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Two week grand tour in October

Posted by (Dublin, Ireland) on

I'm planning a two-week trip to Greece covering a mix of the country's highlights in mid-October. I'd initially been focused on the Peloponnese, but the driving times look long given the times we'd be likely to spend at the sites, particularly since we'll be travelling with two young children. Delphi, Meteora, and Thessaloniki have stood out for having a combination of culture, scenery, and history, and of course we can't miss Athens and would like to get to at least one major island.

Of note, we recently spent two weeks in Turkey (so are interested to see how that influence manifests in Greece) and have an interest in Jewish sites too. Beaches are of less interest, though with the kids we'll visit at least one or two. In Turkey we mostly relied on public transit. We'd be amenable to doing that here too (for the mainland portion) or renting a car.

Here is the itinerary I'm contemplating and on which I'd be interested to see comments.

  • Day 1: Arrive in Rhodes midday (only two hours of jetlag)
  • Days 2-4: Three full days in Rhodes (assume we would base ourselves in the Old City)
  • Day 5: Fly to Athens in morning
  • Days 6-7: Two full days in Athens
  • Day 8: Drive to Delphi, visit ruins/museum, and stay overnight
  • Day 9: Drive on to Meteora and spend afternoon visiting monasteries
  • Day 10: Visit remaining monasteries in morning and drive on to Thessaloniki in afternoon
  • Days 11-12: Two full days in Thessaloniki
  • Day 13: Fly to Santorini in morning (via Athens)
  • Days 14-15: Two full days in Santorini
  • Day 16: Fly home in late evening on direct Ryanair flight (so effectively three full days in Santorini)

As alluded to above, I'm also contemplating a different itinerary of starting in Santorini (we can get there directly) for 3.5 days, then flying to Thessaloniki (there's a direct flight), making our way south, and ending the trip in Athens (so only going to one island). This would give us a few days on the Peloponnese, but I sense we'd be "confined" to the Kalavryta and Nafplio areas (or alternatively, Olympia and Nafplio) while spending considerably more time in the car for long stretches (on consecutive days). Is there an argument that those places could merit that? I appreciate there's also travel time with flying to two islands (and cost too), and am trying to get the best balance for a trip that has a mix of sites and doesn't entail endless time on the road.

Posted by
2490 posts

A couple considerations.

  1. You are going to have to have a car I think for either of these itineraries. Public transportation between Delphi and Meteora is not good. It also will be much easier to have a car in Meteora. But finding a rental car company which will allow for one way returns may be challenging. So I would look into that before getting too far.
  2. I don't know how young your children are but Santorini would not be in my view the best for children. It is beautiful but crowded and not particularly child friendly. Nafplio in contrast would be great. My "kids" loved the castle and there are squares and parks that are fun to run around in. We spent 4 nights in Nafplio and loved it. I think with limited time I would stick to Nafplio and surrounding area. Could you do Rhodes and Nafplio?
Posted by
16 posts

Thank you for your comments Beth. I was leaning towards a car rental for the Thessaloniki to Athens segment, though hadn't appreciated that it could be a challenge to do a one-way one. Based on some cursory follow up research, there appear to be options but they are pricey. An alternative could be arranging a private tour from Thessaloniki to Meteora and with onward transfer to Delphi, though I expect that to be considerably more expensive.

Your comment on the appropriateness of Santorini for kids is interesting. I've also gotten that sense a bit from the guidebooks. My thinking was that it might be similar to places like Taormina, the Amalfi Coast, and Capri in Italy (where we've been with the kids) in that while it's relatively adult-geared (with fancy shopping and restaurants), there's still plenty of charm and scenic beauty that could be enjoyed with kids in tow. As for the crowds, I understand it's a mob scene during the summer, though was hoping that being there in mid/late October wouldn't be so bad.

Everything I read about Nafplio sounds great too though and we will continue to deliberate!

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