Planning stages for Greece trip, and could use some help
Jul 25th, 2012, 11:27 AM
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Planning stages for Greece trip, and could use some help
This is basically a continuation of my thread “Planning stages for Turkey/Greece trip, and could use some help”, posted in the Turkey forum, because most of my questions concerned the Turkish part of my trip, and I didn’t know how to specify two tags for a thread. As our itinerary evolved, we found that we had additional questions concerning the Greek island part of our trip, hence this posting.
We're planning to go from Bodrum (Turkey) to Kos via ferry, then move on to Patmos, Samos, Chios, and Syros, in that order (staying at each as long as holds our interest) before arriving in Athens. The problem is that we can't find an easy way to get to Syros from Chios. It appears that all the islands we want to see except Syros are in the Dodecanese or northeastern Aegean (with fairly easy ferry access between them), but Syros is in the Cyclades, and not readily accessible from Chios. We would like to avoid a day-long ferry ride, if possible, and would consider a stopover on Mykonos on the way, if necessary (although we've already been there and would prefer to avoid re-visiting places). The problem we're having is that ferry schedules aren't posted yet for the May 2013 time period, and I'm also having trouble finding flights that don't go through Athens.
We would consider changing the order that we see the islands prior to arriving in Syros if it would facilitate transportation, but without proper ferry and flight schedules, we're having a tough time with the logistics.
Any advice (including where to get ferry schedules for the May 2013 time period) would be greatly appreciated.
We're planning to go from Bodrum (Turkey) to Kos via ferry, then move on to Patmos, Samos, Chios, and Syros, in that order (staying at each as long as holds our interest) before arriving in Athens. The problem is that we can't find an easy way to get to Syros from Chios. It appears that all the islands we want to see except Syros are in the Dodecanese or northeastern Aegean (with fairly easy ferry access between them), but Syros is in the Cyclades, and not readily accessible from Chios. We would like to avoid a day-long ferry ride, if possible, and would consider a stopover on Mykonos on the way, if necessary (although we've already been there and would prefer to avoid re-visiting places). The problem we're having is that ferry schedules aren't posted yet for the May 2013 time period, and I'm also having trouble finding flights that don't go through Athens.
We would consider changing the order that we see the islands prior to arriving in Syros if it would facilitate transportation, but without proper ferry and flight schedules, we're having a tough time with the logistics.
Any advice (including where to get ferry schedules for the May 2013 time period) would be greatly appreciated.
Jul 25th, 2012, 12:06 PM
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Don't bother looking for flights between Chios and Syros that <i>don't go through Athens</i> because there aren't any. That's not necessarily a bad thing, though, because no flight between Athens and the islands takes more than an hour, so if you can find connecting flights with a short layover time, that will be the quickest way to get between Chiios and Syros. All flights to/from Chios and Syros are by Olympic Air.
Ferries from Lesvos/Chios go on to Piraeus without a stop in the Cyclades. If you do want to travel from the NE Aegean to Syros without going through Athens, there are ferries from Samos that stop at Syros.
Ferries from Lesvos/Chios go on to Piraeus without a stop in the Cyclades. If you do want to travel from the NE Aegean to Syros without going through Athens, there are ferries from Samos that stop at Syros.
Jul 25th, 2012, 01:46 PM
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Indeed, if Les would reverse the itinerary to Chios first, then Samos and Patmos, there would be more ferry options direct to Syros.
Ferries from Piraeus to the NE Aegean and Dodecanese take most of a day for the round trip. Departure times depend on where you are in the route, so some won't be at convenient times. ;-)
Ferries from Piraeus to the NE Aegean and Dodecanese take most of a day for the round trip. Departure times depend on where you are in the route, so some won't be at convenient times. ;-)
Jul 27th, 2012, 02:35 PM
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Trish and Heimdall, thank you for your replies. Sorry I took so long to respond, but I was exploring the options that you mentioned.
I looked at flights to Syros (not for my time period, because they don't appear to be posted yet, but to get some idea of cost and schedule). The prices seem particularly high (north of $500 for two of us). I reckon that money could be better spent on Mykonos to break up a ferry trip from Samos to Syros. I hate to backtrack or revisit places I've already seen, but in the case of Mykonos, it won't take much arm twisting.
In any case, looks like we'll just go without a firm schedule, and work our way through the islands so that we arrive in Athens on a specific date. We're planning to overnight in Athens and then rent a car and head for northern Greece. It's the car rental and hotel reservations that necessitates knowing our arrival date in Athens. I figure we'll take about 2 weeks to get from Kos to Athens, allocating the time on each island according to how much we like it.
Thanks again for your input.
I looked at flights to Syros (not for my time period, because they don't appear to be posted yet, but to get some idea of cost and schedule). The prices seem particularly high (north of $500 for two of us). I reckon that money could be better spent on Mykonos to break up a ferry trip from Samos to Syros. I hate to backtrack or revisit places I've already seen, but in the case of Mykonos, it won't take much arm twisting.
In any case, looks like we'll just go without a firm schedule, and work our way through the islands so that we arrive in Athens on a specific date. We're planning to overnight in Athens and then rent a car and head for northern Greece. It's the car rental and hotel reservations that necessitates knowing our arrival date in Athens. I figure we'll take about 2 weeks to get from Kos to Athens, allocating the time on each island according to how much we like it.
Thanks again for your input.
