We will be travelling to Greece in the middle of May. After 2 days in Athens we are planning to visit Santorini and one other island to be determined. We would like some suggestions of a place different from Santorini, perhaps off the beaten path with a local feel. Our preference would be to fly there but a short boat ride combined with a flight would be fine also. Any ideas?

I gather you have a seasickness concern; it may relieve you to know that May & JUne are about the calmest months for seas in The Aegean.

There are very few flights from island to island.... and any island you could fly to would NOT be "off the beaten path with a local feel." Think about it; there would only be air connection if there were well-developed tourism.

You can Fly to Rhodes and then fly back to Athens. Rhodes has large cruise ships coming in every day however.

You could take a ferry to Milos and fly back to Athens (but the ferry is not daily & is at least 3.5 hrs).

Your best bet might be Naxos or Paros; they are not "off the beaten path" but are not nearly as touristy as Santorini and you can find rooms on a quiet beach or hill. You can get to Paros on a fast-ferry in under 2 hours, just a bit more for Naxos.
Naxos has just one flight per day to Athens, but Paros has about 3.

Naxos would be a good choice. The old town is an old Venetian fortress with many winding and maze like streets. There are several swimming options--the beach or bay. A bus leaves from the port to take you to the beach of your choice. We also found good restaurants and good shopping.

I've been to Paros twice in the last 3 years. I enjoyed the island and like the fact that I could also go across to Antiparos for a day or two by fast local ferry.

Folegandros is gorgeous! Very different from Santorini, far less touristed, but only a short ferry ride away. You can see our photos of Santorini and Folegandros here:
http://homepage.mac.com/lisaandmarkt...toAlbum20.html
and here:
http://homepage.mac.com/lisaandmarkt...toAlbum22.html

Karpathos. It's off the beaten track. It's close by. You can fly there from Santorini, or take a ferry from Rhodes or Crete. It meets all your needs, in fact.

Karpathos is nowhere near to Santorini, it's in a completely different island group. Getting there would mean a 12-hour long ferry ride departing from Santorini at 3:10 AM (twice weekly only), or going back to Athens for a connecting flight.

Just returned from our first trip to Greece: arrived Athens, flew Aegean Airlines to Crete for 6 nights, Flying Cat 4 ferry to Santorini (less than 2 hours), flew back to Athens for 2 nights. Depending on how much time you have to spend, Crete is very different from Santorini - mountainous, olive trees everywhere, diverse, beaches, ruins, etc. Our travel between destinations was smooth and on schedule. I think jan may have jumped to a conclusion about seasickness, but just in case, the catamaran ferry was large and we didn't even feel like we were on a boat!

brotherlee, I didn't suggest they were in the same island group, but Karpathos is a damn sight closer to Santorini than many other places, and there are two direct flights a week

Sheila, please provide the source of your information. There are very few ferry routes that take more than 12 hours in the Aegean Sea, and as far as I can tell there are no direct flights between Santorini and Karpathos. If you have information to the contrary it would be very useful to know what you know. All flights to Karpathos appear to originate in Athens or Rhodes, and to get to Rhodes from Santorini by air means a flight back to Athens if you choose Aegean or Olympic Airlines. Sky Express does fly directly from Santorini to Rhodes, but not directly to Karpathos.

Thank you so much for the suggestions. We will explore Paros and Naxos chosing one.Hopefully many more trips to Greece will follow this one so we can explore some of the other islands.

Crete. Fabulous in May. You should be able to get there from Santorini by Ferry (I did it myself some years back). It's a very big island, but there is so much to see and do and there are some fabulous little out of the way places like Paleohora. Only VERY determined tourists get that far south! Do the Samaria gorge if it's open.

Roger

http://www.fermedecandeloup.fr