Greek island hopping: anybody done it recently?

Greek island hopping: anybody done it recently?

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Blackpuddin

Original Poster:

16,409 posts

204 months

Monday 23rd May 2016
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I island-hopped around Greece for several years on the trot in my youth and loved it. Now Mrs B would like to try it with me, island hop I mean, and I'm keen to revisit some of my old haunts, but the last time I did it was getting on for 40 years ago. Back then you could get a bucket flight to Athens, wander down to the docks at Piraeus, jump on a ferry to the island of your choice where some wizened old crone would come up to you and offer you dirt-cheap accommodation. Is it still like that? Or have they made things more difficult?

thainy77

3,347 posts

197 months

Tuesday 24th May 2016
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You can get cheap return flights to Athens for under 200GBP (from London) for the majority of the year on budget airlines, if you book in advance you can get them down to 60GBP.

I live in Athens and we try to get to a different island every month or two. You can still turn up at Piraeus and just jump on a ferry to most destinations but during the summer holidays it's best to book in advance, the same goes for accommodation.

We plan on going to another island next weekend but haven't booked anything yet, we won't have any issues.

Blackpuddin

Original Poster:

16,409 posts

204 months

Tuesday 24th May 2016
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How interesting, thanks for coming on here.
For a ten-day trip involving maybe three islands from Athens, where would you recommend?
We're going in September, once the schools are open.

popeyewhite

19,622 posts

119 months

Tuesday 24th May 2016
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Excuse me butting in, but in September I would definitely keep to the more easterly/southern islands such as the Dodecanese (Rhodes/Kos etc) and Crete. Even late August I've had some filthy weather in the more northern islands (Cyclades/Sporades especially).

Blackpuddin

Original Poster:

16,409 posts

204 months

Tuesday 24th May 2016
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Thanks for that useful info. Being old timers we'd be looking for the much smaller islands rather than 'banging' places like Rhodes. eek

popeyewhite

19,622 posts

119 months

Tuesday 24th May 2016
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Sure, I hear you smile. There are smaller islands in the Dodecanese like Patmos and Symi....but really all I meant is the weather can turn early in the more northerly Aegean. You may well be fine.

thainy77

3,347 posts

197 months

Tuesday 24th May 2016
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Schools start up here around the second week of September so after that the prices should be considerably reduced. I will throw in the usual suspects of Mykonos and Santorini, 2-3 days on each would be ample and Crete but this would need more time to fully explore the island.

Zakynthos is good for beaches but stick to the North of the island unless you want to be inundated with lashed up Brits. Koufonissia is quiet and cheap, there are hardly any cars and it would be a good place to chill out before you left Greece. Symi is similar but more picturesque. And lastly for the islands, Lefkada also has great beaches.

If you fancied the mainland the Peloponese has some lovely areas, Nafplio is only an hour and a half drive from Athens and is a nice town and Spetses island is a short boat trip (10 minutes) from the mainland, about two and a half hours from Athens.

Blackpuddin

Original Poster:

16,409 posts

204 months

Tuesday 24th May 2016
quotequote all
This is wonderful information, thank you so much. I've been to at least two of the places you mention but it was so long ago it will be interesting to see how things have changed. I'm sure I remember getting a tiny train from Volos in the east to Ioannina in the west but I can't see anything now on the internet to back up my foggy memory!

thainy77

3,347 posts

197 months

Tuesday 24th May 2016
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Not sure about the train but if there's anything else i can help you with let me know.

Blackpuddin

Original Poster:

16,409 posts

204 months

Tuesday 24th May 2016
quotequote all
It was a rickety old narrow gauge thing with a souvlaki-only buffet car, I may be imagining the route but I'm fairly sure Volos and the Meteora were involved. smile Thanks again for your help, it's much appreciated.

b2tus

952 posts

258 months

Tuesday 24th May 2016
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We love the Cyclades and in June, we are off to Milos and Folegandros. Last year we went to Serifos and Sifnos...the year before was Naxos and Paros....the year before that was Serifos.

We have been through Mykonos and Santorini in transit. Frankly speaking, we did not like what we saw. Very busy and noisy. We tend to go for smaller islands/hotels on a B & B basis and then seek out some of the great tavernas.

For a good source of info on smaller Greek Islands, have a look at www.greeksun.co.uk.

Blackpuddin

Original Poster:

16,409 posts

204 months

Tuesday 24th May 2016
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Smashing that, many thanks!

renmure

4,212 posts

223 months

Tuesday 24th May 2016
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Having spent a week in various individual islands over the past dozen or so years, including just having returned from a week on Santorini, our plan for next year is something similar to island hopping. We will likely go during the last week in May / first week in June when the weather is fine, the tourists haven't quite flocked into town and accommodation is readily available.

Tentative plan at the moment is a flight to Athens, a day or two there, then on to Crete via Mykonos, Paros, Naxos, Ios and Santorini. Again, the plan is to have a couple of days on Crete and then get the over night big ferry back to Pireaus.

About 20 years ago (gawd, where did that time go?) my ex-g/f and I went on one of these cheap 2-week "find out your accommodation and resort when you get there" type holidays to Crete and ended up in a pokey room above a lively pub on bar-street in Malia, which even then was like a Greek version of Benidorm. We were the quiet type and it was hell lol.

Anyhow, on day 3 we went to visit the capitol, Heraklion and on the spur of moment got deck tickets for the overnight ferry to Athens... all we had was what we were wearing. We had a fabulous couple of days in Athens then turned up at Pireaus hoping that something would sail somewhere helpful and ended up on a boat to Paros. We had no idea how big the island was and were naive so had pre booked accommodation and transport to the accommodation in Paros before leaving Pireaus. It was quite funny getting collected from the boat in a taxi in the darkness and driven about 30 yards to the room. Oops!! Our one day turned into 3 days because the wind cancelled the ferries.

Getting one to Santorini was a stroke of luck since I still remember my feelings of awe when we sailed into the cauldera and looked up at the villages tumbling down the shear cliffs. Having paid through the nose for the taxi and room in Paros we had decided to wing it on Santorini and were lucky that all the local landlady types met the boat with pictures of their rooms to let and had dodgy looking cars to got you there. All was good tho and we had 3 fabulous days on the island and then got a ferry back to Crete.

I think we were away for the best part of 10 days and nobody in out hotel in Malia noticed. smile

prand

5,910 posts

195 months

Wednesday 25th May 2016
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From what I can tell it's still reasonably easy to do, perhaps a bit more expensive than in the 60s when people would head off to Greece and camp on the beach of a deserted island for pennies. I'd love to get an opportunity to do this sometime in the future, possibly when my kids are big enough to cope and carry their own tent!

I've been visiting Greek islands for many years, it's easy to avoid the party islands and resorts if you prefer peace and quiet. My favourite ever trip was a two-week two-island trip to Sifnos and Santorini after flying to Athens and catching the ferry from Piraeus. Arriving just before dawn and buying a ticket at a little booth just as the whole port woke up was almost timeless. You realise you can catch a boat to practically anywhere in Greece and beyond, and the port is a major crossroads for travellers and trade. Then as the sun comes up, comes the bustle of all the cars, people, vans, scooters loading up on the ships with the various destinations on their back, then a 5 hour journey to our first island stop, sunbathing on the top deck. We caught the quicker and less romantic flying dolphin back in a bad mood!

We went to Paxos and Corfu in the Ionian for our honeymoon, I'd highly recommend that too, not so windswept in the late summer unlike the Cyclades - and you can get between Corfu, Paxos/AntiPaxos, Parga, Sivota on the mainland then south to Kefalonia, Lefkas all by ferry or some sort of boat during the summer. I've also fancied going on a sailing holiday who take the day to sail between these places. One day...

We're off on our own small Greek island holiday next week to Thassos, never been here before, but we get a chance to catch a ferry to the island after the flight, so counts as "proper" travelling. Temps look like 24/25C and sunshine all week, can't wait!

I've no affiliation, but have a look at Matt Barrett's guide to Greece, although can be a bit odd in places, I've always found his commentaries and descriptions spot on. The Sifnos based travel agent Aegean Thesaurus Travel comes well recommended and they helped us when we visited to organise ferries, accommodation all over Greece for us. http://www.greektravel.com/

EDIT - Renmure, I'm pleased you have similar experiences to me. I love going to Greece.

Edited by prand on Wednesday 25th May 17:21

b2tus

952 posts

258 months

Wednesday 25th May 2016
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Thanks for the heads up on Matt Barrett's website.