My wife and I will be travelling in Greece in early October. We have settled on 3 spots: Athens, Santorini and Rhodes (we are flying into Athens and out of Rhodes).
We wanted to spend 3 days in Santorini and 6 in Rhodes. But from what we understand of the ferry schedule between Santorini and Rhodes, we will only have 2 options:

A)
2 days in Athens
2 days in Santorini
7 days in Rhodes

or

B)
2 days in Athens
5 days in Santorini
4 days in Rhodes

Are there any strong arguments to choose one option over the other?

I would choose Plan B. Two day stays barely give you time to see anything, and a week in Rhodes is probably too long.

How about 4 days in Santorini and 5 in Rhodes. Go to ramblingsfromrodes.com for a fun read about Rhodes. From Rhodes you can take a day trip to Symi. Try symivisitor.com. It might be quiet that time of year, but still charming.

I guess it depends on one's traveling style and what he/she plans to see and do on each island, but I never get why people plan so much time on tiny Santorini, especially cutting out time from way larger and more diverse destinations such as Rhodes... Rhodes has tons of things to see and do and obviously is huge compared to Santorini.

Santorini: 90.69 km2 (35 sq mi)

Rhodes: 1,407.9 km2 (544 sq mi)


Personaly I would go gor A any time.

Thanks for the replies. Our first plan was to spend closer to a week on Rhodes (the bigger island) and make a day trip to Symi. Unless we fly instead of ferrying between locations, A and B are our only options so the 4/5 split suggested by yipper is not possible.

If we stick with A (which is likely), our original plan A1) was to take a 7:25 am Ferry from Piraeus to Santorini (arriving at 14:50). My wife is concerned that given our jet lag (coming from Canada), we should opt for a later Ferry or a flight. The other options are a A2) 6 pm Ferry arriving in Santorini after midnight (which effectively swaps the 3rd day in Santorini for a 3rd day in Athens) or A3) to fly from Athens at 4pm arriving in Santorini at 5pm which seems considerably more expensive (350 Euros) and makes me feel like although faster might make for a less relaxing day. Is the daytime Ferry any more (or less) enjoyable than the evening Ferry? If cost were not an issue is flying preferable to the Ferry?

Can we play it by ear? Just choose A1, A2 or A3 based on how we feel after we arrive? (or do we need to reserve). Any strong reasons to choose any of those options?

Thanks again for your input. We know that all the options are good and that these are minor details, but it is nice to be able to get your advice.

"If cost is not an issue is flying preferable to the ferry?" YES! I don't find the ferries that comfortable or romantic, especially when jet lagged. If you decide to fly, try to book ASAP as flights to the islands fill up fast.

Look into flights from Santorini to Rhodes-Olympic Air may have some deals. That way you can divide your time into 3 days/4 nights Athens, 3 days/4 nights Santorini , and 5 days/6 nights Rhodes. If you can arrange things to have that amount of full days for each then IMO that should be a good trip. You can have the ferry experience from Athens to Santorini if you want. Or if that's not why you're doing the ferry consider a flight from Athens to Santorini also. The ferry will take longer but we did the ferry from Mykonons to Santorini and I enjoyed it.

From Rhodes you may even be able to take a trip over to Turkey if you want. http://www.turkeytravelplanner.com/t...ndFerries.html
We had 3 nights in Rhodes and could have had more as there is lots to see/do there. We rented a car and spent one day at Lindos. The other day we spent in Old Town. Two full days didn't even touch on all the other things of interest on Rhodes.

Hmmm, if your first stop is Athens, then jet lag will be an issue mostly on this spot? In that case I might go for A2 because you will need time to adapt new time zone and explore a tad bit of Athens (?)

I feel a flight is a wise choice depending on specifics. For example arriving in Athens airport and then plan a latter departure straight away for an island.

If been down town in Athens, having to go back to the airport, wait there etc is time consuming and kind of boring... Taking specifically about Santorini, it is a 6-8 hours ferry ride depanding on specifics, quite possibly departing from Piraeus port (20 minutes metro ride from Athens center). if say a midday flight arrives on the island not much latter than a morning ferry, I might go for the ferry...

There's a port area that's been mentioned here very close to the airport where the OP could get a nice leisurely lunch before heading back to the airport for the flight to Santorini. Maybe someone can remind me of the name? Not the Athens Riveria.

Rafina ?

Does anyone know the best website for the ferries between the islands?

www.gtp.gr
www.openseas.gr





Blue Star line
Hellenic Seaways line

Thanks again for all of your input. We likely won't decide until we are there. If we feel we want another day in Athens (or more sleep) we will take the evening ferry, if we want to get an extra evening in Santorini we will get ourselves up for the early ferry. Is there any problem just getting tickets at the port just before departure?

Early October, quite likely there will be no problem to get tickets last minute, especially at the larger ferries.