We’ll be traveling Greece for the Athens marathon on 11/10/19. We will be staying in Santorini 11/2-11/7. Prior to Santorini, which two of these four islands will have the most places open? Naxos, Paros, Myiknos or Crete as it will be off-season?
We can either go with three days at one island and two days at another or four days in Crete and two days at another island.
Any recommendations would be great as well as places to stay.
Crete is a large island (160 miles long) filled with full time residents so things will not shut down in, for example, Chania which is a beautiful small city.
Why so long in Santorini?
Take a look at these two links for off season planning to Greece
https://www.greektravel.com/winter/
https://theculturetrip.com/europe/greece/articles/where-to-go-in-greece-in-the-winter/
I recently booked for Crete, Santorini and Naxos from 10/6-10/20. Seemed like all the hotels were open, and there are 2-3 ferries a day between them, but day trips by boat are almost non-existent.
Your best options would be Crete and Naxos since they are larger islands (Crete the largest in Greece) so they'll be enough open.
Mykonos will still get the cruise ship crowds and Paros may be pleasantly busy.
Remember, even though the tourist season is over they'll always be shops, markets and tavernas open for locals which may give you a more "Greek" experience than tourist experience.
I was on Crete and Naxos in early-mid October and most everything was open in the larger towns like Chania (Crete) and Naxos Town (Naxos)
Crete deserves weeks, if not months to fully experience so you may want to add more time there or maybe your entire time.
I don't think it's worth splitting Crete with either the 3/2 or 4/2 schedule.
Your best option and most convenient may be Naxos/Paros since they are closer together and shorter ferry ride.
