epley5

Hi,
My husband and I will be traveling to Croatia and taking the bus from Dubrovnik through Montenegro and Albania to Corfu. We then planned on going to Athens for a couple of days and then flying to Istanbul and taking the ferry to Rhodes and then over to Santorini with our last stop being Crete. I'm having trouble navigating the lesser expensive and most comfortable route to take once we leave Corfu. Any advice on logistics would be greatly appreciated!
Thanks,
Laura

Travel_Nerd

When you go matters here - when are you going?

I'm planning a similar trip but not until 2026 (and not with trying to add Montenegro and Croatia to it). How long in your trip total, if you don't mind me asking.

There are ferries from Corfu to mainland, but I believe you will have to go via Igoumenitsa to reach mainland points. Can't comment on cost. I suppose the other option would be to fly, from Corfu to Athens. Personally, I rather avoid this due to environmental impacts but YMMV.

neckervd

Everything is doable. Will you have more or less than 7 weeks for all that?

progol

I’m confused. Why fly from Athens to Istanbul to take a ferry to Rhodes? Why not just fly directly from Athens?

neckervd

I suppose they want to visit Istanbul.
That gives:
ATH - IST - DLM - bus Fethiye - catamaran - Rhodos.

epley5

WE're going in May, 2025 and will have about 5 weeks. I have things figured out for Croatia, Montenegro, Albania and Corfu. I'm thinking of bus & ferry from Corfu to Athens. Where I'm getting a little confused is the limited ferry or flight options between Rhodes and the Cyclades, so I'm thinking instead of flying from Athens to Instanbul, maybe I should ferry from Athens to Rhodes and then ferry to Istanbul, and fly to Crete and then ferry to Santorini. Not sure if that's the best thing to do though.

epley5

My husband only wants to spend about 7 weeks, but he doesn't like to be rushed so I'm a little concerned about doing it all in 5 weeks.

epley5

I can get to Athens from Corfu, but after looking at planes and ferries I'm thinking maybe I should fly from Corfu to Istanbul, ferry to Rhodes, then ferry to Athens and then ferry directly to Satorini with the last stop being Crete.

epley5

Thanks all for your help

neckervd

All depends where you will fly in and how in detail you will visit.
The biggest hub north of Croatia is VCE. From there you could the go by catamaran or bus to the Istrian coast, visit at least Porec, Brioni and Pula and go then by catamaran (only twice weekly in May) to Mali Losinj - Zadar. Day trp rom Zadar to Plitvice. Bus Zadar - Sibenik and visit Krka National Park. Visit Trogir and Split. Stay at least 1 full day at each Hvar and Korcula Island and 2 days at Dubrovnik.
That needs AT LEAST 2 weeks, better more.
Bus to Budva, visit Budva. Day trip to Cetinje - Lovcen - Kotor - Budva. .Sveti Stefan - Stari Bar - Bar- Ulcigno - Shkoder.
That needs another week.
Komani Lake ferry thing, Kruja, Tirana, Durres, Apollonia, Berat, Dhermi, Saranda, Butrint
That needs AT LEAST another week.
Saranda - ferry - Corfu - ferry - Igoumenitsa - Ioannina (Greek site and theatre of Dodoni, Lake Ioannina, Caves) - bus Andirio - Nafpaktos - Delphi - Ossios Loukas - Athens
NOW, we have ALREADY 5 WEEKS

AND HE EASTERN AEGEAN AREA HAS MUCH MORE TO OFFER THAN ONLY IiSTANBUL AND RHODOS.
ATH - IST flight: count about 6 hrs from city center to city center.
Don't bypass the gems around Ephesos (there would be others like Bursa, Pergamon, Pamukkale/Hierapolis, all more or less between Istanbul and Rhodos).
That gives:
3 days Istanbul, 1 day boat-train Istanbul - Izmir - Selcuk/Ephesos/Kusadasi (1/2 day more if you visit Pergamon too). 1 full day for the visit of Ephesos - Dideimae - Priene. 1/2 day for the bus ride to Fethiye and half a day at Fethyie (beach resort and archeological site). Morning catamaran to Rhodos.
That's another week.
From Rhodos you can fly to Heraklion, but if you want to visit the gems of Eastern Crete, you better take a ferry to Sitia.
It doesn't make sense to go to Crete if you haven't at least a full week.
Catamarans Heraklion - Santorini - Piraeus/Athens run daily.

I think you will have to cut somehwere.
Ever thougt at a direct flight Tirana - Istanbul (fares start at 80 EUR/OW)? You could hen visti ATH at the end.

Travel_Nerd

Do you already have your flights booked? I don't mean the inter-european flights, but the ones from home to Europe and back home?

If you are actually able to swing 7 full weeks, you might need it with everything you have listed, especially as neckervd mentioned.

I still do not have an understanding of how long you are spending in Croatia and whether or not you are actually planning on spending any time in Montenegro or Albania before before or if you are just riding busses through - which, is a shame, but it's your trip. As you can see, that area is not very well-connected to Greece although Albania does connect, Corfu is still a bit of an outlier to your plans, as is Croatia. Edited to clarify: yes, they are connected, just are long bouts of travel between them.

You may need to make some adjustments somewhere.