Two Week September Itinerary

That is a very common itinerary, so I would read through the forum to help you allot your days. You could return to the mainland a bit earlier and visit some of the mainland, where there is a high concentration of historic sites.

How many nights do you actually have on the ground? And have you made your airline reservations yet? If not, I suggest flying directly to Santorini on one ticket from your home airport. You will need to change planes somewhere in Europe. Last May we flew from Boston to Santorini via Zurich on Swissair. The advantage to doing this is that if we missed our flight to Santorini from Zurich, the airline is responsible for putting us on the next available flight. And you don't have to deal with your luggage until you arrive in Santorini.

This was our itinerary which worked out perfect for us:

Santorini - 3 nights
Naxos - 4 nights (we took the Blue Star Ferry from Santorini to Naxos. It's a 2 hour trip.)
Nafplio on the Peloponnese Peninsula - 5 nights (We flew from Naxos to Athens where we picked up our rental car. The drive to Nafplio is about 2 hours.)
Athens - 4 nights (We returned our car to the Athens airport and took a taxi to our Athens hotel.)

Nafplio is located on the water and is a beautiful small city. It's a great base for seeing archaeological sites such as Mycenae, Epidaurus and Mystras, and more.

I recommend buying some guidebooks to help you plan. I used Lonely Planet and Michelin Green Guide.

I'm grateful to kmkwoo for so succinctly describing her successful trip, saving me some keyboarding. I remember helping her to put that together, and so gratified that it worked well. I was really not surprised, because I'd done it personally with Greece newcomers and then helped numerous other newcomers follow that itinerary.

Whether you connect in Europe will depend on where you're from (PS it always helps to tells us your general location)O and the kind of flight deal you can negotiate in these inflated times. Because West Coast Americans & Canadians already lose 3 hours just getting to the East Coast, many of these prefer to book a nonstop transatlantic flight rather than a European connection. Also, the airlines available to Marie may not have the kind of Alliance arrangement described.

The only suggestion i'd add has to do with choosing a homebound flight time -- if you can avoid it, don't book a departure before 9 am, and 10 is better. You're required to be in line 2 hrs before take-off (even tho you end up sitting in dep. lounge for ages!) and the trip from Central Athens to airport can be 45 mins+ ... So a 7 am take-off would mean leaving your hotel @4 am -- interfering with a relaxed celebratory "last night in Greece" dinner.

Thank you very much for your tips. We have 15 nights. I’ll looked closely at your itinerary and probably follow it pretty closely. We depart Athens at 10am. Thanks for noting the travel time to the airport from central Athens.

Janet helped me immensely with my trip planning, and we had an awesome itinerary. I have no complaints. Janet recommended all of the hotels that I chose along with some awesome restaurants.

And Janet also makes a good point about where your home airport is and what flights and prices are available to you. We fly out of Boston so we had good flights, connections, and prices to choose from on Star Alliance.

Marie, let me know if you need hotel and restaurant suggestions.

Thank you so much. I am so happy to hear from you. I have never posted before in any forum so, it took some courage for me to do so. I feel special getting a personal response from someone who has been there and really enjoyed their trip. I am a little intimidated by Greece and all the islands. I’ve planned a 17 day trip around France and a 11 day trip around Italy that I loved. I normally like traveling on high speed trains and regional trains where necessary. I think I need to embrace the ferry system. This is a trip I’ve always wanted to do. I would love restaurant and hotel recommendations. I like a clean hotel in a great location and meals that taste great at a fair price.

MArie, Greece is always an adjustment to persons who have travelled extensivelly in Europe, and found it so easy to move around on he extensive network of high-speed and frequent trains all over germany, netherlands. France, Italy even spain. Greece has just about 2 railroads. One goes Athens to Thessaloniki mainly. On the other hand, Greece has two excellent alernatives: ferries & busses.

BUS -- a very extensive system of intercity (KTEL) busses... modern reserved-seat vehicles, upholstered lean-back seats w headrests, A/C, luggage compartments, prompt departures - AND serves all levels of society, from little black-dress grannies, to business types w attache cases. Americans in car-crazy states who have never taken public transit are leery about busses... but Greece KTEL busses are an education.

FERRY - these work very well when you plan sensibly, using them for the shorter hops between ferries in the same island chain. you've been given an itinerary that involves isles in the Cycladic group (most popular with newcomers, because it features the white "cube" houses with blue shutters that are famous on calendars). Do not ask on forums about a list of islands before you look at a map -- they may be in widely-distant island groups & require days to travel. It would be like a foreigner saying "I have 10 days in the US - I'd like to see New York, Washington, New Orleans and the Grand Canyon." Also, people don't understand really what the ferries are like... they think about little toy ferries in small harbors. "COnventional" GReek ferries are like small ocean liners, and accommodate from 1200 - 1800 passengers on 3 decks (including cabins), plus 250 vehicles including 18-wheel tractor-trailers. Here's a link to major Ferry routes & ships - https://santorinidave.com/greek-ferries Here is a typical fleet of "fast-ferries" (no cars) - https://aegeanspeedlines.gr/?lang=en Don't fret about when to get tickets; in Sept. nothing is sold out... you can get tickets either at the port or at any travel agent near your hotel in athens or an island.

HOTELS -- We can give suggestions AFTER you work out your itinerary & have rough dates. One tip: when listing preferences, you certainly can ask about location & views... but please please don't ask for a clean hotel... that seems to imply that Greece is a 3rd world country. If planning a trip to Paris do you specify you need a clean hotel? BTW, I have stayed in family-run hotels and pensions in more than 25 islands and many many mainland places plus 22 stays in athens, and at very modest rates, and in every instance, cleanliness. In many islands bathrooms are marble - not just sinks but walls & floors, and the maid spritzes the entire with hand-held shower! My favorite tiny gem on Santorini has crisp linens, with that scent of sun-dried in the wind, like my grandmothers. Something special.

Marie, if you traveled through France and Italy, you'll be fine in Greece. The ferries can be overwhelming to be sure, but just consider it like the train system--once you know the routes, it all falls into place.
Honestly that was one reason I went with the mainland, but I had less time and wanted to see the major sites without the hassle of any other flights or boat travel. I had less time and have already spent time traveling among other islands. There is no wrong choice, hard to choose badly in Greece!

These are the hotels we stayed at in Greece, and they were all recommended by Janet.

In Santorini, we stayed at Blue Dolphins Apartments in Firostefani, which is quieter than Fira or Oia. We had a room with a balcony overlooking the caldera for about $230 per night. An important criteria to me was the amount of steps from the road to the hotel. There were about 40 steps from the road down to the Reception Desk, and then 2 flights of stairs to our room. For an extra 25 euros for 2 people, you can have a delicious, huge breakfast, and enjoy it on your balcony.

On Naxos, we stayed at Hotel Palatia located at the beginning of Ag. Georgios Beach so it's a short walk to Naxos Town. We had a lovely room with a private balcony overlooking the beach. Cost was about $75.00 per night. And for an extra 10 euros per person, you can have a delicious and filling breakfast on your balcony.

If you decide to go to Nafplio, we stayed at Omorfi Poli Pension in the pedestrianized neighborhood and in a central location. We had a car at this point in our trip. Parking was in a huge community parking lot, and we never had problems finding a parking spot. We had breakfast every morning outdoors on their patio. It's a breakfast buffet and costs 6 euros per person for guests of the pension. Cost was 90 euros per night.

And in Athens we stayed at the Airotel Parthenon which is right around the corner from the Plaka, and about a 5-10 minute walk from the Acropolis. The cost was about $140 per night which included a mediocre breakfast buffet.

A few favorite restaurants I can think of right now are Aktaion and Restaurant Remvi, both in Firostefani.
We liked Meltemi Restaurant and To Elleniko in Naxos.
Bounos Psarosavouras and Aiolos in Nafplio.
The Old Tavern of Psarras and Geros Tou Moria in the Plaka in Athens.