Planning First Trip to Greece 8/17 to 9/4

Posted by marypmarceau on 06/22/26 04:29 PM

We arrive in Athens at 1:20 PM on 8/18 and have booked an apartment for 18-21 in Athens thinking we can also stay a night at the end as well since we are flying out of Athens at noon on 9/4.
Here are the some things we are interested in doing (not in priority order, just things of interest).
1. fun cooking class (Naxos?)
2. wine tasting
3. light hiking (nothing strenuous)
4. fun night life for retirees
5. beaches
6. snorkeling

We would really like to meet the locals and get to know the local culture.

Question: It appears flying to islands is fairly reasonably priced. Is that a good option rather than taking ferries?

Posted by tommyk5

NH (USA) aka crazyh

06/22/26 04:53 PM

1485 posts

All are do able in your top 6 but do more research for each.

It depends on what you mean by "reasonably priced". Do you have a budget for a flight?

It also depends on what island you want to go to. The closest would be the Cyclades and Saronic and others are further away.

If you have the budget to fly especially to further away islands like the ones close to Turkey or Ionian including Kythira) or Crete then do so as most flights are under 1 hour.

However the closer islands are more enjoyable by taking the ferry and sitting on deck and taking in the views.

So much spends on what you want to experience and cost.

Posted by stanbr

Nanaimo, BC, Canada

06/22/26 07:04 PM

1690 posts

Are you planning to stay on Naxos for the island part of the trip?
As for transportation it can take 4 to5 hours to get to Naxos by ferry and 45 minutes by flight. We always fly so we get more time on Naxos.

Posted by JoLui

France Southwest - Occitanie

06/22/26 08:29 PM

3942 posts

Since you already have an apartment booked in Athens from August 18 to 21, it really doesn't make sense to head back to the airport just to catch a flight to an island. All you need to do is go to the Port of Piraeus and hop on a ferry. Like Tommy said, and as everyone knows, it's way more enjoyable than flying and it's a part of the whole Greek island experience.

You're looking to "meet locals and get to know the local culture"? Here is an example of the exact kind of place you need:

https://youtu.be/Vw5FbNAv3Vw

But keep in mind that there is no airport, and the ferry ride takes a while. You can't have it all!
Is your desire for meeting locals and local culture strong enough to go that far? I'm not so sure.

Also, keep in mind that if you stay in the most popular areas of the highly touristy islands, (Santorin, Mykonos, Naxos, Paros, Milos, to name just those in the Cyclades which, coincidentally, have an airport) most of the people you meet won't be any more local or islanders than you are. Sometimes they aren't even Greek. They're just folks from the mainland who came over to work for the tourist season.

The choice is yours!