Planning to join the RS Turkey tour and then continue on to some Greek islands by way of Samos. We have 5 or 6 days post tour. What's the best way to travel from Samos to Crete, Santorini and Mykonos. We plan to fly home from Athens.
Posted by
Camarillo, California
3149 posts
The "best way"...does that mean fastest or least expensive? It's a time-consuming combination of islands if you use the ferry system. From Samos you would take a ferry to Paros where you'd transfer to another ferry to Mykonos. From Mykonos you'd take a ferry to Santorini, one that then will take you to Crete when you're ready to move.
The alternate route would be Samos>Rhodes (9 hours) by way of Kalymnos and Kos, then Rhodes>Crete. From Heraklion there's a ferry to Santorini that will also take you to Mykonos when you're ready, then from Mykonos you can fly or ferry back to Athens.
Check with www.gtp.gr to see what's available but be advised that the schedules are not yet complete for summertime and usually are not posted until a few weeks before needed, AND ferries between these islands are not necessarily a daily occurrence, so check carefully.
Where do you go after Crete? From Crete you can ferry or fly back to Athens for a flight home.
www.skyexpress.gr flies directly from Samos to Heraklion but the planes are small meaning the baggage allowances are strict.
Posted by
St Paul, MN, usa
17 posts
Mike..
We are working on the same plans for an island vacation after the Turkey trip in May. After MUCH research and lots of correspondence with other travelers, I gave up on using the ferry system.. too undependable. We are taking the ferry to Samos, spending one night and then flying on Aegean Air to Sanatorini for 4 days and then flying to Athens for our flight home. We got very reasonable prices on airfare so this ended up being a reasonable way to go, although I love riding the ferry so will miss that. I guess I am not giving advice as I don't know if this is the best way to go.. but, maybe this will give you some ideas.
Margaret
Posted by
OP
Macungie, PA, USA
59 posts
thank you for sharing your ideas.
Island hopping by ferry is fun but may be time consuming and as you said - hard to be certain if we try to book ahead before their summer schedule is released. I am also opting for flying. Do you book Olympic Air?