Greece Itinerary and help with hotels

Have you looked at the drive times? The one night in Meteora part gives me pause. At just a glance, I know it would be too fast paced for me, but consider your family and how you like to travel.
You could spend the entire time on Crete for example, but with two days, I would see Knossos and then head to Chania.

Thank you for your response, I was thinking we can leave Delhi early morning and then reach Meteora (3hrs) then leave Meteora next day to reach Kyliini port(4.5hrs) to go to Zaykynthos.
Is that too ambitious?
Also should we remove Zaykynthos and add days to Crete instead?

So much of this is personal preference--how far are you coming from, that kind of thing. That first day in Athens you may all be dragging--or you may be an energetic bunch. Even on my typical ten-day trips, I prefer a slower pace and like to stay in one spot 4-5 days. I write down each day and look for overall balance--I am hedging because we are all different, and while I see nothing unrealistic, the pace would be a bit much for me. I try to see a lot in one geographic area versus spreading it around.

Many will tell you that you don't have enough time for Athens, but in my own planning I also gave it limited time because I refer rural to city, and I intend to pass through again. I'd hate to travel all that way to Crete for only three days, but you are flying home from there so that is a given, and the ferry line passes through Santorini, so that makes sense, but you could fly to either.
You chose Zakynthos for a reason, but it requires a lot of driving. One night in Meteora would be too brief for me, because I would want to hike among the monasteries for a full day.

I think cutting one place would make a good difference, but you have to choose which one is expendable!

Thankyou again! Very much appreciated.
We love hiking too and we would definitely like to hike to monasteries so I will look into increasing one more night there.
Maybe I can remove Zakynthos. Will look into that.
Any suggestions on Hotels and Rental cars?

I do think removing Zakynthos and adding those four nights to your existing stays would be nice.
We rented from Hertz at ATH airport and had no problems.
In Athens, we were only there a night so did not fuss over it much, but we did choose a place with a view of the Acropolis. I have not stayed in the other locations, but I recommend Booking.com for accommodations.

Thank you! Will definitely consider it.
Hopefully more pro's can chime in for stay in other places and any other suggestions that might help us. Our first time in Greece so would love all the help I can get.

I think you are attempting to do too much. Way to many changes of location. Every change of location will use up a half day on ferries and driving even more. For instance your hop from Santorini to Heraklion departs 4 pm and arrives around 6. Your Santorini hotel likely has a 10 am check out so you have to put in time for several hours.

In order to make good suggestions I am making the assumption that you are travelling Transatlantic. If you are from Europe Jet lag will not be an issue.

Experienced travellers whenever possible get to their first island on day of Arrival. Getting over jet lag on an island is way better than in hot dusty Athens.
So I would fly to Crete or Santorini on the next flight departing at least 2 hours after you arrive.

Santorini takes about 3 nights.

Now I think you have to decide if you want Crete or you want Zanthios.
Crete needs an absolute minimum of a week.

Your driving times are quite long. All are a minimum of 4 to 5 hours without stops. Believe me you are going to see something where you just have to stop. Greece mainland is full of distractions. The day you leave Zakynthos you will have over an hour on a ferry, 4 to 5 hour drive to Olympia, explore the site and then a 5 hour drive back to Athens. I respectfully will suggest that drive is too far and too long.

Oops. When I started my reply there were no other posts. Now I see you have had several helpful thoughts with valadelphia

Thank you! We are flying from the US. We are reaching early morning in Athens.
I think I might have to skip Zantho's as our return flight is from Heraklion- Crete.
Also any suggestions on where to stay in Crete? Which area?

Three nights in Crete is really a waste of time. Its a very large island and you will really have just 2 full days and one evening there.
If you add your Zakynthos days to Crete it would be better. The ferry will arrive in Heraklion which is a very busy city. There is a good central area for an evening promenade, you can visit the fortress on the waterfront visit the Museum and also visit Knossos.
Castello Heraklion https://www.flickr.com/photos/stanbr54/albums/72157686964935102
Heraklion https://www.flickr.com/photos/stanbr54/albums/72157655935354556

We prefer Chania and the sites in the surrounding area. When you enter the walled city and discover the maze of alleys and the Venetian harbour you can easily imagine you have stepped back into the 14th century You can do a day trip to Balos and Gramvossa where you will find a 14th century pirate fortress and a lagoon beach. There is an ancient site at Falasarna plus good beaches. Agia Triada Monastery near the airport is still in operation and has its own orchard vineyard and sell local products. Ancient Aptera is mostly Roman era ruins about 18 KM south of Chania. You really should rent a car to explore Crete. There is a scarcity of rental cars this year so you likely will need to book the car soon. Stick shifts are the norm with very few automatics available .

If you have any other questions just ask.
Ancient Aptera near Chania and Meladoni Cave in Rethymnon area.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/stanbr54/albums/72157672118379637
Gramovossa,Balos and Elafonissi https://www.flickr.com/photos/stanbr54/albums/72157698932695812

Thank you for the detailed information. Taking your advise we are dropping Zakynthos and adding it to Crete.
In Crete if we want vacation/Beach feel, where would you suggest we stay? Last few days we would like to stay put and enjoy the beach.
We can use first 3 days to go around the Crete and visit the must see sites.

I think you might enjoy staying in Rethymnon. Its half way between Chania and Heraklion. It too has an old town and Venetian harbour but much smaller than Chania. It does have a Venetian era fortress which is in very good shape. Rethymnon also has a large beach. I don't particularly like it because it is on the other side of the main road but the beach itself is good.

For your beach days I highly recommend Plakias. Its 45 minutes due south of Rethymnon. There is regular bus service but a car is better because there is lots of stuff in the area to visit.
Here is what you will experience.
Plakias https://www.flickr.com/photos/stanbr54/albums/72157665045541263
Rethymnon https://www.flickr.com/photos/stanbr54/albums/72157654700502270
Back in Plakias https://www.flickr.com/photos/stanbr54/albums/72157688831637594