sunb

I am planning to spend 10 days in Greece this March with my wife and our two children. We will fly to Crete for 4 days, Santorini for 2 days, and spend the last 4 days in the Athens area. We are interested in seeing some ancient sites, natural scenery, and spend a few hours at the beach (even though we won't swim). I have rented a car for each of these locations. I am looking at Heraklion & Chania in Crete, and Delphi, Mycanae, Olympia, and Athens proper in the mainland. Could you please suggest places to visit, as well as cities to make as our home base? If this sounds too ambitious, please feel free to suggest optional itineraries. I am also looking for hotels that have family rooms.
Thanks.

WTnow

It sounds ambitious to me, but then we are very slooooow travelers, still there are times where we have packed a lot in within a shorter space of time when it was essential.

My experience is, if you want to do a lot in a short time, you have to be realistic and everything must be VERY well planned. ( This is also harder to do with children or a bigger group).

I am guessing that you are coming from Europe, not US? Because jet lag will need to be accounted for if you are coming from the U.S with this plan.

How old are the children and how well traveled? Thats a lot of hopping about, packing and unpacking, travel time etc....so their ages and how well you travel as a well oiled team will affect the plan.

We spent months in Greece and Turkey this past year ( and all the places you named) so perhaps our website ( blog archives under Greece) would be useful to you as it is family oriented & I list the places we stayed:

www.soultravelers3.com

Delphi, Mycanae and Olympia are great, but are in 3 different directions. Are you planning these all as daytrips from Athens?

Heimdall

Much as I love the Greek Islands, for March I would prefer to stay on the mainland. Ancient sites and natural scenery abound on the mainland. March is a month when the islands are still in their winter slumber, but the mainland is all go. Add Nafplion to your mix, and you will have the coastline as well.

Heimdall

BTW, getting from Crete to Santorini in March may involve going back to Athens.

sunb

Actually, we will be flying in from the U.S. to Athens in the morning, and then catch an Aegean Airlines flight to Heraklion the same day. That is why I thought it might be a good idea to stop at Heraklion for that night. I would try to limit my drive time to about 3 hours a day. The kids are used this. We will be flying from Heraklion to Santorini via Athens (again Aegean Airlines). I agree with WTnow that we need to be realistic about what is doable. That is why I need to decide what to see now, and what to leave for later trips. Regarding Delphi and Olympia, if I have to drop one site, which would be recommended?
Thanks for all your advice.