alexsandrapappas

Please help! My husband and I are planning a trip to Greece. (This is a delayed honeymoon!). We want to go to The Panagyri festival in Arachava which is the end of July. The rest of the trip needs to be planned around this. We would like a mix of beaches and mountains. We enjoy good food and wine but are not big on clubbing (Mykanos night life would be too much for us). In my preliminary searches, it seems that Santorini, Naxos, Arachava and Meteroa would be a nice mix. Is this doable in 2 weeks? We would probably fly in and out of Athens and my husband wants to spend a minimum of a day there as well. Please help! There are so many places to go I’m getting overwhelmed. Also- going the end of July and beginning of August- will we die of heat?!

kja

It depends on what, exactly, you want to do, but IMO, yes, you have a do-able plan -- even if you add a few days to Athens (which I think would be well worth considering).

For historic climate data, check wunderground.com and/or timeanddate.com

If you haven't already seen it, you might find some useful information in my trip report:
With Gratitude for a Glorious Solo Month in Greece

Odin

Panagyri just means festival, is there a specific one for Arachova that does not take place in other areas of Greece? Many are religious and take place all over eg St Panteleimon, if so, you could enjoy the festival elsewhere and not be limited to being in Arachova. Athens deserves more than a day. If you are not concerned about historical sights and just want dramatic mountains and gorgeous beaches with not too much heat, consider Pelion (before or after Meteora) which is where many Greeks go on holiday and not so many foreign tourists.

alexsandrapappas

Thank you! Yes, it’s a specific festival in Arachava. My family is from there and the festival only happens once a year. I would love to try and incorporate that into the trip somehow. That being said- would 2 days in Arachava completely derail the trip? I’m not very knowledgeable on how close things are. We do want to spend time in Athens. What I was told was fly into Athens, hang out during the day and spend the night then leave the next morning. Then at the end of the trip do the same. So, fly in the day before we leave- hang out for the day spend the night and then fly back home. Would that be enough time? I feel like I’m adding too many places? Athens, Arachava, meteora, santorini, Pelion and Naxos?

kja

I'll admit that I'm not familiar with Arachava, and I can't seem to find it through google maps -- or even google. But I'm sure that if it's a priority for you, you can find a way to fit it in -- if you are willing to adjust your wish list accordingly. Is there a chance that there's another spelling that will let the rest of us find it?

My "go-to" sites for getting an idea of "how close things are" include google maps, hard copy maps, and rome2rio.com (which shows transportation options).

Spending a bit of time in Athens at the start and end of your trip might make sense, but might not be your best idea. I usually try to avoid flying into and out of the same city because I hate backtracking. I want to be in the city from which I will depart at least the night before my flight, so I try to put all my time in that city at the end of my trip. That means I usually book through to a different location for the start of my trip, even if I have to stop somewhere to change plans en route -- and that has at least two advantages: (a) if something goes wrong with my first flight, its up to the airline to get me to my destination (unlike if I had booked the flights separately) and (b) because I'm not forcing my route through a specific location (in this case, Athens), I have a much wider range of flights from which to choose.

Whether you are including too many places or not depends entirely on what you want to see and your preferred pace of travel. Get some good guidebooks (or spend some time with a few in your local library), identify the things you most want to see in each location, check their opening/closing times on the internet, and mark them on a calendar. Pencil in your transportation, add some time on either side (for getting to/from your lodging, checking in/out, packing/unpacking, getting lost/oriented, etc.). Then see how things fit together.

Heimdall

I'm always a bit cautious with place names, because there are so many similar ones around Greece. If you mean the Arachova I am thinking of, it is right next to Delphi, one of the most important archaeological sites in Greece. I would go there and spend a night or two to see the site even if I didn't have relatives in Arachova.

Panagyris are lots of fun! I haven't been to the one in Arachova, but had a wonderful time when friends invited me to one in the southern Peloponnese. If you can hook up with members of your family, even if you have never met them before, they will show you the time of your life!

sobhsepid

If you are not concerned about historical sights and just want dramatic mountains and gorgeous beaches with not too much heat

mariha2912

The most well-known Panygiri of Arachova (the one near Delphi) is the one around St George's celebration, happening on April and it's true that it differs a bit to panygiria of other areas of Greece due to the athletic events taking place. But I'm not aware of a very noteworthy panygiri on July. Still, I think there is an other village in Greece called Arachova somewhere on Peloponnese, although I can't recall where exactly it is. Maybe you mean that one? If so, I guess it might make a difference on travel logistics. Could you check and tell us which Arachova you mean and where exactly it is?

alexsandrapappas

It is in the mountains south of Athens near Sparta. It’s also referred to as Karyes.

kja

Looks like you might be able to work in a few days in Nafplio....

mariha2912

This location seems to be around 3+ hours driving from Athens, while Meteora is around 4+hours from Athens the other direction. I guess you could fit all those destinations in 2 weeks time, but it'll be very rushed on my opinion and a good part of your time will be spend on transit. Maybe replace Meteora with Nafplion or eliminate one destination?

Heimdall

Along with Karyes' location in the Peloponnese, you are also well placed to visit Mystras, Monemvasia, and Ancient Messene, plus many beautiful coastal villages in Laconia and Messenia to the south. Were it me I would leave Meteora for another trip. There is simply too much to see in the Peloponnese, and Meteora, as mariha2912 wrote, is in the wrong direction.

alexsandrapappas

Hi! Ok, so we decided to skip meteora and the festival and are thinking just santorini, Naxos and Pelion. We definitely want to do santorini so would the other two places be good, or do you have different recommendations?

kja

I haven't been to Pelion, but adored Naxos. Enjoy!

mariha2912

An idea is flight to Santorini upon arriving in Athens airport, spend a few days, then get ferry to Naxos, then get ferry or flight to Athens. Rent a car straight away, explore mainland, return to Athens, drop the car and spend last few days on Athens before flying home. Now, given this is a delayed honeymoon, what kind of pace are you happy with? Maybe you could spend more time on Naxos,Santorini and Athens after all for a more relaxed trip? If some mainland is on the cards, say you spend around a week on the islands and 3-4 full days in Athens, then you have 3-4 day for mainland. Could this be Pelion? Up to you. To rich the generic area you need about 4 hours driving, then depends where exactly you go. We talk for a whole peninsular here with plenty of walking paths, coves, beaches, sea side and mountain side villages to explore and so on. Not sure how you envision this part of the trip. 3-4 days might be plenty or too little time for Pelion...
An other alternative is to head to Meteora if your main focus is only the monasteries. You could make it only a 2 nights stay there, so you could add the spare days on the islands and/or Athens.

Decisions, decisions.....

Odin

Visiting Pelion doesn’t make sense anymore IMO. Initially when you said you were going to Arachova and Meteora, Pelion could be included. But since it was discovered that you were referring to Karyes in Peloponnese (which was known as Arachova a long time ago & you were probably referring to the panagyri of Agia Paraskevi which takes place in July), I would not try to include it.
I would suggest going to the panagyri and spend time in the Peloponnese & keep Naxos & Santorini & some time in Athens & forget about Pelion.

alexsandrapappas

Thank you all for your suggestions! They are so helpful. So what I'm leaning towards is flying into Athens and then departing immediately to Santorini. Staying there for 3 nights then taking a ferry to Naxos. We will stay there 3 nights then possibly head to one more island near by (suggestions are welcomed!). I did hear though that Folegrandos is quite beautiful. If we go to one additional island, I would only want to stay for 1-2 nights and then head back to Athens for 2-3 nights and then depart. We are going for a more relaxed vibe but want to experience what Greece has to offer. We would definitely want to do a day boat trip (prob in Santorini) where we go to the volcanos and hot springs. I heard Naxos has great olive oil tours and I would love to possibly add in a winery as well. We are big foodies and very adventurous when it comes to trying new things. At this point I am open to most ideas, but I do want to get our locations locked down so we can start to secure hotels etc.

Does this itinerary sound doable? realistic? make sense etc?!

kja

I, for one, would find just 1 or 2 nights in Athens WAY too rushed -- but it depends on what you want to see and experience! If you haven't already seen it, you might find some useful information in my trip report:
With Gratitude for a Glorious Solo Month in Greece

Good luck!

mariha2912

I know it's tempting, but I wouldn't add an other island. You could always decide to join a boat trip while on Santorini or Naxos. Do note that transfer days leave you with little time to do much on either island. It's not only the actual traveling time, it's commuting from hotels to ports and v.v., checking in/out, packing/unpacking and even more importantly the ferry schedules. For example a 3 hours ferry ride wouldn't be so bad if you depart say Santorini on 6am and be on Naxos on 9am. But that's not how ferry system works. But most likely you'll depart Santorini around 3.30pm and arrive on Naxos say 6.30pm. What's left to do on Naxos? Maybe a stroll and dinner. Day lost.
Furthermore, do note that Santorini covers around 90 km2 (35 sq mi) , Naxos around 430 km2 (~165 sq mi). For sure depending on one's interest, one could be happy to spend a week on Santorini and one day on Naxos, those things are personal. But on my opinion, Naxos deserves at least 3-4 full days to get a glimpse of it. Two full days on each island don't make them much justice. One or two nights no way for Athens unless you only want to use it as a stop over or only to visit say the Acropolis. If afterall you find that Athens is not your cup of tea, you could jump on the bus or tram to head on the sea side suburbs or take a half day tour to Sounion or even head to Delphi as a (rushed) day trip.

HappyTrvlr

More time on Naxos and Athens,, less on Santorini.