I am baffled! Grandma here trying to find an itinerary to please husband,3 adult kids and a 4 year old. At least one island. Suggestions please?
No Athens?
Unless you stop in a European city and then find a flight to Thessaloniki, Santorini, Rhodes, Corfu, Skiatos or Mykonos, basically: no Athens = no Greece
I’m assuming you’d be OK with arriving in the Athens airport for a 1-2 hour layover on your way to an island? In that case you’re limited only to islands with an airport & an available connecting flight. So making your flight reservations from US would be the first step.
Your best choice might be Crete. It’s large enough to have several flights a day (even from some European cities besides Athens). And there are plenty of towns/activities/beaches to keep you busy for 8 nights.
Naxos has fewer flights but is smaller & more walkable, if you stay on St George Beach. It has a lovely shallow beach for the 4-year-old.
It would help if we knew what you hope to do on this vacation … is this an active group that loves to hike and sightsee everyday, or is this a more leisurely R&R kind of trip??
Following up on Charlene's advice, if your plan is to fly into Athens and immediately fly out to an island, arrange your incoming flight so you arrive at ATH before Noon, so you have plenty of options for flying out to that island. Not every island has multiple flights per day. Check the Aegean Airlines/Olympic Air and the Sky Express websites for what's offered.
Perhaps you are on a collision path with disappointment in trying to arrange this for husband, adult kids and a 4 year old.
Seems like it is all on you. A hard path to climb. That is a lot of different dynamics.