Shveta

Hi everyone

My husband and I (in our late 30s) are planning a 10 days trip to Greece around 20th of April. My rough itinerary is as follows:

Day 1 & 2 - Athens
Day 3,4 and 5 - Paros
Day 6 & 7 - Santorini
Day 8 & 9 - Nafplio

I am also thinking of spending 3 nights in Rome afterwards.

Our interests are mainly in enjoying the nature and we are not much into nightlife (with the exception of a couple of days).

We generally visit a country only once so wish to cover the best the country has to offer in the time frame. So we can travel at a decently fast pace.

Given the above, I have a few questions:

1. Is April end a good time to visit Greece?
2. Views on the itinerary with the intent of covering the best places in Greece without wasting too much time on travel.
3. Is it feasible to go to Rome after doing Greece for 3 nights and fly out from there to home (Delhi, India)?
4. Best ways to travel from one place to another
5. Suggestions for accommodations

Your inputs would be most helpful in making the trip possible.

Thanks in advance

Shveta

neckervd

April 8th is Easter Sunday in Greece. Book everything ahead if you plan to travel in this period.

The weather in April is rather unpredictable.

"We generally visit a country only once so wish to cover the best the country has to offer in the time frame"

No need that to tell you that Greece has much more to offer than only Athens, Nafplio and 2 Islands. You can never visit all gems in your time frame. 2 days in Athens, 1 1/2 days at Nafplio, 2 1/2 days at Paros and 1 1/2 day at Santorini doesn't look too bad, however.

Kathie

You ask "Is it feasible to go to Rome after doing Greece for 3 nights and fly out from there to home (Delhi, India)?"

Only if you add days to this trip. You are already making this a busy trip with lots of transport time. Don't add another country.

kja

Are you sure that you can see and experience what you want with this plan in this time frame? This plan sounds unpleasantly ambitious to me – too much time in transit for far too little time to actually see or do anything while in any of these fascinating places. If you haven’t already done so, I strongly recommend that you plot your trip – and the places you hope to visit – on a calendar.

You might find some useful information in my recent trip report:
https://www.fodors.com/community/eur...-in-greece.cfm

Shveta

Thanks everyone! So if I leave out Italy and concentrate only on Greece, that leaves me with around 12 full days in Greece. How best should I distribute these days to cover the maximum gems without wasting too much time on travel?

Kja will go through your trip report for sure and will come back with more questions.

Thanks again

Shveta

neckervd, I remember getting a lot of inputs from you while planning my Swiss trip in 2015. The suggestions you made helped me in planning a totally different and much more memorable trip than the travel agents were trying to sell.

Thanks again and look forward to your guidance again.

neckervd

Gems of Greece:

Athens with several ancient temples and theatres, 3 museums with antique stuff and 2 with medieval stuff (plus many others);
Cape Sounion (local bus from Athens) with a antique Poseidon Temple and a nice sandy beach;
Dafni Monastery in the outskirts of Athens;
Myceae, Nafplio, Epydavros;
Mystras (close to Sparta): abandoned medieval city;
Ossios Lucas (en route to Delphi): medieval monastery;
Delphi;
Olympia;
Meteora (medieval monasteries on high rocks);
Delos Island: antique pilgrimage place;
Crete Island: tons of antique and medieval places, like Knossos, Phaistos, Malia, Kato Zakros, resp. Rethymno, Chania, Aya Triada...; fine beaches all around the Island;
Rhodos Island: antique temple at Lindos, medieval walled city at Rhodos, many beaches, good hiking;
Santorini Island: famous for it's position at the edge of a caldera of a ancient vulcano, actually full of seawater;
Astypalea Island: extremely scenic main village (cycladic stile);
Symi Island: extremely scenic main village (Eastern Aegean stile);
etc. etcv......

cherie2125

I would drop Rome and save it for another trip. You could add a day to Santorini and Naplion.
Don't forget that travel between the islands takes time. Also are you flying to Naxos and back from Santorini because the ferry rides are several hours.
Naplion is a good base for the Peloponnese and the poster above listed a number of attractions. Naplion is worth 3-4 days if you want to go to Mycenae, Epidaurus, etc. The town is lovely but book ahead because if is popular with Athenians on the weekends.

Shveta

Thanks everyone and sorry for the late reply. I have had to re think my travel plan due to some official project coming up during that time. Will come back later once my plan gets finalised.

Thanks again!

HappyTrvlr

I would add the extra time to Naplion. It is a lovely waterfront small city with incredible antiquites surrounding it.

tzl2j8

Kia where are you- need your help with my upcoming Greece trip

kja

If you mean me, I'm around. Start a thread on your upcoming trip, and I'll comment if I have any advice to offer, and I'm sure our experts on Greece will chime in, too.