Hi, we are a family of three adults who are planning a trip to Greece in the latter part of May. We will be reaching from US Monday afternoon about 430 pm and leaving back to US in two weeks Monday morning at 6 AM. This would be our first time to Greece. We love art, architecture, history, food, culture. Not much into beaches. We like our trips at relaxed pace, and do not like to cram too much. We are thinking of Athens, Nafplio, Santorini, and Naxos. We are OK with dropping one if necessary.
I have reviewed multiple posts, requesting itinerary help, but I guess I’m still confused Best I can think of is to go from Athens airport to Nafplio, back to Athens airport and fly from Athens to Santorini to Naxos and then back to Athens and stay there for whatever days left. I worry though that may be too much time spent in traveling back-and-forth and not enough time at specific places. Any help/recommendations in planning out the days would be hugely appreciated.
Thanks in advance!
Posted by
Edmonds, WA 🌨 ☂
11871 posts
Can you book your flight from US to Santorini, as a single ticket? I see a couple of flights around 830PM.
To be most efficient, I think going to Santorini 1st makes the most sense. Then arrange the rest of the trip so you end in Athens.
Posted by
Massachusetts, USA
1700 posts
Exactly how many nights do you have for this trip?
I agree it is better to fly to Santorini first, and try to book your reservation on one ticket, from your home airport direct to Santorini. You will layover somewhere in Europe. This way you don't have to worry about collecting your luggage until you arrive in Santorini. We flew Boston to Santorini with a layover in Zurich and it worked out perfectly. If you are on one ticket, and if you miss your flight from wherever you are laying over, the airline is responsible for putting you on the next available flight to Santorini.
Our trip in May 2022 was Santorini, Naxos, Nafplio, and then Athens. We had 16 nights on the ground. We took the Blue Star Ferry from Santorini to Naxos. Then we flew from Naxos to Athens Airport where we picked up our rental car and drove 2 hours to Nafplio. When we left Nafplio, we returned our car to the Athens Airport, and then took a taxi to our hotel in Athens.
With your current itinerary, you have to go to Athens Airport too many times. Starting off in Santorini is better logistically, and an island is a nice place to get over jetlag.
Posted by
2781 posts
We did the exact same itinerary as kmkoo. It was a great first trip to Greece. We did fly on unconnected flights as the cost for us was unreasonable on one ticket.
It sounds like you have already purchased tickets. I would look into taking a flight later that night if possible to Santorini. It is doable if you arrange to be picked up by private transport at the airport. My kids came in on a different flight the night before into Athens and flew directly to Santorini on a late flight on Ryan Air. I arranged with the hotel for them to be picked up at the airport. It all worked well.
Posted by
OP
11 posts
Thanks joe32F- booked flight already, to add Santorini would be very expensive
Thanks kmkoo- we will have 14 nights and 13 days. How did you get from Naxos to Nafplio? The only way I see is to come to Athens and then to Nafplio. Potentially fly to Athens and then take a bus/car rental to Nafplio. Do you need a car in Nafplio?
Thanks BethFl- yes we have purchased the flights and to add Santorini now would be quite expensive. We are debating whether to go to Nafplio first from Athens airport or to Santorini?
How many nights would be good in each location?
🙏
Posted by
France Southwest
2318 posts
It is generally not recommended to take the road upon arrival from the USA. This will add you about 2 hours of driving in an unfamiliar environment after a long journey.
But it's your call.
What is recommended is to take a flight when you arrive in Athens. Allow approximately 2-3 hours of connecting time.
For Santorini you will have flights until late in the evening, For Naxos until around 6 p.m. Take flights with Aegean/Olympic or Sky Express, both Greek companies.
Regarding Athens → Santorini flights, avoid budget companies such as Volotea and Ryanair which only have one flight per day, sometimes delayed or even canceled.
ATH → Naxos flights are only operated by Aegean/Olympic or Sky Express with ATR turboprops. Pay attention to the maximum dimensions and weight authorized for cabin baggage which are smaller than other planes
Santorini is the most touristic island in Greece, most travelers do not stay there for more than 3 nights. When it is said that Santorini is a "must see once in a lifetime", the key word is "once" because almost no one wants to return to Santorini once they have visited other Greek islands.
Naxos deserves at least 5 nights, which is only 4 full days.
Be aware that any travel from one island to another by ferry will take most of the day. You will have to check out, go to the port, wait for the ferry, travel by ferry, transfer from the port to your accommodation and check in.
If you go to Nafplio, visit the city, Mycenae and Epidaurus before returning to Athens, it is possible over 2 or 3 nights.
It's preferable to keep Athens for the end of the stay, it will be easier to take your return flight to the US.
Visiting the basics of Athens requires 2 or 3 full days and involves seeing the main archaeological sites/museums and one or two neighborhoods/places.
A more complete visit of Athens will requires 4 or 5 full days.
Posted by
2781 posts
You can take an unconnected flight if you allow enough time. I think we allowed 2 hours but that was in 2018. I would probably allow 3-4 today. There seem to more flights late post pandemic. My kids took Ryan air because it was only option with how late they arrived in Athens. (after 8 pm). We took Aegean air which I would always prefer. And yes, the carry on dimensions are different. We had carried on our luggage with United but checked with Aegean. I bought flexible tickets which allowed for a change just in case our flight from the US was really late and we missed our flight to Santorini.
It is far better to sit at the airport and wait to catch a flight than to drive on unfamiliar roads after an international flight.
We flew to santorini from Athens and spent 3 nights, we then took a ferry to Naxos and stayed 4 nights. We flew to Athens rented a car and drove to Nafplio and stayed 4 nights. We then drove back to the Athens airport, turned in the car and took a bus into Athens where we stayed 3 nights.
We had 14 nights which I think you do too. We spent every afternoon in Nafplio at a different beach (it was too hot to tour). Doing that, we still saw most everything we wanted to see. If you don’t like beaches, I might stay in Nafplio 3 nights and spend 5 in Naxos or 4 in Athens.
Posted by
Massachusetts, USA
1700 posts
With 14 nights, I would do something like this:
Santorini - 3 nights
Naxos - 4 nights
Nafplio - 3 or 4 nights
Athens - 3 or 4 nights
We took the Blue Star ferry from Santorini to Naxos - 2 hours
We flew on Aegean Air from Naxos to Athens Airport, where we picked up our rental car and drove to Nafplio - about 2 hours
When we left Nafplio, we drove back to the Athens airport to return our car, and took a taxi to our hotel in downtown Athens.
Everything was very easy.
We did take the 3pm ferry out of Santorini so that we could sail through the caldera. The day we left we did have time to walk from our hotel in Firastefani to Imerovigli, which we hadn’t seen yet on our trip. Had lunch there. So it wasn’t a wasted travel day.
Posted by
OP
11 posts
Thank you so much JoLui, BethFl and kmkwoo.
This has been very helpful. I will follow your advice and now move on to making reservations for accommodation and domestic travel in Greece.
🙏