We have been reading the forums and have an idea of what we want, but have a few questions. We like to walk, hike, bike and take in the beautiful scenery and history. Our plan is to fly into Athens from Vancouver, Canada, but we will be travelling on to Croatia, so we will also look into if we can fly out of Santorini??
Athens - 2 days
Nafplio - 3 days
Santorini - 3 days
Naxos - 4 days
Milos - 3 days We have not seen any posts on Milos. Friends have suggested it, as it was a highlight for them. Anyone been there?
We believe the small towns will suit us better, but we are open to suggestions.
Posted by
Washington DC
28062 posts
When is your trip?
You are smart to be thinking about this now. In general, the connections between the two countries are poor. Most traffic to each seems to be from northern and central Europe; not much traffic between them I suppose.
I checked a random date in May and found these possibilities (looking only at Athens and islands on the Greek end):
Athens-Dubrovnik (one non-stop operated by Trade Air for Croatia Airlines; many connections)
Kos-Dubrovnik (one decent connection--Olympic/Trade Air--at $362)
Athens-Zagreb (connections)
Athens-Split (connections, shortest being 6-1/2 hours via Frankfurt, for $292)
Many if not most of those connections are horrendous. Do you want to change planes in London? Istanbul? How about a 10-hour trip?
You can play around with the options on skyscanner.com. Don't forget to set the trip duration filter so you don't see the 36-hour itineraries. (I am not kidding.)
You may want to consider flying from Athens (probably) to a different country and making your way to Croatia by bus or train. Northeast Italy is probably your best shot. Greece to Slovenia looks at least as bad as Greece to Croatia.
Posted by
OP
18 posts
Thanks for your input. We have so focused on our itinerary, I didn't think it was going to be a big deal to get to Croatia. I will start looking now.
Posted by
Washington DC
28062 posts
Believe me, you're not the only one. The only reason I knew this might be tricky is that other folks have posted similar questions here about getting to Croatia.
Posted by
Nanaimo, BC, Canada
1441 posts
Hello from Vancouver Island. acraven has done the work on the Croatia thing so I won't comment on that. I can tell you Milos is a wonderful destination. It has the most amazing landscapes and beautiful rock formations and is virtually surrounded by beaches. In fact this is the one place in Greece where you can get Santorini type sunsets from the village of Plaka.
Milos 2011 http://www.flickr.com/photos/stanbr54/sets/72157632109429236/
Milos 2013 http://www.flickr.com/photos/stanbr54/sets/72157634779985764/
There are a few things you should understand. The tourist season doesn't start until June 20. So it will be very quiet in May. The local bus suystem is for thew locals so unless you rent a car you will have to take a combination of bus and taxi to explore the island.
The big problem for your plan is Milos is situated on the far side of Santorini so you really will be wasting a lot of time going from Santorini to Milos then returning to Santorini to take the ferry to Naxos. Each ferry hop eats a minimum of a half to three quarters of a day. You have to make logical island destinations based on how much time it takes to get from one place to the next.
I would suggest you fly to Santorini spend your 3 days then go to Naxos for 7 then fly back to Athens to make your connection to Croatia. Or chose Milos from Santorini and drop Naxos.
I just snagged an Aegean flight from Naxos to Athens for two for less than 40 euros. I have never seen Naxos flights on sale. If you can firm up dates this would be a very good time to book that flight from Naxos
Naxos Town http://www.flickr.com/photos/stanbr54/sets/72157632094558042/
Trip around Naxos http://www.flickr.com/photos/stanbr54/sets/72157634605629689/