I want to go to Greece......HELP!!!!
 

Hi guys! I just found this web board and I'm very excited about finding it.

My husband and I are planning on going to Greece in October 2006. I did a search of old threads on this board and found some good info.

I would love to get any tips and advice. I noticed some mentioned the horrors of "package holidays" and "package holiday hotels." Can anyone give me some information about them and why I should avoid them.

I would like our trip to be about 10 to 14 days (I know it's not much time, but that's what I have to work with). I am not a party or lay on the beach type. I've dreamed of going to Greece since I was a kid and I really want to make the most of it.

Thanks in advance :)

I have never travelled independently to Greece, in otherwords, always booked a travel package and never once been disapointed. But then, I might be easy to please. Where in Greece do you want to go - mainland or island?
Steve

We are planning our April-May 2006 trip to Greece right now. We have decided to save the islands for another trip and focus on the mainland. We are interested in ancient Greece so we plan to spend our time in:

Athens (Acropolis, Agora, Museums, Plaka and Psiri for shopping and dining, and the Monastiriki market)

Napflion (daytrips to Epidaurus, Mycenea, Corinth and Ancient Nemea, Ancient Tyrins and Argos)

Olympia (ruins and museum)

Delphi

All of the above in 13 days. We'll have to see the monasteries in Meteora another time. I suggest getting the Eyewitness book Athens & the Mainland. There is also a book for the Greek islands. There are pictures of all the main sights and you can start getting an idea of what you want to see. Then you can really start planning.

Steve, that's a great question! I do need to figure out where I want to go, haha. I too am more interested in ancient Greece. I wouldn't mind seeing an island, but the idea of maybe coming back and doing an island trip sounds appealing, too!

I had planned on using a travel agency, too. Is that what they mean by "holiday packages?"

no... I think the packages are where you buy a "hotel, tour, itinerary, airfare" package where every single thing (from your accomodations to what time you eat breakfast to exactly how long you have to see each sight) is scheduled out for you.

We plan to use Dolphin Hellas (travel company) to make our hotel reservations (they have better rates than booking through the hotels directly). We are also going to see what their rental car rates are after doing some research on our own (Avis and AutoEurope). But we have already identified the hotels we wish to stay in and we will lay out of own itinerary.

I have the Greek Travel Guide website from Matt (can't remember last name). I've heard great things about Dolphin Hellas, they are defifinitely contenders!

What I liked about Dolphin-Hellas versus Fantasy Travel was that Dolphin Hellas will break out the cost of each hotel whereas Fantasy Travel will only give you a lump sum so it is hard to see what you are paying for each place.

Our hotel choices are:

Athens - Adrian Hotel in the Plaka. A double room with an Acropolis view should cost us anywhere from 125€ per night to 145€ per night.

Napflion - Ilion Hotel and Suites. We want to stay in the Sun suite and expect to pay anywhere from 130€ to 150€. The hotel is in the middle of the old town and each suite has a large jacuzzi tub :-))

Olympia - the Best Western Hotel Europa. Boring but great location near the ruins.

Delphi... we are still deciding.

Here are the websites for the Adrian and the Ilion

http://www.douros-hotels.com/view_hotels.asp?hotel_id=2

http://www.ilionhotel.gr/



Out of curiousity, have you traveled outside the US before?

TexasAggie:

My husband has been to Italy and we have both been to Canada and Mexico (barely out of the country, haha).

Anyone going to try and learn a bit of Greek?

Since I'm one of the people who mentioned the horrors of "package tours" and "package tour hotels," maybe I should try to offer an explanation. There are dozens of travel companies, mostly in northern European countries, that put together "packages" for people who want to do precisely what you do NOT want to do: to lie in the sun and party hearty. They cater to people whose idea of a great time is to do "sand and sea" all day, get drunk every night on cheap wine and eat "continental cuisine," which is package tour language for food that they are accustomed to rather than the local Greek food. The hotels they stay in may be reasonably well-appointed, but the atmosphere is more like that of a frat house. Generally, these hotels are clustered together in distinct areas, and given your interests, you should avoid them like the plague.

TexasAggie's itinerary is a good one, if your primary interest is to see the classical Greek ruins.

You may or may not want to rent a car; Greek roads, while fairly good, can be challenging to drive: full of curves and up-and-downs.

For a first trip, I would probably recommend taking a group tour out of Athens. There are basically two tour companies - Key Tours and CHAT Tours - and it's pretty much six of one and half-a-dozen of the other. They both offer so-called "Four-day Classical Tours" that include Corinth, Mycenae, Nafplion, Epidauros, Olympia and Delphi. Spend three or four days in Athens: The National Archeological Museum and the Acropolis (including its museum) are absolutely indispensable, and there are a number of fascinating smaller museums. I would agree with TexasAggie that including a tour of the islands is just not possible in the amount of time at your disposal, but there is a one-day boat tour offered by both Key and CHAT that takes you to Hydra, Poros, Spetsae and Aegina (if I remember correctly) and gives you at least a taste of the Greek islands.

If you are lucky -- and you may well be in October -- the classical tour will be in a mini-bus rather than one of the huge tour busses.

It's been ten years since I was last in Greece, but at the time, you could wait until you arrived in Athens to book with Key or CHAT. I'm not sure if that is still the case, but if it is, it would let you check with both companies and perhaps, if you are lucky, choose the one that happens to be using a mini-bus for the classical tour.

Great advice from Eloise.

My husband and I have been taking Greek lessons this autumn from a local Greek Orthodox school. Greek is a lot more difficult than any language I had studied in the past (Spanish, French). I picked up tourist Italian fairly easily but Greek is a whole different ball game. We're going to continue with our lessons through April and hopefully we will be proficient enough by then for the basics - food, directions, pleasantries

Eloise, thanks so much for the information. That is EXACTLY what I needed to know about the holiday tours. It sounds likes that is exactly what I don't want to do!

Sunshine

Given your interests and the fact that you're coming from the US, I don't think you need to worry about the package tours. As Eloise says, they are usually northern European companies and, sadly, from the UK in particular I think, which aim their holidays at the 18-30 market, but usually end up being full of mostly 16-20 year-olds.

The current places to avoid are Laganas on Zakynthos, Faliraki on Rhodes and Kavos on Corfu, but who knows where they will decide to invade for 2006. There are also places on the bigger islands where the "I just want somewhere hot and cheap" mentality has taken over, but if you stick to the classical mainland sites and smaller islands with no airport you'll be fine.

I took a wonderful trip to Greece in March and used Fantasy Travel for a four day (three night) tour of Mycenae, Epidaurus, Olympia, Delphi and the Meteora. We stayed for five nights in Athens at the Attalos Hotel, and we took a day trip to Aegina.

I had considered the day trip the tour companies offer for the islands but am glad we did it on our own. Much less expensive and much more time on the island. The tour visits three islands on a cruise ship and you eat lunch on the ship. It was very easy to get to Piraeus on our own and buy tickets for the ferry to Aegina for just a few euros. We only saw the one island that way, but it was very pleasant and relaxing.

My trip report (I'm warning you, it's very long) is at:

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

My photos are at:

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

When we first went to greece we had a total of 15 days. We took the Chat "Classical Tour" and our group ended up being about 12 people with an unforgettable guide to an unforgettable group of places.

There wasn't an under 25-year-old in sight on that tour but if there had been I would not have allowed that, or anything else, to in any way alter the experience and neither would you.

We spent a total of three days in Athens prior and after the "classical" departed on a week-long cruise of the Greek islands, western Turkey, with a day in istanbul.

Did we do ALL of Greece? No, and we didn;t particularly want to. Have we been back since? Yes, several times buyt unlike many we have the luxury of abundant travel money and time.

Was it "in depth" enough to "satisfy" the keyboard critics who hang out here eating peanuts? Who cares because none of them went and they certainly didn;t plan or pay for any of it, either.

Can you do enough of Greece in two weeks? Sure, and since nobody else travels exactly like you do I'm sure you'll find it quite satisfying.

Some strange misconceptions here about "package tours". There may be dozens of companies in every individual country, and they offer just about everything to suit people´s needs and likes. They have hundreds of hotels to choose from, they have apartments and they have small country houses. They have guided tours for those who speak only their native language, and a guide comes to bigger hotels for an hour about 5 times a week. Those who need her/him go and ask questions.

People eat where they want to and what they want to. They have tours where people get a hired car to the airport, take the car, drive around for a week and sleep in prebooked small B&B´s, and then just leave the car to the airport. They are not some kindergarten tours where people are in a group. Normally the only time you see other "package tourists" is in the airplane.

I have taken dozens of package tours, and dozens of non-package tours. Both are fine, and if a package tour goes where I want to go, it is so much less time consuming. For example I will take a package tour in December. That means that I will get my plane ticket by mail. Then I drag my a** to the airport and take a plane. Then I land in Bangkok where the package tour has arranged the transport to the hotel. After 4 days the package tour takes me back to the airport and I take another pre-arranged ticket and fly to Cambodia. After some days I fly back to Thailand and spend another ten days in two separate places.

Basically a package tour is flights/airport transportation/chosen apartment. And that is it.

Thanks for all the information! This is exactly what I wanted to hear :)

Elina sorry to have caused any misunderstanding, but Eloise and I were just trying to clarify the particular type of package tour which Sunshine had heard she should avoid in Greece. I don't think that either of us were suggesting that all package tours were like this.

Apologies for unintentional offence caused.

Elina:

As Xenos has explained, there is an unfortunate misunderstanding here. S/he and I were referring to a very specific kind of package tour that exists in Greece and that is to be avoided by anyone with more cultural interests.

As far as that goes, when I was in southeast Asia, I visited both Thailand and Burma (many years ago) with package tours.

There are package tours, and there are package tours.

No offence was intended.

I too am in the VERY early planning stages of a trip to Greece, and this is a very informative thread. I also took a look at the Rick Steves 14 day tour of Greece. I don't plan on taking a tour, but I find reading tour itineraries to be a good way to get started on my own planning. Take a look sunshine, you may even find that you would be interested in taking the tour!

Click on the "itinerary" button for day by day info.

http://tours.ricksteves.com/tours06/...rl/code/GRE06/

I wasn´t taking any offence, I just wanted to clarify sunshine that if she chooses a package tour she does not necessarily end up in these "beach and boogie" places.

Hi

We did a 10 day Cosmos tour of Greece. Here's the link http://www.cosmos.com/Default.aspx?t...p;source=56793.

It was fantastic. First class coach and hotels were 3* or better. We have also used them for Spain. Really couldn't fault them except for the dinners provided. You'll find that you will have plenty of free time to do your own thing. Turkey next!

Cheers

I am so glad I found this web board, this info has been great!

As we will be in an unfamiliar country, I like the organization offered by a tour, but do want to avoid the "party" crowd.

Keep the info coming :) My hubby checked out several travel guides from the library. When I figure out which one I like best, I'll buy it.

Thanks for the info and keep it coming :)