We are looking to go to Greece in late Oct for 10-14 days & I was thinking of renting a car. What is a good driving itinerary for Greece? We are thinking of hitting one or 2 islands either as well, not sure if we should do at beginning or end.
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Colorado Mountains, USA
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In April 2018, we landed in Athens in the early evening, and got a ride to our hotel. Next morning, we caught a ferry to Hydra, the one island that trip. So we had our island at the beginning.
After ferrying to Ermioni from Hydra, we rented our car and toured the Peloponnese for the next week and a half. We drove to Nemea, Napflio (daytrips to Mycenae and Epidaurus), Monemvasia, west to Aeropoli (daytrip south to the tip of the Mani Peninsula), then north along the west coast to Kalamata and on to Olympia/Archaea Olympia. From there, we crossed the bridge to the mainland, and stayed in Delphi (too noisy that night), Galaxidi (close to Delphi and much more serene), then on to Athens, where we turned in the car and spent the last 3-4 days.
Trip the following year, in October, it was all Crete. We flew in to Iraklio (aka Heraklion), picked up a car on Day 3 and proceeded in a clockwise direction, including Kritsa, Sitia, Kato Zakros, Tzermiado, Pitsidia, and Hania. Flew home from Hania (aka Chania).
In all parts of Greece, watch out on blind curves. Drivers coming around from the other direction can likely be cutting the corner short, and could be partially in your lane. We had that a lot. They always got back on their side of the road, eventually, but it was unnerving.