Hi, I am new to this forum. Could you please comment on this general itinerary? A bit of info: My husband used to live in London for 2 years, we only want to visit a couple of places there. We have been in Paris before but DearH knows that I love Paris and wanted me to be there for my birthday. Is our understanding that Santorini is a small island but we like places like that. Istanbul: Visiting Hagia Sophia is on my bucket list and visiting the Grand bazaar is in my husband's bucket list. Having said that, Do you think this itinerary is ok? we plan to fly to Istanbul and Santorini and take the train London to Paris. We were thinking to remove London but turns out, it is considerably cheaper to fly directly into London. Thanks in advance. W April 25 Traveling Chicago to London Th April 26 London F April 27 London S April 28 London S April 29 Paris M April 30 Paris T May 1 Paris W May 2 Santorini Th May 3 Santorini F May 4 Santorini S May 5 Istanbul S May 6 Istanbul M May 7 Istanbul
T May 8 Traveling Istanbul to Chicago
Posted by
Dallas
1021 posts
I assume you have visited Athens. If not, put it on the bucket list and spend at least a full day there. I believe that you have to make connections thru ATH anyway. Otherwise the itinerary looks reasonable.
Posted by
Vernon, Canada
32212 posts
Mar, Your Itinerary is generally well organized, and it's nice to see that you're spending a few days in each place. Keep in mind that each time you change location, you'll lose at least half a day so you won't have a full three days in each spot. I assume you'll be travelling from London to Paris via the EuroStar? As the previous reply mentioned, you'll have to transit through Athens on your trip to Santorini. While it would be nice to stop there for at least one night, I'm not sure that will be possible unless you can add a few days to the trip. There's at least one airline that has direct flights from Paris to Santorini, but they only operate in July and August. At the beginning of May, the trip through Athens is almost inevitable. I'd suggest looking at Aegean Air flights from Paris / ORY to Santorini / JTR. How are you planning to get from Santorini to Istanbul? Aegean Air would be good on that route as well. According to the current schedule, they have a flight departing on May 5 at 11:55, arriving Istanbul at 15:15 (time 3H:20M). There's an earlier flight but the time is considerably longer as it has a LONG layover in Athens. As with all budget flights, booking early usually gets a better price. Be sure you read their "Terms & Conditions" carefully so that you clearly understand baggage limits and carry-on regulations. Good luck with your planning.