Greece recs?

fusionbride · February 2012

We are looking to go to Greece/Greek Isles for about 2 weeks in mid-June. Any recs on specific locations to visit, how to divide up our time, or where to stay?

Budget is about $8,000 including airfare

TravelingJen · February 2012

Having been to Greece previously (Athens & Santorini), I would do the following itinerary:

-Two days in Athens

-Three days on Santorini

-Five days on Crete

-Four days on Rhodes

Other people really like Mykonos, Naxos, and Paros.

imnotcoherent22 · February 2012

Keep in mind that it will cost around $1400 per person for the round trip tickets to Greece, so you may want to skip some of the more costly tourist islands. Many Greeks do not go to Santorini for two reasons one it is popularly called "breakup island" and many joke that guys who take their girlfriends there will breakup within the year; two it's overly crowded and much more expensive than many other more beautiful islands. I would skip Mykonos too, but if you want to tell your friends you went to a well known and popular Greek island, I suppose you should go to one of the two.

I love Rhodes and would recommend you take a ferry directly there and then choose a ferry to another island or two of your choice (note: ferries are much cheaper than planes though obviously they do not have luxury accomodations). Many young Greeks think they're fun because they can sometimes be like a floating sports bar where you can play backgammon and drink beer or coffee with friends.

From Rhodes you can easily get to Crete by way of Karpathos (a nice larger island), or you can head north and go to Symi (a beautiful small island) and my home island of Nysiros (it has very little tourism...especially overnight and has some beautiful beaches). Heading north from Rhodes there are two larger and more popular islands as well, Kos (many British and German tourists, but the creperies and clubs are pretty good) and Kalymnos (also pretty touristy, but more picturesque than Kos). From any of the larger islands you can catch a ferry right back to Athens and from Kos and Rhodes you can fly.

Other nice islands closer to Athens include Paros, Antiparos, Naxos, which are all right next to eachother and I believe have a ferry going right to Paros or Naxos from Athens. Antiparos is much less touristy but is nice for camping on the beach and takign in the beauty of the island.

Rock-n-Voll · February 2012

We loved Naxos.

Santorini is completely overrated IMO. Wish we would have spent more time on Naxos instead and/or cut the time in Santorini and gone to a third island instead.

KatInTheHat28 · February 2012

We did two and a half weeks in June two years ago and went to Athens, Naxos, Mykonos and Santorini. I am going to disagree with the PP and tell you that Santorini was my favorite. Yes, it's touristy, but I thought the island was just beautiful and we had a great time. We stayed in Oia which I think is less touristy than Fira. We rented a four wheeler and went wine tasting, visited the Caldera and spent a lot of time relaxing on beaches and on the deck of our cave house. I would go back to Santorini in a heartbeat! Loved Naxos, too, for a more laid-back, less touristy island.

fusionbride · February 2012

thanks! DH loves the bustling scenes, and I prefer laid-back quiter settings, so this gives us some idea of a where to go to get a little of both...

Do you think we can do it on the $8,000 budget? it is probably going to cost about half of that just in the airfare to get to and from Greece...

Greece recs?

Re: Greece recs?

Choose Another Board

Search Boards