We are meeting our daughter and son-in-law in Athens on the 24th of March. (4 people) We have till the evening of the 30th to visit places before I have to attend a conference in Athens till the 3rd of April. I thought we could see Athens from the 30th till the 3rd so I was looking for ideas about the islands or other suggestions.

I have very little knowledge about the country, going because of the conference so any and all suggestions for a schedule would be helpful. Do we need a car, language problems?, rooms for 4 people, etc.

Sounds like you have two months to find out something about the country. And can't your daughter tell you something about it?

What a wonderful challenge.

A guide book from the library might help.

Then when you have some idea come back here.

Daughter is coming from US, we are coming from Qatar. Meeting in the middle, I will find out something about the country but I would rather take advice from real people as a guidebook. They are OK but people that have local knowledge have been the best help in our traveling to new countries.

Thanks fuzzylogic for the helpful advice, now I can make a decision about an island or the mainland.

There are some islands close to Athens you can easily visit by ferry, Spetses, Aegina and Hydra. Frequent daily ferries travel to them and the ride is short. Wait until you're there to make sure the weather will be pleasant enough. You don't need to make advance reservations if you want to stay on an island in March, but you will need to determine which hotels will be open then as it is before the annual "season" gets under way and most island businesses for tourists will be closed then.

On the mainland, Delphi appealed to me the most.

A one or two day trip to Naphlion would be a good option. Naphlion is in the Peloponese on the mainland about two hours from Athens. The archetecture is neoclassical and it is very pretty. it has three Venetian fortresses all still in good shape and is not far from Ancient Corinth, Ancient Nemia, Micaene and Ancient Teirns.

I have pictures of Naphlion at:
http://travel.webshots.com/album/551991579dJbWvh

We have decided to tour the mainland, from the noon on the 24th till returning to Athens on 30th. Driving distances, etc are a question. Where should we book the 1st night and do we need to make reservations for the traveling around Greece or wing it? Ideas for mainland sites, places to stay for a couple of days and make day trips?

Thanks

I would suggest looking into either the Peloponnese and/or Meteora. We ended up going to Meteora one year because of a boat strike messing up our plans for a few days on getting to the islands. It seems like it was about a 4 hour drive???? Meteora was incredible! Definitely worth a visit.