Planning at least 2 weeks in Greece with the main destination Crete for an end of August to early Sept . From Phila, PA AA has 9 1/2 hr direct to Athens with an evening departure & 11 AM arrival. Flight to Crete only 50 minutes. Would like to see some of Athens and wondering what would be the best sequence - visit Athens for the 1st few days, or soldier on to Crete for some culture & mostly beach, and return to Athens rested up and then sight see Athens before the 9 1/2 commute home? Thank you in advance!
Posted by
Centennial, CO, US
2185 posts
Soldier on to Crete. You will need to be back in Athens a day before your flight home, so you may as well keep all of your Athens time together.
When buying the Crete ticket, allow a couple of hours between your flight’s arrival & your departure for Crete.
You say you have at least two weeks for this trip — I’d say take as much time as you possibly can. Crete is amazing, with so much to see and do.
Posted by
Nanaimo, BC, Canada
1441 posts
Totally agree with Charlene. Fly to Crete with a connecting flight no less than 2 hours for connection. You can fly to Heraklion or Chania. For a jet lagged first timer I would suggest you fly to Chania and find a hotel in the old town. Its a great place to recover from a long day of flights.
Here is what you will see in Chania
Chania 2022. https://www.flickr.com/photos/stanbr54/albums/72177720299646015
Posted by
2783 posts
We flew into Chania last May and flew out of Heraklion. It worked well.
We loved Crete!
Stanbr, Charlene,and I all did trip reports on our visits which you might enjoy. Stanbr had been many times before to Crete. Charlene and I were first time visitors.