Itinerary Advice: Athens & Chania & Delphi (updated)

You will be tired after visiting the very important National Archeological Museum and it’s collections. The important finds at the excavations theoughout Greece are on display.
Skip the trip to
Sounion ( not Sournia) which is outside of Athens.
Delphi is an amazing site, set up in beautiful mountains with a view of the sea in the distance.

You have an interesting plan with many highlights however your sequence has some inefficiencies which experienced Greece travelers have learned to eliminate for a superior experience.
If I may make a few suggestions.
You arrive Athens at 17;30. Experience has show us that doing Athens jet lagged is no fun. We no longer do Athens first. There will be an evening flight to Chania which will get you there around 10:00 pm. I can assure you getting over jet lag in Chania is far superior experience than Athens. We too travel from the west coast and the urge to make the trip end at Athens is overwhelming however we always get out to our first island that day.

By all means sleep in and rest. Just take your time and wander Chania old town and harbour that first day. Begin to get into Greek mode. You have planned 5 nights in Crete but by getting there on the first night you now have 6 days. ( note that this sequence eliminates what is essentially a wasted half day Athens where you were planning on checking out of your hotel and getting to the airport for that 1:30 flight to Chania.)
Chania http://www.flickr.com/photos/stanbr54/sets/72157632117917828/

I don't think you are going too be ready for the Samaria Gorge this early in the trip so you might want to do the Balos Gramovossa boat excursion on day two. You can do it by rental car or just go to any travel agent in Chania who will sell you an excursion ticket which includes hotel pick up bus transportation and some offer the boat excursion as well. Others its just the bus and you buy your boat trip at Kissamos port.

You can also do Elafonissi on the local KTEL bus which does a day trip from Chania.

Gramovossa, Balos and Elafonissi https://www.flickr.com/photos/stanbr54/albums/72157698932695812

Now do Samaria since you will be rested by now.

Many people are quite tired after the Sameria Gorge walk so this might be a good time to transfer to your resort a Falasarna. This plan eliminates the need for a car rental until your Falasarna trip. And that one can also be done by KTEL bus if you want.

Now fly back to Athens and do Delphi. You can rent a car from the airport and return it there after Delphi. As an aside if you ultimately plan to keep your proposed Itinerary I can say that hiring a driver may be a good plan rather then driving mountain roads in the dark. On our September trip this year we used Athens City cab who provide transfer services wherever you want to go. They can drive you to Delphi. Or they have a service where they drive you and your rental car to Delphi so you have the car available once you are over jet lag. They are English speaking and provide outstanding service. Just google Athens City Cab.

By the way you don't say when you are making this trip. We did Delphi in June so shoulder season and had no difficulty just arriving and walking around looking for hotels with empty rooms. There were lots of them.. This plan may not work in high season though.
Delphi and Meteora https://www.flickr.com/photos/stanbr54/albums/72157698930270992

Now do Athens at the end of the trip. Firstly you will now be acclimatized to how Greece works so you will be ready for Athens and secondly you can plan this portion of the trip so you are in Athens that last night for your return flight. I have concerns about getting up in Delphi on your last day and commuting back to Athens for your flight home same day.. Stuff can go wrong if you are stuck in Delphi, while there are multiple ways to get to the airport from Athens.
Lots to see and do in Athens

Athens http://www.flickr.com/photos/stanbr54/sets/72157632121475515/

stanbr - thanks for the recommendation. If we flip the trip around and go straight to Chania, we have a hellish first 24 hours of travel. But I see your point that if we can make it to Chania, we can do our acclimating there. And I do like the flexibility and lack of stress in being in Athens at the end of the trip. How much time would you allow between landing in Athens and departing for Chania? Right now I am only seeing a 17:50 and 22:20 flights - but maybe the full schedules are not available yet?

At this point I'm inclined to get a driver to/from Delphi for the convenience.

Yes those flight times seem to be about right. I doubt that there will be more flights added. I fully understand the hellish comment, indeed it is. However after 15 trips to Greece it didn't take very long for us to realize jet lag on an island is worth the extra few hours in the airport on arrival day. As I said we fully understand your situation as we also fly from the west coast.

I like the idea of not making an extra trip to/from the airport even if it means a very long travel day.

So now I'm thinking nights 1-4 in Chania (with Balos and Samaria Gorge trips); nights 5-6 in Falassarna; night 7 in Delphi; nights 8-10 in Athens. We'd fly in the afternoon of day 6 to arrive in Delphi before sunset, then depart for Athens in the afternoon/evening. In this case I might rent a car to keep our options open and since we'd be driving during daylight hours.

I'm still not certain if the trip to Delphi is worth the extra complication - the other option would be one more night in Falassarna, which gives us some extra time in Athens (arrive late afternoon vs. evening) and means three hotels vs. four. I think Delphi will be amazing, but I'm traveling with my 17-year-old daughter. If our trip is too hectic it won't be enjoyable for either of us.

How far in advance should I book my Athens/Chania plane tickets? Once I do that I'll be committed to the # of nights in Crete.

You can book your Athens Chania flights right now if you like. They are less than 100 euros for two for the dates i am interested in next September. There might be a seat sale. Aegean often has these sales late in the year and early in the new year. Sign up for Aegeans web site blasts and they will send out notices of seat sales. If you don't see one in the next two or three months then perhaps you should book.
Just a thought. Why don't you ask your daughter to research Delphi. find out what made it so special. If it captivates her then by all means go. If not then use that extra day somewhere else Crete or Athens.

We went to Greece last May and flew via Newark to Athens. We then took a flight to Santorini (on a different ticket). We were coming from east coast so a few hours less traveling so a little easier I am sure. But I really think it is the way to go. It is time consuming to go back and forth to Athens to the airport (an hour each way) and much better to do once. It is preferable to rent a car, if you want to do that, from airport so can do that upon return from Crete to airport. And we loved Athens at the end of our trip. Now, I have no idea if we would have loved it at the beginning, since it was our first visit to Athens! I did like going to and from the airport only once--it is more of a hassle than I had expected (of course, we arrived when there was a metro strike!)

On the other hand, the Athens airport really isn't that big and it is easy to navigate. I think it is easier to catch another flight than to go into Athens directly after arriving.

Beth

Hi Beth. I am assuming you meant to say you flew to Athens then took a direct flight to Santorini. As I read your comment, it sounds like you flew direct to Santorini from the US. I suppose this could be accomplished if your flew to a European destination and found a connecting flight to Santorini. Just thought a clarification might be useful to newcomers to help them plan..

Stan-I see what you meant and edited my route to Greece to be clearer.

Beth