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Wedding trip with parents

Hello all! I am planning a Sept 2019 trip around our wedding in Naxos and would like some advice and input. My fiancé and I did a wonderful 15 day diy tour last year, got engaged while in Santorini and now looking to go back to tie the knot and share what we loved with our parents. (Mine have visited before on a cruise but his parents haven't been)

Here is what I was thinking to try to include the highlights for them and add some new places for us:
Fly to Santorini 2 nights, ferry to Naxos 4 nights, ferry to Heraklion 2 nights, drive to Chania 3 nights, fly to Athens 2 nights.

This moves us around quite a bit but I'm not trying to squeeze a lot into every day. Just some relaxed sight seeing, wine tasting, day road trips. What do you think? I would skip Santorini and do 5 nights Naxos, 6 nights Crete, and 2 in Athens but I'd feel a little bad depriving the parents of Oia. Please let me know what you think. Thanks so much!

Posted by
3312 posts

I think your island list can work out well, and the Santorini part can be brief, just for the caldera view. However, because of ferry routes, I would suggest - if possible - that you reverse the first 2 islands. I'm not sure Sept. has a ferry straight from Naxos to Crete & if so it might be smallish passenger-only vessel, rocky in rough seas, frequent in Sept. Possible alternative:
• On arrival Fly to Naxos for 4 nights - then take the 13:00 (1 pm) Blue Star to Santorini - after 2 nights ferry 5:30pm to Crete & etc.

The one challenge is: Unlike flights to Santorini (many per day even in Sept), Flights to Naxos are limited, only 2 per day, one is usually mid-morning the 2nd early afternoon (?). Therefore, you'd have to plan US -Greece flight to be able to catch one of these. This might require flying from Boise to a N. American airport with nonstops to Greece -- Montreal (Air Canada), NYC (delta), Philly(AA) or Newark (a new one UAE). These all arrive between 9 - 11 am... and all Europe connections don't arrive until afternoon... plus, N.America - ATH always arrive on time, whereas with Euro connections, delays occur. These flights are more costly than Euro-connections, but if yr budget can manage it, it would shorten your lengthy journey and simplify your itinerary sequence.

Other plusses for this:
• the earlier you get to Naxos, the livelier it will be (the other 2 have longer 'seasons').

• You'll have your wedding at first stop, then move on.

• in early Sept Naxos hill villages have wine festivals, something fun to take part in.

• Finally, that Blue Star sail into Santorini harbor gives the Famous "reveal" of clifftops ( u can leave parents on deck to gaze, while you 2 hustle down to main deck to the luggage racks).

And there's no need to rent $$$$ rooms in Oia to get a caldera view -- FIrostephani hotels are Also on the rim with FAB views, half the price, AND easy walk to Fira town AND nearby bus stop to visit Oia without parking woes.

Other thoughts:
• bringing 4 parents is great! but it does complicate car rental; vehicles for 6 are VERY rare on the isles, you're probably better off renting 2 anyway, so you'll have flexibility; you already know about the drill on Intl. Driving Permits etc etc.

• Hope u are considering a "symbolic marriage ceremony" rather than a legal civil marriage in Greece -- the latter can be VERy complex and time-consuming to arrange properly.... I think the best & most realistic advice is on this website, run by an American who moved to greece & lives there - http://livingingreece.gr/2007/05/17/getting-married-in-greece-2/ ... the "symbolic" route will give you the memories, without the Greek legalities that can be both costly & frustrating.
• Chania Old Town is the perfect place to stay -- but it can be hard to find one place for 6 people. I stumbled on this perfectly located townhouse apt for 4 -- https://www.tripadvisor.com/VacationRentalReview-g189415-d4520721-or6-House_66_Theotokopoulou_66-Chania_Town_Chania_Prefecture_Crete.html which is right in the Old Section. It might be just the thing for the 4 parents, while the couple has a hotel room around the corner.

Posted by
1353 posts

Now that Janet has provided good advice I am going to tweak her plan. Sorry Jan.
Sequence is very important in island hopping and as Jan points out your plan requires backtracking which is a total wast of time.

This September we did Naxos, Santorini and Crete. Circumstance caused us to do the trip this way. The problem is the ferries that do Santoirni to Crete are on the return lag from their mornign run. They will have gone to their final destinations and are returning. The ferries arrive Santorini between 5 and 6 so you don't get to Heraklion until 7:30. Since you final destination is Chania you are now facing a late evening bus ride which will probably be from 9 and get you in at midnight. Or you could spend the night in Heraklion.

I would suggest you fly to Chania the day you arrive in Athens. You need a two hour window for the connecting flight. Worst case you are in Chania by 9:30 in the evening. Chania is a wonderful city to get over jet lag. Be sure to find hotels in the old town and harbour area.
Chania http://www.flickr.com/photos/stanbr54/sets/72157632117917828/
Chania May 2016 https://www.flickr.com/photos/stanbr54/albums/72157671465596275

Theotokopoulou St area http://www.flickr.com/photos/stanbr54/sets/72157632118491316/

After your Chania time get to Herklion for the morning ferries which depart around 9:30. We take the bus the night before which gives us the opportunity to explore old town and Venetian harbour or perhaps Knossos.

Heraklion https://www.flickr.com/photos/stanbr54/sets/72157655935354556
Castello https://www.flickr.com/photos/stanbr54/albums/72157686964935102

You will be in Santorini by noon.

After Santoirni you will be able to connect using the Heraklion to Santorini ferries when they stop in Santorini and continue on to Naxos. If you take theSeajet, Championjet, it will have you in Naxos by about 12:30

By doing this route you will be able to save at least a half day of precious vacation time.

By the way all the ferries that do the Heraklion Santorini Naxos and return route are large fast cats which carry up to 2.000 passengers. They are very large and stable.

Posted by
45 posts

janet and stanbr - thank you for your responses. You both helped a great deal on our last trip to Greece so I'm glad to have you part of this one too!

My original thinking for the sequence - Get over jet lag in Santorini where we mostly just want to enjoy the view, arrive fresh and ready for Greek island life/ wedding in Naxos, "honeymoon" Crete. But I know this does involve backtracking so I will look further into what you both suggest. The journey times didn't look too bad but logistically, I guess this might not be best.

Crete, Naxos, Santorini? I know, still backtracking... I thought the wedding (yes, symbolic) would be better during the first part of the trip before people get tired of being around each other :) - I'm sure I'm over thinking that part.

Definitely looking at Old Town Chania to stay and Firostefani looks like a good alternative to Oia. Always love the great photos stanbr. I actually looked through a lot of your Naxos ones trying to find a scenic place for our short ceremony.

Thanks again for your advice. It is a great help.