Pls comment on the 1st version of my 15-day itinerary Thessaloniki-Athens-Hydra (NO rental car)

If ever the cost is an important factor, note that curently with Aegean on May 13th the direct flight FRA → SKG at 10:50 is from 108€ (160€ with checked baggage)

The same day, the direct flight Aegean FRA → ATH at 11:10 is from 227€ (290€ with checked baggage). Twice as expensive

I'm supposed to be in transit for a few hours at Athens airport on May 13th, but that won't help you much. LOL

Do not give up visiting Napflio!

JoLoi, You mention Aegean only, the discount arm of Lufthansa, what about Sky Express which also flies direct to both cities? Aegean has two evening flights FRA-ATH on the 13th whereas SkyExpress departs mid-afternoon on that day. Aegean is showing 150 euros and SkyExpress 105 euros. Carry-on bags up to 10kg are free on both airlines. FRA-SKG costs 110euros.
We will have backpacks only so no checked bags. We both agreed that we must travel light as we'll be traveling 5 weeks in Europe in total. Of course we'll be visiting my family in two different countries, so it will be slower pace there.

So, no, the price of tickets to fly either to SKG or ATH is not a big factor at the moment, but that's why I wish to nail my itininerary earlier than later because flight prices will increase, I'm sure.

Lufthansa and Aegean are both members of Star Alliance, so they can have codeshare flights that you can book through either airline, but Aegean is not the discount branch of Lufthansa, it is the Greek national airline, (regularly ranked among the best in Europe). Olympic is the Greek regional airline that mainly serves the islands.

Sky Express is also a Greek airline (newer). I have also flown with them to the islands. No problems either.
Aegean and Sky Express have the latest generation Airbus A320 neo and good service on board, I wouldn't say the same about Lufthansa...

I would take the flight that suits me best from a time and price point of view. And indeed don't wait too long, prices are unlikely to drop.

The same goes for hotels or Airbnbs, many are already booked.

I stand corrected, JoLui. I have completely forgotten about AirGreece and how it became part of Aegean.

Would you have an opinion and comment on my itinerary?
At the moment, I'm leaning towards dropping Nafplio and adding a day to Thessaloniki. Maybe I should ask an AI tool, LOL, to help me decide whether to pick one or the other for me.

I am still a bit unsure about Hydra now. I read some people saying that it's been overhyped thanks to celebreties staying there years ago and some big travel reporters (RS was mentioned in that review too). Supposedly Aegina would be better even though it's not car-free. So it's a bit difficult to decide, but still will plan going to one or two close to Athens islands.

okse,

What I noticed most is that you go to Athens 3 times, it's not the best in terms of optimization. There is surely something to do to fix that.

This is mainly because you want to go to places located in opposite directions, then to an island, all this by using public transport.

Hydra is not that hyped, it's what I would call a "bohemian-chic" vibe, it's not particularly a celebrity destination, it's just that between the 50s and 70s there were quite a few artists who stayed there.

Also note that there are not many easily accessible beaches in Hydra and almost all of them are pebbles.

Aegina is closer by ferry, better in terms of beaches and has 3 bus lines that serve the island.

But it's up to you to decide what you prefer.

Maybe the Greek official tourism website could help you choose:

https://www.visitgreece.gr/islands/saronic-islands/

Thanks for your thoughts, JoLui, and I agree with you that it doesn't look optimal. I've noticed that and I don't like it myself. It seems as if I'm trying to capture so much of Greece in one sweep and I want a more relaxing pace. I clearly need to cut something out and organize it better. What about if upon return from Hydra, I pick a taxi to take us to the bus station and take a bus to Nafplion the same day?

Here is a question for you or anyone else. You've visited both Nafplion and Thessaloniki, right? Which one would you choose if you were the 1st time visitor and why?

I checked out Fodor's Greece from my library so I'll be reading it today.

In summary: I'll be cutting Thessaloniki or Nafplion out of the plan for sure to minimize logistics.

Thanks!

To be honest I would say that I prefer Thessaloniki but it is mainly because I am not a fan of the touristy side of Nafplio and its lack of real local life - Nafplio has about 15000 inhabitants but there are only about 150 permanent residents in the old town, that is why I prefer the new town even if it is not interesting from a tourist point of view.

That being said I think that as a 1st time visitor you should keep Nafplio and forget Thessaloniki.

Why?

Because, by going to Nafplio you can visit a (small) part of the Peloponnese with at least two important archaeological sites (Mycenae and Epidavros).

Because Thessaloniki is another big city that could be visited if you do not go to Athens. 2 big cities is probably too much.

Because it will allow to optimize the itinerary

Now you should know that renting a car would solve most of the planning problems you could have even by eliminating Thessaloniki. For example visiting Mycenae and Epidavros is super easy with a car, much less by bus.

Great answer, JoLui, and especially so because we're in agreement ;-). Yes, 2 cities would be too much for me. I reside in a city (more than 1 mln) with rude/reckless driving on a daily basis so I'm always happy to visit more peaceful places. This is one of the reasons I picked Hydra that is to get a contrast to the modern life. I'm sure we cannot escape technology and smartphones there, but the island is car free so that appeals to me a lot. I've just read in the book that Spetses Island doesn't allow cars either unless they are issued a special permit. Both islands have bike rentals supposedly.

In case you have any more thoughts about these two islands and Poros with regards places to stay at, places for food, or what to explore or shops to go to, I'm all ears. We are not big shoppers but we like trying different foods.
I wonder what kind of food is served for breakfast at hotels in Greece. I'm leaning to reserving accommodations that include breakfast in the price but I hope I don't get American version of food there (no offence to anyone who like American breakfast at hotels). Since I'm not looking at American branded hotels in Greece maybe I will be OK...?

Sorry we never been to Poros, if you want more information about the island you can check its website:

https://visitporos.com/index-en.html

If you go to Hydra and Poros there may be a way to optimize your trip by making a loop since Poros is a few minutes by boat from Galatas, on the coast of the Peloponnese

The itinerary could be this one:

1 - Athens (port of Piraeus) → 1h30 by ferry to → Hydra

2 - Hydra → 30 minutes by Ferry to → Poros

3 - Poros → Ferry every 30 minutes to → Galatas

4 - Galatas → Bus or taxi transfer → Nafplio

5 - Nafplio → Bus → Athens

Some explanations about this itinerary:

Part 1: Piraeus → Hydra ferry schedules: (I selected mid-May, change the date if necessary)

http://www.openseas.gr/PIR/HYD/2025-05-14/2025-05-14/itineraries

As you can see there are ferries to Hydra until 6pm. Coming back from Kalambaka early enough you could avoid spending a night in Athens and take a ferry the same day

Part 2: Hydra → Poros ferry schedules:

http://www.openseas.gr/HYD/POR/2025-05-14/2025-05-14/itineraries

Part 3: Poros → Galatas. see the Poros website:

https://poros.gr/local-transport-routes.html

Part 4: Galatas → Nafplio:

It could be possible by bus with a connection via Corinth which requires a detour, it is a journey of more than 3 hours.
But it is possible to book a private transfer by taxi.
Check out these services:

Tsouris Taxi : https://tsouristaxi.com/

Some reviews about this transfer:

https://www.tripadvisor.fr/Attraction_Review-g8715394-d12502146-Reviews-Tsouris_Taxi-Galatas_Attica.html

Taxi Dimitris Pollalis: https://www.topgreekislands.gr/en/business/taxi-polalis-polalis-dimitris

Also check out Poros taxis: https://www.porostaxi.gr/

Don't hesitate to contact these taxi services, they can offer day trips to places to visit and you will be in contact with locals who can provide lots of information. Much better than a travel forum!

Part 5: Nafplio → Athens (Kifisou bus station)

https://www.ktelargolida.gr/en/homepage-en/

Although we almost never go to hotels or accommodations with breakfast included, we are "self-catering" people, I know you don't have to worry about breakfasts in Greece unless you are staying in an international chain hotel, which would be pointless (you might as well stay at home).

Fresh fruits, Greek yogurts, cereals, farm products, pastries, are the usual ingredients served at Greek breakfasts in hotels or family accommodations

Our last breakfast in an accommodation with breakfast included:

https://photos.app.goo.gl/pGZPU7uYHm5EwHhe9

Hi JoLui,

You're giving me more good food for thought ;-). I truly appreciate your time for responding to my inquiries!!

Since you are soooo knowledgeable about Greece, you beat me. While searching for info about Poros today, I also noticed Galatas and I wondered if a loop was feasible. Now your itinerary (for me) will help me to investigate it further.

Yay, I'm so excited to research more...I'm already traveling in Greece in my mind and I'm enjoying it, LOL

Poros is quite boring and made me wish I had gone somewhere else. Go there only if you have to to make schedules work. Have a look at Spetses or Aegina.

@Cherryplanter, thank you for the heads up about Poros. I was thinking to make a day-hop, but now I think a few hours will be enough before going to Galatas. Yes, I'm planning to visit Spetses.

@JoLui, out of curiosity, why do you prefer OpenSeas.gr to FerryHopper.com? Once I found ferryhopper.com I cannot imagine using any other ferry websites? This website was mentioned in Fodor's guidebook and probably on Greeka.com. The simplicity of looking up available ferries and the uncluttered interface appeal to me greatly.

I really appreciate the suggested itinerary you created for me, JoLui. Booking a private taxi transfer from Galatas to Nafplio is a very appealing idea to me. I thought long distance transfers were more for large cities and around them. I've already emailed all three businesses and received responses from two. Taxi Popalis (or Polalis, a typo on the website?) was harder to find because the website of Greatislands.gr is somehow broken. When I attempted to google for private taxi drivers in Galatas only "Tsouris Taxi" came up. You found three!!! TY

How can I look up such private taxis for small towns/villages? I googled private taxi drivers and found TA lists on drivers in Nafplio and Athens and they have quite a few choices, but when I looked for Galatas I found only 1, but your found 2 more. What's your trick, JoLui? ;-)
I'm wondering out loud now, is it better to go with a private taxi driver or go through the company such as WelcomePickups or is it up to a tourist to decide?

I hope that a private transfer works out from Galatas to Nafplio. For an additional fee, they can stop at Epidavros for 2 hours. This way I would save quite a few hours. This is a great suggestion!! It's too complicated to take a bus from Galatas to Nafplio, IMO.

Hooray, I think I'll take a day off and let my final plan marinate in my head. If not for the help on the forums, I'm sure I would have spent another 3-5 days chasing my tail LOL.

why do you prefer OpenSeas.gr to FerryHopper.com?

If I used Openseas.gr it was only because it allows me to copy and paste a link that shows ferry schedules between two islands for a whole week
This is not possible with ferryhopper.
The other feature with openseas is to be able to go back in time for a year, useful to have an idea of ​​the probable next schedules because these are only published 2 or 3 months in advance for some ferry companies.

In any case always book with the ferry company, not with an intermediary, even ferryhopper.

What's your trick

I don't have a special trick to find information like finding a taxi in a village. I sometimes look on websites not dedicated to tourism like the Greek equivalents of the yellow pages. Example:

https://www.vrisko.gr/en/search/Taxi/Galatas-Attikis-ATTICA/

https://www.xo.gr/en/

And also on other websites in Greek like those of the municipalities and their local information..

We don't use taxis often anyway, except sometimes in Athens at night when there is no more metro or bus

I'm back after a week :-) to thank for your answer, JoLui.
I needed to jump on a different task of our travel planning which was finding a reasonable hotel in Amsterdam after my sister warned me that hotels are expensive there and better priced are booked fast.

Now I'm back to finding a place to stay in Nafplio and I'm surprised that I'm struggling here. Why? Because of beds LOL! I found two potential places to stay at, but neither has 2 beds in a room :-(. Well, one says they might. I emailed and am waiting for an answer.
One pension says they have a double bed and maybe 2 Twin Beds whereas the other mentions a double bed, a full bed, or a queen bed. Measuments for these beds are omitted, and when I google they are all over the place in the EU. To confuse me more, Google says that sometimes full = double bed. I think that I should reserve a room with a queen bed so hopefully we both can sleep comfortably. Oh, but I also checked if both of them have placed their rooms for sale on Booking.com. Yes, they have. Funny enough (actually concerning too), Booking.com shows that they both have queen sized beds in those same rooms. It seems very strange to me that double bed = full bed = queen bed. If a room contained two beds, I'd care less about their sizes, but it's one bed, so I care now.
This is the last piece of lodging I have left to book and I thought after looking and booking two sets of stays/hotels in Athens and another on Hydra, Nafplion will be a piece of cake, LOL, 3rd day and I have no results to show so far. But I was able to rule out quite a few places, so I'm making a good progress in the right direction.
OK, done sharing my frustration now LOL, I'm quite positive I'll be booking something within next 24 hours.

BTW, I was actually planning to buy ferry tickes on FerryHopper. Why do you, JoLui, advise to book directly with the ferry company? I thought it's the same as when people use different platforms for purchasing airfares, train tickets, hotels, etc. For example, to book a hotel in Napflio, it looks like that I would pay much less via Booking.com vs. directly. It's certainly not always the case.

It's surprising that you can't find accommodation with 2 bedrooms, a quick search with booking.com or Airbnb gives me dozens of results in Nafplio for less than 150€ / night.

As an example in 2 minutes I found this one:

https://www.booking.com/hotel/gr/secret-garden-nauplio.html

And on Airbnb:

https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/1116383366077838242

another one:

https://eudokia.gr/en/home/

Generally the beds in Greece, with a few exceptions like in 4 or 5 star hotels, are queen size at most. (queen size is usually 140cm wide).

I have not often seen cheaper rates on booking than by booking directly with the host.
In Europe Booking.com was fined 413 million euros last year for "abuse of dominant position" because it wanted to remove from its service the hosts who offered cheaper prices directly

If you want to book with ferryhopper it's up to you. I always avoid intermediaries when possible. Why go through a third party service when you can book directly with the service provider itself? I know many cases where travelers have had communication problems with ferryhopper that always happen when there is a schedule change or ferry cancellation.

9 times out of 10 it is useless to book the ferry weeks in advance. Not so long ago online reservations did not exist and we bought our tickets on the day of departure or the day before at the ticket office.

About ferries the only thing you should worry about a few days in advance is the weather forecast and wind strengths, which is the main reason for ferry cancellations when these winds reach or exceed 7Bf

The 7 day forecast for Hydra is here:

https://meteo.gr/cf-en.cfm?city_id=133

Sorry, JoLui, I didn't express myself well. Yes, there is a lot of availability in Nafplio, no objection on this point ;-). My specific wish is to have 2 separate beds or if one bed it has to be wide enough to sleep comfortably, so it should be queen. I reserved one yesterday night on Booking.com. The pension was recommended on a different forum. The other responded, but cannot guarantee Twin beds, only to suggest to buy a Triple room which is of course is more expensive. I choose to stay within my budget in such a case.

This time around had cheaper prices going directly to the hotel/pension on 2 occasions and 1 via Booking.com. Other 3 had the same pricing between the hotel itself or another platform, so in those cases I go directly to the hotel.

I understand your points about booking ferries directly. I do the same with airlines. Greece will be the first country I must by ferry tickets.
Later, maybe at the beginning of April, I'll start another thread about my logistics and when to purchase various tickets, etc. I must do some research first.

Thank you for interacting with me, JoLui, and all your assistance. It was very helpful and I used quite a few of your suggestions.
Have a great weekend!