We plan to spend some time driving the mainland of Greece and also want island time. We will visit Santorini for sure and other islands as well. Are there any islands that we should do as a day trip from Santorini?

Santorini is far from tne other major Cycladic islands. It is easy to ferry between Mykonos, Paros and Naxos. You could visit some of these and then take a longer ferry to Santorini, fly back to Arhens.

I assume I can fly between Mykonos and Santorini. Then would be able to go to Paros or Naxos as a day trip(I'd probably oly choose one) or is it best to go and spend a night or two. The other island i was considering is Rhodes, how does this fit in?

You can fly between Mykonos and Santorini via Athens, but there are no direct flights. They are only about 2 hrs apart by highspeed ferry, so it's actually quicker than a flight when you include check-in and layover time at the airports.

Santorini is poorly situated for day trips to other islands, and the cost of travelling by highspeed ferry is high. For example, to spend about 4 hrs on Ios, the nearest island to Santorini, would cost 62 euros per person round trip on Highspeed 7 just for the ferry tickets.

More sensible would be to move on to the next island on the way back to Athens. Naxos and Paros are both on the Santorini > Piraeus (Athens) main ferry route. They are also midway on the highspeed ferry routes between Santorini and Mykonos, so you could stop at either between the two, assuming you have enough time for three islands.

You assume wrong; there are almost no flight schedules between islands. It would help if you told us what you mean by "island time" -- 4 days? 14 days? It matters.

"a night" is not worthwhile, only get to see the port, have a meal, leave. That's what the cruise ships do, only they don't even get a night, just 4-5 daytime hours -- and passengers all so often say they were misled, and barely get to see/do anything.

If you have 1 week, fly to Santorini for 3 days, then take a ferry (2 hrs) to Naxos or 1 more hour to Paros (either of them has lovely sandy beaches, which Santorini does Not). You can fly or ferry back to mainland depending on your schedule crunch.

The only day trip from Mykonos is the one to the sacred Isle of Delos & it does not sound as if antiquity is your thing. There is NO day trip to other islands If you make your 2nd island Naxos or Paros, they DO have two dedicated excursion vessels that make day trips to Mykonos ... but of course, don't stay for the nightlife. You do not tell us WHEN your trip is, so there may or may not be a lot of clubbing going on at the time you'll be there anyway.

If you want Rhodes, and time it right, there's a midnight ferry 2x a week; you sleep as you sail, wake up in Rhodes Harbor. Old Town will require 2+ days to see, yu can bus to Lindos, and/or do car rental to explore the whole island. With time crunch either fly back or do overnight ferry.

Our trip will start May 6th and we do love antiquity so a combination of scenery, history etc is ideal. We will do much of the history on the mainland. The island portion could be 7 - 10 days.thanks

You can do a day trip by convention ferry from Naxos to Paros. As I recall the Blue Star departs Naxos around 9am and returns around 11PM so that gives you lots of time to visit Paros.

The day excursion boats take you to Delos one of the most important ancient sites in Greece. Then it goes on to Mykonos for a few hours. This gives you the opportunity to experience Mykonos without having to pay Mykons prices.

Correction you will probably stop at a taverna to enjoy the waterfront. Two drinks and a bowl of chips costs about the same as a full dinner on Naxos.
Day trip Delos and Mykonos http://www.flickr.com/photos/stanbr5...7637922138466/