Any easy 11-day itinerary to Greece? I'm overwhelmed

Sounds to me like you’ve already done your homework on what would make a nice itinerary and maybe could just fold some tips into the outline you already have.
Since most visitors fly into and out of Athens, it’s usually a good plan to save Athens for the end of the trip and get to another destination on arrival day, if you’ll be arriving in Athens in the morning or early afternoon. If arriving late in the afternoon or in the evening— then make Athens your first stop. The metro from the airport into downtown Athens takes 40 minutes. Since you have several islands in mind— you can make your way to Athens’ port of Piraeus ( 20 minutes by Metro) and take a ferry to your first island. The ferries are large ships and so motion sickness is not usually a problem for most people. ( I’ve gotten sick on small boats in California but never on a ferry in Greece) I use ginger to combat any anticipated motion sickness.
The good news is that In rough seas, the ferries simply stay in port for safety reasons and sail as soon as they safely can. That means they don’t even go out on the rough days.
You might take a look at YouTube videos that cover the islands you’ve interested in——Hydra, Aegina, Spetses, Andros, Agustin, Kea, Poros— and then decide on a couple that appeal to you the most, An island will be a great way to rest up after your transatlantic flight to Frankfurt and your arrival in Greece.
In May the sea temperatures are still in the 60’s which is a bit chilly for swimming. For hiking, though, the weather is perfect with daytime temperatures in the mid-70’s.

A highly-recommended destination just a couple hours from Athens by bus Is Nafplion.
Consider adding Nafplion to your itinerary if YouTube videos look appealing.
In addition to the Acropolis, be sure to visit the National Archaeological Museum in Athens— it is amazing. At the base of the Acropolis is the Plaka neighborhood which makes for a fun, if a bit touristy, neighborhood to stay at while in Athens.
Have a great trip!

As you are arriving in Athens, why not stay there for a few days visiting museums, the Acropolis etc. it’s impossible to go to Greece and not take in some history, especially in Athens! But there are a variety of Museums devoted to things like musical instruments, jewelleryetc. Stay in the area (Plaka) around the Acropolis as it is full of restaurants, and within easy walking of shops etc.

Then return to the airport and fly to one of the Islands. Crete is the largest and most southerly of the Greek Islands and can easily cater to most interests - great beaches, good food which is somewhat different from that on the mainland, food tours or visits to farms that include creating meals from the farm produce, hiking, archaeological and historic sites, small villages, two larger cities, (Chania is strongly recommended butHeraklion has places of interest). Rhodes is another interesting island and a lot of people recommend Naxos . The not other island I’ve been to is Corfu, very pretty but also quite touristy,especially popular with British holidaymakers. All can be easily reached by plane from Athens as well as by ferry. It note,strong winds can cause rough sailings and/or cancellations. Aegean Air, Olympic Air and Sky Express offer service to most of the larger islands. Having said that a lot of people head straight out to their island of choice and finish their visit in Athens. There is a lot to be said for time to relax and chill after the long flight over to Greece and Athens can be overwhelming for the first time visitor.

Both Hydra and Aegina are close enough to Athens that they are popular for day trips from the city and can be quite busy. RS’s Greek tour includes an overnight stop on Hydra.

Youwillfind that hotels may already be getting booked up, especially in Athens. Look at Booking.com for ideas, they also list apartments, but book direct.y with the accommodation, especially with hotels. Booking. Om will often show a hotel as being booked whereas the hotel with still have vacancies.

Good luck with planning your trip.

Good suggestions here already, a few additional thoughts:
-For motion sickness, just be aware that even crossings on the big car ferries can get rough. I was on an extremely rough crossing from Thessaloniki to Skopelos a few years ago where people around me were using sick bags (and I just about managed not to). However, I think that is pretty uncommon- our return ferry was absolutely fine. The closer you are to shore the less likely it is to be rough.
-Of the islands you mention, I've only been to Hydra, and it's lovely. It's a relatively short ferry crossing that doesn't go too far from shore so should be ok for people with motion sickness. Tho Hydra is a famous island I didn't find it too crowded- it has a very pleasant chill atmosphere which is helped by the fact that cars are banned from the island. We did a hike up to the monastery which is one of my favourite walks I've done in Greece. May should be a good time for hiking as it won't be too hot yet. For the beach, it will be a bit cold to go in the water so it's good that's not a priority for yourselves.

Good luck with the planning!

Hi y'all,

ETA: We have decided to add another 2 days to our trip in Greece. So instead of May 25th, we'll fly out on 5/27 afternoon instead.

Yes, I completely agree that we must take at least one historical tour and now I think that it would be best to take it at the beginning of our stay and not in the end. We will probably spend 2 days in Athens at the beginning and 2 or 3 days at the end of the trip.
A little difficult to decide whether to take a tour of Acropolis &Parthenon or should we pick a tour that includes Museum of Acropolis as well.... Any thoughts?

Thank you for the tips. I'm going to look up the islands that need to fly to as well. Thank you for telling which ones to consider.
I will check out Napflio as I saw in the tour book it can be reached by a 2-hour train ride, so having a bus option might be a good alternative due to some sightseeing while sitting on the bus.

Hearing that Hydra doesn't allow cars is a plus in my mind. It could mean that accommodations might be close to the ferry port. A great suggestion for hiking. I'll definitely research Hydra.

I've discovered a lovely website (AthensByLocals) where I learned about Anifiotika, Plaka, tons of info. I just started reading there today and I've been impressed by the content there.

A couple more things I must find out is any potential concerts like Yanni's performance I heard 30 years ago, folklore dances and visiting a monastery or two. If you know anything, please share.

I see you have not yet booked your flight to Greece from Frankfurt.
This opens up possibilities for you. Lufthansa, Aegean and another airline I have never heard of Discover airlines all offer direct flights to Crete both Chania and Heraklion.

Many experienced travellers advise that you should reserve Athens to the end of your trip and get to your first island as soon as you arrive. Athens can be overwhelming to a jet lagged traveller. Getting over jet lag on an island is way better than doing it in Athens. Keep Athens for the last few days when you have adjusted to Greece culture and way of doing things.

I would choose to fly direct to Chania. Its a lovely seaside city with Venetian roots and you can still get a hotel inside the city walls.
There is lots to do and see on Crete and west Crete has lots of amazing places to visit.

You can ferry hop to several other islands from Crete or fly back to Athens when you are ready to explore there.
To tempt you this is what Chania is like.
Chania 2024 https://www.flickr.com/photos/stanbr54/albums/72177720318408008/

ETA: My student and I are making another but final adjustment. We are thinking of departing Athens on the 29th of May.

Oh dear, Standbr, now you really put me in a pickle here (in a good way) with the link to the pictures from Chania. They are stunningly wonderful!!! I would really consider changing my current plans, but I'm hesitant because of the ongoing very active seismic around Santorini, Amorgos and other islands. I also searched that Crete is sitting on the overlapic plates and the island is very prone to earthquakes as well. Crete looks kind of far from the affected islands and I don't understand how these naturally dangerous events work but the same events can occur of the island of Crete pretty rapidly, no? Crete experienced some a few serious earthquakes in 2021. I don't know what to do now because I admired your photos!!

If I were to consider going, how many days should we spend and can we get around by public transportation easily to admire the island or would be constrained to Chania? Probably no trains there except for buses and ferries?

I need to research what regions Greek islands are in and which are less prone to experience natural disasters.

Thanks for sharing@.

I need to research what regions Greek islands are in and which are
less prone to experience natural disasters.

No need to research, with volcanic eruptions, earthquakes, heat waves and wildfires, there are none.
That hasn't stopped me from going to Greece for over 35 years and I'm still alive, along with millions of other travelers.

So, forget the natural disasters.

We are planning on visiting Naxos this summer. If there is a problem our back up plan will be Crete. Yes Crete is also in an earthquake zone and as I recall there was a smallish quake a couple of years ago. We reached out to several people we know and they all said they were fine.
Transportation without a car on Crete will require you to take the local KTEL bus. The island has an extensive bus system. There are hourly buses from Chania to Rethymnon and Heraklion the three big cities. There is regular bus service to the south coast of the island but not as frequent.
They use large intercity type buses and the bonus is they are not expensive at all.

Since I no longer want to drive in Greece we use the buses all the time with no problem. We discovered a new tour company called wanderlust tours on our last visit. They take a maximum of 12 people to highlight locations on the island.
Here are a few images of the 3 tours we took
Wanderlust tours Chania https://www.flickr.com/photos/stanbr54/albums/72177720318394812

Crete has a great bus system (run by KTEL) and it's extremely easy to get around the island on public transport. If you like hiking, there's Samaria Gorge- you can get a bus to the gorge, hike down to the end, and then you get a ferry to the next town over where a different bus picks you up and takes you back to Chania. Amazing and unique experience.

Thank you for the reponses.
After researching flights yesterday, I have decided not to fly to Crete. I will need to leave island hopping for another time. However, I saw that FRA offers a non-stop flight to Thessaloniki. Over the next few days I am going to create two slightly different itineraries and pick one that might be less intense or time consuming and begin booking flights and accommodations.

In case we fly to Thessaloniki, we could visit that city for a full day and then either take a train-bus or a bus-only route to Kalambaka to visit Meteora. And after that take a bus to Athens or Pirenaus if feasible (if heading to a nearby island first). I need to see how many nights I'll use on this stretch of our journey. And then come back from the island and spend the rest of available time in Athens.
I have read that supposedly inter-city buses and trains are pretty dependable in this country (minus times when there are strikes like the one Greece will experience on Feb.28th) but I still wonder if a 10-min transfer between buses or from bus to train is too tight on some of the offered trips on HellenicTrain.gr or on https://ktel-trikala.gr. What happens if I miss the connection? Do I have to purchase a new non-refundable ticket at the train station or from a bus driver at this point or do they honor my ticket because it was not my fault that the bus or train was late to arrive on the scheduled time? Unless these two website are too clunky they don't offer any trips beyond April.

I'll read more about Hydra and another island to pick one.
I don't know if I can squeeze Napflio in this itinerary though.
So either way, I will need to make trade offs. I cannot have everything.

I have a quick question. If I have only 3 full days in Athens and buy at least one tour (Akropolis most likelly), is it enough? We will not visit many museums. The confusing part about tours I read is that they offer a tour with a ticket to avoid lines which I like, but what is not clear to me, is whether they buy Acropolis-only tickets for attendees? I have read that there is a combo-ticket that tourists can use for 6 or 7 sites. If anyone know more, could you please share with me?

TIA

If you choose Thessaloniki I recommend spending at least 2 days there, otherwise you won't see much.
We spent 4 days in Thessaloniki last year without getting bored for a single moment.

No need to panic to book a train or a bus, reservations are available only 1 or 2 months in advance

Regarding the visits in Athens (and elsewhere) do not be fooled by the "Skip the Line" offers from third party resellers. See below:

https://news.gtp.gr/2023/08/07/culture-ministry-online-ads-for-acropolis-skip-the-line-entrance-tickets-are-misleading/

Book your tickets on the official website:

https://hhticket.gr/tap_b2c_new/english/tap.exe?PM=P1N

Tickets for the summer season 2025 will only go on sale from April 1st. The combo ticket you are talking about may not be sold anymore from that date. (to be confirmed).

Anyway you will only need to book your visits 3 or 4 days in advance, so you don't need to worry about these details.

JoLui,

You are so knowledgeable!!!! Thank you for your helpful information and tips which are very valuable to this rookie :-).

When I went to your provided link and found Acropolis, the announcement seems to allude as if combo tickets might be issued this year again but the scheduled time slot will apply to the Acropolis only. But it's no rush for me and can easily wait.

I didn't suspect "Skip the line" ads were misleading. I thought that these tour companies were getting priority, but it makes sense that the ministry wants everyone have a fair chance to enter this special site. The timed slots of entrance to the Acropolis makes sense and should alleviate queues. I was strongly considering a tour group and now I'll be very sceptical to sign up. I have a few questions about historical tours lead by the 3rd parties and I would like to request your recommendation or thoughts.

What options should we consider with regards visiting the Acropolis?
Should we buy an audio guide when purchasing tickets online if they sell it or still sign up for a tour just because we know little about the place? Maybe we don't need to buy a tour and just find a short version of history and study it closer to the time of our trip because we will not be getting any 'skip the line' benefits especially after the new rules go into effect on April 1.

What about food tours and if they are any good, which would you recommend?

Today I discovered that to purchase bus tickets people have to use different KTEL bus websites because they are kind of separate for different regions... Am I right?

For example, to find bus schedule and ticket information from Thessaloniki to Kalambata (and Athens) I used https://ktel-trikala.gr but I was going mad trying to lookup information from Athens to Nafplio. Then I googled to see that other people had the same issue but someone posted on this forum this link https://ktelbus.gr/arg/ticketweb/#/routeExecutions which solved the problem. The websites appear similar but URL's are different.

If Thessaloniki needs 2 full days then I think I'll have to go back to my original plan and just fly to Athens and stick to a smaller area and enjoy the experience instead of trying to cover so much in a short span of two weeks. I'm sure I'll want to return to Greece again anyway.

Thank you!!

RS "Athens and the Peloponnese" guidebook has an Acropolis Walking Tour: https://store.ricksteves.com/shop/p/greece-guidebook

Edited to add: This website tells you how to get the free RS app, which includes free audio walking tours: https://www.ricksteves.com/watch-read-listen/audio/audio-europe

As I said, the availability of the combo ticket from April 1st is still to be confirmed.

This is part of changes announced in December 2023 that will considerably modify the pricing of museums and archaeological sites. I will not go into details.

Among these measures, the full-price ticket to visit the Acropolis should be €30 all year round, instead of €20 in summer and €10 in winter currently.

There is no official audio guide for the Acropolis, Leonard gave you the link to download Rick Steves' audio guide.

As for how to visit the Acropolis, it's up to you.
You can do some research beforehand. It's a collection of mythology, history, art and architecture that can keep you busy for quite a few hours.

For example, you can consult this non-commercial website which will give you a lot of information without being too boring

https://ancientathens3d.com/

In particular this video offering a 3D visualization

https://youtu.be/ulAxMLJ7O7M

There are also official licensed guides. The cost of a private tour with a guide is around €60.

https://www.tourist-guides.gr/

The same goes for food tours. Honestly, for me they are useless, I know Greek cuisine and its ingredients and I know how to make some Greek recipes. If you want to book a food tour, why not. I know roughly where the guide will take you and what you will eat / taste. It can be a thing to do if you don't have time to hang around Athens and it will make you visit the municipal market.

Here are two Greek websites where you can book a food tour:

https://www.athenswalkingtours.gr/athens-type/food-wine/index.1.html

https://www.alternativeathens.com/tours/category/food-tours/?_

You can also educate yourself beforehand, it will make you hungry.: LOL

https://www.greekgastronomyguide.gr/en/

About buses in Greece, there are about 20 KTEL entities depending on the region. It is indeed a bit difficult to find the right schedules and the right websites and to use them.
To go to Nafplio by bus from Athens check the KTEL Argolida website.

https://www.ktelargolida.gr/en/homepage-en/

tommyk5, a forum member knows this route well, he will be able to give you better information than me, apart from in Athens I mainly use a rental car to travel in regions in Greece

.

Wow, such an awesome information!! THANK YOU so much.

I appreciate all your answers and I'll be diving into all of them in the weeks to come to educate myself and tell my DD to do the same.
I or probably other people will probably be asking questions about Acropolis after April 1. A quick general question. What time of the day would be better to visit Acropolis? I have read that either in the morning when it opens or in the evening before it closes, so maybe 2 or 3 hours before the closing time. Of course it will depend on how the new ticket system works.

BTW, my student is under 25 and with the EU passport. Unless this changes, her entrance to the main archaelogical sites might be free. Does the real EU passport (and not a copy) need to be presented at the gate?
I've watched a YT video and read about pick-pocketers in the country and especially in Athens and the advice is to leave passports & bulk of cash (lock in a safe) in the hotel room (or at Airbnb) and just carry copies of passports and enough cash for that day. Comments?

I'll return to this thread many times, but now I will open a new thread to request comments on my 1st version of my travel itinerary.

Again, thank you for all your insightful comments.

Yes it is preferable to plan the visit of the Acropolis early in the morning or let's say 2 or 3 hours before closing time.

If you try a booking simulation in March you will see that the system asks you to choose a date and a time slot.
You will have to be in front of the entrance of the Acropolis at the selected time slot (even 15 minutes before)

There has been no announcement regarding a change in visiting hours nor for free tickets & discounted but know that the combo ticket was at a fixed price without any possible discount regardless of age.

For other tickets it should not change and be free for Europeans under 25 years old upon presentation of the passport. I don(t know if a copy works.

But once again these are details that are subject to confirmation in April.

Athens is a safe city, but like all touristy cities it attracts pickpockets. These have their favorite playground in the metro on line 3 between the airport and the city center (Syntagma and Monastiraki stations) and on line 1 which goes to the port of Piraeus.
Like the vast majority of millions of visitors per year, we have never had any trouble in the Athens metro, we prefer the bus anyway.

Pickpockets don't like difficulties, they target people who are "targetable".
Basic common sense precautions will keep you out of trouble. Closed bags, backpack in front of you, no clues that would indicate that you might have a phone or wallet in a pocket.

There are regular announcements in English by PA in the metro "watch your belongings!"

I always keep my passport with me as well as my credit card and a few euros. If I have something larger to carry on public transport I use a supermarket shopping bag. Nothing better to avoid being a potential target. :))

If you don't need your passport leave it in the Airbnb or at the hotel if you think it's safer. It's up to you.

JoLui's information is GOLD -- she is a GIft to this forum! As for Acropolis in General ....• Rick steves audio can give you options to go when YOU want, not when tours start. • Important -- listen to it beforehand, in case of any glitches • each of you download your own copy, in case you go at a different pace. • Do some study-up beforehand, either in good guidebook or serious website, not "eye-candy" videos. Re Son's Passport -- if it gets him in free, Bring it along... if you don't trust him to be careful with it, put it in your (safe) zipped purse, or either parents' secure place (money-belt, neck-pocket). Time to go -- In May 5 pm is great... crowds thinned out, lovely light.

Hello okse!
From the perspective of my family who enjoys traveling together and as a parent of young adult/college aged children, I recommend getting some input from your daughter. Involving kids in the process helps get them more invested and they will be more excited to do the different activities. What does your daughter enjoy? What common ground can you agree on so you can really enjoy this amazing vacation together? It’s definitely give and take and can tell you this is helpful in my experience.
The other thing I suggest is that if possible consider a small group tour of sites of interest. Talented guides will cater the experience to their attendees. Some people enjoy listening rather than reading.

Have you considered a day trip (guided tour) from Athens to Delphi, Epidavros, Corinth (the canal)? These are really impressive and special, not just history.

With regard to food tours…..I think they are great. Rick Steves guide might have suggestions for which operators are best. Also consider Culinary Backstreets, Tours by locals or search on this site for food tours in Athens. I just looked and there are several posts.
Good luck and have an amazing time!

Wonderful! I think I will need to copy the most helpful tips and carry them in my hands LOL, not possible to remember everything.

@vmrunner, actually I've discussed with my daughter verbally ;-) quite a few times now whenever she doesn't study or whatever she's doing at college and then texting which is not my favorite means of communication. We are both quite comparable. When we go to cities, we walk, see, do not go too heavy into museums, and importantly try new foods. If we go to slower pace locations, she'll always find how to occupy herself which is reading and of course texting friends. After I texted her a few long messages to ask for input, she said that she will be fine whatever I come up with because she's never been to Greece but it's been her dream. I checked an old photo album on the weekend and coincidentally it's been exactly 30 years when I traveled to Greece and it's been my dream ever since to visit it again.

You make a good point about booking a tour regardless the fake advertisements for "skipping a line". Tours can be entertaining and told in captivating ways. I really enjoyed one in Stockholm. Good food for thought and my daughter will help me to decide :-).