Andros, Greece.

richardw

Fly to Athens, stay overnight and then get the Ferry to Andros the next morning, a slow one from Piraeus gets you in the holiday mood.

Return home on a direct flight from Mykonos or Santorini.

Do some research about accommodation and beaches, no need for a package holiday.

benjus

I haven't been there, but Andros looks lovely based on what I've seen in a couple of websites. Still quite off the tourist trail, by the looks of it. I say go for it... it's where you want to go, so just go there.

Organising a holiday isn't rocket science, and it's easier than ever in the internet age. As richardw says, book flights and ferry crossings on different days to reduce the chance of missing a connection.

If you do decide to look elsewhere, I wouldn't write off Crete. It's a very big Island, and there are plenty of sleepy corners untouched by mass tourism.

Eros1000

Mrs Eros and I stayed in Andros about 10 years ago and I doubt its changed much. This was part of a Greek island hop and we loved it. You will need a car to get around which you could hire on the island. Plenty of apartments available to book independently. As others have said look at Trip Advisor for reviews.

badger09

@mrtfc

I'm SO glad I decided to scroll back a few pages after being absent for a while.

I could be your Andros expert:D

My husband and I first visited in 1990, our first holiday together. We've been back 5 or 6 times since then as it has special memories for us. We were last there in 2016 and it has hardly changed in those 26 years. We're greeted by our accommodation owner and local restaurants as old friends. Many of the businesses are still in the same family ownership after all that time.

There is no airport but the ferry from Rafina to Gavrion takes only 2 hours - not 4! We have mostly flown to Athens late evening, and caught the first ferry of the day around 7.30 - 8.00. There's a really cheap bus from the airport to Rafina where some of the little bars open in time for a coffee before sailing.

We build in a couple of days in Athens on the way back, to cover any issues with ferries. We've never actually had any problems on the return journey, but have been delayed on the way out, due to bad weather - but that was early May IIRC.

We always stay in Batsi, which is the main 'resort' but its very peaceful and laid back. There is no real night life, but enough bars and tavernas. Depending what accommodation you're looking for, I could probably suggest a few names for you to look at. Please PM me if I can help.

Sweetpea1989

Hi we went last year in May time. The wild flowers were lovely! We planned on hiking but just chilled out instead! Car is a must! We found some amazing beaches with no one on them, although the roads approaching were a bit hairy.
We stayed in an Airbnb in the middle of no where, not much
going on at all so if you want peace and quiet it’s the place for you, remember it can get quite windy.

basill

Alan_Bowen wrote: »

There are a number of tour operators who offer holidays to Andros if you want someone else to put it together for you, have a look at Sunvil Holidays and the less expensive Olympic Holidays. Both have reasonable descriptions of how it is now before you jump in and book on the basis of a memory!

I went on a few lovely holidays to the smaller Greek islands arranged by Laskarina holidays, they were brilliant but sadly closed their doors in 2006.
I was delighted to find that Olympic now have many of these tiny islands in their range and include ferry transfers.

I`m going back to Tilos this year :-)