Hi, Thank you for this interesting and informative site. We are traveling from NYC to Cyprus in Sept for our daughters wedding to a Cypriot. After a week in Cyprus we will arrive in Athens on Sept 30th through Oct 2nd. On the 2nd we are planning to ferry to Tinos for 3 nights. Maybe taking the ferry to Mykonos to spend Saturday, when there are no ships scheduled for that day.
Then back to Athens Oct 5th and leaving on the 6th. I know it is not much time to give the islands or Athens, but we plan to return in the future.
We are great walkers (early 70’s) and enjoy visiting small towns and admiring the architecture and shops. We could use suggestions for places to stay in Athens and especially Tinos. Hoping to spend about $200 per night. Is this a decent itinerary? Does Tinos seem like the best place for our few days? Thank you for helping.
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France Southwest - Occitanie
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There are 2 ferries from the port of Piraeus to Tinos on October 2nd: the Blue Star Paros and the Seajets Champion League.
https://www.ferryhopper.com/en/booking/results?itinerary=PIR%2CTIN00&dates=20261002
Ferry trips to Tinos are shorter and more frequent from the port of Rafina, but Rafina is difficult to get to from Athens.
https://www.ferryhopper.com/en/booking/results?itinerary=RAF,TIN00&dates=20261002
What you can do on September 30th, depending on your flight's arrival time in Athens:
-Take a taxi from Athens airport to the port of Rafina (20 minutes ride) and catch a ferry to Tinos right after (if the schedule allows).
Or
-Book a room at the Avra Hotel in Rafina (free airport-to-hotel shuttle) and catch a ferry to Tinos the next morning. The Avra Hotel is just a 2-minute walk from the port, where you'll also find a few tavernas and restaurants.
This way, in both options you save your stay in Athens for the very end of your trip.
Then, you can reconsider how many nights you want to split between Tinos and Athens between October 1st and October 6th. Tinos deserves at least 4 nights if you want to get to know it a little.
There are also many ferries between Tinos and Mykonos on Saturday September 5th, but given the short time you have, I don't recommend wasting a day going to Mykonos.
Keep in mind that Tinos is hard to explore without a rental car. There are plenty of villages scattered across the island, and the bus network will be extremely limited in October. Tinos Town, the capital and port, is worth seeing but actually only takes a few hours to visit.
In Tinos, we rented a car from Vidalis:
https://www.vidalis-rentacar.gr/
Here are some pictures of Tinos: