Planning trip to Greece

[Gardening Grandma]

I'm thinking of a trip to Greece spring/summer of 2012. About 10 days on a sailboat (not a big cruise ship).
Anyone done it?
Advice?

[The Walk of the Penguin Mich]

Nope, but I did spend about 10 days in Greece. I went from Turkey to Athens, did the tourist bit in Athens, then went island hopping. I stuck to the islands that were not the more popular ones (i.e. Santorini, Mykonos, etc) and really enjoyed the vacation. Incredible, unspoiled beaches and lots of mom and pop resaurants.

If I ever went back, I'd do it the same way. The only reservations I had were in Athens, I just kind of went where the mood struck, but it was in September. Perfect weather, but fewer crowds.

[tcu2003]

We went last summer for our honeymoon, and loved it! We did do a cruise ship - it had around 230 cabins, so large, but not huge. Love the sailboat idea - that'll be heavenly! I wouldn't spend more than 2 or 3 days max in Athens - it's a big city, and you can hit the touristy stuff in that amount of time, easily. We stayed at the Golden Age Hotel (near the Hilton), and were in walking distance to the Parliament Building, Parthenon, Temple of Zeus, and Hadrian's Gate, which was a great way to see the city, not just the touristy things.

[Mad Dawg Wiccan]

Sounds like a wonderful trip but for me it would be pure misery; I am horribly prone to sea sickness.

[sapphire12]

I loved the island of Mykonos. I would love to go back.

[debtheaven]

Hi GG.

We went to Greece last summer, but not on a cruise ship. A close friend of mine is Greek and she helped us plan a trip.

We went to the Sporades, which are generally less touristic than the other archipelagos. We spent six days on Alonissos and six days on Skopelos (where Mamma Mia was filmed, but we did not know that at the time we booked. DH and DS3 climbed up to the church, I watched them LOL), and three days in Athens (DH and I had already been, but not DS3. Athens is just BRUTAL in the summer, but we absolutely wanted to take DS3 to the Acropolis and the Acropolis Museum.).

The Sporades are generally non-touristy, except for Skiathos, which we did NOT visit because it's the Ibiza of the Sporades in the summer. It's gorgeous though, I hope to visit it one day, off-season. They were very beautiful, low-key islands, with mainly Greek vacationers.

Hope this helps. We don't like the (long-term) pre-arranged cruises because they are "everybody on, everybody off" and we prefer to make our own arrangements. We had a FABULOUS day trip cruise on a small boat to the marine park.

Feel free to PM me if you think I can help.

ETA: I reread your post and you say spring or summer. DEFINITELY plan to go in spring: less crowded, less hot (but hot enough).

[tskeeter]

gg, some friends did a Greek Islands sailing trip a few years back. Based on their description, they really didn't have much sight seeing time. Most days were spent sailing from island to island. If you really want to sight see, study Greek history, and experience the culture, a sailing trip could leave you a bit disappointed.

[pinkbow832]

I went on a sailing trip in Greece in Nov. 2004 during fall break while I was studying abroad in Europe. The university I was attending had a tradition (and still does) of a student taking the lead and planning a sailing trip for whoever was interested. The year semester I went, there were approx. 30 of us that chartered 5-6 sailboats, each for 6-8 people plus the skipper that sailed the boat. It was absolutely one of the best trips I have ever been on and we all LOVED the company that we used. The same company is used twice a year and would have to be fantastic to deal with groups of American college students.

The company is called Greek Sails (www.greeksales.com) and it looks like they do all kinds of packages and trips depending on what you prefer. They sail from Poros, which is near Athens and easy to get to. Our trip was about 5 days, and we sailed to several places, my favorite of which was Hydra. We would stop occasionally and drop anchor to swim, and the skippers of our mini-fleet knew the best places for cliff-jumping.

If I remember correctly, our trip cost about 350 euros/person (with 6 per boat), which is incredibly cheap when you consider we slept there (3 cabins with 2/cabin), ate there (mini kitchen with stove and icebox!), and it was part of our daily entertainment (sunbathing, swimming, drinking). It really was fantastic and the skippers we had were great.

Before the sailing portion of the trip, we spent some time in Athens visiting the Agora, where you buy 1 ticket that allows entrance to something like 6 sites including the Acropolis, several temples, etc. We also saved a lot of money by staying at a hostel for about 20 euros a night and it was one of the best I've stayed at- complete with a view of the Acropolis from the rooftop bar!

Greece is lovely and I can't wait to go back in a few years! I would probably recommend end of summer for sailing though, maybe mid-September to end of October, so it's not brutally hot but the Aegean is still warm for swimming. Spring weather would be nice also, but the water would probably be cooler.

Happy planning

[sknight]

I just came back from a couple weeks in Crete and loved it! Small towns, friendly people - not as touristy as I expected, which was nice.. I wish I'd had a chance to see some of the rest of Greece, but I'd recommend a sail to Crete if you can fit it in!