Santorini - Ferry vs. Flight?Hotel?
 

Hi: We are arriving in Athens at 2:30 a.m. on March 31 and are trying to decide whether to take the 7:30 a.m. ferry to Santorini and not bother getting a hotel or spending on the hotel for the night and flying to Santorini at around 6:00 p.m. Any suggestions?

Also any recommendations for reasonable (around 80E) accomodations in Santorini...preferably with a great view of the Caldera? We'll be there the nights of March 31 and April 1.

Thanks for you help!

We had a similar flight and stayed the night in Athens..WE then toured around Athens the next day and had a great time and took the flight to Santorini the next day...Depending where you are coming from, some sleep might do you good..
As for Hotels in Santorini, we stayed at the Volcano View Villas, I think they were around 80E and the view was great, I loved it..The rooms are nothing fancy but they are clean and a great breakfast..I could have stayed there forever!!!!

Sorry, I read your question wrong...We took the ferry to Santorini and flew back..But my answer is probably still the same...I think a little sleep couldn't hurt, but you can also sleep on the ferry...Were you going to take the high speed ferry or the slow one? We took the high speed and it got very rough near Santorini, in fact, I got sick!!

Considering that you have so little time between your arrival and either the ferry or first flight out of Athens, I suggest you stay at the airport and fly out but not bother with the hotel. The only hotel close to the airport is extremely expensive, even for a stay of less than 24 hours (Sofitel). And since you only have 2 nights to spend on Santorini, I don't think you want to spend most of the first day on a boat when you can fly there in 50 minutes.

In March/April you won't have any problem finding an inexpensive room with a view. I recommend you take a taxi from the Santorini airport to the most beautiful village of Oia and inquire there for a nice room with a view. You could try the Lauda Apartments, or the Anemones Hotel or one of numerous other places along the cliff with views of the caldera. There are just too many to mention.

Thanks for your responses.

Unfortunately the morning flight to Athens is already booked up so the only flight out is the 6 p.m. on March 31st.

If we decide on the Ferry, I believe our only option is the slow one at that time of year. It gets us to Santorini at around 2:00 p.m.

If we go the Ferry route...any idea what time they might let us on. We would definitely book a cabin.

Our flight itinerary isn't great. We leave Canada in the evening. Fly overnight to Prague, spend the day in Prague and leave there around 10:30 pm that night...arriving in Athens at 2:30am!!

I don't like long smokey European ferry rides, especially after long plane rides. The fast ferry is 5 hours and the slow, 8! The flight is a whopping 30 min and only like $40 more than the high speed ferry. Definitely take the plane. That's what we did. I prefer Aegean Airways over Olympic.

I don't have recommendations for a place to stay that fit what you want but I'm sure you can easily find something nice for the price. There are lots of great places for cheap in Greece!

Have a wonderful trip!

Samz-

If you go to this website for Aegean Airlines,

http://www.aegean-air.gr/aegeanen/home/index.asp

You might still find an early morning flight to Santorini. Olympic Air is not the only comapny that flies there from Athens.

The 07:30 ferry is the best way without question. You will see at least some other islands on the way. It will save hanging around for the flight and you will have plenty of time to look for accomodation on arrival. 80€ should be more than enough for accomodation at that time of year. They will probably let you on the ferry a couple of hours before departure.

Thank you all for your great advice. We are looking at flights through Aegean since I was able to book a hotel in athens for the night through my points.

Another question for you if you don't mind. Does anyone know anything about the Pension Delfini?

Also we are considering staying at the Neli Studios in Chania, Crete over the Easter Weekend. Has anyone heard about these establishments?

If you're talking about the Delfini I in Fira also known as the Pension Rousseas Delfini , it's on an extremely busy street with as much traffic noise as you could hope to avoid on the whole island. The good thing is that it's in the middle of Fira and close to everything in that town for walking.


If you're talking about the Delfini in Oia, it's got a great view of the caldera and is in the most beautiful village on the island.

Hi; It's the Delfini in Oia.

I've never stayed there, but I've walked past it at least a hundred times. It looks good from the outside and as I said before, it has a great view, in the heart of the village.

Definitely fly - Greek ferries are very unreliable. Especially during low season when you're going. It's not unheard of, for ferries to be canceled last minute. And considering they run once a day, you'd be stuck.

The ferries are more frequent than that 2/day or more so you are unlikely to be 'stuck' just check with the Piraeus port authority on:

http://egov.yen.gr/Folder.2003-07-23...03-07-23.3731/

The airlines/airports can also be subject to strikes and so on, so always have an alternate plan. You can always stay on a different island enroute anyway, the beauty of Greek island travel is not knowing exactly where you will be washed up....