Skip Athens and Greece in '04?
 

Would like to take my wife on her dream trip to Greece about June of next year, but am afraid the Olympics will jack up prices horribly for the budget traveller. Also, am concerned that Olympic preparations and construction will interfere with getting around. My proposed itinerary would include Athens (just a couple of days), the Saronic Sea Islands, Santorini, and additional out islands to be determined. Any comments regarding going next year, or skipping '04 and going a year or two later?

I think your instincts about cost and construction are correct. We're thinking of going next October, hoping we'll get the benefit of the infrastructure improvements without the hassle.

just a gut feeling on my part (I have family in Greece, and have been there 9 times)...I'd stay very far away. Go in 2005. Abram has it right....get the benefit of the infrastructure improvements after the Olympics are over.

Or go to the other places mentioned and skip Athens..after all, you've already decided to skip what some feel are the most "important" sites such as Delphi, Olympia, and Naphlion, etc...you can't do it all and the islands, etc., are a treat in and of themselves.

Our extended family went to Greece in 1999 and promised to return in 5 years. When we realized that would be the Olympic year we decided to return in 6 years. All of us are saving are dollars for 2005. I personally think it is best to wait.

We recently returned from Athens, a place I first visited more than 50 years ago. More modern? Yes. More interesting? Hardly. Traffic, despite much development of roads and interchanges, is horrendous. The ancient Plaka area, a warren of twisting streets at the base of the Acropolis, is a set-up for terrorists and their bombs. Would you pay $23 per person for a buffet breakfast at your hotel? We had to. The price-gouging has already begun. My advice: save your money for Beijing in 2008.

i am taking a school group to Greece on april 5-15 and am very interested in hearing all this. please keep this thread going for awhile...we (the other teacher i planned this with) thought it might be good to go pre-olympics because of heightened security and all the sites spruced up! we can't back out now, but if someone has something specific we should know beforehand....please please let me know! our cost per student is just uner 1900usd from san diego so we thought the price sounded good as it also includes three days in italy...enlighten me..i am always wondering.....

I was in Athens and Crete this summer and some of the museums and sites were closed, either strikes or renovation. If you must go pay attention to open and closed dates and have backup plans in place. We found out the morning that we planned to see the archaelogical museum that it was closed that day. I heartily recommend the museum in Heraklion Crete for some of the frescoes and the Phaistos disc. A great small museum.

The Greek National Archaeological Museum in Athens will be closed for renovations in preparation for the Olympics until April, 2004.

This summer Mycennae was open (both the museum and the site) at ancient Olympia the site was open but not the museum.

I have been to Greece 4 times in the last 5 years and I have found Athens easier to get around in each time and the construction not to be a problem. I found travel down overall with this visit to Greece and I think many people will be avoiding it pre-olympics so I think it's probably a good time to go and you can always find good deals on food if you are willing ti look a little off the beaten path.

The response from USNR is totally unhelpful. Of course every major city anywhere in the world has changed in 50 years, get real!!!! There are many small old areas in cities that are enclosed such as the Plaka but if we all freaked out at the sort of comments you are making none of us would go anywhere.
Maybe RDFARR could start by emailing some accomodation places in the islands now to confirm prices for next year and then decide whether to go ahead and just do those. I would certainly be avoiding Athens in June in any year quite frankly. I don't like travelling in the middle of the holiday seasons.
I would consider Crete to be a definite stop, far enough away from Athens but still so much to experience of the Greek culture and history as well as beautiful beaches and hinterland.

June is a great time to travel thru Greece and the islands. Just for this year Athens is best avoided. The Saronic islands are too close to Athens really. Santorini is over hyped, an alternative volcanic island is Nissyros or Milos or Anafi.

I have been planning a three to four week trip to Greece, Italy, and Turkey in July 04. The Olympic games weren't even on my radar! We were planning one to two days in Athens and then a week around the Greek isles. Now I'm not sure. Will it really be that much of a hassle gettting around a month before the games? I'm now also concerned the city will be under so much construction, that I won't get a true picture of it. I would love to hear more comments.

There is no doubt that there will be hassles around all of the Olympic venues. It seems that 95% of all construction happens in the last month.
As a guess though, other areas of Greece will probably not be busy (tourist wise) but there will be some minimal construction almost everywhere. In most cases just "sprucing up" the tourist attractions. We were in Crete this past summer and we noticed a few preparations for an influx of tourists next year. Athens was a total construction zone, concrete dust everywhere. We were still able to see almost all that we wanted but we had to be extremely flexible with our itinerary as the hours of operation changed almost daily. Luckily our concierge had up to the moment information. As a guess, you will probably have a dream vacation outside of Athens in the months prior to the Olympics and will probably be disappointed in Athens.

Stay away in 2004.

Why go to Greece ...one of the most beautiful, magical, historical Countries in the world... when it is in such a state of construction and pre-Olympic chaos...you will have to be making sacrifices the entire trip and if its culture you are after.... just because they say the museums will reopen in April... doesn't mean they will... after all everything else is way behind scedule. It seems alot of these posts are trying to see the silver lining in what is not an ideal situation. If you don't have to go next year....don't.

Most posters make it sound like the ENTIRE country of Greece is in a state of chaos because of the Olympics. Surely there are places outside of Athens that will be relatively unaffected. At least I hope so! We are going to be in Nafplio in March. Are there Olympic preparations going on there?

We were in Athens a little over 8 weeks ago and just didn't see the amount of construction and disruption talked about in this thread. Perhaps we were lucky.

We did reap the benefits though of some of the improvements already made in the city.

All in all, if I had the chance next spring or summer to go back to Athens I'd do it in an instant.

Going to Greece in June 2004 shouldn't be any big hassle. Athens might be a little congested with last-minute work going on, but the rest of the country won't be a problem. The only possible difference might be the cost of accomodation. Checking in advance by email would be the way to find this out.

If I were you, or the concerned school teachers who joined in on this, I would ignore what everyone else says and go when you plan to go...I have never been on a holiday anywhere in the world where there hasn't been some kind of "hassle" or hold-up or whatever...I travelled this year right in the middle of SARS and THAT war after receiving numerous pieces of advice to cancel our trip...I'm so glad we didn't! We had the best time - no crowds and great deals to be had everywhere we went...whilst everyone else was staying at home, we reaped the benefits in Bangkok, London, Ireland and the US!

I made a reservation for a room in Athens in June 2004 and in Santorini and had no trouble getting a reservation. I would think July, August, Sept. are the months to avoid. In any case, I am going for it. I will let you know.