I am in the process of planning a vacation to Athens Greece with the intention of island hopping and departing from Istanbul Turkey. My questions are: what islands would you visit; what route (islands to visit); would you fly into Athens or Istanbul, and how long would you stay at each locations? To give you some general background: we are single, mid forty, and desire a mixture of relaxation, partying, site seeing-shopping if time permit.
Any information is greatly appreciated.
TWest
Hello tlwestbrook. I would fly to Athens. I recommend : fly from Athens airport to the airport on the island Naxos. Ride in a ferry boat from Naxos to Mykonos. Return to Athens. Fly from Athens to Istanbul. You did not say what is the total number of days that you will be over there.
You might want to begin by researching how you will island-hop between Greece and Turkey. Despite shared geography, the two countries have a less-than-friendly history that has limited the local transportation connections. Otherwise, they both are intriguing destinations. As to air transport, flying into one city and out of the other is the ideal arrangement but impossible to judge since you did not indicate your home base. Turkish Airlines is worth checking since it is in an expansion mode and might have deals. There could be other options depending on your interests. www.skyscanner.com is good for flights in Europe and there are other search sources.
Probably the first thing is to determine how long you are planning to be there. A week itinerary of Athens and Istanbul would likely not include any islands, except maybe as a daytrip from Athens, then fly to Istanbul. Two weeks, maybe add an island from Athens, but still, fly Athens to Istanbul, with three Weeks you could look at a couple islands, getting you to a place like Samos, where you could get into Turkey, see Ephesus, then long bus or flight to Istanbul.
To give you any advice, we really need to know how much time you have, and what time of year you are travelling. And are there any specific Greek islands or places in Turkey you want to see ... is it just Istanbul or would you also like to do a balloon ride in Cappadocia and/or visit the archeological site of Ephesus?
If you have at least 10-12 days for the island-hopping part of your trip, there are three Blue Star ferry routes that will take you from Piraeus in Athens to the islands of Kos or Rhodes -- check out the Blue Star ferry website . From Kos or Rhodes, there are daily ferries to Bodrum or Marmaris in Turkey; from there, you can make your way to your next stop in Turkey. There are, of course, other ferry and island options, but this will get you started. If you do some Google searches of the various islands, you can see which are most appealing to you.
