Greek Islands - Need help planning a day in Mykonos, Santorini and Corfu

With so little time at your disposal at each port I suggest you just sign up for the cruise ship's tours. Those passengers who do sign up for the tours are given priority for disembarking. Because of the time-consuming process of tendering all passengers ashore in small boats, your time ashore will be shortened by a couple of hours if you don't take the tours.

You often do not need to take the cruise tours. Many of these islands are cheaper and easier to see on your own and I do not recall having any restrictions on when you could leave the ship, but no guarantees other cruise lines DO restrict when non-tour group passengers can leave.

For our Greek cruise, of all the islands we visited, Mykonos was by far the least interesting and by a long shot. In hindsight, I would have opted to enjoy the ship that day. On our ship, if you did not use the cruise transportation, you had to walk thirty minutes into town and there is just nothing much to see once there or along the way, while the prices are geared for jet set tourists.

Santorini is a walking destination and getting around would be hindered by being with a large group, so no reason to do that. You can't get lost.

Did not go to Corfu. But I can say we did not take tours in either Istanbul or Kusadasi, Turkey, nor on Patmos, Rhodes or Crete, though in order to see the ruins on Crete, you had to take the tour. We didn't because on that occasion, we felt the schedule was was too tight to do a proper visit at Iraklion, and we found out we were right.

I was on a cruise which also stopped at Mykonos and Santorini. I would have rather stopped at Corfu than Mykonos. My husband and I both hated it. We don't understand why it is so popular. It is a very ugly brown desert island with ridiculously overpriced bars, restaurants and hotels. The rich and famous have their villas scattered about making the place popular but not with we intrepid budget travelers. First, we docked so far away from town that it's impossible to walk and there's no public transportation so we had to pay for the round-trip shuttle bus provided by our cruise ship. Then we were stuck in a very hot place with only one sight, the windmills, and a few cute narrow streets filled with vendors. Our plan was to have drinks at a bar & watch the sunset but after having a E10.00 beer and my husband had a E12.00 cocktail, we realized we couldn't afford to stay and wait for the sunset so we went back to the ship. Rather than pay the high prices of ships shore excursions, you might consider taking a taxi around the island to a nice beach. They claim to have some nice beaches, they just aren't near the town, that's for sure. They were rocky, ugly and filled with garbage. Santorini is wonderful on the other hand and we didn't have long enough to do anything hardly. I recommend taking the tram up to Fira and walk around and visit the cathedral and be sure to have a sunset drink in a bar overlooking the bay. If you have enough time you can take one of the frequent buses to Oia and see it. I wanted to but not enough time. You can also take a boat tour to the volcano itself in the middle of the bay. It looks really cool. There are also wineries you can visit but once again, time is the factor. When returning to our ship, the line to take the tram down was halfway through town and about 16 people wide! We realized we'd never make it back in time so we decided to walk down the cliff. But it was very steep and the rocks hard so we ended up taking the donkeys down.

Hello Faisal, usually I do not get into this frey what is beautiful and what is not. We were on a cruise in Greece in 2006. A small (ship) boat only 24 cabins, 48 people. We could just moore in the harbor and walk off on our own. Now to Mykonos. We were there early and yes there are public busses at the cay to take you in to town. And it was lovely, because it was empty. And then about 13:00-14:00 we saw this humongeous cruise ship encored and then the masses decended on M. Of course we made a bee line for the bus stop. No this was not an expensive, exclusive cruise, it was cheaper than any large cruise line. And I did not get of the boat in Santorini. Not my cup of tea. If you like more info. send me a private message. Karin

Not sure how you 'moore' in a harbor or what getting 'encored' means, but if you got off the ship in Mykonos and thought an empty, extremely expensive desert island was 'lovely' only because it was empty, but then considered a world reknown site recognized as one of the most beautiful Greek islands like Santorini, not your 'cup of tea', either you have health considerations or you prefer places that are virtually unpopulated over anything else, or both.

Hello! I wish I could go with you! Just got back from a cruise that stopped in Athens, Mykonos, Corfu and other places. I had no time to prepare ahead of time for Mykonos or Corfu, so I had no expectations when I arrived. At Mykonos I walked leisurely to the town area, and viewed the windmills from a restaurant on the water. There was nothing 'pulling' me any where, but I did think the white washed abodes and churches contrasting to the blue Mediterranean, and the walkways and doorways were quite interesting, so I just did a lot of picture taking. Others went ATV-ing and enjoyed that, still others ate 'overpriced' food on a beach.
Corfu-shared a cab to the town, I shopped and found great prices on stuff--up to half off the same things on Mykonos! While I shopped, hubby found a Byzantine museum/church at the top of the hill-very nice, and fantastic views. Then we shared a cab to a lovely beach about 12 minutes away--$25 Euro 1 way,3 Euro for a shady chair on the beach. It was relaxing, and the drive was nice-friendly cabbies are happy to gab, and they called in a request to pick us up in 2 hours, as there was no guarantee there would be a cab at the beach.

I think I enjoyed just getting off the boat and not trying to cram an attraction in--just going where inspiration led me. My daughter said Santorini was much nicer than Mykonos. Enjoy.

Thanks everyone for the great advice. I will definitely look forward to Santorini - too bad the ship doesn't dock there for two nights :)

Hi Faisal - i don't usually disagree with Lee from Global BUT, in this case I must. You absolutely do not have to sign up for expensive ship's tours in these ports. In Mykonos the ships all run shuttles to Mykonos town and last May I was on one with a group I was taking before the tour buses left the harbor. When you go the mile and a half into Mykonos town you can rent a three wheeler for 10 euros if you want to go out to the beaches or you can simply walk the town and enjoy it !! In Santorini, the ship will tender you in early as long as you're up - they have tenders that deal with the tours and also tenders that deal with the independents. In Corfu, the Island is large - you can walk along the port to Old Town or grab a cab - you can rent a jeep or motorbike if you want to go up in the mountains - You don't need to be herded on buses in these ports!!!

Enjoy, Greg

If you're arriving at Santorini early in the morning and you're given 10 hours or so ashore it's true that sometimes you can get ashore early on a tender before the tour groups are given priority for disembarking. Once you're aboard, ask about your options. That being said, if the early-departure is available to you, you will have to forego breakfast aboard ship and be up at the crack of dawn to make this work. If you're on one of the cruise ships that has a mid-day arrival or a shorter time ashore, you might have to wait until the tour groups have disembarked. I sincerely hope you have enough time ashore to do what you want and to enjoy what Santorini has to offer.