Greek Islands in Eight Days- Your Recommendations, Please!

Books are a good place to start. Since you have been doing some research, what islands interest you on the list you can't narrow down? Are they close together? What sort of activities do you intend to pursue? What constitutes 'natural beauty' to you? Are you interested in archaeological sites? Museums? Beaches? Nightlife? Out-of-the-way quiet islands? Do you intend to spend any time exploring Athens? If so, for how many days? What about other parts of the mainland? Give us an idea of what appeals to you about Greece. If you want hotel recommendations be sure to include your daily room budget, if you need kitchen facilities, a swimming pool, or anything else that comes to mind. The more information you provide the better advice we can offer.

Thanks, Lee, for your prompt reply! The islands that I've been thinking about are Santorini, Mykonos, Crete, and Rhodes. (I know they are the most popular- are they worthy of their popular reputation?) I'm also open to other islands though, too. One of my favorite things about Rick Steves is his "Back Door" places to see. I've been to them in many different countries and never been disappointed... so if people have their own "Back Door" places I'd be interested to hear those as well.

With regard to Athens, I think we'd want to spend one full day there, two at the very most. I'm much more interested in the Greek Islands instead of the mainland. We're also interested in musuems, archeological sites, beaches, scenery... nightlife is definitely not a major concern for us. I guess I would maybe like to see the major items items of the Greek Islands, but would also like to experience the Greek Islands for what they are. To maybe explain what I mean, one of my favorite places in Ireland was the Dingle Peninsula, because it was not quite as popular as, say, Galway, and because it had a lot of great, truly authentic Irish culture- and not just for tourist purposes.

As for a daily hotel buget, we're thinking probably 150-175 euro per day. Again, any information anyone can provide would be great! Thanks again, Lee!

With 8 days you really only have time for Athens and 2 islands. I suppose you could fit in 3 islands if you just want to skim the surface and can afford some flights. Save Athens for the end so you don't have to stresss about returning to the mainland for your flight home. There's a wealth of sites to see in Athens, you should give yourselves 2 days to explore it.

Suggested Itinerary: Arrange your arrival time in Athens so you can fly out to Santorini the same day. Flying saves a 5-8 hour ferry ride. Or if you have a late arrival you could take an overnight ferry and save your daylight hours for Santorini. After 3 days on Santorini take the highspeed catamaran ferry to Crete. Rent a car and head west to Chania. You really need a car to explore Crete, it's very large. Fly from Chania back to Athens or take the highspeed ferry back to Athens from Rethymnon.

Both those ferry schedules are on this website: http://www.ferries.gr/hfd/

Instead of Crete take the same ferry in the opposite direction to Paros. It's a very nice island and you can take daytrips from there to Antiparos and Delos.

Rhodes is too far out of the way, too time-consuming to reach on such a short trip. Mykonos is just too touristy and there's not much to see and do there besides sunbathe and party in very expensive bars.

Check the availability of these Santorini Hotels: Strogili Houses, Nostos Apartments, Kima Villas, Atrina, Filotera Villas, Chelidonia Villas, Ifestio Villas, Fotinos Houses, Kallisti Villas, Delfini Hotel, Villa Ilias, Mama Thira B&B, Blue Dolphins Apartments, Villa Maria Damigou, Hotel Mylos, Ira Hotel, Hotel Keti, Dana Villas, Scirocco Apartments, Porto Fira Suites, Studios Caldera, Panorama Studios Hotel.

Lee has given you 2 good itinerary options. About Crete, just one correction -- there are NO high-speed ferries that go all the way from Crete to Piraeus (the athens port) and no ferries at all to Pireaus from Rethymnon. You can fly or ferry from either Heraklion or Chania -- the most time-efficient ferry would be an overnight one rom either port (travel while you sleep).

Rhodes IS far away but you could do a Rhodes/Santorini pair-up in 8 days. As Lee says, immediately on arrival fly to an island -- in this case Rhodes. After 3 days, there is now a NEW and LARGE Ferry (1800 pass) that goes overnight from Rhodes to Santorini 4 x a week. SPend the next few days in Santorini, then fly back to Athens for ONE day... and then fly home. In Rhodes you could explore Old TOwn for a full day, then rent a car to swoop around the entire island ... in June it will not be that crowded at all, and there is much beauty to discover. Much as I love Crete, it is SO large -- really an extra country -- that it's best to leave it for your next trip when you can devote a bit more time to it. Have a wonderful trip!

You're wrong, Jan. You obviously didn't bother to take a look at that Hellenic Seaways website. That's why I mentioned it above. Check it out.

Thank you so much for your replies! I truly appreciate it... Thanks, Lee, for the hotel recommendations. I will definitely look into those as we plan our trip!

If you want to do less travelling, I would also suggest that you take a look at the Saronic Islands.

I can especially recommend Aegina and Hydra.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aegina

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydra,_Saronic_Islands

You can reach Aegina in one hour by normal ferry and in 30 minutes by Flying Dolphins. It has a beautiful waterfront where you can enjoy the sunset before you go to dinner. A small archaeological site is 10 minutes walk away from city center. Take the bus to the other side of the island and you pass a monatry and can take a look at the temple on top of a hill. After that stroll down to the town of Aegina Marina and enjoy the beach.

Hydra is just a bit further away and a recommendation of Rick. No cars there, only one town on the island, beautiful harbour.

As I said, just a recommendation for a less hurried stay in Greece.

TO LEE -- when you're right, you're Right! And you surely are RIGHT about ferries Piraeus/Rethymnon. I was looking at another website for same company... hellenicseaways.gr ... and I only got the Cyclades sked that shows Cyclades & Santorini-Heraklion. How confusing! and I also went to the "Old Faithful" website "gtp.gr" and plugged in both ports and -- NADA.

I guess I shouldn't be surprised that websites don't coordinate info (even within 1 company). After all this is Greece.... hehehe. Thanks Lee for correction.