2 week itinerary: Santorini, Naxos, Nafplio, and Athens

On June 6 try to take a connecting flight from Athens to Santorini, you will save 1 night.

• Naxos June 10, June 11

Only 2 days in Naxos is very short. As you say, you won't see/do everything listed.
Choices will have to be made

The Temple of Demeter is not accessible by bus
The nearest bus stop is 3 km away.
The site is closed on Tuesdays.

The visit to Delos from Naxos takes almost the whole day.

There are two possible paths for hiking to Mount Zas

Without a car you will have to take the bus to the village of Filoti. Getting off the bus at Agia Marina and you are at the start of the short path, continuing to Filoti you are at the start of the long path The hike takes at least 1/2 day. Leave very early because of the heat and bring lots of water.

The Zeus' Childhood Cave is on the short hike path to Mount Zas. It's just a hole in the rock.

• Nafplio:

Combining the visit to Delphi / Thermopylae and a stay in Nafplio is not logical, they are in opposite directions coming from Athens.
You should reconsider your destinations on the mainland and choose a single direction, you don't have enough time to do/see more

My advice: Stay 3 nights in Nafplio, you will be able to allocate the 4th elsewhere

Naxos is the largest of the Cyclades and deserves more time.

Is Santorini a must or just something you've seen in glossy travel magazines?

Why not devote your time to Naxos as is it's lovely. You can also do a day trip to Santorini if you feel you have to see it.

There is a huge amount of things to do in and around Nafplio including World Class Archeological sites. You could spend days there and still not see it all.

Check out the best website for Nafplio and you'll see how much there is to do in the area:

https://visitnafplio.com/

You have chosen good destinations so you have done your research well. I think that you are trying to see these highlight destinations in too short of time.

Jo Loui is correct, fly immediately to Santorini on your day of arrival. While that is going to extend your transatlantic travel day, it is better to get to yur first island on day 1. Getting over jet lag on Santorini is way better then doing it in Athens. Even if you arrive in the evening just being in Santorini will provide additional energy particularly if your hotel has a caldera view.
Santorini and Naxos make great companion islands you get the spectacular views on Santorini and a much more authentic experience of the old town and the beaches on Naxos.
You have not allotted sufficient time to really explore and experience Naxos. I predict you will be very disappointed that you spent so little time on Naxos. As an aside the earliest ferry from Santorini will get you to Naxos around noon. So your Naxos experience is actually 2.5 days. Just not sufficient time.
Much as having to suggest this makes me sad I think you might want to consider dropping Naxos and adding that time to the mainland at Nafplio.
Or drop Nafplio and add that time to Naxos.

Here is why I would spend more time in Naxos
Back to Naxos 2022 https://www.flickr.com/photos/stanbr54/albums/72177720299940917

We had this exact itinerary in 2018.

We flew to santorini on day of arrival in Athens. 3 nights in Santorini

We ferried to Naxos. 4 nights

We flew to Athens and rented a car and drive to Nafplio. 4 nights.

Drove to Athens airport and returned car. 3 nights.

Comments: Santorini was good at three nights. It was two full days by the time we got settled on arrival day. We would have Iiked 5 not 4 nights in Naxos. Four certainly is minimum. We used 4 nights in Nafplio well but it was very hot and we spent every afternoon at a different beach. 3 nights was a good number for first time visitors to Athens.

I would add nights to islands-at least 4 for Naxos. You will have only one day for Santorini which may be okay depending on your interests. You could do 3 for both Athens and Nafplio if necessary.

Delphi is not a day trip from Nafplio.

Can you manage one more night so you have 14 not 13? (I have 2 santorini, 3 Naxos, 4 nafplio, 4 Athens) ?

Thank you all for your input! I have tweaked the itinerary a little bit based on your suggestions.

I apologize: From what I've seen on flights from Atlanta to Athens, most depart ATL in the afternoon and arrive in Athens the next morning, so that is why I have June 6 flight ATL to Athens and then June 7 flight to Santorini. So essentially the vacation will begin on June 7th, not the 6th. Because of this I will take @BethFL's suggestion and add another day to our itinerary, flying back home on June 21st instead of the 20th.

So now the itinerary is:

June 7: Fly Athens to Santorini. Stay 3 nights (2 full days). Depart June 10.
June 8: Santorini
June 9: Santorini
June 10: Ferry from Santorini to Naxos. Stay 4 nights (3 full days). Depart June 14.
June 11: Naxos
June 12: Naxos
June 13: Naxos
June 14: Fly Naxos to Athens. Pick up rental car and drive to Nafplio. Stay 4 nights (3 full days). Depart June 18.
June 15: Nafplio
June 16: Nafplio
June 17: Nafplio
June 18: Drive to Athens, drop off rental car. Stay 3 nights (2 full days). Depart June 21.
June 19: Athens
June 20: Athens
June 21: Fly Athens to Atlanta

@tommyk5, Santorini is a must for my friend who is travelling with us, as we will be celebrating her 40th birthday there. I did add another day there so we would not be travelling to another place on her actual birthday. And I also want to visit Atlantis Bookstore, as it's been on my bucket list for almost 20 years.

@JoLui, I added 2 more days to Naxos, and have decided to just drop the day trip to Delos. My son really wants to do the hike to Mount Zas, but we will probably just stick to the short hike up to the cave. Since the Temple of Demeter is not accessible by bus, would it just be better to do a rental car while on Naxos so we can go there and also explore other areas?

@stanbr, I really don't want to drop Naxos or Nafplio after reading so much about both areas. Since I added an extra day to our trip will 4 days in each be better? This does cause me to take a day away from Athens, but I think 3 nights in Athens is still doable?

Thank you all again for your help!

I think this is a good itinerary. We did see the highlights of Athens with three nights like you have scheduled. Also if you come back to Greece, you will have to fly into Athens, so will be easier to see more of Athens than an island like Naxos. We have made two trips to Greece and are planning another for next year.

We did the hike your son wants to do. You can see forever from the top of Mt Zas and there are goats every where. We had a rental car which made it much easier. We rented a car for part of the time we were on Naxos and it allowed us to see a lot of the island. You could cram 5 people in a car, since you won’t have to worry about luggage. You also could split up and have some of your group do the hike while others do something else in town.

If you want to discover remote beaches, villages, monasteries or simply be able to stop anywhere, enjoy an incredible view, a tavern in a small village, go to the start of any hiking trail, unless you are staying several weeks renting a car (or scooter) is the only way to explore Naxos, and the vast majority of all Greek islands.

I've been traveling the Greek islands on foot, by car, by scooter for over 35 years, and I haven't found any other way.

I would like someone to tell me how to do / see in a few days and without a car even 10% of what you will find in this map:

(I mentioned the two departure points for the hike to Mount Zas). There are also some other hikes that we did.

https://www.google.com/maps/d/edit?mid=1d7GZMjFODUlB8lf7EPSXQRwu-YXaKxw&usp=sharing

Let me speak to Nafplio. We just visited it and loved it. So nice and relaxing. Its easy to see everything in town in 2 days. Got some excellent restaurants to enjoy.
Its super easy to stop and visit Mycene coming or going to Nafplio. Definitely worth it if you like history, but try and do it in the AM when its cool. The drive to Athens is 2 hours, so pretty easy. So your transition day from Nafplio to Athens will provide you some opportunity to hit places on your way back. Ancient Corinth was nice and is right off the toll road.

We stayed at the Pensionne Marianna in Nafplio and it was nice. Great breakfast and good views. A bit of a walk to get there with luggage, is the only down side.

I think the ferry route goes from Naxos THEN to Santorini. If it does, the itinerary would be easy enough to adjust.

From a driving perspective, open a couple Google maps and start comparing the routes. I find this is a good starting point if I'm unsure of locations/times/distances.

Santorini is a fantastic place to be jetlagged imo. I think it's a good itinerary.

If you are looking for a place to stay in Santorini that is a little bit quieter and not super busy, look at staying north of Fira (the main town) in Firostefani or Imerovigli. Imerovigli is quiet and peaceful but also within walking distance to shops/restaurants/etc. Just a thought!