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I would skip Greece entirely. For me, Greece was dirty, the food was bad, the people were unfriendly, the cities were smelly and everyone stared at me. Athens and the islands were untended and littered with garbage. I felt like we got ripped off at every possible turn. I was in Greece for over two weeks and we were in Athens, Corfu and an island off of Chios.
That's just my experience, my sister absolutely loved Greece when she went in high school. I would say that if you have a deep love of Greek mythology or history then it's probably worth it for you to experience Greece. If you're just going because it's close to Italy, I would suggest Croatia. Croatia was cleaner, friendlier and cheaper. They have pretty much everything Greece has except the Acropolis and to be honest, the Acropolis was almost completely held up by scaffolding and it was ridiculously crowded, even in late September. I loved Croatia, can't recommend it highly enough. You can even take an overnight boat to Dubrovnik, Croatia from Bari, Italy...and you won't even waste one day on travelling!
If you are going to Greece you may want to leave a little more time for just relaxing on the Greek Islands. They're wonderful. It can take about 1/2 a day on the ferrys to get to them tho, so you would have to allow for that.
Have fun!
@enjoyyourrabbit: WOW. I've never heard of anyone refer to Greece this way. I obviously have the exact opposite opinion of Greece. I've also been to a lot of Europe and find that it is not only one of the cleanest countries I've been to, but one of the most beautiful. And the food is AMAZING. I mean...AMAZING.
You do not need to spend much time in Athens. I would say three days tops. Great thing about staying around the Acropolis is that you will be walking distance of everything you need to see. If it's not walking distance - you can take the public transportation (metro/train system) and it's very nice. The Plaka is INCREDIBLE. It surrounds the Parthenon and many of the ruins and is filled with incredible restraunts and shops. This is the place to be at night for romance and to meet great people.
I do agree that going to Greece without going to one of the islands is really a bummer. In my opinion I would cut out Venice or Crete to go to Santorini or Mykonos. You can take a ferry from Athens to get to either of these islands. It is worth it. Trust me!
Touching on Italy, if you don't decide to cut out visiting a second place outside of Rome...I would replace Venice with Florence. Not only are Rome and Florence closer to one another than Rome and Venice, but Florence is much nicer...IMO.
Good luck with everything!
I met my husband there for his two weeks R&R and we traveled a lot. Athens is doable is probably 2 days, we went for the historical aspect. We went to a Greek Island for some relaxing. We only spent one day/one night there. Which we traveled to the islands by ferry (the fast one) the first day we were suppose to go there the ferry workers were on strike (which apparently is common). If going again we plan on flying to the islands instead of doing ferry. The one day we had was cloudy but still nice. I would have liked another day there. Rome is huge! We didn't give ourselves enough time there! And I loved Venice, but would say 2-3 das there is fine too. It kind of depends what you are looking to do. But I would probably spent the majority of the time in Italy. Didn't go to Crete, so i know nothing about that.
My husband and I feel exactly the same way as you. We were in Europe for 3 weeks during our honeymoon and I can honestly say Greece was the one country we felt like everyone just hated the fact that we were there but wanted our money. We were only in Athens and took a day trip to a neighboring island and Patras for the ferry. I'm convinced the Tourism board spends ALL their money on islands like Mykonos, Santorini, etc because that's where everyone wants to go.
We don't regret seeing Athens because it was just magnificent to see all the ancient structures. But on the other hand it was so sad to see the how the city was and that their own people do not respect the history enough to keep the city clean.
Greece was to us great that we saw it but we have no intentions of ever going back. If I want white sandy beaches I can go anywhere in the world thats much closer without going all the way to Greece for that.
But it was so funny to us that the stations were SO clean!!! They had cleaning ladies at the stations!
I do not, I repeat do not recommend the ferry from Greece to Italy. We did that and it was a scary ferry ride. Our ferry from Ireland to GB was SO wonderful.
As for Rome, I felt like for us - we moved REALLY fast- 3 days was enough. But for the average person I would probably bump Rome up to 4 days? I have a great apt reco if you're interested!
I think the best thing to do really is to outline the cities you want to see. Research travel to and from. Outline what you want to see in each city. Look up to make sure those locations are open the days you plan to be in that city. Then gauge it from there.
Agreed with Florence! Beautiful!
I also recommend Cinque Terre! 3 hour train ride from Rome and SO worth it. Such a little slice of paradise.
I think 4 cities is def doable in 15-16 days. Just account for time zone loss, travel loss, etc.
I TOTALLY agree with KateByDesign. We went to Greece for our honeymoon and had an amzing time. 3 days is sufficient. I also second going to Rome and Florence instead of Venice.
Hi,
/Rome is an amazing city although very expensive and I agree with the prevous poster, Florence is much closer and is a beautiful city, the markets are fantastic and there are plenty of beaches there too. Have you considered interrailing, driving down to Sorrento or the Lakes? It's stunning.
Where are you flying from because obviously if it's the UK BMI, easyjet and Ryanair will fly you into pisa for 20+ quid!
I don't know much about Greece except from one holiday to Kavos (ugh). They don't let you flush toilet paper down the toilet and there is a certain odour lingering in some places. I've heard Kefalonia is amazing though!
@ticatica: The toilet paper thing is only true in some restaraunts - more likely to be on the islands than Athens.
Thanks for the advice. Thinking we may do two days in Athens and add an extra day to one of the Greek Islands, possibly Santorini instead of Crete now. A friend also suggested going to Florence as well. He went on a day trip to there from Rome. Will probably fly to/from the Greek Island to save on time. Will defintely have to look more into it and start booking soon.
@ticatica: I'm in the US.
there are really good deals out there for Greece! you can stay for two weeks... look up http://www.unforgettablehoneymoons.com/Greece-Honeymoon-Packages_18.html they seem like they have really good deals... for long periods of time...
i understand everyone's opinion but booking a vacation is like deciding which movie to see... in the end, everyone has different tastes... good luck with your travels!
I'd skip Venice too. While I thought it was a beautiful city, it was a touch touristy and i'm not a touristy type of person for too many days. Additionally I think you can hit Venice in one day. Piazza di San Marco & the Chiesa di San Marco, gondola ride, lunch, wine, coffee and you're done. Buy a Venetian mask as a souvenir and be out! PS if you do go to Venice don't be alarmed if the city smells funky, it's because of the water making mold on the buildings!
I think it's ambitious to do 4 cities in 15 days but I think FI and I are doing the same thing just up the west coast of Italy. May I suggest doing Florence instead of Venice? I could live there, that city was so wonderful!
@Gerbera: it was so sad to see the how the city was and that their own people do not respect the history enough to keep the city clean.
This was exactly it! I was annoyed that a country with such a rich and interesting history would put no care into their national treasures.
Aside from all that other stuff I mentioned...
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Hello. My FI and I are thinking about going to Greece and Italy for our honeymoon for two weeks. I started doing some basic research and am wondering how many days is enough for each city. I would like to see as much and go to as many different places as I can in two weeks but don't want to over do it or not have enough time each city. In order to visit Crete, Athens, Rome and Venice in 15-16 days, we would only spend 3 nights in each city. Is that good enough? Should we just concentrate on one country? Or go to one less city?