Greek Islands- tour or cruise

I think I was in the same boat as you a few months ago when we were deciding between an independent tour and a cruise. After much research and going through many posts on the forum, we decided to do a plan on our own. We have about 11 days to work with. We ended up with our first night in Athen Airport (Sofitel - we have a late flight coming in) then 2 nights in Santorini, 4 nights in Paros, and 3 nights in Athens. The more I research, the easier it is all coming together.

The deal breaker on the cruise for us was not the price but having little time on the islands and then dealing with the cruise crowds. But I am certainly not knocking a cruise they are a good option for a lot of travelers.

How many people ? When and how many days?
What is the average daily budget?
What kind of boat/ship/sailboat?

Apart from the traditional cruises on floating buildings, there are many types of cruises in the Greek islands, from a sailboat with skipper to a luxury yacht with a whole crew.
All possible in groups or privately, from 4 to 20 passengers.

Is this the kind of cruise you would like?

https://us.ponant.com/destinations/greece-greek-islands

Our first Greek experience was on a cruise. We did not know what to expect or where to go so It gave us an opportunity to discover Greece get a feel for how it works and see some highlights. The cruise ship gave us a safe haven while we acclimatized to what Greece is like.

This was sufficient for us to know we wanted to come back for an in depth visit and we were able to prioritize where we wanted to visit on land and ferry hopping. We have been back to Greece many times in the last 22 years all on our own plans and itineraries.

Many people come to Greece and do island hopping by ferry. The choices are overwhelming but as you sift through the Forum you will begin to see several prominent places that the majority of visitors love.

Santorini and Mykonos seem to be the most talked about Islands. Personally my advice for first timers is to arrive in Athens and immediately fly to Santorini. As your first Greek experience the views are memorizing and unforgettable. Its a great place to get over jet lag. It is also very expensive. 3 nights is all my wallet can take. Mykonos markets itself as a high end destination with the same prices as Santorini but there are better choices just as pretty and at a third of the price.
My recommendation for choices from Santorini would be Naxos and or Paros. Both are great islands to compliment Santorini. and both are about 2.5 hours away by ferry. Each are much more authentic and you can easily spend a week on either of them. Yu will discover that Greece is best experienced slowly. Many people have only 2 weeks so the last 3 nights will be back in Athens and all its antiquities.

Milos is another popular island to pair with Santorini.

The other popular islands are Rhodes and Crete. Crete is amazing just a 2.5 hour ferry trip. It has Venetian era old towns in Chania and Rethymnon, antiquities, mountains and great beaches. Crete needs one to two weeks and you will just barley see a small portion of it.

If you narrow down your research to these islands I think you will not be so overwhelmed. You can narrow down to a few options. Then come back and tell us when you plan to travel, how long you have, what are your primary interests your budget and then we can give more precise information on the islands that interest you.

Knowing what I know now, I would not take the cruise, unless cruising is you passion.

For fun here are a few images of Santorini, Naxos and the city of Chania in Crete. Maybe you can find inspiration in these photos.
Santorini https://www.flickr.com/photos/stanbr54/albums/72157632154800782
Return to Chania 2022 https://www.flickr.com/photos/stanbr54/albums/72177720299646015
Around Naxos town 2022 https://www.flickr.com/photos/stanbr54/albums/72177720299959098
Back to Naxos 2022 https://www.flickr.com/photos/stanbr54/albums/72177720299940917

Thanks so much! With the exceptions of transatlantic and just to get away Caribbean cruises, I usually don't opt for them since they limit you to where they think you should go and only a brief amount of time there. I much prefer putting together my own plan, but this was getting a little overwhelming. I truly appreciate the advice! Time isn't so much of an issue for us, being retired. I may be planning too much into one trip, but plan to do Sicily, a few Greek Islands, Athens, Delphi, and Olympus in a two month period.

About the Greek islands, there are more than 200 inhabited and visitable islands
So if you have several weeks you will have time to do better and more than just going to the tourist traps and Instagram sponsored posters of Santorini, Mykonos, etc.
Which no longer have anything to do with art, culture and history, I can assure you.

The problem is that we are quickly overwhelmed by the choice, the organization, the possibilities or impossibilities of going from one place to another.

You can go to the Cyclades Islands, to the Dodecanese Islands (Rhodes, Kos, etc), to the Ionian Islands (Zakynthos, Corfu, etc).
Or go from the Cyclades to the Dodecanese via Crete (or vice versa)
Go back through Athens and go to the northern islands ( Lesvos, Limnos, etc)

In short, for my part, if I had more than a month free, I would go at random and decide from day to day.

Yes I know, it doesn't help much. :))

@JoLui, I have a similar interest as this poster. Could you narrow it down to what would be your Top 5 islands to experience the authentic Greece (not the touristy crowded ones) and still see beautiful buildings & views to photograph and the culture enjoy?

Jean, sorry but I don't have any Top 5 or 10 or whatever Ranking.
Especially since I don't know 90% of the Greek islands.
On the almost twenty islands that I know, there are some that I prefer for certain reasons, others that I like less without being able to explain why.

Like everyone else, I like photographing beautiful landscapes, but I'm more interested in the people I meet. Sometimes that's what makes me prefer one place to another, and as a explorer said "who travels without meeting the other does not travel, he moves"

The only list I could make, which is more or less objective, is "which islands to avoid from June to September to avoid the tourist crowds" There it is:

Santorini, Mykonos, Corfu, Skiathos, Naxos, Kos, Milos, Kefalonia, Paros.

If you are even more selective you can add all those which are quoted by magazines, websites, travel agencies as being the "Most beautiful Greek islands to see absolutely"

We’d spent about 3 weeks on mainland Greece over the years and skipped the islands except for a day trip once to nearby Aegina so decided to take a cruise to see if we’d want to return for more extensive visits. We enjoy cruising and like you avoided those where time per stop was limited, concentrating on warm Caribbean winter cruises and trans oceanic cruises. We also are not the outdoor types and share your preferences. I’m glad we did as we discovered we’re not the island types. We visited Santorini, Mykonos, Rhodes, Lesbos, Malta and Corfu. They were all beautiful and interesting but for us a day was sufficient. We no longer hang on the beaches all day as in decades past so maybe that was a factor, but all I can say is I’m glad we tried it out on a cruise. I do know I was always asking myself “How could somebody spend a week here?” I know quite well millions do but it turned out it just wasn’t our thing. I also know that one day probably isn’t the most scientific sampling method so there’s room for error. I really expected we’d be booking the next trip when we finished, but we didn’t. YMMV of course. Safe travels wherever you choose!

We did a Viking Ocean cruise last summer starting in Malta and all around Greece. We have done both RS tours (very much enjoyed) and several Ocean Cruises, so we can easily compare. In this case we felt the Cruise enabled us to get to some places that we otherwise would not have been able to get to. Crete was my favorite and not doable by a land only trip; all of the islands were beautiful. We also were able to enjoy all the sunsets while sailing away with a cocktail in hand...not sitting on a very long bus ride.

Note to add: On our Viking Athens excursion (only about 15 people) we had an excellent tour guide who also worked for RS Europe. Depending upon which company you use, you can have the best of both worlds!

For your interests, I think Crete and Santorini because of the archeological sites. I would wonder if there might be a cruise that would also go to Ephesus in Turkiye.

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