Greece is one of the most amazing trips you can ever take. It’s also one of the most amazingly complicated trips to plan. There’s a mainland country surrounded by hundreds of islands. Every single one of those islands has its own unique characteristics that make them worth visiting. But, unless you have endless money and time, you’re most likely only going to be able to visit Greece once or if you’re really lucky a couple times in your life. So for this post we will cover what we think would be the best use of a single trip to the Greek Isles.
First: some basic info on planning your trip to Greece. You will most likely fly into Athens. The most important piece of information I can give you regarding Athens is that it is 1) very worth your time and energy and 2) only worth one night of that time and energy. DO NOT plan to stay long in Athens on your trip. There is more than enough to fill 1 full day though. Go see the Parthenon and the Acropolis, spend an evening on the one street downtown at their base where things aren’t too stabby, go to bed and catch the ferry to the first island on your itinerary first thing the next morning. After one day you’ll be more than ready to leave the graffiti filled city streets of Athens en route to your first beautiful Greek Island.
Getting from Athens to the Greek Islands is relatively easy. We recommend that you use the extensive Greek ferry system and continue to use this ferry system to hop from island to island. The best website we’ve found to book your tickets on is www.ferryhopper.com. This website will be where you can find schedules for all the different ferries and you will be able to book all your tickets via this website. Be aware, however, that many Greek ferry companies require you to have printed out tickets and not just mobile tickets on your phone. Make sure to print your tickets out before you leave.
Greece has many ferry companies and there’s really not that big of a difference between them in terms of price or quality. Just pick the ferry that leaves at the best time for you and goes to your desired island. Just note that each company has different types of ships. The smaller ships are both faster and bumpier. In the smaller ships there are no decks on the outside. You will sit in what are essentially large airplane row seating inside the hull and race across the waves to get to your destination as quickly as possible. The larger ships are slower, but much smoother for those who suffer from sea sickness. They typically have big outdoor decks that you can sit on and enjoy the scenery.
No matter which size ship you take, the ship will back up to the dock and open a massive draw-bridge style gate, through which you will walk with your luggage. Try to get on the ship with the first wave of people and simply place your luggage in the many rows of storage space and then ascend the stairs to head to the bar and seating areas. Be aware that the early ships are typically on time and, as will happen in Greece, the later in the day things get the more late those ships will also get. You can reliably expect late afternoon ships to leave at least an hour after they are scheduled to leave.
For more detailed information on ferries and the Greek Islands, please visit our friend www.santorinidave.com who is an amazing source of information.
No matter which island you decide to go to, our most important *insider tip* is to book the cabin with a bed for the first leg of the journey from Athens. No matter where you go, the first ferry ride will probably be around 4-5 hours. After that, most of your trips will be under an hour, but that first one is a doozy. We booked the 6:30am boat from Athens to Mykonos, but splurged an extra couple bucks for the cabin with a bed. This allowed us to sleep for the first 3 hours of the trip before using our own private bathroom and then going up to the deck to drink beer and enjoy the scenery. Never were we happier to have spent an extra $50 in our lives.
Our advice on which Greek Islands to visit will focus on the Cyclades grouping of islands. These are the islands you think of when you think of Greece. They contain some of the most iconic Greek Islands and are the islands you absolutely should go to on your first or only trip to Greece.
The main Cyclades Islands include (among others):
– Folegandros
– Milos
– Mykonos
– Naxos
– Paros and Antiparos
– Thira (Santorini)
We will cover each of these islands in detail below. But, if we were going to plan say a two week trip we would spend the majority of our time on Paros and Antiparos (our favorite islands), Santorini (the most beautiful island) and Milos (the most unique island). Folegandros is secluded and rustic if you want to completely disconnect and are not looking for tons of things to do. It’s a small island with one road and one small town. If you desire authenticity, a lack of tourists and rustic, bare bones, relaxation…Folegandros should be added to your trip for 2 nights.
Mykonos is a beautiful island and well worth a visit. But, it’s also a clubbing, party-going paradise made for young douchey people that want to spend lavishly to look cool. There’s plenty of stuff to see and do that avoids that scene, but be prepared to pay between 2-5x the cost for everything there compared to other islands. We accidentally ordered a hookah from an empty beach bar one night without checking the price first and were charged 350 euros for just the hookah. So, if you’re interested in watching a prince from Dubai drive up to a beach party in a Bugati where he’s brought his camels from home with him to hang out with by the ocean and you like DJs and club music on the beach, make sure to include Mykonos. If you don’t, it’s still worth visiting, but not for any more than 1-2 nights.
Naxos is a wonderful island, but frankly its just too big, requiring 1-2 hours driving between things you want to see and the surrounding country side pales in comparison as far as natural beauty to say, Paros or Santorini. If you want to go see the Portara (a giant ancient Greek stone doorway), which is very cool and provides amazing photos…do it! Naxos is cool enough that it’s worth a trip and there’s lots of stuff to do on the island. It just wasn’t our favorite and I wouldn’t make it the focus of your trip. 2 days is plenty, a day trip from Paros is even better.
Below you will find specific recommendations for each place to visit in Greece. Please click on the photos below to find out specific recommendations for different cities/islands in Greece.
