I have to go to Athens this fall and was thinking of taking a ferry to one or a few of the Greek Islands. Any recommendations? Crete seems like a pretty long trek, and there seem to be like 10000 other islands that I'm too lazy to research.
Ios is a party island. If you are looking to drink hookup then Ios is it. Santorini is beautiful (much, much prettier than Ios) but is more of a place to take a girlfriend and take lots of pictures. Mykanos is pretty, but not as pretty as Santorini. There is more partying than Santorini. It has a large gay population.
One of the top three trips of my life, but I'm pretty much an old f**k and would not likely be jazzed by the same things. It was a really cool place for me as I have a UT Philosophy Degree and spent much of that degree earning time studying ancient greek philosophers. Mykonos was the best part for us with 3 days there and we mopedded all over the island. We were in our early to mid 30's. I was treated to a lesbian sex show on the beach by a couple of spanish speaking chicks. It didn't go over all that well with my wife.
Thanks for the info, NickD. I'm on the wrong side of 35 and my wife and I are going to be in Athens for work, then hoping to visit a few of the islands.
I second Santorini, just there in April and everywhere you look is a postcard. Hotels are pretty cheap, we paid like $30/night. Make sure you rent an atv to travel around the island since the bus transportation slows you down. Make sure you go to Ia to see the sunset, one of the prettiest pictures I have ever taken in my life. With that being said, I didn't think the beaches were that great in Santorini. Which brings me to Mykonos, go to Paradise beach if you don't mind a more commercialized beach. It is absolutely gorgeous, straight out of a corona commercial.
We went to Mykonos, Santorini, Crete, Patmos, Rhodes, Ephesus (Turkey), and maybe one other island I can't remember. We took a brief trip to Delos and spent 3 days in Athens. The first two (Mykonos and Santorini) are places to relax with not a great deal to see and the others are more historical. Ephesus is ******* AMAZING. There are quite a few scholars who think that Santorini was Atlantis or that the volcanic eruption on Santorini did in Atlantis. It has black volcanic beaches and Mykonos is the more traditional sand.
Santorini for the views and beauty. Mykonos for the beaches and shopping. The ferry out to Santorini, if memory serves, had stops at Paxos, Naxos, and Ios. If you want to do Santorini, but would also like a nice sandy beach, which Santorini doesn't have, take a few days in Naxos (laid back, not as trendy or upscale as Mykonos. Avoid August like the plague. A late spring/early fall trip is the way to go.
Don't go where every freakin' American tourist goes. Here are two amazing options... Milos Karpathos You can thank me later. The beaches of Milos pwn anything else listed above. Two places I can recommend from experience: Karpathos -The Link Milos -The Link Other good options Folegandros Slkopelos
Back when we went, Mykonos had several distinct beach areas. Probably miles apart. One for the old people, one for the wild ones, one for the totally uninhibited, one for the eurothong dudes... ... I probably wore Birdwells back then
M;ykonos, Rhodes. Also, in Athens, go see the Antikythera machine--world's oldest computer. Pretty cool.
went to Santorini. it was October and the last week of the tourist season. windy, but really really ******* awesome. recommend the high-speed ferries from athens to santorini. fun experience for a dumb-assed Texan like myself. relative to planes, ferries are much more conducive to people watching and general drunken cultural immersion.
I was treated to a lesbian sex show on the beach by a couple of spanish speaking chicks. It didn't go over all that well with my wife. i laughed till it hurt. also, my wife did not think it was funny.
