North Aegean islands
 

We're honeymooning in Greece in May and are planning on staying on the north Egean islands. Samos particularly, with a day trip to Turkey. We'd like to stay on another island as well. Any suggestions? What about cottage rentals on Samos? Has anyone had any experiences? Thanks!

I visited Lesvos last year and would certainly recommend it.

I believe it's the largest of the northern islands so it has plenty to offer, and is mostly very scenic.

You really need a car to see the best of the island.

Steve

May is a wonderful time to go to the northern Aegean. Particularly if you are going at the first of the month you will be amazed by the beauty of the land and the wildflowers. As Steve says, Lesbos is nice, with lots to do, and we always enjoy ourselves there. I personally prefer Chios to Lesbos as it is much more charming, plus Chios has some great agrotourism places to stay. We stayed at Perleas Mansion, a renovated Genoan (I think) mansion inside a 4 acre garden -- really beautiful -- and really enjoyed ourselves. http://www.perleas.gr/services.htm
Limnos has a large military presence, and not a big tourist economy, so you probably wouldn't want to go there (although quirky as I am, it is my favorite of all the islands just because of its lack of intense tourism).

The combination Chios /Samos with a day tour to Turkey is the perfect one!Between chios and Samos there are daily boats and an Olympic flight twice a week.

In Chios go for the Perleas mansion.
In Samos one of the best choice is Arion Hotel,
www.arion-hotel.com,wich overlooks the picturesque village of Kokkari and 2 of the best beaches of the island .When booking a bungalow you will feel like living in a private cottage.

Thank you for all your help! We've had problems finding reliable info on the area and this forum has been invaluable.

Here's a website with some decent but very basic info:
http://agn.hol.gr/page.asp?target=ht....htm&sec=3

If you do go to Chios, be sure to take a trip to the village of Pirgi. The building decorations are gorgeous and very unusual. Here's some photos, although in person it more dramatic.
http://travelsnapz.tripod.com/greecepirgiphotos.html
On Chios, when the tomatoes are ripe in the summer, they are braided together in long strings and hung in the sun to dry for the most amazing tasting sun-dried tomatoes. Not as dry as those available in the US, and much tastier. The bright red tomatoes hanging against the black and white buildings of Pirgi are truly a stunning sight.
Here are some more pretty pictures of Chios: http://plakastudios.kat.gr/photo.html
http://public.fotki.com/jodi/chios/
http://www.fenmore.com/URIT/index2.html