My husband and I (early/mid 40s) are taking a 2 week vacation to Greece in early October. We've already booked flights and hotels, and will spend 4 nights in Santorini, 5 nights in Crete and 4 nights (Grande Bretagne) in Athens. I'm hoping a few of you Athens experts can help with the 3.5 days we have in Athens, and suggest how to divide the time between the city and day trips to other areas. I'm thinking we should spend at least 1.5 days seeing the important sights in Athens -- Acropolis, Syntagma Square, Agora, Temple of Zeus, Hadrians Arch, etc....as well as explore a couple of neighborhoods (Plaka, Anafiotika) and perhaps take the funicular up Mt Lycabettus. We are typically not museum people, but the Acropolis Museum seems like a must (and perhaps the Nat'l Archaeological Museum too??) Clearly 1.5 days is a short amount of time -- am I being totally unrealistic? Then, on one of the days we've reserved a day trip to Delphi and Osios Loukas Monastery with a private guide/driver. My dilemma is about the last day. We can either spend it in Athens continuing with the things listed above or we can take another day trip with the same guide -- he calls it the Argolis trip, visiting Corinth-Mycenae-Nafplion-Epidaurus. I love the idea of being able to see more of the mainland and ancient history on these daytips, but maybe it's more important to do justice to Athens? Any suggestions or input about Athens highlights -- what not to miss and what to skip and how much time to take -- are very much appreciated. And if you've taken these daytrips and can rank them in comparison to Athens sightseeing (what did you enjoy more?) that is extremely helpful too. Thank you!

I would highly suggest the Corinth-Naphlion trip.... beautiful and historic.

I think you are hoping to pack too much into your 1.5 days in Athens. I was there for 4 days and did your list plus a few other things.

I assume you prefer a private guide and that's totally understandable. It sounds as if those two trips which the guide has given separate names are, in fact, the segments of the more usual "classical tour" which includes Delphi, Corinth, Olympia, Naphlion, Epidaurus, etc., but generally takes about three days to do and is run by various tour companies in Athens.

If you can do all of these on a couple of privately-guided tours then by all means do so.

Personally, I think three days is PLENTY for what you want to see and do in Athens, especially if you time things so that everything you want to see is operating/open on your days there.

How about a 1/2 day out to the temple of Poseidon..but after doing all the others you may be completely templed-out.

My apologies..I mis-read your post....I think you can do it all in Athens in the time you've given yourself.

Please do not forget that some folks are able to move faster than others..some can spend hours staring at the Acropolis while others can be just as satisfied with an hour or less.

Regardless, enjoy your trip to wonderful Greece.

Thanks everyone for your input! As Dukey says everyone has a different pace and I think we generally move faster than average (we are fast walkers by nature). We try to balance this by slowing down at lunch, sitting and enjoying local food and a bottle of local wine!

We've found that if we have a small number of days in a city it's good to get a private guide in order to see the highlights without worrying about navigation and losing time getting lost. (And this is a nice break for me since I'm always the chief map-reader/navigator/organizer!) Can anyone recommend a guide in Athens -- preferably one with expertise in architecture/archaeology -- that can do a walking tour of the Acropolis and other sites? (The guide we're using for the daytrips is not the right person.) We would like either a private guide or a small group (6 - 8 people) walking tour. Which leads me to another question...Is it possible to walk between the sites listed in my first post or does it involve taxis/subways?

In Athens, do not miss the National Archeological Museum. It will make the rest of your trip, the day trips, so much more rewarding and enjoyable as Greece's treasure's have moved there from the ancient sites.

Here's a second for the NAM -- see it early and it will lend insight to the rest of your trip. Great docents, too.

OK, I am sold on the NAM. Will try to go there on the first afternoon. If we see the NAM is it OK to skip the Acropolis Museum? Or are they both worth the time?

On my trip to Greece I didn't make it to either the National Archeological Museum or the Acropolis Museum. I did, however, get to the terrific museums at Delphi and Olympia, and in the beautiful spring weather I decided to spend more time wandering around the outdoor sites in Athens than spending more time in museums. If I had more time in Athens, I would have gone to the National Archeological Museum.

The major archeological sites in Athens are within walking distance of each other and are connected by lovely pedestrianized streets. The acropolis, the Roman agora, the ancient agora, and perhaps another site are all included within one entrance fee.

While I loved Athens, I think I would spend the time going to Mycenae and Epidaurus, as they are wonderful sites.

You might be interested in my trip report, which describes five days in Athens and a classical tour including Delphi, Mycenae, Epidaurus, Olympia and the Meteora (warning, very long!):

http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=34589254

Photos:

http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=...&y=-b9k6sz

Nikki, I forced myself to keep working today (at my real job, not my travel planner alter-ego) and saved reading your trip report for tonight. Just finished it and wanted to say thank you so much! Above all I am now very inspired to do some serious reading before the trip. So far I've purchased a few historical novels and a mythology overview and I can see from your report that understanding the history really adds to the experience. I'm also about to go view your photos and find the past reports that your fans are raving about, even for places I've already been like Paris, just because I really enjoy your writing! Thanks again!

Thanks so much for the very kind words.

I see you have found my current report about Barcelona. I have a list of the links to some of my recent trip reports, which will be easier for you than trying to hunt them down here:

London and France 2005
http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=34652273

Paris 2005
http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=34574921

Paris 2006
http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=34762455

Spain and Portugal 2006
http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=34841123

Back to the original post (not Barcelona). I think you can have your cake & eat it too -- that is, do justice to athens and ALSO have that guided swoop through those wonderful Peloponnese places. It just requires ONE thing (possible if you could adjust your hotel bookings by 1 day)....

Take off 1 day from Santorini. What do you plan to do there?? Too late for sunbathing/swimming. The most important site on the isle (Akrotiri) is closed indefinitely. Nightlife will be over in October. You're not on your honeymoon. Once you've looked at the caldera for 36 hours and taken 150 photos, you'll be ready to move on. Why Why I always ask myself, do Americans always Over-value Santorini, while scanting the true treasures of Greece? Greek people just shake their heads at this.

Just a thought--but since you have months ahead, you might consider tweaking your bookings. What you have to gain is the beauty of Nafplio (a World Heritage site), the amazement of the Epidaurus theatre, the odd wonder of the Corinth Canal (takes just a mo to see) and the rugged power of Mycenae (or if you want to skip it, Tiryns is a similar fortress city just a mile outside Nafplio). All this -- for foregoing 12 hours of caldera-gazing.

travelerjan - " Why .. do Americans always Over-value Santorini, while scanting the true treasures of Greece? .. "

I couldn't agree more. After 3 nights and 2.5 days on Santorini, I was QUITE ready to leave.

Trading a day or two for time in the Argolid (Nafplio, etc) would be well worth it, IMNSHO.

TravelerJan and Tom_H you have a good suggestion, but unfortunately it is too late to change my itin. We are flying on Aegean Airlines between the islands and I found the 19 Euro rate so I went ahead and made the reservations. I guess now I see the risk in booking flights too early.

However, I still feel OK about my Santorini plan...sunbathing and nightlife isn't a big deal to us. And since you asked what we're doing...

We arrive in Santorini at 7:45pm, so we actually have just 3 full days. Day 1 will be hiking the paths between cities. We're staying in Imerovigli and want to walk (if we can handle the stairs) and explore Fira and Oia, maybe one town for lunch, one for dinner. Day 2 is a daytrip catamaran sailing excursion around the island on the Blue Lagoon captained by Ted Stathis. If we can get in the water great, if not it will still be a lovely way to see the island from a different perspective. Day 3 we'll rent a car and explore the interior of the island. We love wine so we're hoping to visit a couple of wineries. (I read in a prior post about Akrotiri being closed and that's definitely a bummer.)

If we have a few spare hours here and there for relaxing/reading a book/drinking wine on our fabulous patio overlooking the caldera, that sounds like heaven. Santorini is the one part of our trip when we'll have relaxation time...desparately needed, especially by my hubby.

So that being said...back to Athens! I'm becoming more convinced the Peloponnese daytrips from Athens will be worth it. Here's my thought at this point:

First afternoon in Athens: go to NAM and then wander around Plaka and whatever other neighborhoods we have time for.

2nd Day in Athens (full day): If I can find a great guide to do a walking tour of all the ancient sites with us this might allow us to most efficiently cover the highlights.

Day 3 and 4: Daytrips listed above.

Still looking for suggestions on guides to do Athens walking tours if anyone can help! Thanks again everyone!

TO get that extra day and still not lose your flight bargain, Have you considered checking with Aegean as to whether you can book a Santorini-Athens flight a day earlier at the 19E rate?

We ARE talking October after all, and they have 3 flights per day, so there IS a chance. PS: you might consider getting up EARLY in the morning and making an overseas call direct to the Athens office of Aegean... and asking for an ENglish-speaking agent. Sometimes the direct call works wonders.

I'm having to deal with the same frustrating situation of planning the whole trip around those 19Euro fares to Santorini.

We bought those tickets before even the airfare from the US to Athens and now I'm having some trouble fitting everything in...originally I was looking at a flight that returned home departing Athens at 3pm. When we went to buy the tickets, the only flight we could get on that day leaves at 6:50 am!! So, that flight is now purchased.

Our original itinerary has us spending the 1st 3 nights in Athens (which actually gives us 2 and 1/2 days, which we feel Athens deserves from us), then we'll spend 4 nights in Santorini.

Here's where the kink comes in:
Then we fly back to Athens, pick up a rental car and drive to Nafplion. I wanted to spend 2 nights there exploring Mycenae, etc, then drive back to Athens that last day to get to the airport by around 1pm for that 3pm flight.

Now it seems we'll need to be in or near Athens the night before to make that EARLY flight.

Will one night and most of the next day be enough for the area in and around Nafplion? Our flight from Santorini does get to Athens at 8:15am so we will be getting an early start.

Now, I'm toying with changing up completely and maybe doing Nafplion first and Athens after Santorini.

Any ideas??????

luv2globetrot-
It think that is a great idea, driving to Nafplio, visiting the sites, then heading back to Athens airport, catching your flight to Santorini, and then doing Athens at the end of your trip? Now that flights from the US are getting into ATH earlier and earlier, I usually recommend people actually go directly to their chosen island (if flying), to avoid the back and forth, and then doing Athens at the end of the trip. But since you have these tickets, you can't do that. You can still save Athens for the end though, by making this switch.

bniemand, we are going to Athens as well and want to know who you are using for driver/guide to Delphi. We'd like to do the same. How much did it cost? Were you happy with the services?

Has anyone been to the Benaki Museum? How does it compare with the NAM? The Acropolis Museum?
I heard the NAM can get very crowded - did any of you find it so?
Thanks.