Hello and thanks in advance. My wife and I are planning a 14 to 21 day trip to Greece in May. The plan is to fly from boston to athens, fly to santorini, spend 2 days, take ferry to sifnos spend 5 days, reurn ferry to santorini, fly back to athens . Spend 5 days in athens including an overnight trip to Delphi and Meteora this is important because she wants to visit her mother's village. Is it realistic to expect to do the above in 2 to 3 weeks? If anything we would like to spend more time in sifnos. What I am worried about is the travel time to the islands
Posted by
Reno, NV, USA
2427 posts
Does the two days in Santorini include the day you fly there? Then you would have a day and a half at the most there. And if you run into those pesky meltemi winds in the Aegean, flights could get canceled and Santorini would become an airport stop. I would give myself 3 full days for Santorini. The meltemi winds can also prevent the ferries from running. Meteora is a 6 hour drive from Athens. I would not suggest doing Meteora and Delphi in a day as you won't see anything but the inside of your car. I would suggest 3 days for Meteora and Delphi.
Posted by
Camarillo, California
3121 posts
Flights are rarely grounded because of wind. I have been to Santorini many times in May, and the wind has never been a serious issue. Those "pesky" Meltemi winds don't occur until sometime in July and even as late as August. Unless you have a particular reason for returning to Santorini for a flight to Athens you can just catch a ferry on Sifnos that will take you to Athens/Piraeus. It actually takes less time to take that ferry than it does to ferry back to Santorini unless you take the Superjet or SeaJet2, both of which are more expensive than a regular car ferry and very susceptible to rough seas, making everyone onboard seasick. Avoid if at all possible.
Posted by
Laval, Québec, Canada
336 posts
I absolutly agree with what Mary said. 3 full days in Santorini.
Delphes visit takes let's say from 9:30 to 2 with the museum. The rest of the day? Go to Osios loukas monastary not the far, a Unesco site. From Delphes, it's a 3:30 drive to Meteores. Visiting 5-6 monastaries take time. It's a spectacular place, you will want to take 500 pictures. :-)
Posted by
Reno, NV, USA
2427 posts
We actually experienced the meltemi winds in May and there was no way to get to Santorini from Athens - by air or ferry. Adding to the misery was an airport workers strike.