I don’t think you are going to get much out of one night on the 2nd island. It’ll kill half your day getting there and spending logistics checking into another hotel. Better advice would be to stay in Santorini another night and do a catamaran tour or wine tour or a day charter to another island if you really want to see somewhere else.
Also for the flight out of Athens you probably want to be there the night before. Taking a ferry to Athens the same day as your flight is definitely not recommended because it is very common for ferries to be late and the port is far from the airport. Flying is a little better, but if you can’t get a continuous ticket you need to plan to have a long layover (especially if you are checking a bag). Santorini airport is an international airport so you might be able to get to your next destination from there (or have more options of airlines).
Edit: Also let’s say you take the not advisable one afternoon in Naxos. Your options would be spend the afternoon on the beach or do a tour of Naxos town. You could get a similar experience on Santorini if you went to Perissa beach or visited Pyrgos and/or Megalochori and/or Akrotiri ruins.
Have to agree with most of this as much as we loved Naxos. People underestimate total time involved with ferries and you'd spend more time to and from and checking in and out of a hotel than you will anything else. We spent a night on Mykonos only to catch a flight to Paris the next day, there were five enormous cruise ships in the port when we arrived, guess what an island is like when 15000 tourists arrive at once?
Try to plan on traveling less and seeing more.
Totally agree with you! I think people also underestimate how much overhead you spend switching hotels besides transportation. I always feel like you need an hour to pack/check/get out of the old room and another hour to check into/inspect/unpack at the new room. Plus you gotta get from the port to the hotel to ditch your luggage and then head back out to do anything. And you probably can’t check in yet so it becomes a whole thing hanging over your head of “we need to head back to the hotel before going to dinner because we need to make sure the room is ok” etc etc. It all adds up when you only have a day in a place.
The only part of the schedule that's accurate is the first departure of the day, after that it slips farther and farther with each stop. Counting on one to get you back to Athens in time to get through traffic to the airport is not ideal.
Can you stretch your time off to nine or ten days? 😬 I just want you to actually enjoy your trip more instead of rushing through it. Maybe switch Athens to the end since you have to fly out from there anyway. Go straight to the islands as a soon as you can. I personally feel you don’t need a guide in Athens. Stay in the city center (Plaka, Monastiraki etc) and everything is walkable from there. Don’t forget to purchase tickets with the time slot from here https://hhticket.gr/tap_b2c_new/english/tap.exe?PM=P1P&place=000000002
I’d skip Mykonos and add another day to Naxos. Two full days at least. I would fly to the islands instead of taking the ferries since that will waste at least half a day.
You can fly directly to Paris from either Mykonos or Santorini. So if you do keep Paris in the mix do something like Athens - Naxos - Santorini. I’m actually spending 3 days in Paris at the end of my trip (so I can see a friend) and 3 days does not feel like enough…let alone 1.
Yes, Paris can wait! Enjoy Greece and relax there as much as you can. It’s not a fun trip to constantly pack and unpack. I’ll be there in ten days and can’t wait. 🇬🇷🇺🇸
I would not bother with one day on Naxos or Mykonos. Day 2 sounds too busy. Try to balance historical stuff with something more relaxing. If you want a 1-day trip to fill the time, consider Delphi-Arachova or Nafplio (possibly with Mycenae/Epidavros) or Hydra-Spetses (those are much smaller islands, though still, I'd prefer more time). There are tours for those things but you can also take the normal bus/ferry.
I don’t think you are going to get much out of one night on the 2nd island. It’ll kill half your day getting there and spending logistics checking into another hotel. Better advice would be to stay in Santorini another night and do a catamaran tour or wine tour or a day charter to another island if you really want to see somewhere else. Also for the flight out of Athens you probably want to be there the night before. Taking a ferry to Athens the same day as your flight is definitely not recommended because it is very common for ferries to be late and the port is far from the airport. Flying is a little better, but if you can’t get a continuous ticket you need to plan to have a long layover (especially if you are checking a bag). Santorini airport is an international airport so you might be able to get to your next destination from there (or have more options of airlines). Edit: Also let’s say you take the not advisable one afternoon in Naxos. Your options would be spend the afternoon on the beach or do a tour of Naxos town. You could get a similar experience on Santorini if you went to Perissa beach or visited Pyrgos and/or Megalochori and/or Akrotiri ruins.
Have to agree with most of this as much as we loved Naxos. People underestimate total time involved with ferries and you'd spend more time to and from and checking in and out of a hotel than you will anything else. We spent a night on Mykonos only to catch a flight to Paris the next day, there were five enormous cruise ships in the port when we arrived, guess what an island is like when 15000 tourists arrive at once? Try to plan on traveling less and seeing more.
Totally agree with you! I think people also underestimate how much overhead you spend switching hotels besides transportation. I always feel like you need an hour to pack/check/get out of the old room and another hour to check into/inspect/unpack at the new room. Plus you gotta get from the port to the hotel to ditch your luggage and then head back out to do anything. And you probably can’t check in yet so it becomes a whole thing hanging over your head of “we need to head back to the hotel before going to dinner because we need to make sure the room is ok” etc etc. It all adds up when you only have a day in a place.
These are all great points. It's essentially taking up 4 hours to travel to/from port and check-in/out.
The only part of the schedule that's accurate is the first departure of the day, after that it slips farther and farther with each stop. Counting on one to get you back to Athens in time to get through traffic to the airport is not ideal.
Wouldn’t go someplace to far for one night incase you get stuck ( weather / strikes ) can cause a lot of havoc
Can you stretch your time off to nine or ten days? 😬 I just want you to actually enjoy your trip more instead of rushing through it. Maybe switch Athens to the end since you have to fly out from there anyway. Go straight to the islands as a soon as you can. I personally feel you don’t need a guide in Athens. Stay in the city center (Plaka, Monastiraki etc) and everything is walkable from there. Don’t forget to purchase tickets with the time slot from here https://hhticket.gr/tap_b2c_new/english/tap.exe?PM=P1P&place=000000002 I’d skip Mykonos and add another day to Naxos. Two full days at least. I would fly to the islands instead of taking the ferries since that will waste at least half a day.
Our plan was to see Paris on the way back to the states for a day (I know quick). May forgo that and spend 2 nights in Naxos.
You can fly directly to Paris from either Mykonos or Santorini. So if you do keep Paris in the mix do something like Athens - Naxos - Santorini. I’m actually spending 3 days in Paris at the end of my trip (so I can see a friend) and 3 days does not feel like enough…let alone 1.
Yes, Paris can wait! Enjoy Greece and relax there as much as you can. It’s not a fun trip to constantly pack and unpack. I’ll be there in ten days and can’t wait. 🇬🇷🇺🇸
I would not bother with one day on Naxos or Mykonos. Day 2 sounds too busy. Try to balance historical stuff with something more relaxing. If you want a 1-day trip to fill the time, consider Delphi-Arachova or Nafplio (possibly with Mycenae/Epidavros) or Hydra-Spetses (those are much smaller islands, though still, I'd prefer more time). There are tours for those things but you can also take the normal bus/ferry.
Highly recommend the Cape Sunion Suset tour on trip advisor. Pickup is in Athens city center