What I know for sure is I will be flying into Athens and out of Istanbul I have five weeks in total and will be travelling in May. My tentative plan is to spend three nights in Athens then head to the islands, 3 nights Santorini, 6 nights Naxos then ?
I'm not sure which island to head to after Naxos as I would like to connect to the coast of Turkey via a ferry from one of the islands rather than return to Athens. We will be travelling for two weeks in Turkey starting at the coast and heading towards Istanbul.
Posted by
Philadelphia, PA, USA
3397 posts
What do you mean by "the coast"?? Bodrun? Kusadasi? Marmaris (down by Rhodes) If you want specific advice. please don't just give generalities as guidance. Different parts of coast = different Greek isles = different ferry options.
If you plan to cross over to Marmaris, rhodes is a good choice... BLUE STAR FERRY 3x a week stops just before 1 AM at Santorini then sails nonstop thru the night, arr 9 AM Rhodes. Very efficient way to get over to Turkey. If u are in Naxos, u would have to return to Santorini on an early afternoon ferry & hang around Santorini for 6-8 hours. More efficient to make Naxos be yur FIRST island stop, then Santorini, THEN the wee=hours ferry to Rhodes. Look it up on Blue Star website to be sure its running 5/19.
If you plan to cross over from Samos to Kusadasi, Last May the ferry Nissos Mykonos went 3x a weeik from Mykonos to Samos, from about 8 or 9 pm to 1:30 or 2 am. That would mean you'd have to take one of the (several) ferries from Naxos to Mykonos on one of those days. It would amount to a full day of travel.
You need to do some of your own research. You can find out the typical "pattern of service" to eastern Islands by using the ferry sitehttp://www.openseas.gr -- its departure slot has a calendar with a rollback feature that lets u see what sailings there were on given days of the week in May 2018 (Please Note: look for DAYS of the week, not your planned 2019 May DATES).
For how to travel once you land in turkey this site will answer your questions. https://turkeytravelplanner.com/trans/index.html
Posted by
OP
, British Columbia, Canada
8 posts
Hi Janet,
It sounds like the best plan is your first suggestion of Santorini to Rhodes, we could spend several days i Rhodes then continue to Turkey.
In my previous question I didn't say which port I wanted to enter Turkey from because I didn't know which Greek Island I could connect to from Santorini or Naxos. I tried to figure it out but didn't think to look at the 2018 ferry schedule, I have been really struggling with that piece. Your answer was great, I will just change my room reservation dates in Santorini, I haven't booked the other rooms yet.
Thank you for your patience and knowledge 🤗
So my new plan would be:
Athens 3 days
Naxos 6 days
Santorini 3 days
Night ferry to Rhodes
Rhodes about 7 days
Ferry to Marmaris Turkey
How does that sound?
Posted by
Philadelphia, PA, USA
3397 posts
SOunds good to me Joanne.... and as for the person who said spend whole time in Turkey that is their choice,not your expressed wish. Glad u can switch Santorini booking... a good lesson for others who save a tiny bit by booking non-changeable.
Posted by
Centennial, CO, US
2186 posts
I think your planning is coming along nicely. But 7 nights might be a bit much for Rhodes — unless you have a specific reason to stay that long. I can see a day or two for the Knights Quarter & old town, maybe a day trip to Symi and a day trip to Lindos. There may be other interesting excursions around the island that we missed, but we were there for 4 nights and ready to leave.
Especially since you now have an overnight ferry on your schedule, be sure to do your planning in terms of nights, not days.