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2 weeks in Greece for first visit. I've got QUESTIONS!

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Hey there! I've been reading all of the posts on Greece and I'm feeling completely overwhelmed. My partner and I are both experienced world travelers but this is the first trip to Greece for both of us and we decided to go in 2 weeks (we got our tickets last night, gulp...) with no plans other than our plane tickets. We are departing from Denver to Athens on Oct 22 and returning to Denver from Athens on November 4th. I've been anxiously reading all I can absorb from my 'go to' travel sites and am quickly seeing this is probably the worst place for a last minute trip due to the geography, vast diversity of things to do, our lack of knowledge of the area. BUT, the tickets are purchased and now we are planning our trip.

Typically we find a home base or two so we don't spend time relocating. Instead, we do day trips from our launching sites so we can see surrounding areas without having to relocate. That being said, our initial plans are:

  • Denver to Athens Oct 23 evening arrival (5:30 PM)
  • Athens Oct 24 - Oct 26
  • Santorini Oct 27-30 (we will be flying from/to Athens)
  • Athens Oct 31 - Nov 3
  • Athens to Denver Nov 4

While in Athens, we will be seeing the historical spots in Athens with a day trip to Delphi. From Santorini, we will be visiting Fira and Oia with a day trip for wine tasting. There are so many tours available in both locations but they all focus on beach time which might not work in the fall months. Can you travel gurus give me an opinion on how beach season will be in the fall? Will it be warm enough to be in the water or should we focus our activities on a boat or site seeing only? Are there day trips activities or locations that can be recommended? We typically would use a tour company with guided tours since we haven't done our homework in time but would gladly hop on a ferry if that makes the most sense at this late date.

Any and all ideas would be welcome. I've never traveled on vacation this ill prepared but when the opportunity came for this last minute trip, we decided to go for it knowing it will most likely be the first of many trips to Greece. Thanks in advance for all of your helpful ideas!

Posted by
3298 posts

Are the flights to Santorini already booked?

And I found it a bit confusing where you were planning to spend the night.

Is this what you have planned?

4 nights Athens
4 nights Santorini
4 nights Athens

My first thought is you are spending too much time in Athens. I would do something else with one of your 4 day stays. We spent 3 nights in Athens out of a 14 day trip on our first trip to Greece. I thought that was about right, although we could have used one more day but would not have wanted to give it up from anywhere else.

Would you consider renting a car? If you want to go to Delphi, you could combine that with Meteora which is hard to do by public transportation. Or you could go to Nafplio which you can get to by bus but harder to see the surrounding area without a car.

Posted by
4 posts

Thanks for your reply Beth. Yes, you have the nights correct. What I didn't include were the day trips. For example, We expect to do the some of these day trips from Athens depending on what makes sense for water temperature:

  • Mycenae, Epidaurus and Nafplio Tour from Athens - 11 hour tour
  • From Athens: Hydra, Poros, and Aegina Day Cruise - 12 hour tour
  • Athens: Agistri, Metopi & Aegina Cruise - 10 hour tour
  • Athens: Delphi Oracle & Museum Tour - 11 hour tour

We have considered renting a car - I agree, it would make sense to do that if we decide not to go with a tour company to get to Delphi or Nafplio for example. That decision should probably be made soon as I suspect renting a car won't be trivial and I understand parking is also an issue at some VRBOs. My biggest concern is whether we should be considering beach or swim time at all due to the timing of the trip. If beach and water time is out, we will have to make changes quickly.

Thanks again for your thoughts and willingness to help a fellow traveler!

Posted by
3298 posts

I have never been to Greece in October but my impression is the water is still swimmable.

You can’t see everything in 2 weeks so just decide what you want to see most. And plan to return. We are planning our fourth trip to Greece for next May.

Consider going to Nafplio for three nights rather than doing a day tour. You can see the town and is magnificent castle and the ancient sites in driving distance. There is a pebbly town beach worth visiting.

You could take a day trip by ferry to one of the islands close to Athens.

If you did those trips in addition to Santorini, and Athens you will have filled your two weeks.

There are, of course, many other choices.

Personally, I shy away from the type of tours you list because they tend to spend a lot of time traveling and little time at sites.

Posted by
4 posts

Thanks again for your reply. I suspect renting a car will be a good solution. We will still be spending time traveling but it will be at our own pace and it avoids the obligatory tourist stops for purchasing unwanted trinkets. We weren't planning on doing all of the tours but perhaps a couple since we haven't adequately planned this trip. I'll look into a longer stay in Nafplio. We had also considered shortening our trip in Santorini and going to Naxos via 2 hour ferry for a couple of days and flying back to Athens from there. Again, more options than I thought possible for a trip I've got to plan in two weeks. Appreciate you!

Posted by
4 posts

Thanks again Beth! Just like that, we are making changes! We are getting a car, and spending two nights in Nafplio before we go to Santorini. Yay!!!

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