We are doing two Rick Steve's tours back to back and will be transferring from Athens to Ljubljana with 3 days in between tours. April 14am ( 1st Greece tour ends in Athens) and April-16 (Adriatic tour begins in the evening Ljubljana). There is a direct flight to Ljubljana on the 16 fairly early am. What day trip from Athens or overnight trip would you recommend? I would also take an alternate route to Ljubljana if there was an interesting way to commute. Would taking the ferry to Mykonos be worthwhile? We would only be able to do an overnight.
Posted by
11156 posts
Taking a ferry to Paros or Naxos for an overnight would be better for a more Greek experience. Mykonos and Santorini are over the top touristy and crowded.
Posted by
OP
2 posts
This is great and thank you for those suggestions. Can you expand on which one is better and how to reach them?
Posted by
France Southwest
1817 posts
I would avoid going to an island for such a short period of time. Not only will you not have enough time to visit the island, and if your ferry back to Athens is canceled for any reason (bad weather, strike, breakdown), you will be stuck on the island while your flight to Ljubljana takes off.
Especially since Athens has plenty to keep you busy for 2 more days
Posted by
Los Angeles, CA
20 posts
If you could fly to Ljublijana right after the Greece tour ends you would be able to take an overnight trip by train to Lake Bled. I was there in Summer when it was extraordinary to swim in the lake itself, but it would still be magical in the Spring and the hotels and island in the center of the lake with church is lovely. I'm going on the Greece tour April 28th but I've already been to Croatia/Slovenia and then went to Salzburg after that in 2022. I would love to go back.
Posted by
Huntington Beach CA
1113 posts
I did the Greece tour a couple of years ago. After the tour, we went to Mykonos and Santorini for 4 nights each. What I wish I did was that I spend an extra night in Athens after the tour to do a daytrip to Meteora. If you have not heard about Meteora, please google it. It is a series of monasteries perched on top of mountains and looks so fascinating. I was absolutely exhausted after the tour as it was quite strenuous with lots of stairs and hillsides to climb. It’s one of the more active RS tours. If you would really like to go to Mykonos, then fly over for a quick overnight. Flying is much faster than the ferry and there are more flight options than ferry options.
Posted by
A tiny island in Puget Sound WA, USA
166 posts
If you do decide to chance an overnight on an island, take a look at Aegina. It’s a one hour ferry ride from Piraeus port if I remember correctly, and I found it charming.