere more laid back and "Greek" for the last leg of the trip. We love hiking and exploring-- and don't want to be in a party-type (Mykonos) atmosphere. We're looking for an adventure, but at the same time don't want to wander too far off the beaten path. Neither of us have ever been to Greece, let alone Europe-- and it is our honeymoon, I don't want too much of a headache.

HELP! I am overwhelmed with all of the possibilities-- Naxos, Paros, Folegandros????

**Another thought- shoud we shorten Santorini by a day or so and do 3 islands?, or stick with 2?

Thank you in advance!

I think I would spend a little less time on Santorini, beautiful as it is, and take a ferry to Crete for few days, then fly back to Athens. Stay in Chania and hike the Samarian Gorge one day.

My suggestion to you is that you don't decide on a second and/or third island now. In May you don't have to make any advance reservations because it's not high tourist season then and there will be empty beds everywhere. Prices will be cheap, and since you're travelling by ferry you'll be approached by locals when you dock with lots of good offers.

Go to Santorini and stay until you're ready to move on. By then you'll have more of an idea where to go next, and unless you absolutely need the security of an advance reservation the freedom of movement this gives you will enhance your experience.

Crete is good but very large. Grandmere's advice of a hike down the Samarian Gorge will definitely satisfy your urge for hiking, and Chania is charming but is becoming more developed due to its popularity. To get to Chania from Santorini you can catch the Flying Dolphin to Heraklion, then take a bus the rest of the way.

Folegandros would be a very good choice as well, but the ferry service is not a daily occurrence so you'll have to plan carefully. The good thing is that if you do plan accordingly you can catch a ferry back to Piraeus without having to backtrack. For example, you could catch the morning ferry from Santorini on a Tuesday or Thursday and then catch the ferry back to Piraeus on a Thursday or Saturday. These dates are based on the timetables published now, but they're not valid for June yet.

www.gtp.gr

You'll have to wait until later on in the year to get a more accurate idea of departure times. Just be aware that schedules can change without notice and boats can be cancelled or delayed at the last minute because of breakdowns and high winds. NEVER trust any published schedule except to use it as a general guideline. ALWAYS check locally for the most current schedule onward. Also give yourself at least a one-day cushion to get back to Athens for your flight home. In fact, you might want to save your exploration of Athens city until the end of your trip so you don't feel like you've wasted one or two days just hanging around.

I also think Crete would be a good choice for your "other" island, especially since it is so diverse and easily reached from Santorini. Based on your criteria (laid back with hiking/exploring), it seems a perfect match. Given the amount of time you have, I would keep the 5 days in Santorini as is. That really gives you a chance to soak up the atmosphere and also do some sightseeing (including hiking the volcano) on Santorini. I'd also spend the last night in Athens, before your return to the US, just to eliminate any stress of missing your flight home. That would leave you 6 nights (by my calculation) on Crete. With that amount of time, you could spend some time in the western portion, perhaps Chania, and hike the Samaria gorge and see Knossos. Then, you could chill out for a few days at a beautiful Elounda hotel for some romantic, lounging time.

For your schedule, you might consider: 2 nights Athens; 2 nights Delphi/Meteora; then fly to Santorini (you may want to price this option to consider instead of the ferry- it's a 45 minute flight versus a very long ferry which could be awful if you get seasick) for 5 nights; then ferry to Crete for 6 nights; then fly back to Athens for last night.

Thank you all so much for your insight and advice. As soon as I read these replies I started researching Crete. I'm sure I will be back with more questions!

Thanks!
Mara

Brotherleelove is right, wait to choose the third island when you get there. One point though, if you want to stay in a real "honeymoon" hotel, the only islands near Santorini that do real luxury hotels are Santorini, Crete and Mykonos. Outside of those the accommodation is always clean and good but definitely not luxury. Consider flying from Athens to Santorini? It is a long boat trip and flights are not expensive.

Thanks JFlorides for your reply, I think we probably will wait until we're there (Santorini) to decide where to move on to. I would like to be prepared however, and have a good idea of what to, for lack of a better word, expect, on a particular island. The luxury thing is not an issue-- we intend to stay at Sunrocks for our first 2 nights in Santorini, but after that- cheap, clean rooms are exactly what we're looking for. I haven't yet priced flights to and from Athens from the islands. As you may have guessed we have a small but reasonable budget. Is flying really comparable to the ferries? What airline(s) to check in to?

I checked out www.olymicairlines.com and found a flight to santorini for about EUR55 per person including taxes. (if you are looking for flights to santorini on the internet, you need to know that santorini is usually called Thira or Thera by the airlines). I have flown there a couple of times and would recommend flying from athens to santorini and then making your way back gradually to athens by ferry stopping off on a number of different islands - one year we went Santorini-Paros-Naxos-Athens and another year we went Santorini-Naxos-Mykonos-Andros-Athens, these were the only two trips we did that included Santorini but both combinations worked really well. For the real Greece I would avoid Mykonos and Ios. Would really recommend Paros and Naxos and the Santorini-Paros-Naxos route is a great combination because the three islands each have a totally different character.

Paros especially (stay in Naoussa) gets a lot of Greek tourists rather than foreigners, and the harbour is full of little taverns serving fish just out of the sea and Ouzo, where the fresh octopus is hung out to dry on a clothesline over the door. It also has a very attractive capital town and some lovely beaches on the North(?) coast. Some guidebooks make a lot of arriving into Santorini by boat. It is beautiful to pull into the town by boat but after a 9 hour journey when you are jostling for position to get off the ferry first you don't get to appreciate it all that much. There is plenty of opportuinty once you are in Santorini to take boat trips and approach the harbour from the sea. And the view of Santorini as you come in by plane is pretty spectacular too. Best of luck! you will have a great time