What Island for a visit near Rhodes?
 

What island near Rhodes would you recommend for a three night visit?

Symi

Symi looks boring. What is there to do on Symi? We hate to be bored.

Do you take the hydrofoil from Rhodes to Symi?

What about Chios? Chios doesn't look boring.

Symi is in fact quite beautiful. If you're into snorkling, this is the place to be. It's also good if you're into hiking as there are MANY great trails all over the island. There's also quite a bit of historical sites in Symi. It's definitely a spiritual experience that you won't regret.

Have done it, I would NOT recommend taking the hydrofoil. Sure it's fast (unless it's rough, in which case it's actually quite slow), but you had better be good at NOT getting sea sick. Definitely go with one of the more stable catamarans.

Boring. Hmm. That's a hard one to analyze because everyone's tastes are so different. How do you like to spend your time on vacation? We found Symi to be wonderful. The things that stand out as memorable are the good food, great beaches and snorkling, pleasant people, and and island that is much more relaxed and low key than those more within the tourist mainstream.

Chios is one of my very favorite islands in Greece. There has been a lot of money in Chios for a long period of time, so the architecture tends to be interesting and varied, again with good food, good swimming and snorkling, pleasant people, etc. Can you guess how I like to spend my time on vacation??

As for getting to Symi, we must have strong stomachs, because we took the hydrofoil and it didn't bother either one of us. It only took us about an hour to get to Symi.

Well, we can nix Symi because all the hotels are booked for July.

Planning this trip is starting to get on my nerves. No wonder people take package tours.

Thin

Would you consider Turkey? There's a twice-weekly boat to Bodrum and/or you can take the hydrofoil to Marmaris, ( twice daily in the summer), then the Bodrum Express ( combination bus and boat, about two hours in all) to Bodrum.

Weedles, I have been to Turkey. My mother, who is also going along on this trip, has been to Turkey TWICE. Bodrum looks nice, and believe me, when we were in Istanbul in July, 2005, we read about all the antics in Bodrum in the local newspapers. It looks like a fun place, but we really don't want "beach resort." We were looking for history, architecture, art, etc.

Chios looks like it would be very interesting.

Have you been to Crete? It's an easy flight from Rhodes, and has everything that you're looking for.

Originally, we were going to Crete, the big draw being the Iraklion Museum, but that is now closed. We were thinking about 3 nights in Chania, but we don't know which hotel to stay at.

What is there to do around Chania for 2 1/2 days? We are not hikers, so the Samaria Gorge is out of the question--plus it will probably be 100F in July.

We would go to Chania if there were things to do.

We hate to be bored. We are not sitters. I don't think I have ever seen my husband sit still for more than 5 minutes.

GO GO GO! I am a former New York City resident.

marginal,

Two and a half days in Chania is nothing! And believe me, I'm a former NYC resident, too,(nearly 18 years) so I don't like to sit very much, either, although that doesn't mean we did the Samaria Gorge!

Anyway, we visited Chania last July for four days. There's a very interesting covered bazaar, as well as a tiny archaeological museum right by the harbor. The harbor itself never shuts down and offers boat trips to many of the outer islands, where, if you're lucky, you might see the elusive white goat of Crete. ( I still haven't decided if the captain was playing with us, but what the heck...) Of course, there's lots of shopping, everything from rugs to tourist souvenirs to jewelry, and plenty of restaurants, some of which are built out of the ruins of buildings bombed during World War 11.

Sidetrips from Chania might include a trip to Rethymnon, which is about an hour away. In Rethymon you can visit a Venetian fortress that was built in 1573, and an archaeological/folklore museum.

There are also some excellent beaches not too far from Chania, but since we are slugs and were content walking through the Turkish quarter in Chania's old town, we used up our last day and never got there!

We stayed at Palazzo di Pietro, a converted townhouse that dates from the Venetian era. It is still run by descendants of that family, and has been lovingly restored. We had a beautiful two-room suite with tiny kitchen for just under $300/ night, and it was only a few blocks away from the harbor. I'd highly recommend it!

Anyway, hope you have as good a time as we did. We'd love to go back again.

Sidetrips from Chania might include a bus to

Oh, I have been on buses to NOWHERE before, weadles, especially after a case of gin.

We are pretty positive we will be going to Chania, staying and the Best Western Venizia blah, blah, blah hotel. It has rooms with balconies overlooking the harbour. And since it is a Best Western, I can book at the Best Western website. NO GREEK TOURIST AGENCIES. :)

Yeah, watch out for those buses to nowhere!

Anyway, it's not that hard to book directly with hotels in Greece. The only nuisance I've found is that sometimes the smaller hotels request a wire transfer to their bank.

Have a great time in Chania!