Greece Itinerary Help

You should stay in Athens only once. So my suggestion would be to fly to Santorini the day you arrive in Greece. It will make a long travel day but will be more efficient.

Santorini and Mykonos are the most hyped Greek islands. I would not visit both. Our first trip to Greece we flew to Santorini and spent 3 nights and then ferried to Naxos and spent four nights and then flew back to Athens. That might work for you as well.

Crete is also lovely but a little more difficult for a very short stay since the ferry goes out of Heraklion which is close to Knossos but not where I would stay if I only had a few days. We didn’t 11 nights there on a separate trip.

How many days is "spring break"? The plan looks ambitious to me if only one week or 10 days.

Also not certain of what your travel preferences are. When you say "visit a couple of the islands", would that entail setting foot on the island and walking around a bit as one might when on a cruise excursion - or actually exploring? Cruise itineraries may not apply well to DIY when you must figure in your own travel time - fly or ferry between islands.

A few more details would be helpful.

How many nights do you have for Greece?

Are you flying through Istanbul both ways?

Is the homeward Athens-Istanbul-US flight plan a single ticket ? If not, doing it as a 'same day' endeavor is not without risk.

I agree with the idea to put all your Athens days together.

Ty so much for the insights! :)
Few more details:
Spring break will be full 2 weeks.
Flying into Athens.
Only out from Istanbul. That flight leaves 4am (!) so the plan was to catch a late morning/early afternoon flight from Athens- something with still later flights still available just in case we miss it/cancel etc. Not on same ticket.
We would like to do some exploration of the islands. But no rental car.
We have broken cities into 2 parts before to accommodate flights (Paris/Lisbon) and it worked well. Any Athens specific considerations as to avoid a split?
Would love to go from an island to Istanbul but no direct flights at all and would like to avoid long ferry ride.

In spring 2026, Aegean will operate 3 direct flights per week Istanbul - Heraklion (Crete), on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays.

So you could stay in Athens only once if you're going to Crete.

It could look something like this (with the number of nights adjustable):

• Flight to Athens

3 nights in Athens

• Flight Athens to Santorini

3 nights in Santorini

• 1.5-hour ferry to Crete

6 nights in Crete

• Flight Heraklion to Istanbul

There are also options via Thessaloniki, with daily Aegean flights to Istanbul and Crete, as well as two flights per week to Santorini.

This avoids staying in Athens twice, and allows you to visit Thessaloniki as a bonus. However, with this option, visiting another island besides Santorini becomes difficult and time-consuming.

Thank you, Jolui!
I was under the impression that the direct flights were summer only and google flights did not list them when I had plugged in the dates.
After seeing your reply, I went directly on agean website and they show in April!
Thank you for the great suggestions. 😊