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Posted on 2/28/24 at 10:12 am to jchamil
quote:
What's the weather like there in September?
My wife's cousin is getting married on one of the Greek islands in early September, and we just booked flights.
I was there in September of last year and it was in the 80's.
Posted on 2/28/24 at 10:52 am to DUKE87
In the process of finalizing logistics and bookings for a late May trip with the missus.
As posted previously (in another thread?) OG plan was to fly in and out of Santorini from Amsterdam where I’m based but spending most of the time in Naxos.
Now we altered after reading so many rave reviews of Milos.
So itinerary is now:
Fly from AMS to Santorini at the arse crack of dawn on Friday the 17th of May, get a ferry straight to Naxos arriving there late afternoon that day.
Then spend almost 4 full days on Naxos staying in the main town Chora - Saturday, Sunday, Monday and then on Tuesday the only ferry to Milos leaves at 6 pm so we have most of that day too.
Arrive on Milos the Tuesday night - staying in Pollonia, have Wed, Thurs, Fri as full days there before catching the late morning ferry back to Santorini on Saturday arriving there in early-to-mid afternoon - staying in the heart of Fira town.
Sunday as a full day in Santorini, do the trek from Fira to Oia.
Monday fly back to AMS at noon.
Getting really excited about this one, to point that I’m looking past my Japan trip on April to it.
As posted previously (in another thread?) OG plan was to fly in and out of Santorini from Amsterdam where I’m based but spending most of the time in Naxos.
Now we altered after reading so many rave reviews of Milos.
So itinerary is now:
Fly from AMS to Santorini at the arse crack of dawn on Friday the 17th of May, get a ferry straight to Naxos arriving there late afternoon that day.
Then spend almost 4 full days on Naxos staying in the main town Chora - Saturday, Sunday, Monday and then on Tuesday the only ferry to Milos leaves at 6 pm so we have most of that day too.
Arrive on Milos the Tuesday night - staying in Pollonia, have Wed, Thurs, Fri as full days there before catching the late morning ferry back to Santorini on Saturday arriving there in early-to-mid afternoon - staying in the heart of Fira town.
Sunday as a full day in Santorini, do the trek from Fira to Oia.
Monday fly back to AMS at noon.
Getting really excited about this one, to point that I’m looking past my Japan trip on April to it.
Posted on 2/28/24 at 12:06 pm to purpgold718
Also adding that research suggests that Mykonos is a wannabe-Ibiza influencer infested shithole that thrives off excessively greedy price gouging and tricks and is probably largely controlled by mafia thugs.
Go read reviews for Tropicana club on both Google & Trip Advisor sorted with lowest ratings at the top, and that’ll give you an idea of why that whole island needs to be noped out of the tourist circuit.
Go read reviews for Tropicana club on both Google & Trip Advisor sorted with lowest ratings at the top, and that’ll give you an idea of why that whole island needs to be noped out of the tourist circuit.
Posted on 2/29/24 at 10:48 am to purpgold718
This is a great itinerary to replicate somewhat. Thank you for sharing. AMS seems like a good point to fly into and out.
Posted on 2/29/24 at 2:05 pm to DUKE87
Yeah as long as we *knock on wood* don’t encounter ferry delays or cancellations it should be pretty close to perfect, I think though an extra day or two in each Naxos and Milos would complete that - as for Santorini I think a day and a half is more than enough to cross of what I wanna get out of it.
For Milos we’ll suck it up and rent a car, for Naxos we’re trying to avoid it if we can (we’re legal EU residents so technically we shouldn’t use our Stateside licenses anywhere in the EU) there is a bus system running to the popular mountain villages and beaches, which we’ll supplement with taxis or hotel property negotiated transfers.
For Naxos we’ll spend time at Plaka beach, see villages of Filoti and Chalkio, attempt to summit Mt. Zas, and see the Demeter Temple ruins.
For Milos driving around seeing the different beaches and fishing villages, Plaka town, and a catamaran cruise to the sea caves on the inaccessible western side of the island.
Schiphol is a great airport to have as my homebase airport, easy to get pretty cheap flights all over Europe, in the warmer months usually going somewhere every month.
But yes also as it’s a major hub airport within the EU, a good strategy I’ve mentioned before is to book Transatlantic legs in and out of AMS from the States and then you can separately book intra-EU flights separately with budget carriers. Jetblue has just set up shop there and has some really competitive fares out of BOS & JFK
KLM is Schiphol’s de facto flagship carrier and they fly all over Europe and the world and with a little luck and advance booking have reasonable fares to many destinations around the EU.
Barring that there budget subsidiary Transavia also flies as over Europe (we’re actually using them because KLM doesn’t fly direct to Santorini) and Vueling is your friend if you’re end destination from AMS is Spain, while EasyJet and Ryanair can also be good budget options if you’re really desperate and looking to save a Euro or two…
For Milos we’ll suck it up and rent a car, for Naxos we’re trying to avoid it if we can (we’re legal EU residents so technically we shouldn’t use our Stateside licenses anywhere in the EU) there is a bus system running to the popular mountain villages and beaches, which we’ll supplement with taxis or hotel property negotiated transfers.
For Naxos we’ll spend time at Plaka beach, see villages of Filoti and Chalkio, attempt to summit Mt. Zas, and see the Demeter Temple ruins.
For Milos driving around seeing the different beaches and fishing villages, Plaka town, and a catamaran cruise to the sea caves on the inaccessible western side of the island.
Schiphol is a great airport to have as my homebase airport, easy to get pretty cheap flights all over Europe, in the warmer months usually going somewhere every month.
But yes also as it’s a major hub airport within the EU, a good strategy I’ve mentioned before is to book Transatlantic legs in and out of AMS from the States and then you can separately book intra-EU flights separately with budget carriers. Jetblue has just set up shop there and has some really competitive fares out of BOS & JFK
KLM is Schiphol’s de facto flagship carrier and they fly all over Europe and the world and with a little luck and advance booking have reasonable fares to many destinations around the EU.
Barring that there budget subsidiary Transavia also flies as over Europe (we’re actually using them because KLM doesn’t fly direct to Santorini) and Vueling is your friend if you’re end destination from AMS is Spain, while EasyJet and Ryanair can also be good budget options if you’re really desperate and looking to save a Euro or two…
Posted on 3/5/24 at 6:05 am to lsualum98
Rather than start a new thread, a couple of questions here. My son and his (now) wife absolutely loved Paros and Naxos. Like ruined all future trips loved them. So that’s a start for planning.
His Mom was a travel agent, but somehow, I did all the travel planning for 25 years, but I’m overwhelmed by all the choices of islands, and so many logistics to work (especially lodging and ground transport). Once we narrow down to the 2-4 islands we plan to visit, it will be easier, but, hotels vs AirBnB? Which area to stay in? Ground transport?
I’ve seen a couple of posts mention travel agents, I’d love to have some recommendations for a good one, I might have to cave and ask for help.
ETA: May 2025, 7-10 days away from BTR/MSY
His Mom was a travel agent, but somehow, I did all the travel planning for 25 years, but I’m overwhelmed by all the choices of islands, and so many logistics to work (especially lodging and ground transport). Once we narrow down to the 2-4 islands we plan to visit, it will be easier, but, hotels vs AirBnB? Which area to stay in? Ground transport?
I’ve seen a couple of posts mention travel agents, I’d love to have some recommendations for a good one, I might have to cave and ask for help.
ETA: May 2025, 7-10 days away from BTR/MSY
This post was edited on 3/5/24 at 6:29 am
Posted on 3/5/24 at 7:53 am to Icansee4miles
quote:
Once we narrow down to the 2-4 islands we plan to visit, it will be easier, but, hotels vs AirBnB? Which area to stay in? Ground transport?
When we first started planning our Greek Island trip we went in blind. The only island we had ever heard of was Santorini. We knew we wanted that one, next choice was to pick another one. We read a lot, and Santorini Dave's website was a big help. We narrowed it down to Naxos and Milos. Wound up choosing Naxos and could not have been happier. To us Santorini was a one time visit, but a must for the Greek Islands.
For lodging, AirBnB is big business in Europe. We have used them every time we go across the pond. Just read reviews and look for a SuperHost if possible.
As far as transportation, we rented a car in both Santorini and Naxos. Easy as hell to drive and get around. We booked with Hertz on both islands. Naxos is so laid back, we picked up the car at the ferry port and were dropping it off a few days later at the airport. The agent said to just leave the car in the airport parking lot unlocked and leave the keys under the floormat
Most of our Euro trips are one and done, but we are planning to return to Naxos soon, and will try to visit Milos or Paros.
Before we started traveling to Europe, if you would have told me I would be renting cars, taking ferries and staying in apartments rather than hotels I would have said you are crazy. Now we have made 5 trips and feel comfortable getting around no matter what situation we are in.
The Greek islands are so laid back and the locals are genuinely happy to serve you. I have heard Mykonos is not this way. Even Oia during high season the waiters and shopkeepers' patience wears a little thin.
ETA:
We did 11 days/10 nights in May 2023. 1 of the nights was on the plane.
Our outbound flight was MSY-EWR-FRA-JTR. Long day. We landed in Santorini at 4:50 pm. Got rental car at the airport, checked into our AirBnb and had some time to stroll and eat dinner before crashing.
We took a ferry to Naxos, and then a short plane ride to Athens. Flew home ATH-IAD-MSY.
We spent 3 nights each in Santorini, Naxos, and Athens.
If we do it again it again we would prob do 5-6 nights Naxos, 1-2 Milos, and then a night in Athens before the flight home.
This post was edited on 3/5/24 at 7:59 am
Posted on 3/5/24 at 10:53 am to slinger1317
This is awesome information! Appreciate it, hope to reciprocate. This board always delivers
Posted on 3/5/24 at 4:18 pm to slinger1317
All these rave of reviews of Naxos are really getting me excited, part of me wonders if we would’ve been better off sticking with the original plan of a full week in Naxos, but we already committed too much the revised plan to split up that time with Milos.
I’m sure it’ll be great either way.
Can anyone comment on cell service data and reliability on either island.
And also anyone who used taxis to get back to Chora town from the mountain villages (e.g. Filoti, Apeiranthos) and/or more remote beaches like Alyko on Naxos?
I’m sure it’ll be great either way.
Can anyone comment on cell service data and reliability on either island.
And also anyone who used taxis to get back to Chora town from the mountain villages (e.g. Filoti, Apeiranthos) and/or more remote beaches like Alyko on Naxos?
Posted on 3/6/24 at 7:51 am to purpgold718
quote:
Greece- Island hopping
All these rave of reviews of Naxos are really getting me excited, part of me wonders if we would’ve been better off sticking with the original plan of a full week in Naxos, but we already committed too much the revised plan to split up that time with Milos.
I think you will be fine with a few days at Milos. I'm anxious to hear your review when you get back as Milos is on our radar.
We used our phones with an international plan from AT&T and had no problems. It was $10/day and we didn't have to change sims or anything. If you are worried about data overages, most lodgings and restaurants have wifi.
I can't comment on buses/taxis as we had a car. I would advise you to do the same if at all possible. We booked a 4 door automatic car for 4 days for 280 Euro. Naxos is a large island and we spent a day driving into the mountain towns, which was nice. We also drove and parked at the beach each day. We spent 2 days at Plaka beach and parked at one of the several cafes along the beachfront dirt road. I know the bus runs from Chora to Plaka.
Posted on 3/8/24 at 4:06 pm to DUKE87
Following
Posted on 3/9/24 at 12:37 pm to slinger1317
Why did you not love Santorini?
Posted on 3/9/24 at 2:14 pm to Sixafan
quote:
Why did you not love Santorini?
We spent 3 nights on the island, and I guess if it was the only place we visited we would have liked it more. We enjoyed our day walking through Oia and had a wonderful fresh seafood lunch on the water one afternoon. But it was super touristy and the staff was a lot of Eastern Europeans and not locals. Santorini had amazing views but no real beaches and especially in Oia it was super crowded and everything by was on top of each other.
Tons of tourists on the narrow streets and everyone elbowing their way past to take an Instagram shot of the blue domes.
After spending a few days on Naxos it was easy to say that it was our favorite.
Naxos is bigger, more spread out and a lot slower paced. It just fit the vibe we were looking for. Chora town is walkable with tons of restaurants and shops along the seawall promenade. Santorini doesn’t have that.
We would wander through town each night and people were eating outdoors and music was playing. It was just a wonderful time. The wait staff at each restaurant we visited was very engaging and we felt at home.
We would get up the each morning and drive to the beach, have brunch at a beachside cafe, lounge at the beach all day, then shower up and go into town for dinner. It was just fricking awesome.
Posted on 3/9/24 at 8:22 pm to slinger1317
Without having been to Greece ever but having thoroughly researched it, so much what you said here.
I’m glad we’ll get to cross it off the list but I already know it’s just gonna be one of those obnoxiously overly touristy places.
If it weren’t for the direct flight from AMS, we probably wouldn’t be visiting it at all. And again word of warning all research suggests Mykonos is even less redeeming and way more of a ripoff (no matter how hard they try to push it, it’ll never be Ibiza and only an asshat would dare compare the two).
I digress I’m definitely looking most forward to Naxos, but also very excited for Milos, Santorini is just a convenient bonus
I’m glad we’ll get to cross it off the list but I already know it’s just gonna be one of those obnoxiously overly touristy places.
If it weren’t for the direct flight from AMS, we probably wouldn’t be visiting it at all. And again word of warning all research suggests Mykonos is even less redeeming and way more of a ripoff (no matter how hard they try to push it, it’ll never be Ibiza and only an asshat would dare compare the two).
I digress I’m definitely looking most forward to Naxos, but also very excited for Milos, Santorini is just a convenient bonus
Posted on 3/9/24 at 9:39 pm to purpgold718
quote:
Can anyone comment on cell service data and reliability on either island.
You will have zero problem with cell service..
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