If you think Santorini is a must for a first time trip to Greece then you'll probably think Disneyland is a must for a first time visit to America.

I haven't been to Santorini for the same reasons I haven't been to Disneyland.

Thank you so much for your all of your help and advice and for sharing your experiences.

With your opinions in mind, we are now planning our Greek island itinerary and, with just under three weeks of travel time in July, we know for sure we want to include Naxos. Some of the other islands mentioned above that are close by, including Amorgos, Koufonisia and Folegandros, look spectacular, and we would also love to see the island of Rhodes, even though it is a long ferry ride to get there from Naxos.

But to be so close to Santorini and not see it would probably really bother me, so I think I should allocate a night or two.

I am thinking that we can fly into Athens, take a flight to Naxos the same day, where we would spend 7 nights and ferry it between the islands mentioned above (day trips to Amorgos and Koufonisia and 2 nights in Folegandros), then ferrying it to Santorini from Naxos for 2 nights, before taking the 7 hour long ferry ride to Rhodes, where we would spend 6 nights (with a day trip to a nearby island), then fly back to Athens, where we would spend 2 nights before flying home.

What do you think?

I can't speak to those islands, except for Naxos (which I loved), but I can say that 2 nights is very little for Athens. I could easily have used more than 5 nights; YMMV.

Sounds like you chose nice locations :)
I don't know about day trips from Naxos... I guess if the ferry schedule works do it. But personally, I do not like backtracking, so I probably would just relocate.

It all depends on the ferry schedules whether or not you can visit the islands you want in the time frame you have. All of July's timetables might not yet be available but when they are you'll find them here: www.gtp.gr

Well, there is a reason why "island-hopping " is so popular on the Greek islands. Traveling by sea is time consuming and rarely travel logistics work to use an island as a base to explore other islands on day trips. I don't think spending say 4 hours one way to an island, then having to take next available ferry back to your base on this day in a couple of hours is a very good use of your time. The good think with Naxos is that it offers some boat tours a few days per week on some places like Small Cyclades, Mykonos and Santorini, so you do not rely solely to ferry schedules, Still you need to check carefully how long you'll spend commuting versus how much time you'll have available on the ground...

After checking the ferry schedules and keeping in mind your advice, here is a more detailed itinerary for our trip:

Fly Athens to Naxos- 6 nights
Ferry to Amorgos (1.5 hours) - 2 nights
Ferry to Santorini (1 hour) - 2 nights
Ferry to Rhodes (7.5 hours) - 7 nights
- Ferry day trip to Simi (1.5 hours each way)
Fly to Athens - 2 nights

Looks quite do-able. For your ferry time, take podcasts for your smartphone, or some paperbacks -- or just chat up your fellow passengers. I've met some remarkable Europeans on my many ferry trips -- on the boat to Amorgos from Naxos, I hit it off so well with a new friend that we jumped off the ferry at Aegali (it proved much lovelier than Katapola - nice beach, hillside villages) and shared 3 days of exploring. She worked for the BBC, legal contracts on locations for all those Masterpiece dramas -- I got the inside story on castles & stately homes!

I think ferry connections would be better (no arrivals/departures in he middle of the night, etc.) if you would do the whole thing the other way round:
Flight or overnight ferry (cabins) Athens - Rhodos
Stay 2 days at Symi (the main village is a gem and best after the departure of the day trippers from Rhodos; the 2 sandy beaches are fine too)
alternative: Tuesday and Thursday overnight ferry Piraeus (port of Athens dp 15.00 - Symi ar 7.30)
Saturday ferry Rhodos dp 9.30 - Amorgos ar 15.45 (connecting bus to Egiali, if you prefer to stay there)
Tuesday ferry Egiali dp 6.55 - Naxos ar 9.00 (or any catamaran from Katapola)
Ferry Naxos - Santorini (enter the caldera by FERRY, by catamaran with small and dirty windows, you will never enjoy the stunning views to the hilltop villages!)
Flight Sanrorini - Athens

Good switch, neckervd ... I hope that chantal investigates it, and above all, follows the rules of experience -- first get the logistics of travel nailed down, and THEN book accommodations.

If the timing works out, the overnight ferry from Santorini to Rhodes would be ideal. It only goes three times a week - or at least that was true in 2014. It left just after midnight, so don't get confused and think that its leaving on Monday means you will have Monday on Santorini - I mixed this up and had a day less in Santorini than I had anticipated. It leaves very, very early Monday morning, during what most of us think of as "Sunday night".

FB Bluestar 1 leaves Santorini Monday, Wednesday and Friday around 1am. You will have to be at the port of Athinion at midnight. The waiting time there is usually not particularly pleasant.

Thank you everyone. I am really happy I posted here and all of your help is really appreciated. We decided to choose neckervd's plan and we will travel first to Rhodes then head towards Athens.

We may be flexible in the month we can travel, so if we decided to go in June instead of July, would there be less tourists and would the weather and water temperature be warm?

Thanks again

In fact, JUNE is FAR better than July ... just do a bit of research, average temps much better, warm but not hot-hot, you avoid the worst crowds when all of Europe flies in and jams every popular island. The water will be just fine from May 15 onward, I've swum in the Aegean on every trip, my favorite period is Mid May thru Mid June. Another bonus: easier to book hotels, and the rates in June are lower than july.

Hot weather on the Greek Islands starts about the middle of June. It is often hotter in the last half of June than in July, because Meltemi winds kick in during July and August, helping to keep the islands cooler. On a calm day in summer it can get very hot, so winds are welcome.

June will have fewer tourists than July, but it will be busy even then on islands where cruise ships stop. Water will be warm enough to swim if you don't mind "brisk".

Well, June it is. We just reserved our flights into Athens, arriving the morning of June 8th, departing June 26th, for a total of 18 days. We are very excited, to say the least.

We have decided not to go to Santorini. In the end, it was not worth it to us to spend so much travel time travelling to and from an island where where we would only spend a night or two and where we had initially questioned whether we should actually go or not.

Since it takes so much time to get to Naxos from Rhodes, we will forego the Cyclades altogether and spend ten days in the Dodecanese and then fly direct back to Athens, where we will rent a car and take a seven day drive through the Peloponnese. This way, we can have a diverse vacation with time at Greek islands and time on the mainland, which would give us another type of Greek experience.

What do you all think?

Thanks.

Wise decision! With so many great islands in Greece, there is no point in jumping between island groups just to see one. Santorini isn't the only island with a volcano, either. Nisyros, which is easy to reach from Kos, has a volcano that was was used as a location for the James Bond film 'Moonraker'. I think I still have somewhere a lump of sulphur I picked up on the walk down the caldera.

There is so much to see in the Peloponnese, your seven days will fly by. Just a little taste of Messenia, on the south coast of the Peloponnese: https://www.flickr.com/photos/heimda...57627739427148

It doesn't " take so much time to get to Naxos from Rhodes": just from 16.00 until 7.40 resp 9.00 next morning. But it's a really unpleasant journey because of the ferry change (either at Athinion or at Agios Andreas) in the middle of the night .

And as said above, it's easy to visit the volcano of Nyssiros. Leave Rhodos for example Monday afternoon by Bluestar ferry, sleep at Nysiros, do the volcano thing and turn back Tuesday aftrnoon by catamaran. You may stop over at Tilos Island for 2 other nights.

We are trying to decide whether to stay within the walls of Rhodes Old Town, which sounds very romantic, or staying just outside the walls in a hotel that has a pool so we can relax for an hour or two later in the day if the days get very warm. What do you think?

As well, should we split our time in Rhodes between Rhodes Old Town and Lindos, or is Lindos a day trip only?

Thanks

" We are trying to decide whether to stay within the walls of Rhodes Old Town, which sounds very romantic, or staying just outside the walls in a hotel that has a pool so we can relax for an hour or two later in the day if the days get very warm. What do you think? "

I think nothing at all as long as I don't know which hotel you mean and whether you will travel by car or by public transport.
In the latter case (the bus network all over the Island is excellent and buses are frequent) I would stay close to the bus terminal (inside or outside the walls). Excursion boats start from the Northern part of the town too. If you stay south of the city walls (there are no good hotels in this area AFAIK, unless you proceed up to the tourist ghetto of Kallithea) you will be more or less lost without a car.

There is no need to stay more than a day at Lindos (buses from Rhodos town about every 30 min and some excursion boats too)