We have a 10-day Greece trip planned for June. Our itinerary is 2 nights in Athens, 3 nights Santorini, 3 nights Milos, and 1 night Athens.
Are there any town/cities near Athens International airport worth checking out and staying overnight instead of being in Athens?
Unless your flight is gruesomely early, I would stay in Athens.
Taxi or Metro are less than an hour. I did not take taxi and do not recall exactly how long we were on the Metro, but sure it was under an hour.
How locked in to your plan are you. It is somewhat inefficient to commute to Athens at the beginning of the trip then commute to the airport again two days later then back to Athens for that last night.
If you can make changes I would try to fly to Santorini on Arrival in Athens You need 2 hours to make a connection. Leave Athens to the end of the trip wen you can spend three nights there.
Its probably too late to make those changes but for others just starting to plan its worth mentioning.
If you have the dreaded 6am flight out of Athens then consider staying at the Sofital its right at the airport. Pricey but a great option. If you have a later flight then I would spend the night in Athens for one more Greek dining experience.
I would stay in Athens. It's easy to get to the Airport either by bus, Metro or taxi.
As stated many keep Athens at the end of their Greek Holiday rather than spending a day. If you can make a connection to Santorini I would go straight there.
I would give Athens a minimum of three days in a row rather than splitting it up.
I have taken the 6 am flight out of Athens and got a taxi which is more expensive at that time but is door-to-door and super convenient, especially at that time. I try to get to bed by 9 p.m. the night before, arrange a wake-up call with the hotel for 3-ish (Yikes!) and have the taxi there at 3:30 or 4 a.m. at the latest.
I know it's an unGodly hour to get up but Athens is worth the extra effort and losing sleep. After all . . . we'll have plenty of time to sleep when we're dead! (LOL)
You won't have to wait til you're dead---- falling asleep on the plane should be easy!
Hey Joe (Isn't that a song?)
For the life of me I have never been able to sleep on a plane regardless of how tired or are long I have gone without sleep. Same for in a car which is good, especially if you are the driver!
When I travel to a foreign country I always bring a sleep aide with me which I never use at home. After traveling 5,000 miles from the US and being awake for 30 hours or so one would think falling a sleep would be easy. Not for me! The adrenaline is still pumping, you are in a new country, in a hotel bed and you lay there wondering why you can't sleep. I pop a pill and before you know it I'm fast asleep.
I only use a sleep aide when I have an exceptionally early hour to get up to ensure I get enough sleep the night before which will be the case this October for my 6 a.m. flight back to the US. I'll take a pill before going to bed around 9 p.m. and get at least 6 hours of sleep and will be woken up by a wake-up call.
I'm not an advocate of using drugs for no reason but a sleep aide does come in handy when traveling overseas.
we're staying at an airbnb in Athens (Host name is Homer and he has several properties). He offers a private driver for 30-35 Euros to drive us to the airport for a 6 am flight. With transport, it was more than 1/2 of the airport hotel cost.
Hi Cynthia,
We did the RS tour two summers ago and flew from Santorini the night before our flight left back to the U.S. Given the late time of our flight from Santorini (8:30 pm), we decided to stay at the airport in Athens. The Sofitel is right across the street from the airport (about 50 yards). That was the closest hotel we could find, not wanting to hassle with traveling to the airport for an early flight. Even though it's next to the airport, it was super quiet and very nice. I would highly recommend it.http://www.sofitel.com/gb/hotel-3167-sofitel-athens-airport/index.shtml. If you don't have plans for Santorini yet, I would also recommend hiring Kostas as a travel guide. He picked us up at the hotel (with another RS couple also on the island at the same time, they had arranged it), took us all around the island in his car, then dropped us at the airport in time for our flight. http://santorini-private-guide.com/. It was well worth it!
We loved Greece so much and can't wait to go back!!
