Hello!
My adult children and I will be travelling to Greece in mid September for 2 weeks. We have never been so would like to see top sites, plus Santorini for sure. My 2 daughters (age 20 and 23) would probably appreciate some nightlife/club suggestions.
We won't be renting a car as most have said driving is quite dangerous in Greece!!
Any help would be appreciated with itineraries as well as reasonable hotel/b&b's you might recommend.
Thank you!
For Santorini focus your hotel search on Fira and Firostefani so you'll be within easy walking distance to all the nightlife. Use the filter system here to help you search: http://www.booking.com
Check the Scirocco Apartments, Loucas Hotel and Villa Ilias.
The best nightlife is at the Tropical Bar, Enigma, Koo Club, Casablanca Soul, Tango Bar, Town Club and Murphy's Bar.
You might want to check out RS Greece Tour to see where he takes people to get an idea of what he thinks is important. Go to "Tours" and find the Greece tour for a map and daily itinerary. I went to Greece last summer and when there took the RS Tour. My first time in Greece and I really enjoyed seeing all of the REALLY OLD things. Happy travels.
Rick's guided tour and guidebook for Greece both focus primarily on the mainland around Athens and the Peloponnese peninsula, spending two weeks there, before moving on to islands like Santorini. You'll have to drop something from his list in order to fit the island into your two weeks. If you don't have the guidebook, you can get started with some priorities and timing ideas at http://www.ricksteves.com/europe/greece.
I don't think wine4 will be as interested in RS tours, excellent tho they may be, because he focusses largely on the mainland, and ancient Greece and wine4 seems to be talking islands .... also apparently guided by daughters' interest in nightlife. I would suggest to wine4 that she run over to the library and grab either LET'S GO GREECE and/or GREEK ISLAND-HOPPING. These are very to-the-point guidebooks that are aimed at the collegiate/post-collegiate crowds, not a lot of boring ancient history, and certainly will focus on activities as well as "top sites."
CAR vs NO CAR: Do not take your advice from "Most have said." Driving can be tricky in SOME places ... and a delight and very easy in others! Some places you have NO need of car; in others, it makes your visit much easier and relaxed !! It IS risky driving in Santorini, and the excellent bus system & taxis (and transfer service offered by many hotels) makes it unnecessary. Driving IN Athens is hairy - but u don't need to drive there; there are rental agencies that drive YOU to the "ring road" highway ... or you can drive from airport and never see a stoplight, & go only on modern multi-lane highways. You may decide to rent for 2-3 days. All u need is to go to local AAA and get an International DRiving Permit in 15 minutes.
For a planning focus I would venture a few basic suggestions:
• STRATEGY Dont do Athens FIRST, do it LAST. u have to be there for departure, so why use precious time going into central Athens 2x. On arrival, immediately take domestic flight (allow 2 hrs in between) to your Farthest Island, then ferry your way back.
• QUOTA: with 2 weeks, the most u can do justice to is 3 other destinations Plus Athens. Transport in between eats up MUCH time.
• SEQUENCE: It works best to do Islands in same group, served by same ferry route. GREEK ISLAND HOPPING makes it very clear; you can do Santorini - Folegandros - Paros or some such in "Cycladic" group ... you canNOT do Santorini - Rhodes - Corfu.
• SEASONAL EFFECT -- In Mid-Sept, many islands that are hopping madly in July-Aug will be putting up the shutters by Sept 20. Your Girls want places that still are buzzing a bit, you don't want the feeling the party's over, lights turning out.
•OPTIONS - To accommodate above, one possible scenario is SANTORINI (3 days) PAROS (3-4 days) back to mainland, NAFPLIO & ARGOLID area (3-4 days) ATHENS (3).
. TRANSPORT LOGISTICS -- Fly to SANTORINI... Blue Star ferry 3:30 pm (3 hrs) to PAROS ... ferry OR fly back to mainland: rent car at airport, 2.5 hr hiway drive to NAFPLIO & surroundings. Drive back to Airport. 35€ flat-fee taxi toCentral ATHENS hotel.
How to choose islands & "Top Sites"??? Homework. Research. Choose your 4 places based on reading, not on "most have said". THEN -- when you have your 4 favorites picked out -- we can advise u on Hotels. No point in us spending our time listing hotels in places which we then find you are not visiting.
Hotels: if you want best advice, don't just say "reasonable." One person's "reasonable" may be another's "too costly" or what a 3rd person considers "too budgety". State desired nightly range in Euros, and say if u mean triple, or single + double.
... Going in September, u have plenty of time to firm up your plans, when you know more.... and it's a wonderful time to see GReece!
I took my 10 year old grandson to Greece and our favorite place was Nafplio... other than his first view of the Parthenon. It was such a wonderful town and relief from the heat and chaos of Athens (summer) but I can imagine it would be perfect at any time of the year.
Terry Kathryn is right - we were in Nafplio late September and it was perfect!
Also, Janet has great advice - go to Athens last for the stated reason. Agree that you should go to Santorini first. After Santorini we liked Naxos but it may be too quiet for your daughters. Her suggested itinerary is a good one. Research the locations suggested and pick those that work, though it may involve compromise.
Don't hesitate to rent a car in Greece. If you're traveling to top sites it's a piece of cake.
If you're truly concerned, don't drive at night and rent the GPS unit.
