I spent two weeks in Greece, and only two of those days in Athens.

Ahtens is a big stinky city. Go to the Acropolis, then get the heck out of there.

The islands, while hot and crowded are still wonderful, I would do Mykonos and Naxos. I would LOVE to include Santorini, but it is a heck of a ferry ride there and that uses too much of your short time up.
I have been to Mykonos and loved it, yes it is a busy party town, but there are many beaches , take a bus and you will be able to find a quieter one,, and Naxos , while I have not been there, sounds like Mykonos 25 yrs ago.. wonderful.

Athens is a smoggy hole .

Travelnewbie, as you can see, opinions are divided on this board. We all have our favorites, and good thing too! Have a great trip! :-)

Athens is indeed very hot in August...however many Greeks are gone, so you will find it quieter and less hecti than at other times of the summer.

I would not skip it --- if only for the Acropolis/

Find a few recent Greek immigrants and quiz them. Find out what the Greek residents do to combat difficult weather conditions. I expect they will tell you to rest during the heat of the day and play in the evening. As possible lawyers you need to get experience for working in hot, humid and crowded courtrooms.

No advice on Greece, but good luck on the bar exam. As a fellow attorney, I remember that time like it was yesterday (Class of 2000) and it's one of the most stressful things you'll go through.

I was going to suggest that you choose between Naxos and Mykonos and it looks like you did.

Even though all islands will be busy then, it depends on what you're looking for. If it's less crowded beaches, then Naxos, if it's packed, crazed fun (A nice antidote for the bar), then.

The thing about August in Greece is that the crush of tourists mutes a lot of the differences -- subtle and otherwise -- between the islands.

RE: Athens -- It's not nearly as bad as many say. I spent nearly the entire month of August there a few years and enjoyed it immensely despite being an extreme northerner.

I am in Greece every summer from mid June to late August. August is crowded, ferries are full and hotels at their most expensive. It is still wonderful!
I would cut down on the number of islands you visit to cut down on travelling time. Also, make sure you have all your hotels and travel booked in advance.
Athens in August - I actually like it because with so many residents away, there is a lot less traffic.
You know what you want to see etc. but I would have 2 nights in Athens and split the other days between 2 islands (or even just choose one). If you are flying back to the US or Canada, I would spend your last night in Athens to save stressing about whether you will get back to the mainland in time.
You could possibly connect straight to an island at the beginning and save Athens for the end.
If you have the choice, Greece gets a lot quieter after about 21st August when most of the Greeks and Italians have finished their holidays.

I found Greece and Egypt fascinating, but didn't go then (in October, when Egypt was just tolerable) -- but are you aware of how hot it is in Egypt in first week of September? In Cairo, it probably will be tolerable (around 90-95 F perhaps in the afternoon), but I hope you aren't going south of that in Egypt, like Aswan or anywhere like that, as it will probably be 100 or more there.

Thanks for all of your advice!

I wish we could go later in the season. We could just go somewhere else for our bar trip, but it feels as though we will never be free again (or at least not for 3 weeks straight) after our jobs start, and this is the place that everyone really wants to go. The combination of great beaches, partying and (some) history seems like a great way to take our minds off of bar results.

Travelnewbie, have a great trip! If you are still planning to arrive in Greece around Aug 22nd, that, IMO, is just about the perfect time for a group of young people wanting to mix beaches with a little partying. The worst of high season crowds will be gone, but there will still be a high season vibe. After the middle of September things start to get very quiet. :-)

Thanks for everyone's replies! After much back and forth, we finally decided to scrap our Spain-Greece-Egypt trip plan and replace it with Spain-Croatia-Greece. So, we won't be in Greece until Sept. 3.

VERRRY smart decision. One of the lessons of legal studies, I gather, is to solicit the opinions of those with experience, sift and consolidate them, and then to make decisions based upon realities, not wishes.

I think you will TOTALLY enjoy your greece time now. The weather will be delightfully warm (80=85) the water will be sublime the over-crowding will be gone, yet things will still be very lively.

Also, Croatia, while chilly at other times, will be "just right" in August.

OK - so now we all get to warn you about how HOT (!!) Spain is in August :)