I’m going to Greece for a week in September. I’m staying 3 nights in Athens and have 4 more nights to figure out what island I should stay at.
I’m looking mostly for historical sites, hiking, and maybe one day of scuba diving. I’m not a foodie, not into dancing or partying, and I’m not interested in sitting around a hotel all day. I like beaches but I’m not spending all day sitting at one.
I’ve been told Santorini is a nice place to go, I’ve looked a bit, and it looks fine, not sure if there will be enough to do for 4 days. The diving from what I’ve been told is only ok.
Crete seems to fit a lot of what I’m looking for, but is also a bit more touristy. Getting there is also a bit more of a pain since I’d need to fly. I’m not sure what’s going on in Greece, but I know there are problems in parts of Europe with flights right now.
Mykonos seems to have a good mix, but I don’t know anyone who’s been there.
I will be in Greece for two weeks starting on Friday. We are avoiding the heavily touristed islands like Santorini. We are splitting our time between Kythnos and Naxos. The latter, especially, has a lot of historical interest. I’ll report back.
I’ve been to Athens, Santorini, Crete, and Mykonos. Santorini is way too touristy. It’s crowded and commercialized; it felt like visiting SoCal, except in Greece. Don’t ride the donkeys; they’re treated poorly.
Crete (at least Chania) was nice, and the island as a whole is huge, so there’s plenty to see if you’re willing to travel out of town.
Mykonos was the best. There’s tourists of course, but not overwhelming like Santorini. It felt more like a small town. It’s easy to walk anywhere in town, if you don’t mind hills. But the best part is the neighboring island of Delos, a 30-minute ferry ride away, which is completely an archaeological site now. There’s tours, but you can hike around and see the ruined city by yourself. Pack well, because there’s no facilities on the island, except for the crowded bathroom. If you like cats, bring a few treats.
A vote for Crete.
Stay away from Chania, which is resort hell.
Fly to Heraklion. You’ll have Knossos next door, and that alone should keep you busy. I have never been there myself, but friends swear by the south coast of Crete, for beach/water activities. It’s what people see in heir minds eye when they think of Greece and islands, and never see when they go to the more touristy spots.
Crete is big enough to keep you busy for four days and has plenty of historical sites and hiking possibilities. The south coast was much less touristy than the other parts of the island when I stayed there, but that was in 1999.
Santorini’s cliffs/caldera are spectacular and a must-see and so is Akrotiri as Icarus wrote but I doubt it has enough to offer for four days.
I can’t give you any tips as I’ve never been to Greece. We’ve travelled widely but just never gone, quite a blind spot as we love the food and history.
Anyhow, we’re going in late October to Mykonos. No real reason other than it was recommended by someone we trust and the flights, villa and car are pretty cheap (for all 4 of us it is less than £1000 in total for a week).
So worth taking a punt on it. We are just going to explore the sites, eat the food, drink the beer and play it by ear.
But seeing as you are going in September whatever I find out will be of little use to you. Our second choice was a few days in Athens and then take the ferry to Aegina, the research we did on that suggested it would be a great place as well and easily reachable from Athens.
Greece was my last big international trip before the pandemic.
I agree with what others said about Santorini, it’s very touristy and commercialized.
Crete was my favorite. The bigger towns on the north shore (like Chania) were also kind of touristy, but the small villages on the south shore were very nice. We visited Agia Roumeli and Loutro, specifically, which are only accessible by ferry (well, I think Loutro is technically accessible via a dirt road as well). Admittedly they were a little bit touristy as well, but cater more to “adventure tourists” than your typical sightseers. The big thing in Agia Roumeli is to hike the Samaria Gorge. Most tourists start at the north end, hike the whole length of the gorge, end up in Agia Roumeli, and leave on the ferry. But we did the opposite – took the ferry to Agia Roumeli, spent the night, then hiked up the gorge from the south end, hiked until we felt like turning around, and hiked back to the village. It’s a very quiet place to stay once all the people there for a day trip leave.
In Loutro, I attempted to hike over to the Aradena Gorge, but couldn’t find the right trail and instead ended up hiking up the dirt road to the nearby village of Livaniana instead, which offered some nice views. In Livaniana I found a little tavern that worked on the honor system, at least at the time I was there. It really wasn’t much more than a patio with some tables, a fridge stocked with drinks and snacks, and a box to leave money in (there was a price list taped to the fridge) and a couple of cats. So I stopped there, had a beer and a snack, petted the cat, and then hiked back down. And for dinner in Loutro the place with meat roasting on a spit out front was really good; looking at Google Maps I’m pretty sure Pavlos is the restaurant I’m thinking of.
If you go to Agia Roumeli, Loutro, or any similar villages, bring cash! The businesses there are pretty much cash only and there are no ATMs.
I did not go to Mykonos so I don’t know what it’s like there for comparison.
To be fair, the idea of looking for a non-touristy Greek island with lots of great sights is a non starter anyway - ALL the islands worth visiting are touristy, their entire economy is built on it. I wouldn’t let that sway you.
With that said, the Cyclades group of islands are the biggest draw as they are THE picture postcard images of Greece for many people - all blue domes churches and whitewashed houses. They are also, by far, the most expensive for accommodation and restaurants. Super popular with rich Atheneans and well to-do gay men. I’m talking specifically about Santorini and Mykonos. Santorini gets swamped with cruise ships too. One thing, if you like hiking, is that these (and large parts of nearby Crete) are very dry and barren. Not much nice countryside.
I’ve never been a great fan of Crete, always felt a bit cheap touristy beach holiday kinda place to me, but I haven’t toured the island extensively. It does have Knossos though.
If you want more lush countryside, I would look towards the Ionian islands - Corfu (of The Durrells fame if you’ve seen the British TV series) and Kefalonia (of Captain Corelli’s Mandolin fame). Very green, forested, mountainous and with Venetian style architecture.
Otherwise, I’ve heard Lesbos is very nice, but never been. It’s also one of the islands that has seen an influx of refugees on boats travelling from Turkey, but not sure if that would affect the experience or not. And yes it is popular with Lesbians, for obvious reasons, but it’s a big island so I doubt you’d feel outnumbered
Thanks for the suggestions, keep them coming. What I meant by touristy areas is more like Cancun where it’s just people and beaches with not a lot to see. Seems Greece isn’t that way as much.
Right now I’m looking at Mykonos and Santorini, possibly going to both of them. The big pull for Mykonos is the island of Delos.
How is Rhodes? That also looks like it is big enough to spend four days at.
Wow, I’m envious. I’ve spoken to many, and everyone has their favorite island.
I can personally vouch for Crete and Mykonos. But our big favorite was Corfu, way over on the W side of Greece, near the Albanian border. Accessible from Brindisi, Italy. I was there a long time ago, 40 years, but remember it all very clearly.
I was going to go back for my honeymoon. Unfortunately, our flight was canceled because it happened to fall a couple of days after the 9/11 incident. If you recall, there were no flights pretty much anywhere for a week. We haven’t managed to get there, but it’s on my list to go island hopping and just go where we feel like, stay where we were having a good time.
Never been to Rhodes, but it does sound fascinating, what with the Knights Templar connection as well as the more ancient stuff. At the crossroads of a lot of history.
Well Rhodes it is. I found a place in the Old Town part. I’ll have 3-4 days there depending on how I’ll make my flights. Rhodes seems to have had the best of everything for me without having to move between places.