My husband & I will be traveling with our daughter for a "16 year old" trip to Greece & Italy in May / June. We fly into Athens on May 27 and out of Rome on June 11, allowing for one week in Greece and one week in Southern Italy. However, we do not have an itinerary set beyond the flights. We are thinking some combination of Athens - Hydra - Santorini (OR Nafplion?) - Patras (Ferry Port) to Bari (Italy Ferry Port) - Ravello (Amalfi) - Capri (or Sorrento - side trip to Pompei) - and Rome.
Ideally - we'd like 2-3 stops in each country with a minimum of 2 nights in each place...
We'd like a do-able itinerary and advice on transportation.
Thanks so much!
Posted by
Edmonds, WA 🌨 ☂
11179 posts
With your limited time I would pick either Hydra OR Santorini, but not both.
I would suggest flying Athens to Naples ( There is one non-stop per day). You could then use Sorrento as a base and then move on to Rome for your final days and departure.
You have a busy trip in mind, with some challenging logistics in moving place to place
Posted by
Olympia, WA, USA
6502 posts
Are you planning on renting a car in each country? If you take the ferry, you may not be able to take the car along, and you'll incur a big dropoff charge if you leave it in another country. You might be able to leave the car in Patras and get another in Bari, crossing the Adriatic as foot passengers. It's a 9-10 hour boat ride, so there goes one of your days unless you take an overnight ferry (you can rent a cabin for better sleep). I agree with Joe, you'd do better to fly from Athens to Naples.
I also agree with Joe about Hydra + Santorini, better to choose one or the other. If it's Santorini, I suggest flying there straight from ATH instead of going into Athens first. Then you can fly back, do your mainland sightseeing, and return to ATH just once more for your flight to Italy.
Posted by
Irving
2948 posts
Nafplio will be easier to reach than Santorini. If you go to Nafplio you’ll need to rent a car in Athens. If you don’t want to rent a car then go to Santorini.
I agree with Dick that flying into Naples is better. From the airport take a taxi to the ferry port and go to Sorrento and sleep there. No need to rent a car in Sorrento because you can easily get to Amalfi and Ravello by bus and Pompeii by the circumvesuviana train.
Posted by
11156 posts
You will arrive in Bari, Puglia but then travel across Italy to the Amalfi Coast/Sorrento/Capri? Puglia has beautiful seaside towns like Polignano a Mare and Monopolize to enjoy as well as Lecce. It makes much more sense to stay in Puglia and we liked it better too!