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Greece Itinerary help!

Hello my husband and I are planning on a trip to greece right as we arrive in Istanbul airport. We will be departing from Istanbul airport, headed towards one or two of the following Greek islands. However I'm having great difficulty choosing between which exact islands we should visit as I like several, and they seem to be far from one another. We are a married couple and enjoy relaxing at beaches and some nightlife is nice just not OVERLY crowded like or too expensive like Mykonos. We are in our early 20’s.
Please help me decide which islands to go to, and where to depart from to reach certain islands (such as los) which doesn't have an airport to fly into. Also would appreciate recommendations on which of two islands to visit first vs second.
Total trip: 10-12 days
Islands on my top list;
- los
- Possibly Paros
- Crete
- Zakynthos
- Corfu?
I was thinking of combining one of following combinations for our trip: (from Istanbul)

  1. Crete & Zakynthos
    (thinking of ferry from Heraklion)

    1. los and Paros
    2. Crete and Ios
    3. Zakynthos and Corfu

I really like the nightlife in los and was wondering if Zakynthos Laganas has equal nightlife to that of los'.
If I go to los from Istanbul, should I fly into Paros or Santorini? Then take ferry to los. If I fly into Paros for my los trip, then I would just stay in Paros for a week then go to los via ferry. Not to mention, I am debating most between choosing options 1 or 2. Thank you so much!

Posted by
1441 posts

Logistics are important when Island hopping in Greece. Thus islands need to be in the same region to make ferry trips efficient.
There are two airports in Crete, Chania and Heraklion. There are many more flights daily to both these locations as opposed to Paros which has fewer choices.

There is lots to do on Crete. It has Venetian era cities, great beaches and Minoen ruins including Knossos. Chania is our favourite. It has a Venetian era harbour and old town.
Chania 2022 https://www.flickr.com/photos/stanbr54/albums/72177720299646015
Western Crete https://www.flickr.com/photos/stanbr54/albums/72157632115757899

Your ferry trip to Ios would be from Heraklion to Santorini then Ios. Probably about three hours on a fast ferry. To get back to Athens at the end of your trip you would have to ferry to Naxos or Paros. Both have airports that connect to Athens.

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