Greece

[spoke]

Hi,

I am going to be in Greece for a month from Late July untill late August. I know this is the high season, but this is when my opportunity to be there is. What islands do you recommend. I plan on spending some time on the mainland and some islands I wish to visit are Santorini, Crete, Delos, and Rhodes.
I have a month though and I am wondering what other islands I should visit.

Should I be booking my hostels / hotels in advance? I am thinking it would be a good thing, however I would rather not have to keep a strict itinerary. I am planning on bringing a tent and am not opposed to camping some of the time.

Any other advice that can be offered would be great. Thanks!

[madamtrashheap]

Welcome spoke!

There have been a lot of discussions on Greece and which islands offer what, so have a bit of a search thorugh Posts for some further inspiration. To add my thoughts, in the time that you have you could look at islands like Crete, Rhodes, Santorini (all of which are on your list already), Mykonos (day trip to Delos incl.), Sifnos, Paros, Naxos, Tinos, Samos... and that's just a start! It will depend how much of your time you want to spend sightseeing and history-looking vs lying on the beach, but each island offers something different depending on your interests. I'd also suggest spending a few days in Athens at the start of your trip as it's a must-see in the region that shouldn't be overlooked.

Yes, you most definitely should book your accommodation well in advance, especially as you will be there in the height of Summer and leaving it until the last minute will mean either more expensive choices or no vacancies at all. I know it's nice to just drift a little whilst on holidays, but in the case of the Greek islands, you might have to forgoe that dream at this time of year - even the campgrounds get full!!! You have approx. 1 month in which you are travelling, so that is plenty of time to sit on the beach for days on end before leaving for the next island.

Travel between the islands can be by ferry or by plane, depending on the route you take. I'd suggest starting at the furtherest island out and working your way around.

PONR was in this region last year and no doubt will have lots more to add to this Post, so hopefully she'll see it soon.

Happy planning!

[spoke]

i was definitely going to plan at least 2 full days in Athens. I also wanted to see Mycenae and was thinking about staying in Argos for this purpose before heading down to Kalamata to catch a ferry to Crete.

I was looking decently cheap place to stay on Mykonos, not right in the main city but a 15 min bus ride away, at paraga beach.

I'll have a look at the other islands you stated, I remember looking at Samos a while ago and seem to think there was at least a couple reasonably cheap places to stay and it sounded pretty good to me.

Thanks for the advice about booking places to stay, i'll have to nail down my itinerary before I leave.

Sorry about poorly organized and random my posts are but I hope it gets my point across.

I hope that people can offer some more insight into my time in Greece

[pointofnoreturn]

Accommodation is pretty cheap in Greece if you book early - so there's no point in bringing a tent and camping equipment. So suggested visit lenghts:

Santorini - 4-5 nights
Naxos - 3-4 nights
Paros - 3 nights
Athens - 3 nights
Rhodes - 4-5 nights
Mykonos - 3-4 nights
Delos - you can't stay on Delos because it's a sanctuary (I believe) so a day-trip is needed from Mykonos
Crete - 5-7 nights

If you're in Naxos, definitely check out Windmill Naxos. I paid $14 CDN for a room that had a private bathroom, balcony and kitchenette (well, it's $28 for the room cause it was a twin). Fantastic people, fantastic place, great price.

In Santorini, I stayed in Oia at Casa Francesca. It was like a self-serve basic apartment which worked really well for me. It was $22 CDN per person ($44 a night).

You can go cheaper than that with hostel dorm rooms for sure. I think the first thing you need to do is nail down a rough itinerary because as you said, it is the HIGH season so booking should be necessary in terms of accommodation and ferry tickets. Well, not too sure about the ferry tickets but I always like a bit of security knowing I have a ticket for a certain journey rather than having it be suddenly sold out.

[stylescriber]

It's generally advisable that you book your hotel as early as possible in order to get the cheapest deal. Booking early means you have the luxury of choosing from the many hotels available in a certain place.. the one accommodation that perfectly suits your needs and budget. The longer you wait, the more likely it is that you'll have to settle for a hotel you'd normally not have chosen.