Please sign in to post.
Holiday Sale! Save 20% Storewide!

Thoughts on late March itinerary (mostly mainland, one night island)

Posted by on

Just about to book flights, hoping for a quick thumbs up or down. This is at the end of March.

Arrive late afternoon.

Day and night 1 and 2 in Athens.

Nights 3, 4, 5 and part of day 6 on tour of Peloponnese (come back at Athens on day 6).

Then, either:

A. spend night 6 in Athens, fly to Santorini day 7, spend night 7 in Santorini, return to Athens on day 8, leave day 9.

OR

B. fly immediately after tour on day 6 to Santorini, spend night 6 and day 7 on Santorini, return to Athens late on day 7, leave day 8

B enables my son to miss less school and/or we'd have a rest day at home before school and work start up. But I'm worried that that leaves very little room for error and obviously, these tickets have to be booked before I can fully figure anything else out.

Thank you!

Posted by
116 posts

I appreciate that you want to visit Greece, but honestly I can't imagine going for 8 days. But if you really want to go, I would spend 2 days in Athens, time in the Peloponnese and skip Santorini OR split time between Athens and Santorini. If I remember correctly it can be cool at the end of March and Santorini will probably be pleasantly quiet.

Posted by
2349 posts

About option A:

I don't see the point in spending all this time and money on transport to stay a few hours in Santorini, most of which is at night (the sun sets around 6:30 p.m. in March), with weather that can be cool or even rainy.

Posted by
205 posts

@JoLui My thinking is just that we would see the beauty, see the sunset. If it were summer, I would not consider going to Santorini, due to the crowds and heat. We aren't beach people. We are unlikely to go back to Greece just to see the islands. So I thought it might be a chill day to hang out and see it. I was thinking we would store most of our luggage in Athens, just take a carry on for the night and see Santorini while it was quiet.

Posted by
1419 posts

I really like your idea of flying in and out of Santorini quickly. Of the 60 or 70 times I’ve been to Greece I’ve only been twice to Santorini and I’d never want to go again. Even 15 years ago it seemed to me lacking in everything, except for natural beauty, which draws me to Greece.

Having said that I’d never put anyone off going. The caldera is spectacular. It’s a naturally beautiful site that is worth seeing in its own right. If you’re able to go, take in the beauty, and then leave that sounds to me like a good compromise.

Posted by
205 posts

@Alan, my first thought was to fly in and out the same day. But I do want to see the sunset and it wasn't clear if that could happen. If I could find a good flight home the day before I was planning to leave (day 8), maybe I'd try harder, but day 9 has the best flights home anyway.

Posted by
2349 posts

TravelChildMom, I know why you want to go to Santorini, I'm not telling you not to go but I'm just warning you that in practice and from a logistical point of view you're not going to enjoy it if you only stay for one night.

Add Reply

Please do not reply to violations of our Community Guidelines.