Italy to Greece
 

I am planning a trip to Greece with my husband in May, June or July of 09. We will spend one week in Italy (Bari area) to visit family then fly to Greece and stay for 1 week. I would like to stay 3 days in Athens and 4-5 days in Santorini. My heart is set on Santorini because of the caldera, it looks so beautiful!
Questions...what is good to see on a 3 day time limit in Athens?
Is May-July a good or bad time to go to Greece, concerning weather. Are there many tourists during those months?
Flying from Bari to Athens?? Anyone know of discount airlines? Flying from AThens to Santorini?? Is it better to fly or take the ferry? Planning for this trip is kicking my butt!! Any bits and pieces of info will help.

The best time to go to Greece is late-May through mid-June. After that it will be extremely crowded and very hot.

Athens: Plaka, Agora, Parthenon & Acropolis Museum, Cycladic Museum, National Archaeological Museum, Benaki Museum, Central Market, daytrip to Sounion Bay (Temple of Poseidon).

Santorini is beautiful. Oia is the most beautiful village.

Here's a discount airline that flies from Bari to Athens:
http://www.myair.com/docs/cust/en/index.shtml

Aegean Airlines flies from Athens to Santorini and there are promotional fares now showing up on their website for May and June. More will be posted later on for the rest of 2009. They'll go fast so book ASAP.

http://www.aegeanair.com/

Is Santorini a good place to visit beaches?

No. It is not a beachy island. (there are beaches but other islands have better beaches.

What other islands have better beaches? Milos?

Would it be possible to do Athens, Milos and Santorini all in 7 days or would 9 be better. I dont want to rush around...I want to enjoy and take in everything I see!

Of course 9 will be better -- people going to islands forget that going from one place to another is not as simple as it is on the mainland..you can't just get in a car and go -- you must use a plane with just a few departure times... or a ferry, which can only go 25 mph or so and the business of waiting for it, embarking, disembrking etc can eat up half a day.

If u are flying back (to US?) from Athens Airport, you can make your transport more efficient if u go into the city of Athens (1+ hr away) only ONCE, not beginning & end.

Upon arrival, fly immediately to first Island for 3 days (MIlos is good for beaches!). Then ferry to Santorini (3 days). Finally, fly back to Athens for your last 3 days.

With only 9 days, one ferry ride is all you hve time for. Olympic Air flies to Milos at a reasonable price. If u buy early Aegean Air has tix from Santorini-Athens @49E.

In Greece the Golden Rule is -- get TRANSPORT worked out BEFORE you put money down on Pricey hotels. The Greece forums are full of people wailing that they've paid $$$ or €€€ non-returnable for a Santorini hotel and now find they can't get there.

we will have to fly back to Bari and from there back to the US.