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help planning trip to greece and istanbul

Posted by on

I need help planning my trip to greece and istanbul beginning the end of march and into april (about a month total). We want to spend 4 days in athens and then a couple on hydra. From there we would head to some of the islands. These are the ones I am thinking of: Crete, Santorini, Naxos, Paros and Samos. We want to spend the last 4 or 5 days in Istanbul. Here are my questions what order should I visit the islands, how long in each and the best way to travel between the islands. Finally, best way to get to Istanbul.

Thank you in advance for your help and suggestions.

Posted by
7054 posts

You have to keep tabs on the tourist VISA situation in Turkey (I assume you're a US citizen?). As of about a week ago, Turkey and the US stopped granting tourist VISAs to one another. Who knows how long this will last. If both countries change their stance, you'll be able to take a flight from Athens to Istanbul...that is the easiest way to do it.

Posted by
4183 posts

You have lots of research to do for this trip.

Check on the Hydra ferry situation. You may have to return to Piraeus to go anywhere else. Also ferries to/from Piraeus to/from Crete and Santorini take a long time.

Flying from Athens is quite common and often cheap, but you have to fly back to Athens to fly to other places. We did take a fast ferry from Santorini to Heraklion. I haven't been to the other islands.

As to your March-April timeframe, the weather could be problematic for both flying and for sailing. Likewise, the islands could be mostly shut down then, so you'll want to find out about when things start hopping again on them.

I've been to Greece in the autumn and early winter, but not in the early spring.

As for Istanbul, I wouldn't get my hopes up for any change in the visa standoff anytime soon.

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