Greece - June 2025 Best Islands for beach/swimming and history

Mama Mia was filmed on Skopelos. It's popular now to Europeans but less known to Americans.
However, if you are interested in history, then Crete or Rhodes may be more appropriate.

You will love Greece no matter what.

with only ONE week, if that includes arrival & departure days -- you only have 5.5 days (!!) You can count Day 1 as a half-day only if you arrive before noon, and you cannot count departure day at all. If you want any hopeful & realistic advice, I strongly urge you to stretch your time to 8 daya PLUS the 2 travel days -- otherwise it's just a blur, enabling you to "check off" a couple of destinations, but not having memorable, relaxing experiences.

Forget about Kefalonia... UK & Europe have direct flights to the Ionian islands but not from N America (BTW, it makes helping easier if you say where you're from) -- and for that reason, there are UK/EU package tourism & you may encounter a lot of "tourist resorts" on best beaches. BTW, if your daughter does more homework about "HOmer's Ithaca" there is now scholarly belief that it was actually the north peninsula of Kefalonia, not the isle of "Ithaca' at all... fascinating archeological & terrain evidence.

With 8 days BESIDES arr/dep days, you have time for ONE island plus 2 full days in Athens. My Island suggestions:

SIFNOS -- my TOP choice for beauty, beaches, and (amazingly) little "Package-tourism" (because no airport). If u arrive ATH by noon you can catch 3pm ferry from Piraeus, arr 6pm. Gorgeous beaches - look for accomm on Platy GIalos or Vathy beaches. Good bus network PLUS rent a car for a day. Several ferries daily, 3 or 5 pm, 2 hrs. This splendid website - http://sifnos.e-sifnos.com/index.htm -- tells ALL, including gorgeous photos, complete list of activites, history, hikes more -- Click Every LINk!!!

NAXOS -- has been my favorite since my 1st trip ('99) but alas is being discovered; however, if you act Now, you can find accoms on or near a beach & it has Great Bus network. Fascinating port town with high castle, ruins & history all over island, recommend a full-day bus tour (includes noon swim) -http://www.naxosbustransfer.com/ vibrant nightlife in port town, if u stay at a beach I now advise FAR out on Plaka, & bus into town. Too many activity options to describe - do homework beyond youtube "eye candy". Here's a 2022 photo album - https://www.flickr.com/photos/stanbr54/albums/72177720299940917/ - by a top RS Contri butor who goes to Naxos yearly -- here's an excellent "starter site" about the island that's free from puffery - https://www.naxos.gr/naxos/?lang=en
IF you choose NAxos, plan to arrive ATH before Noon and FLY (via Aegean/OLympic or Sky Express) it's 40 mins vs 4.5- 6 hrs by ferry. Try for flight in afternoon (allow 2 hr layover). At end of stay there, FLY back to ATH & get taxi (flat rate) to central ATH hotel.

ATHENS - with just 2 days, find hotel NEAR Acropolis, almost all main sights are clustered, many on no-cars streets, so you walk. You now need to book Acropolis visit ahead of time- best group tour is Athens-Walks & they'll handle advance booking. they have options to combine Acropolis Plus museum; check their website.

Above all you need to decide, and act NOW. A few years back, you could take your time about Greece in June -- now alas the world has "discovered" it. I just helped a friend book an early May trip last month -- and already many filights are filling, and favorite hotels are booked. No need to worry about ferries, but lock in domestic flights as Soon as you know your transatlantic ones. Dont spend time on accooms until you have transport figured out. Good luck, have fun planning!

Oh wow what quick advice! I should have added that we are going to Italy and our trip is 3 weeks. So during that time we want to see Greece. We will fly in from Rome.

Skyscanner is a useful website for searching low cost carriers, so you can see what islands with airports you might be able to get to from Rome. There are some seasonal flights.
But I’d still consider saving Greece for an exclusive trip, as Italy has some places you could more easily incorporate, making more of your time. Sicily is one option, but the Greek influence in Southern Italy might be of interest, such as the temples at Paestum, about an hour south of Naples.

Yes,it would have been nice to have that pertinent information before I spent an hour carefully working out an itinerary. If you are just spending a week in Greece, I'd say skip the islands ... you don't have time for all the transportation, your agenda is unreallistic.

I suggest renting a car at the Airport and driving to NAFPLIO -- a magical Old Town (the most beautiful Old Town in all Greece), surrounded by the sea, on a peninsula.... just 2.5 hours away from ATH airport, on a modern intercity highway by the sea. It has castles, sandy beaches, sunsets, gorgeous architecture, surrounded by Iliad-era ruins, plus nightlife, shopping... perfection. Here are some pix of Nafplio & surrounding areas -- https://www.flickr.com/photos/visitnafplio/sets/72157626483407223/ And this superb noncommercial website - http://www.visitnafplio.com/ -- tells ALL you want to know ... where to stay, swim, explore, eat, plus historical info, great walks. Click EVERY link! A bonus enroute, just off highway, a "OLympia runner-up" sacred-games site, NEMEA, with huge fab stadium... (they stage a "revived Nemean Games" every 4 yrs, thousands of competitors from world over). In Nafplio, Stay 3 nights, 4th AM drive back by way of ANCIENT EPIDAURUS -- acoustically-perfect 15,000-seat stadium more than 2,000 years old - a World Heritage Site, totally thrilling ... just an hour to see, and unforgettable. Return car at airport, taxi to Central Athens for 3 final days.

I realize there may be another previously unstated factor why this won't work either.

Early June you will have a lot of options to flights to the Greek islands from Rome.

Crete,

Santorini in the Cyclades

Corfu, Zakynthos or Kefalonia in the Ionian Islands

Skiathos in the Sporades (Skopelos has no airport)

Rhodes or Kos in the Dodecanese Islands.

It depends on the day of the flight.

However, be aware that most flights are operated by the low-cost airline Ryanair with which you have to pay everything extra, even a glass of water during the flight. Also check the baggage policy very carefully.

Then to return to Athens all these islands have daily flights with Sky Express or Olympic, the 2 Greek airlines

May I ask how you plan on getting to Greece? You said you’re flying via Rome. Does that mean you’re flying from California to Rome and then to Greece and then back to Italy? It’s all very confusing and with 3 weeks you’ll have less than that week to see Greece if you want to go to Athens and an island or two. If you must go to Athens then the only island you can go to and have something resembling a week in Greece, would be Hydra. It’s close to Athens, it’s beautiful, picturesque but definitely not cheap. If you fly into the north of Italy you’ve got many more options for spending an actual week on a Greek island without having to transit through Athens which can reduce that week to a mere 5 days, if you’re lucky. Flying out of Bergamo one can go to Rhodes and from there take a ferry to any number of islands within an hour to an hour and a half. Kos, Symi and others are close by.

Jonrossjan, hi thanks. We have RT tickets to Rome from CA. It’s an 22 day trip. We will be in Rome for 4 nights. Three of four of us have been to Rome in 2024 so my youngest needs to experience it too. Then we plan to fly to Greece. Athens for sure, because my daughters have turned me into a Roman and Greek Mythology geek lol. I am aware we can fly from Rome to Crete, or Rome to Kefalonia or one of the islands that have a small airport. I realize I can only pick one island if we will be in Greece for only one week. But adding a day for travel will be no problem with the length of my overall trip. I just want to pick beautiful blue waters one seen in pictures, warm waters, and historical sites or museums. We just watched a program about Kefalonia and Ithaca as it relates to Homer’s Odyssey learning that Kefalonia has archaeological finds. It’s next to Ithaca and I wonder if they have ferry for day trip. The end result will be whatever is available as far as flights, ferry, lodging, and budget will determine the choice.

I just want to pick beautiful blue waters one seen in pictures, warm
waters, and historical sites or museums...

All 200 inhabited and visitable Greek islands have blue waters, many also have historical sites, one or more museums and stories related to mythology (but be careful not to mix myth and reality). Some islands have become "instagram islands", they are not necessarily the best.

But why not Kefalonia and Ithaca.

From Rome there are direct flights to Kefalonia with the low cost airline Ryanair on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays.

Be careful, the checked baggage rate doubles the basic ticket price.

There are 4 daily flights Kefalonia ↔ Athens with Sky Express and Olympic, the two Greek companies.

There are of course organized day trips from Kefalonia to Ithaca.
You can also take a ferry with Levante Ferries or Ionion Pelagos Lines (about 4 ferries per day in June). There are also several sea taxi services for a private transfer.

Ithaca is a very sparsely populated island, there is only one bus that leaves from Vathy, the port and main village, there are 2 or 3 taxis. You can rent a bike or a car