Hey guys, me and the wife got the wild hair to do some serious damage to the credit cards and visit Greece in late May/June.
We’ll definitely spend a day or two in Athens to soak up all the big tourist attractions but have heard the Islands are where it’s really at. Probably spend a total of 2 weeks if our cards can take the beating.
Any hot tips on which islands are really worth visiting? We love laying on the beach, going on long walks, shopping, soaking up the culture, etc. Nothing’s really off the agenda, though it’d be nice to avoid the most over-touristed areas. Unless they’re really must-sees like Athens, for instance.
Much thanks for any anecdotes, hot tips or advice about Greece! We’d especially love advice on where you stayed. I’ll trust a personal recommendation over a guide book any day.
I’ve spent a few days in Athens, which is a great place (don’t stay too long though, the pollution isn’t nice) and a couple of days in Corfu (but I just stayed at the hostel and lay in the Jacuzzi and on the beach). I still had a great time though!
I also spent 2 weeks in Crete with my family when I was about 16. we stayed near Agios Nikolaus, on the East coast of the island. We had a car and so were able to go all over the island. I’d really recommend that option, as we were able to get to beautiful beaches with no-one else on them, and ate meals in little tavernas in sleepy villages that none of the tourists had managed to reach.
Crete is a nice island, in that it’s big enough to have tourist attractions (like the Minoan settlements), and also areas that the tourists haven’t reached (like the mountains and parts of the south coast).
I think you need to work out what you want and then look into which islands are going to tick the most boxes, some of them will be nearer than others, obviously. Just be aware that many British, German and Russians go to the Greek islands (especially Cyprus, Crete, Rhodes and Kos) on package holidays, so you have to work hard to escape that atmosphere.
I lived in Greece for a summer, but that was back in 1990, so I’m not sure how things are nowadays.
Basically, it’s hard to move in Greece without tripping over a 1,000 year old building or statue or bit of pottery. So you’re going to get plenty of that, even if you don’t look for it.
In Athens, try to stay in the Plaka. There’s plenty of hotels there - inexpensive ones - and it’s pretty neat to hang out in an area that goes back 3 millenium. Try not to think about the nine layers of civilization under your feet. It’ll make you go :eek: , especially after one too many Ouzos.
As far as the islands, check out the islands NEXT to the popular islands. Mykonos, for example, is a very popular island. Two islands over, Andros offers lovely beaches and good hotels, but much less busy and a little cheaper.
The Ionian islands are on the west side of Greece, between Greece and Turkey. They’re a bit farther from Athens than the Cyclades, but have a completely different feel. Corfu is quite nice, as is Zakynthos. You get a whole different look and feel on these islands than you do on the Cyclades.
What else? See if you can learn the Greek alphabet. Otherwise you can’t even sound out the road signs. You’ll do fine without it in the touristy areas. but maybe you want to take a look at some of the non-touristy places, and it’s handy to be able to sound out street and city names.
Santorini was about the most beautiful place I’ve ever been. And I’m a guy who isn’t usually terribly taken aback by nature. Every week since we left, my wife says she wants to go back.
The whole island is a caldera coming out of the water (with the center of the volcano filled in with water). Beaches are nice, but the tiny resorts there are beautiful, and we sat by the pool admiring the view quite a bit.
We found this little taverna for dinner that we went to every single night. It was just some woman’s house and she cooked for us. We had wine and dessert and dinner would come to about thirty dollars for both of us. We felt like we were ripping her off!
Agree with all of the comments above.
We went to Greece in 2001. Husband wanted to revisit old haunts and he insisted that we had to find the ‘authentic’ Greece. I am not as bothered by other tourists (after all I am one as well) as he is but it was worth the effort.
As irishgirl says, one thing we discovered is that if you go to the trouble of renting a car, you can really explore–and escape the touristy areas. We stayed in tiny coastal villages on Crete where there were no other tourists at all.
We had a beach on Corfu completely to ourselves.
Santorini was jaw-droppingly beautiful–seeing the caldera and learning its history is one of the most amazing sights I’ve ever experienced. Taking the volcano excursion out to Nea Kameni (short hike to summit, with lunch and swimming at the island of Therasia) is well worth it.
I’d love to go back, hopefully some day we will.
I spent a week in Greece as my spring break my senior year in high school. Well, there was a group of us, so it wasn’t like it was just me wandering around.
The Acropolis, Parthenon, big ol canal between mainland and peninsula, theater at Epidarus, and Olympia were all awesome. The grounds at Delphi were great, but where the oracle “lived” was just a hole in the ground. All of the museums were wonderful. We did take a one-day cruise to three of the islands (brief stops only, as you can imagine!), and we loved it. We visited the Temple of Poseidon on the coast, and that was neat, too.
My personal favorite was Epidarus. I was a choir/theater geek in high school, so it was pretty amazing to stand on the marble circle where the use to make sacrifices to the gods before their performances and sing (did I sing? I think I did). For the athletes, Olympia was impressive. Three of our group ran down and back on the original running field, and they also ran at the old Olympic stadium in Athens.
Be sure to haggle haggle haggle everywhere (except McDonald’s - where you can get a beer with your value meal!), and take loads of pictures. I have a few hundred of my trip, and I love to look over them.
Rule of thumb - always go to the ‘far side’ of any island as soon as possible. The unpleasant touristy aspects are always nearest the ferries / airport / etc.