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I can suggest there's a bee named Evi who lives in Greece, she wont mind you messaging her on here, if you want to book it yourself. I haven't seen her for a while on here though, but it maybe worth a try.
Greece is beautiful, but pricey! The airfare alone can eat up a lot of your budget.
Athens, Mykonos and Santorini is a great itinerary.
I won a trip to Santorini this past summer to stay in a villa in Oia (the most picturesque part of Santorini) for a week and a half and don't think I will ever go to a more amazing place in my entire life. You literally feel like you're walking through a painting.
If anything, when you go to Santorini, I would do these things:
1. Make sure to eat Tomatokeftedes (tomato balls)
2. Make sure to go to Santorini Mou when you go to Oia (which you must). My villa was right across the street from this place and we'd go there every night and dance, and sing, and eat the most amazing food.
3. Ride the donkeys!
So jealous - you'll have an amazing time!
DH and I went to Greece in May 2010, and we loved it!!! We went to Santorini and Mykonos, and we were supposed to see Athens but made last minute changes in our travel plans due to the volcanic ash. So we skipped Athens, but I hope to see it someday.
I highly recommend Kivotos of Aegean for booking your holiday. I did a search on Greece travel packages, and we decided to go with Kivotos because they had many different packages. Also, the company is based in Santorini and I liked that they were a local company. I contacted Kivotos through their website about the package we were interested in, and they were very prompt with their responses. I asked about making adjustments to the package, and it was no problem. I recommend going with the four star hotels package because you will stay in hotels that have better locations.
In Santorini, we stayed at El Greco Hotel and it was perfect!! It was within walking distance to the main town of Fira, and the hotel was beautiful with many different swimming pools. We later realized that the three star hotel was located at Kimari Beach (a smaller town on Santorini), and Kimari Beach was very quiet when we visited. Since it wasn't tourist season yet, there wasn't much going on there. We were so glad to be right near Fira and have the option to go in and out of town since our hotel was so close.
In Mykonos, we stayed at the Pelican Bay Art Hotel and it was nice but definitely not as nice as the Santorini hotel. It was within walking distance to the Platys Gialos beach. But if we wanted to get into Mykonos town, we had to call a taxi to pick us up at the hotel (there was a pickup surcharge) for the ten minute ride into town. So it was more of a pain since it didn't make sense to pay to go back and forth to the hotel and we had to make plans to be out all day.
When we decided to skip Athens, I emailed Kivotos and they were very understanding. We knew we wouldn't get our money back because it was so last minute, but they ended up offering us a 10% discount on any future bookings with them. Overall, I was very happy with how Kivotos handled everything. All our drivers were at the airport to greet us, and we received our itinerary and tickets immediately upon arrival.
Im just subscribing to this topic as we are in the midst of planning our honeymoon in greece as well :)
We are planning on possibly doing Greece also! I'm just so lost in trying to plan it though, since I don't personally know many people who have been! More advice, anyone? :)
Regarding trip through the Islands - always figure out how you are getting off the island the moment you land. Sometimes the ferry, or catamaran, or planes dont run every day.
Also remember the other island- CHIOS was amazing, as was Crete.
@retreadbride: My mom entered a random raffle at work ($20.00 ticket) and the grand prize was a free stay in an AMAZING villa for a week in Santorini. And she won! We went on a huge girls trip. Best time ever.
This was the sunset from our villa, every night : http://www.flickr.com/photos/3eb4me/4842026013/in/set-72157624429469324/
And this was our patio that we opened up our doors to every morning! http://www.flickr.com/photos/3eb4me/4819913950/in/set-72157624429469324/
@KateByDesign: Those pictures are great.
We're going to Greece for our honeymoon in September and I am so excited! :) Now I just need to start planning.
@mrsphd: If you don't mind me asking, about how much did the entire trip cost?
@ajdelmundo: My mom entered a random raffle at work ($20.00 ticket) and the grand prize was a free stay in an AMAZING villa for a week in Santorini. And she won! We went on a huge girls trip. Best time ever.
We went to Greece for part of our honeymoon and it was amazing. We stayed in Athens and Crete. Athens I wouldn't stay too long in, because once you see the acropolis and other ruins that's pretty much it, 3 days was good for us, plus, we went in August and it was SO HOT. Crete was amazing, we were there for 4 days, stayed at the Gran Melia resort, and it was beautiful, but really far from everything. We rented a scooter to go around the town and stuff, it was so much fun and you get to see amazing views. We couldn't go to Santorini because all the cruises were booked (there were cancelled trips before because of rain and so everything was so full on sunny days) but everyone told us that just as it is beautiful, it is expensive , so be prepared to drop some cash there. We didn't do Mykonos because my Greek friend said that it is more touristy and therefore more of a party town, and we just wanted to relax. We didn't find Crete expensive, but that's maybe because we had gone there from Rome and that is one expensive place to be...
@ajdelmundo: Our tour package of 3 nights in Santorini, 3 nights in Mykonos, and 2 nights in Athens cost about $1150 USD per person. This included transportation (ferry rides), transport between the port/airport and the hotel, and a half-day tour of Athens. Of course, the flights in and out of Greece are a separate cost. We were so happy we went through Kivotos because we didn't want to deal with the hassle of figuring out transportation and researching hotels in three different places. You can make adjustments to the package (we chose 4 star hotels in Santorini and Mykonos and a 3 star hotel for Athens), and it will be priced accordingly.
we used Jim at Perfect Honeymoons http://www.perfecthoneymoons.com/
they specialize in only doing honeymoon vacations and planned a great trip for us - i think he is greek also and has made many trips there, which gave him an edge on things. he booked us into romantic/intimate places as opposed to just larger touristy cities/hotels. we did 10 days in athens, crete (chania) and santorini (oia - amazing!).
i wouldn't stay long in athens - max 2 nights, just to see the acropolis and recover from your flight. crete is AWESOME - so much to see, amazing beaches, gorges, history/culture. and santorini is so romantic and beautiful (not much to do other than relax and be romantical).
he goes through a larger global agency who were of great help when we had to change something last minute when we were in greece.
i would definitely use an agency or some sort - it was just so much easier having all the fees paid already and transfers waiting for us etc.
I went to Greece with my husband and 20 new friends in August as a sort of orientation to an MBA program (such an awesome way to make friends!!). We spent a week split between Athens, Mykonos and Santorini. (I didn't get to do any of the planning - the 2nd year leaders chose the itinerary and hotels).
Re: Athens
I was not impressed. Aside from the Acropolis, the buildings are run down and there is lots of graffiti. However, our leaders put us in the WORST hotel ever. Literally, it was scary...in the middle of the "red light district." That is a euphemism for druggies passed out in the middle of the street with needles in their arms, hookers, and pimps with guns. So do some serious tripadvisor research before booking your hotel. Spend at the most 2 nights in Athens - the Acropolis really just takes one day.
Re: Mykonos
This was so fun! It is definitely the party island - and there are some nude beaches here too. We stayed near the Platys Gialos (one of the beaches). The beaches here are gorgeous - full of gorgeous people getting pretty wasted. It is a little difficult to catch cabs, there are only 30 on the whole island (according to a cabbie). However, the public buses are very nice (coach buses) and full of tourists.
Re: Santorini
We stayed in Perissa, one of the black sand beach towns. This had a very nice stretch of restaurants/bars along the beach. Our hotel was set back about one block off of the beach. It seemed that most hotels not beach front, but it literally took about 3 mins to walk to the beach. The waiters from the restaurants would come and take drink orders on the beach. And the food/drinks here were pretty affordable.
We took the public bus (coach once again) to Oia one day. Oia is the city that you think of when you think of Greece - blue domes & white buildings on the cliffs.The bus took about 45 mins - 1 hour each way. Honestly, I was happy to stay on the beach and just daytrip in Oia. Yes it is pretty, but I would have been bored if I spent too much time there. Also, Oia was overrun with cruisers during the day time. Oia is much more expensive than Perissa.
Be sure to schedule a "pirate ship" ride around the caldera. Ours started at about 1p and lasted until after sunset. You do a light hike around the volcano and swim in the hot springs. They give you apps and wine as you watch the sunset.
Re: Transportation
I disliked the ferries between islands. They were often very early in the morning and made me sea sick. I think they were fairly expensive too. I would look into air travel between islands.
Have fun! It was AWESOME :)
@ETwedding: Thanks for the details! What hotel was that in Athens btw? (So I can avoid it.) It wasn't Classical Athens Imperial was it? I am trying to find good locations for convenience. Where in Mykonos do you recommend staying? Mykonos town? Particular beach? Thanks a lot...
@ajdelmundo: OMG! This is our exact honeymoon!! We are spending 4 nights in Mykonos, 4 nights in Santorini, and 1 night in Athens on the way back home. I am so excited! Everyone has said that the islands are absolutely amazing. If you are interested, I can tell you where we are staying. We went for 4 and 5 star resorts so it's costing us a lot of money but I think it will be worth it.
@Rachel7491: Yes, where are you staying and did you book through a travel agency or independently? How exciting
@ajdelmundo: We are staying at the Petasos Beach Resort in Mykonos and the Astra Suites in Santorini. We booked through a travel agent (AAA) because they inter island flights/ferries can be very confusing to schedule and coordinate. I think it was definitely the best way to go. Here are the websites for the hotels if you want to check them out.
Two hotels I absolutely cannot recommend enough:
This is the view outside the room we stayed in at the Hotel Keti.
I took this photo of the terrace at the Hotel Omiros while we were eating breakfast one morning.
Views that are worth a million bucks, prices at absolute rock-bottom. Plus at the Omiros, the owner, Yannis, is super friendly and chatted with us every day, giving us recommendations on restaurants and beaches, and his mom made us breakfast every morning. You really can't do better than these two hotels.
Don't miss a day trip to the island of Delos when you go to Mykonos, be sure to ask if Akrotiri is open on Santorini, definitely take a day to ride the donkeys down to the old port and take the sailboat tour around the caldera (the one where you hike up the volcano, swim in hot springs, eat an onboard buffet, and hear a saxophone serenade while you watch the sunset). Forget about wasting money on a travel agent, just do some research on Trip Advisor and make your own plan.
In Athens, obviously do the Parthenon and the Ancient Agora, but also be sure to spend some time at the National Archaelogical Museum. Just stunning marble sculptures that you could look at for hours.
And be sure to eat like there's no tomorrow. Eat everywhere, we just took a Frommer's guide and asked our hotel owners for advice and ate everywhere that was recommended and we were rarely steered wrong. Have Greek yogurt with honey, fruit and nuts for breakfast, and forget about the waffles (those are just there to appease French and American tourists - trust me, the yogurt is what you want). Eat with gluttony and abandon, the food in Greece is a rare treat.
[ETA] One more thing - we relied on the public buses in Mykonos and Santorini to get around. This was fine, and we never had any real problems, but if we did it again we'd definitely rent scooters and enjoy the increased freedom and reduced confusion/anxiety/crowding. In Athens, you'll do fine relying on the subway, which is impressively efficient, accessible and clean.
I seriously doubt that you would ever book this hotel - look at the reviews on TA. But the awful Athens hotel was Amaryllis. http://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotel_Review-g189400-d250576-Reviews-Amaryllis_Hotel-Athens_Attica.html
In Mykonos, we stayed in by the beach (Platys Gialos is the name of the beach). Our hotel was nice for our group setting, but not very honeymoon-y. http://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotel_Review-g659660-d316633-Reviews-Argo_Hotel_Mykonos-Platys_Gialos_Mykonos_Cyclades.html
my family is from Greece and I have been going every year or so since I was a kid - I'd recommend a few other islands less popular with tourists that are a bit cheaper. Mykonos has it all but really does cater to a European party crowd.
Some of the less known islands are Skopelos, Milos, Folegandros, Tinos(which is about 15 minutes ferry from Mykonos but very quiet). There are ferries and tours that visit all of these.People speak pretty good English on all these islands though Mykonos/Santorini has the most European/American workers.
also - if you do a day pr two in athens - take the ferry to the island of Egina - its a day trip and a really nice village.
feel free to message me
@kouklitsa: Thanks. I ended up booking Mill Houses & Suites in Santorini, Athens Gate Hotel in Athens, and Royal Myconian Ambassador in Mykonos...
Anything I should know about these hotels that may make me change my mind??
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Any suggestions on travel agency vs. book it yourself for my honeymoon? Trying to stay within budget and it is fairly difficult. Interested in staying for 10 days. Any suggestions regarding budget, location, islands to visit, etc, are welcome!