crete and santorini

Crete is huge and requires at least a week with a rental car just to scratch the surface. Stick with Santorini. 4 days will fly by. You don't have enough time to fit in another island.

Thanks for your suggestion to choose Santorini. Ok. If we leave Athens after catching up on our sleep ) and fly to Santorini in the afternoon for a 4 day stay-what are the must-sees ? Where is a convenient place to stay? Will we want to rent a car or is public transport or bike riding a safe option?

First of all, if you can manage to book a flight to Santorini the same day as your initial arrival fight back the jet lag and spend your first night catching up on your sleep on the island instead of in Athens. You'll save yourselves the hassle of getting from the airport into town and back again, plus waking up to the caldera view is a very special once in a lifetime experience, especially if you've arrived after dark the night before. For hotel recommendations I need to know when you plan to be there and what your maximum daily room budget will be. The island has an excellent bus system but a rental car will give you maximum flexibility to explore the far corners of the island at your own pace. If you think you might rent a car be sure to go to your local AAA office to pick up an International Driving Permit, no test or membership required.

How late the Santorini buses will be running depends on the time of year that you're there. Sometime this month they'll start cutting back the late-night buses for lack of demand. Once the winter schedules are in place, which usually happens sometime in mid-late October, the last bus will leave Fira for the outlying villages no later than 9pm (if memory serves!). You can keep up with the timetable changes here: http://www.ktel-santorini.gr

A rental car will give you maximum flexibility, but you really don't need one on Santorini. The local bus system is user-friendly and will take you pretty much anywhere and buses run til midnight. Parking is difficult and if you park illegally the police will remove the license plates from your car. Roads are narrow and windy. Taxis are plentiful if you're out after midnight. Whatever village you pick as home base (we like Oia), try to get a room with a view of the caldera. There's nothing like it in the world.

you can get everywhere on santorini by scooter. we had a blast doing it for three days. pretty economical especially if you do multi day rental.

Caroline is one of the lucky ones, scootering without injury. Marian, do NOT use a scooter unless you are very experienced with one. Lee & I have seen too many people hobbling around with major arm & leg-casts (and those are the mobile ones). You MUST be experienced in using non-car vehicles such as scooters, ATVs or motorcycles or you are endangering yourselves... Santorini roads are not the nice level straight back roads of USA.

Janet is right. When we were on Santorini a young Greek guy who worked at our hotel talked to us about all the inexperienced tourists who have accidents with rented scooters, mopeds, ATV's, cycles, etc - no helmet, no nothing - and most of all, no insurance. He told us we didn't need to rent anything to get around Santorini, and he turned out to be totally right.

marian, I second the suggestion to head for Santorini immediately (if you can manage it with the jet lag). There's a small airport there, serviced by flights via Aegean Airlines from Athens. Regarding the "must sees", I'd suggest just relaxing and enjoying the island (I believe the historic site of Akrotiri is still closed). When I was there a few months ago, I rented a small car for one day as I wanted to explore and get some photos. I didn't want to rely on public transport, as the process would have taken a lot longer and been far more complicated. Many people (mostly the younger bunch) rent Quads and frequently ride them on the roads with NO helmets, well into the evenings. I didn't feel that would be a good option for me, as not exactly a convenient way to carry expensive Camera gear. The Hotel arranged the rental for me, and the agent came right to the Hotel to complete the paperwork. It was very easy. I used proper car parks for the most part, and never had any "parking issues". I stayed in Fira and visited other parts of the island from there. Cheers!

not trying to be controversial but in defense of scooters, quads, etc...they are not guaranteed "vehicles of personal destruction". if you ride one, use your head, literally. wear a helmet and use common sense. we found getting around by scooter enjoyable and easy in terms of parking etc. the roads are hilly and winding but not much traffic. i even carried a very large piece of art riding tandem with my husband. we were in a group of ten, all 50ish, and rented scooters on four different islands and nary a one of us was maimed. :)

I also enjoy renting a scooter whenever I feel the need. Carolyn's right. Common sense goes a long way towards a safe and fun experience. The smallest scooters aren't very powerful. Consequently you will slow down on a hill and traffic can back up behind you. It's not good enough to just slow down more and assume people will pass. Keep an eye out for traffic building up behind you. Pull over and stop, but don't do it in an unsafe spot. If you're unsure of your ability to drive a scooter, don't.

Carolyn, hopefully I didn't imply that Quads or other "alternate" forms of transportation were "vehicles of personal destruction". However, virtually ALL the young riders I observed on Santorini were driving with as much speed as they could muster and very few were wearing helmets. While a Quad would have been a lot of fun, it wouldn't have been practical for hauling around my expensive Camera gear, especially given their limited speed and the limited time I had available.