Greek island hopping

mrs_lds

Can anyone recommend somewhere clean and cheap to stay in santorini. Dors not have to fancy or second choice is corfu recommendations.

ManAtHome

Island Hopping book a bit tricky - Thomas Cook publishing are no more. Author's site http://www.greekislandhopping.com/ . Quite a few second-hand http://www.abebooks.co.uk/servlet/SearchResults?an=poffley%20frewin&sortby=17&tn=greek%20island%20hopping . Recent new copies ludicrous prices, but even older copies will have pretty must the same info for the Cyclades - get the most recent non-silly priced one.

Good site for planning ferries http://www.fantasticgreece.com/ferries/search.aspx

Have fun, stay flexible, and watch out for the raki...

Heedtheadvice

For Hollydays: Athens empties a lot in August for the main Greek holiday period one reason (typically of similar areas) 'cos it can be hot and if you hit a heat wave oppressively so, so if you do not like the heat accommodation with air con is essential. Think late 30s to mid 40s but a dry heat. Coastal areas are a bit cooler.

Adonis (sounds like hedonistic Santorini is for you! :-) ): some good advice for you there. Foot passage on some of those ferries is quite cheap unlike the longer distance ones with high car and cabin charges). Late July and August can be very busy, the only accommodate going on spec might be poorer or more difficult to find and those meeting ferries can be very variable, so depends upon what you can accept and not often with ensuite facilities (if that is your wish) at the lower end of the market. Santorini and Mykonos tend to be expensive islands but others can be surprisingly cheap. Island hopping is great for a free and easy too but not if you struggle to get accommodation so for a first visit you might just want to book in advance at that time of year. If it is cheap enough booked, then your idea of heading off elsewhere for the day -or a few days on spec if you like the visited island and find somewhere nice and don't mind the loss of value from your advanced booking - is a good idea. I'd happily lose €10 prepaid a night if I found somewhere I wanted to explore more. For on spec bookings you may well have to surrender a Passport till you have paid. The very touristy areas can be a bit of a rip off, off the beaten track or away from the main tourist bars etc. where the locals go (a bit of a clich!! but very true) can be excellent value with as an example an instant coffee dropping from €5 to €2.50 (or go Greek for just €1). Not so sure that applies to Santorini and Mykonos though!!.
Agree with the learn a bit of Greek too. Nearly all in tourist areas speak English (unless they come from other Eastern EU countries)and many elsewhere but nevertheless using a few Greek words will really be appreciated and improve the already hospitable nature of many Greeks. A cheap phrasebook would be a good investment but it really needs to have a pronouniation guide as Greek is mainly a phonetic language and stressing of words vowels correctly is key.

adonis10

So, Mykonos > Naxos > Paros > Santorini it is.


Flight to Mykonos, ferries to the other 3 and flight back. Is it advisable to book ferries in advance or just pay as we go?


Any advice/info/recommendations on these 4 places about where to go, what to see and do, good value places to eat and drink etc. would be much appreciated.

[Deleted User]

It's impossible to give you advice or recommendations on good value places to eat/drink,sightsee.
You're going to the Greek Islands in the height of the summer so it's going to be hot and busy.You'll be able to eat as cheaply or as expensive as you want from takeaway kebabs to high-end restaurants.
If you're doing it on spec like so many people do then ferries and accommodation are whatever you can find - I wouldn't book either in advance because you need to be flexible.
But be in no doubt - it will be hot and it will be busy.
Having said that if you don't mind roughing it and are happy living out of a back pack you'll have a blast.
Oh and don't worry about the language - everyone speaks English.

adonis10

Deleted_User wrote: »

It's impossible to give you advice or recommendations on good value places to eat/drink,sightsee.
You're going to the Greek Islands in the height of the summer so it's going to be hot and busy.You'll be able to eat as cheaply or as expensive as you want from takeaway kebabs to high-end restaurants.
If you're doing it on spec like so many people do then ferries and accommodation are whatever you can find - I wouldn't book either in advance because you need to be flexible.
But be in no doubt - it will be hot and it will be busy.
Having said that if you don't mind roughing it and are happy living out of a back pack you'll have a blast.
Oh and don't worry about the language - everyone speaks English.

Fair enough. I'd just assumed that x restaurant is good all the time, regardless of whether they hike their prices in the busy months (which I'm sure they do).

Why would we need to rough it? Besides, we've got nice hotels booked already hence why we're looking for advice about getting around, eating out etc. No need to 'rough it' at all. No issue with the heat, been in August before. We're not planning to walk for 8 hours a day so that's fine.

Ferries - given the busy nature of the time of year, I'd have assumed that booking in advance would be the way to go, no? Looks fairly straightforward really and not overly expensive, what would be your reasons for not booking in advance?

Roger1

I thought that the advice from Tom The Great Sebastian and Heedtheadvice was spot on.

What you say may well be OK for many holiday destinations but most Greek Islands are different - and special. I learnt a long time ago to go with the flow (= be flexible) and always had a great time. No need to book ferries as foot passengers. There's always space.

The only additional point I'd make as you're confined to school holiday dates. Go later rather than sooner. Not only less hot (I know, I know) but also less crowded as Germans, Dutch etc go back to school earlier than we do.

pandora205

When I was planning our trip I used Tripadvisor forums a lot to ask of questions about specific areas, hotels, restaurants, ferries etc. There are real destination experts there who will give you an insiders view of each island. They are very helpful.

PS Athens is scorching in July/August. We indulged in a tour with an air conditioned taxi (which meant we were dropped off and collected at different sites and areas). It was a very good decision!

adonis10

Roger1 wrote: »

I thought that the advice from Tom The Great Sebastian and Heedtheadvice was spot on.

What you say may well be OK for many holiday destinations but most Greek Islands are different - and special. I learnt a long time ago to go with the flow (= be flexible) and always had a great time. No need to book ferries as foot passengers. There's always space..

Do you think booking hotels in advance is a bad idea then? We are not backpacker type people hence why booked accommodation already. We've got plenty of time to explore the less touristy areas. Fair point about space, perhaps booking ferries is pointless. However, we know when we are leaving the accommodation and the checkout time so don't see the drawback in having ferries booked. If we've spent 4 days somewhere we'll more than likely want to get up and on a ferry relatively early to have as much time as possible in the next place.

Roger1 wrote: »

The only additional point I'd make as you're confined to school holiday dates. Go later rather than sooner. Not only less hot (I know, I know) but also less crowded as Germans, Dutch etc go back to school earlier than we do.

Already booked and have commitments later in the holiday so no can do. Being restricted to school hols is just something we are used to now.

Roger1

adonis10 wrote: »

Do you think booking hotels in advance is a bad idea then?

Oh, no. I normally book hotels in advance anyway. It's certainly reassuring to know that accommodation's sorted in advance.