Hi all,
First visit to the Greece forum but know you all can help. We are looking at joining a 12-day group tour that includes Athens, Nafplion (and Kalamata), and Delphi (Olympia) before heading back to Athens. Afterwards, my husband and I would like to extend the trip by traveling on our own from Athens. Perhaps with 5-7 days in Crete on our own.
Question: The tour ends on the Monday before Greek Orthodox Easter weekend (which is May 2 this coming year), meaning that we would be staying on our own up to or including Easter Sunday and Monday. Definitely Good Friday. 've read that lots of things shut down around Easter -- as in public transportation, shops, many restaurants, etc. Would archeological sites on Crete (our main interest) be closed as well? Is this a bad week to plan this kind of add-on trip?
Alternative is to do all this 2 weeks earlier (in mid-March) or 2 weeks later, after Easter. I fear March would be too cool and no evening strolls and meals under the stars. And third week of May too warm and perhaps starting to fill with tourists on Crete.
Thoughts and advice welcomed. Though I know we can't predict weather and can't expect perfection, but Easter closures might be a problem ... or not? Thanks!
Posted by
Philadelphia, PA, USA
3826 posts
Third week of May is NOT too warm... much better choice, avoids the Easter problem (Yes almost all historic/ancient sites are closed several days around easter) . 11 of my 13 trips have been in May, including Crete, Cycladic Isles and Peloponnese on almost all of them... Most trips hae started May 15 or May 20 or so. Almost all have been ideal weather cmpares with earlier or later. Everything's open, but not too crowded... you just have to pick & choose, Crete is perfect at that time.
Posted by
OP
2 posts
Thanks for your thoughts on May, Janet! -- much appreciated, especially the note on sites being closed around Easter. Easter celebrations would be interesting to see, but maybe that's more of a fantasy than reality.
The particular tour that I'm eying is a Road Scholars tour and its options run from March to that last one in May. It seems focused on archaeological sites and museums so I guess the goal there is fewer crowds and cooler walking temps? I like that focus and my husband hates hot weather, but, yes, I've read that March is too cool/rainy and June is too hot and crowded. I just feared that the third week of May might be getting too close to June ... we'd start right after Easter, and wondered if that might be the beginning of crowds -- but maybe Crete crowds are not the same as Athens crowds?
Posted by
3615 posts
I would go in May.
I was in Crete in the third week of May and the weather was perfect. The mainland is much hotter than the islands. Going to mainland earlier in May I would think would work out well. I was there this year at that time and it actually was unusually cool (in 60s most days).
Posted by
Philadelphia, PA, USA
3826 posts
Crete is Huuuge ... it's a whole country in itself, was its own country in Ancient times ... "crowds" is a relative concept ... on a day when a couple of megacruise ships are docked in Heraklion on a weekday, there may be a lot of people touring Knossos .,.. but put Santorini/Mykonos midsummer crowd photos out of your mind. In Crete I've been west and East (mid), and south as well, and so often find myself alone, walking down a flowered lane, or alone in a field of ruins. I envy your plans.