southern italy and greece

[stearnz33]

Last summer I went backpacking through europe and was able to hit alot of western europe. Unfortunately I had to skip out on southern italy and greece (among other places), but in the spirit of GFE, I'm coming back and doing it at another time!!

I am beginning the planning for my next trip which I am thinking to encompass southern italy and greece. I have done some searching into other posts and whatnot to try and find as much info as I could in other posts but I wasn't getting exactly what I was looking for.

I am planning on a shorter trip, about 2 weeks or so, and would like people's opinion on where to go in southern italy( south of Rome) and then in greece and most importantly how to make an efficient use of time in these locations.

So please help me out!!

[madamtrashheap]

Welcome back stearnz33! Great to see that you are keeping the GFE "keep on travelling" mantra alive! (well, one of the mantras anyway!). Make sure you give us a "Just Back" report on this next trip.

2 weeks will fly, so you're faced (again!) with either just hitting the "highlights" of southern Italy and Greece or choosing one area to explore instead - up to you, but here are some suggestions:

Southern Italy
Amalfi Coast - Sorrento, Positano, Capri (visit on a day trip from Sorrento), Pompei (if you haven't already been from Rome - it's an easy half-day trip up from Sorrento or down from Naples), Naples if you want to go to the best pastry shop or the Archaeological Museum
Sicily - you could spend 2 weeks here alone! But at least get to Taormina, Siracusa, Catania (there's an airport here). Other places further west like Agrigento, Piazza Amerina, Marsala, etc need more time and a trip to the Aeolian Islands (Stromboli, Lipari) will also take time, worth it, but up to you).
If you're travelling by ferry to Greece, I'd suggest a day in Bari or even Ostuni (another poster reminded me of it) and the Trulli (houses) of the Apuglia region. But this will take time and you don't exactly have masses of it.

Greece
Athens - 2-3 days
Santorini - fly there from Athens (ferry takes around 9hours) and spend 3 days exploring
Other places to consider are Mykonos (2 days with a trip over to Delos), the Peleponnese (Sparta, Kalamata), Thebes, but again this is time dependent. Id' suggest Athens and an island to get a good overview of Greece.

As an example, you could fly into Rome, train down to Naples/Sorrento and explore from there for a few days, then either take an overnight ferry to Sicily (Naples to Catania 11hrs, leaves around 9pm www.bookingitalia.net/ferry-hydrofoil/TTTlines/Naples-Catania-TTT-lines.htm or www.cemar.it/dest/ferries_sicily.htm ) then explore the east coast for a few days before flying Catania-Rome-Athens (look at www.alitalia.com as they often have specials - saw one for Euro19 Catania-Rome - otherwise it's around Euro90 for the 2 connecting flights, or look at Olympic Airways for the Rome-Athens flight). Once in Athens, you could spend a few days there, fly to Santorini (as an example), then fly back to Athens and fly home from there.

When are you planning on travelling? (what time of year?). This might influence the destinations.

[stearnz33]

I haven't determined the time of year yet. This is going to be for 2008 and maybe even 2009. When is the best time of year to travel in this region. I traveled in the summer last time I went to Europe, and heard that the off season is a nice time to see things when it's a little less crowded. We definitely want to be able to lay at the beaches in Greece though, so it needs to be warm.

I flew in and out of the same city last time. However in this situation an open-jaw ticket definitely seems to be the way to go. Can anyone tell me how much more an open-jaw typically seems to be versus a roundtrip ticket. I'd be going into Rome and out of Athens most likely.

Also, can you take a ferry from the east side of italy to greece or is that just too far?

[madamtrashheap]

Keep in mind that Greece only really "opens for business" from May 1st to late September/early-October, so that might determine the time of year you travel. May-June might be a good option for you, although it will still be busy.

stearnz33 said:

Also, can you take a ferry from the east side of italy to greece or is that just too far?

Not far at all! Well, an overnight ferry at any rate. Ports like Bari, Brindisi, etc have many choices to places in Greece (Corfu, Igoumenitsa, Patras). Or did you mean the west coast (Naples, Rome, etc)?

[lia]

madamtrashheap's suggestions look great, I'd just add a suggestion about the period - since you still haven't decided about that: those are very touristic areas, mostly during the hot summer months, since the seaside is just marvellous...so I'd avoid July and August, if possible. the weather is good for the sea from May till September, so I'd rather choose one of these two months to travel around there! have fun with your planning, for now!!