My husband and I will be in Ephesus and want to travel to either Santorini (Thira) or Mykonos on May 13. We have limited time and don't want to burn too much of it en route. I have spent hours trying to figure out the ferry system, and I've finally given up. I then started looking at flights, and the rates are outrageously expensive...perhaps I'm checking the wrong airlines? I could truly use some advice. Thanks very much.
Posted by
Centennial, CO, US
2170 posts
Since time is short, you might want to work this out with a travel agent. There are two highly recommended agents in Athens (Dolphin-Hellas Travel and Fantasy Travel) who I think could be helpful. There are daily ferries from Kusadasi to Samos, leaving around 8:30 am and 5 pm. The agent could help you sort out ferry and flight schedules, so you would know if you can connect directly or need to spend the night on Samos. The agent could help you with a hotel on Samos, if needed, and then on Santorini or Mykonos. If you end up flying, you'll go from Samos to Athens to Santorini or Mykonos. I just did a quick search on Expedia, and tickets to Santorini would be $216 per person on May 14. (You might be able to get a better price with a little more searching ... Olympic or Aegean Airlines.) I assume you are flying home from Athens? Whether you fly or ferry from Santorini/Mykonos to Athens, you'll want to get back to Athens at least a day before your flight home in case of transportation issues. If you're open to options, you could take a bus from Kusadasi down the coast of Turkey to Marmaris, spend the night, then ferry to Rhodes on the morning of the 14th. You could spend your Greek island time on Rhodes (with maybe a day trip to Symi) and fly back to Athens from Rhodes. This would be a little less hectic.
If you stay on Rhodes, I highly recommend Hotel Attiki right in the Old Town (if she has a room available).
Posted by
Seattle
4637 posts
We did this in October few years ago. Nobody in Kusadasi was able to tell us schedule to Santorini. So we went by first ferry in the morning to Samos and travel agent there book us for the afternoon ferry to Mykonos where we arrived around midnight. We were very lucky because some lady was waiting at the ferry station and chose us as her customers for her pension and took us there. We had nothing booked. And next day we went to Santorini and chose Kefir (or something like that) apartments for half price. I would not recommend to go without having anything booked in full season. I think May should be still OK. Ferry price was quite economical. Airline prices however were sky high.