We're looking at roughly two weeks to Greece in September, making all bookings ourselves. Plan so far is to fly into Athens from Boston, two quick days in Athens, then fly to Chania on Crete for six days at an AirBnB, gorge hopping and making daytrips to Heraklion, Rhythemno, etc. Then ferry or fly to Naxos and bake at a beachfront place for the better part of a week before returning to Athens and home. My first visit to Greece, so all advice and/or thoughts welcome. Specifically:
Would it make more sense to go directly to Crete (by flying from the US to Santorini and taking a ferry)?
Are there areas/neighborhoods of Chania and Naxos that are particularly recommended to stay in? Any we should avoid?
Generally speaking, are the island-hopper flights the best way to get around or do people recommend the ferries (unless there's a time issue, of course)?
I'm assuming that rental cars are easy to come by in Chania and on Naxos. Anything else I need to know on the driving-in-Greece front? Taxis will be enough for our brief Athens stays.
I have plenty of other questions but in general we could use a reality check on our plans. Thank you! TB