I have been reading, reading, reading and while I have narrowed down my trip, I am still a bit lost.

My husband, daughter (12) and I are headed to Greece end of June. We have all been to Europe a few times before: Ireland, Belgium, Netherlands, France (Paris, Nancy and Provence), Monaco, London, and we will be in Barcelona for a week this Christmas.

We traveled to the wilds of Patagonia for three weeks last Christmas and did miles and miles of serious trekking. Our daughter was amazing through the whole trip and so we told her she could choose our next destination-we all love to travel- she chose Greece. Santorini is the definite-she also wanted to go to Ikaria but don't think we can fit that in. With that said, I know that Santorini is extremely touristy, and we prefer staying away from hordes of people. We are definitely interested in culture, ruins, nature, delicious eats and local artisan shopping. We have no interest in sitting on a beach all day.

Here are my definites-airlines already booked:

June 21-Vienna direct to Santorini arrive 2:45
22 and 23-Santorini
June 24-30 open to suggestions here
July 1-3:15 flight from LHR to JFK

so here are the options I have come up with:

June 24-30 Crete (Chania and Herklion)
July 1- 9:00 am flight from Herklion to Gatwick arrive 11:15-transfer to Heathrow-3:15 flight to JFK

or

June 24-26-Naxos with one day being a day trip to Delos
June 27 & 28-Paros
June 29 & 30-Athens

or

June 24-Fly to Athens, rent a car drive to Nafplio
24-27 Nafplio
28-Delphi
29 & 30-Athens

It's possible I will add one more night to Santorini as one day will be a boat ride but not definite.

My one big concern with Nafplio is that it will be HOT. We aren't huge fans of being HOT with little shade or AC/pool to cool down in. I am trying to give us a good taste of Greece. While we have enjoyed every place we have ever been, and we always agree we would go back, I know that we most likely won't, that we will go someplace new-except of course for El Chalten, Argentina...we would move there in a heartbeat!

So Fodorites, what do you think?

In looking more I realize that if I chose option 1 above I would also ferry to Heraklion from Santorini and then I could fly out of Chania to Athens and spend one day there or fly early the morning of July 1 to catch a flight from ATH to LHR.

Naflio as you call it could also have plenty of people visiting and for the same reasons you are considering going there so be aware of that. The Santorini thing really has a s much to do with the volume of people disgorged by cruise ships as anything else. Great scenery but please, the locals have taken all kinds of advantage of the foot traffic with enough jewelry stores to sink Tiffany a couple of times over.

The islands get hot too so I wouldn't use that as the reason to include or exclude Napflio. I think Naxos or Paros would be best for your child, much better than Santorini. I love Chania and Napflio. There is beach near Napflio, Tolo. I don't recall seeing pools in town, perhaps the hotel up on the cliff has one.

You haven't got much time and the less you move the more you will get out of that limited time. I would not move more than once.

Since you have already booked flights, there is no point in suggesting you skip Santorini and spend all your time in one area such as Crete. That is what I would have done. I would probably go with Santorini and Crete given your flights.

Please don't say you expect to get a 'good taste' of a country in just 10 days.

Happy-As mentioned above, the tickets to Santorini are already booked and that is a definite for our daughter. You mentioned Tolo as a reason to go to Nafpilo however as mentioned above as well, we do not want to sit on a beach. A pool is not necessary, it is just nice knowing that if it is really hot, we have a way to cool off.

Sojourn-I appreciate the idea of sticking with Crete and Santorini but I am sorry that you do not agree with the terms I used:
definition of taste:
"to have or get experience, especially a slight experience"
If I was only going to Santorini for ten days, perhaps I could see your argument but per my request, I am trying to find the best way to incorporate a little bit of the things that could give one a taste:culture, history, local eats and local artisans, thus TRYING to get a good taste.

Crete takes a minimum of a week with a rental car to barely scratch the surface, so save it for another time. Naxos, Paros or Antiparos would be good. So would Nafplio.

NEVER risk missing your ATH-LHR flight from an island by trying to get to ATH the same-day you return home!

brother-I hear you! I don't have my flight from Greece to London booked yet. I only have my flight from LHR-JFK booked, hence why I was looking at possibly flying from Herkalion to Gatwick and then having to transfer to Heathrow. I did mention Chania-ATHens-LHR all in one day and will not attempt to do that one now (thanks!

Perhaps I should narrow it down to either the Cyclades and Athens or Santorini and Nafplio, but alas which one????

There is no way you would make your flight taking the flight from Herklion the same day. You need to be at Heathrow a few hours before your flight home and if you land on time at gatwick you still need to go through passport control and collect your luggage and then get to
Heathrow.

National express says journey time is estimated at 75 mins but you would still need to wait for the bus and account for traffic delays.

I would be in London the night before that flight.

I would do Santorini and Athens and then fly athens to Heathrow given your limited time. We really loved the 4 nights we stayed there

I didn't really absorb your time frame BUT I think you need to expect HOT thru out your trip - we have been in May and HOT it was (Athens, Santorini and Naxos).

There is a super neat hike along the caldera in Santorini - you can go from Fira to Oia - maybe if you head off early it would not be too hot. The first part of the hike has some restaurants where you could stop for a break. Also you can just do part of it, stopping at Immoglia (something like that) if it is getting too warm.

I think Naxos is easy (short ferry ride) to get to from Santorini and would make a great contrast. Larger island, plenty of visitors but much less of the tourist mob than Santorini. Nice to drive around and I think they also have organized hikes inland. Enjoy!

suec1, is this Imerovigli? ; )
odie, in case you are not aware of this website http://www.cycladen.be/ have a look. I believe it belongs to a Belgian guy who is devoted on hiking on the Cyclades and features many routes and useful information.

Personally I agree with bll and lean mostly on your 2nd and 3rd option. Actually, I would try to combine them by picking maybe Paros or Naxos, Athens and Delphi or maybe Paros, Nafplio and Athens. So you will have a taste of Athens and both some islands and sone mainland.
All destinations fit your interests I believe, you just have to have your eyes open and not fall into stereotypes. For example some people visiting Delphi say "Oh, all shops here sell same tourist tat" . This is not true if you have an eye to appreciate things. A badly made in China plastic fridge magnet, it is not the same as some excellent Byzantine style jewellery or a good hand made copy of a museum statuette or vase. There is even a guy designing and painting his own replica vases here and a guy making his own chess board too. So there is artisan shopping if you look for it even in a town that most people consider extremely touristed. There is the ancient path that pilgrims used to reach Delphi from the sea side that merges in parts with ther E4 European train, which then continues upwards to Parnassos mountain. So there is hikling too.


Although I am slightly more fond of Naxos, I feel that if you decide to visit only one island for 3-4 nights, Paros suits better. Why? Because Paros is a tad bit smaller and has flatter terrain. Most attractions are on the coast line and it is easy to drive or bus it all around the island. Not many archeological sites etc to see, but the few there are there are good. Do not forget to check the small archeological museum in Parikia that hosts finds from Paros and surrounding islets. The main inland attraction which is Lefkes village is easily accesible too. On a limited stay, rather than having to pick among tons of hikes, you may chose the obvious one, the Vyzantine path starting from Lefkes, ending on Prodromos/Marpissa and if you wish hike further to Piso Livadi. Somehow Paros is a more in your face island and I mean this on a goood way. The trip to Delos is 45 minutes sorter departing from Paros rather than Naxos and let's not forget one can fit Antiparos easily on a Paros visit too.
Naxos is an island that requires time to decipher what this is all about on my opinion. There are tons of hikes, tons of inland villages to explore, ancient ruins, Byzantine churches, Venetian weatchtowers, a small but very interesting archeological museum and a more diverse terrain and longer driving times involved. I am sure you will love it if you visit, but I feel you will not make it justice in 3 nights/2 full days, the same way you will not make justice to Paros if you visit only for 2 nights/1 full day.

I feel that poor old good Athens deserves some more effort too. Other that the obvious attractions, try to fit in some less usual visits, for example the Lalaounis jewellery museum/shop or a visit to Athinas street or the Benaki museums. There is walking/hiking in Athens too, Lycabettus and Philoppapou hills, Dionisiou Areopagitou street and so on. The same to Delphi applies here. I know a shop in D. Areopagitou that has maybe the best museum replicas in Greece. Of course majority of naive visitors think the guy tries to rip them off because they can not appreciate a real piece of art to a rubbish souvenir, but the people who have some education and eye on this things head nowhere else.

Nafplion is a good destination to relax towards the end of your trip, I mean not on a beach but people watch and enjoying the ambiance and scenery, as far as you plan your stay there carefully. There are so many very important surrounding archeological sites that people tend to not allow time for Nafplio itsself. The truth is you will find many eating options and artisan shops and nice landscape and town architecture, so you may want to take it somehow more easily and allow at very least 3 nights/2 full nights there. In case you are not aware of this website http://visitnafplio.com/visitnafplio.com/Home.html have a look and get inspired.

Fantastic info as usual Mariha!
I would also lean towards options 2 & 3, but taking some things into consideration.
Option 2 you want to visit Delos & you say you don't like the heat without some escape. There is virtually no escape on Delos, a huge open site, the only respite being the cafe or museum. If you do go for this option stay all the days on either Paros or Naxos to give more chance of the Delos trip, it does not run every day.
There are one day trips to some of the smaller Cyclades islands as well.
With the 3rd option I suggest you arrive in Delphi evening of the 27th & get a full day there on the 28th (you will need it!), again travel to arrive in Athens on the evening of the 28th if you have to fit Delphi in. Personally with the time you have I think it would be fully occupied if you just did Nafplio & Athens, there are so many sites to see around Nafplio, & of course, the town & castle itself.

mariah and Yiassas-Thank you both for your input and opinions concerning my original dilemma. I appreciate your thoughts.
Mariha, you have given me some very good advice. I will look more into Paros. I prefer not moving twice so if I changed option #2 to:
June 24-28-Naxos with one day being a day trip to Delos
June 29 & 30-Athens
would you still say we should stay in Paros instead of Naxos? We love getting out and exploring and driving around places.

I think it would be too much to do Santorini, Paros/Naxos, Nafplio and Athens altogether.

The Delos tour boats that go from Naxos are the same ones that go from Paros. The only difference is: if you leave from Naxos you will be on the boat while it goes to Paros to pick up passengers from there, and then to drop them off again at the end of the trip. The net result is that you will spend an hour and a half more on the boat if you leave from Naxos.

That aside I agree, with the short time you have available, you should choose either Naxos or Paros but not both. I prefer Paros (or more specifically Antiparos), but many others like Naxos better — the choice is yours.

Athens is one city i have never really loved so i would spend minimal time there and go for the Islands. While i loved Crete, agree that timewise it would make sense to go to Naxos and/or Paros. of the 2, I preferred Naxos.

yestravel- I know we travel very much alike. I remember reading your Patagonia trip over and over again and thinking...that's the way to do it. I am definitely listening to you. I was thinking Naxos might be the better fit of the two for us, with a good mix of all things we have interest in. I am narrowing it down. Thank you!

We traveled all over Greece in about 10 days and had a wonderful time.

We arrived in Athens but you will be arriving in Santorini. I would then take a flight back to the Peloponnese to the city of Nafplio if possible. I'd rent a car and then drive to Mt. Olympus then drive up to Delphi (on the mainland of Greece) and over to Athens. This is a circle route and you'd get to see the island life (Santorini) the Peloponnese (where you'd see many Ancient Greek sites and the city of Athens (you only need about two days to see the famous ruins - the Acropolis, the Agora, etc). If you want to spend more time in Santorini or Athens or Nafplio I would skip Delphi and Mt. Olympus.

nanabee Maybe you mix Mt Olympus with Olympia???
There is no airport in Nafplio, nearest is the Athens one.

and for you and others, I know it is possibly just an exaggeration while posting on a forum, but I am somehow disappointed when people think they traveled "all of Greece in about 10 days" just because they rushed through some Peloponnese sites and Delphi plus one island or two. And then think Athens is only about the Acropolis and the surrounding sites.

I respectfully disagree with yestravel on Athens but each to their own I guess.

odie , if you make your island tome frame for Paros/Naxos 5 nights/4 full days you can make more justice on either that spending only 1 or 2 days, but if one of those 4 days is a side trip to Delos, you still have only 3 days for the island itself in reality. I am no way saying that 3 days on Naxos are a bad idea, but I believe you can get a better overview of Paros on said timeframe while on Naxos there will be soooo much left out.