Greece - cities? best time to visit?

[crispnclean]

If you've been to Greece and/or done your traveling homework, what are you recommendations on cities to stay in?

What is the best time of year to visit for warm to hot weather? (70s and up)

Any other must-see or must-do things in Greece? I'm just trying to brainstorm travel locations and have always thought Greece would be beautiful but I don't know much about it.

[dutchgirl678]

We did our HM in Greece in 2006. We went at the end of September, beginning of October. The weather was amazing, think around 80 degrees, and the sea was so nice and warm, making swimming so pleasant. We spent three days in Athens (though one day we booked a day trip to the Argolis region), 4 days on Santorini, and 5 days on Crete.

Santorini is gorgeous! My favorite of all time. The view is magnificent. Most people that go stay in Oia, but we stayed at hotel Iliovasilema in Imerovigli. The terrace of the hotel offered the most beautiful view of the crater. Sunsets there were amazing. We only rented a car for one day to explore the island. We took a boat tour to the volcano one day and hiked from the boat dock up to Oia to see the sunset. We went to a winery. We hiked a lot and went swimming at the red beach.

For Crete we had a car the whole time. We stayed in Chania, on the west side of the island. Beautiful little town though around it was more crowded than Santorini. We hiked the Samaria Gorge and went to Elafonisi Beach (gorgeous beach with white sand and very shallow waters). We also visited the ruins of Knossos.

The food was amazing everywhere we went. So fresh and flavorful! And the wines. I wish I could go back

[crispnclean]

Aaah, what you described sounds absolutely amazing!

[dutchgirl678]

I sent you a PM with a link to photos

[Deleted]

We went on a Greek island cruise in late May/early June and the weather was gorgeous. As a disclaimer, we didn't spend a significant amount of time on any of the islands so we really only got a glimpse. However, I thought Mykonos and Santorini were absolutely beautiful. Yes, they are both filled with touristy restaurants and souvenir shops, but the scenery is breathtaking.

[anaps28]

We did our honeymoon in 07 in Greece the last week of September- 1st week October.
We did 2 nights in Athens- totally not needed , we could have just done 1.

Then we went on to Santorini and also stayed in Imerovigli at the Anastasis Apartments which is honestly one of those places you have to stay before you die...THATS how perfect it is and was not even remotely overpriced. www.anastasisapartments.com/

We went onto Mykonos and it was SUPER windy that first week in October, so windy we were wearing long sleeves . I would have loved to have it a bit warmer so we could swim etc. I wish we were able to go to Crete but we just didn't have enough time.

[Awkward]

Er, not sure this is helpful, but I went on a senior class trip to Greece and Italy in 2006. I thought Greece was going to be just something to "get through" on the way to Italy, but it LOOOOVED IT. We spent three days in Athens and another day in Delphi the first week of May. The weather was beautiful!

Favorite thing to do in Greece: eat. I probably ate my body weight in feta cheese.

I really like Athens, even though I get the dirty comment. I liked the atmosphere of the city, but this was before all the problems in the last few years so it may be different now.

Delphi was pretty, if touristy. I'm very into history so I enjoyed the ruins and the museums. The view of the water was incredible and I do hope I get to the Greek islands some day!

[mariafromnj]

The tourist season in Greece is May - Late September. It is best to go during that time because beside that being the warmest months many of the smaller villiages on the islands start closing stores and restaurants. The boats and transportataion is also the easist during that time.
Depending on how long you plan to go for, I would keep Athens to a day or 2 and get yourself to the islands... They are beauiful and the best place for a vacation.

Many of the islands are known for different things so depending on what you are into there are better stops for you.
Paros/ Aniparos is amazing stop. These 2 island are a short boat ride from each other and offer a great way to do a large and small island. Nousa is the spot in paros with all the nightlife and some great restaurants. Paros has another town with is right at the port.
Antiparos has one main town and everything pretty much walking distance or you can take the one bus line that runs back and forth across the island. It is only about a 20 minute ride each way and it stops at the different beaches as well as the most amazing cave.

You could add a stop for a few days in Mykonos or Santorini since they are a short ferry away.
Mykonos is known as the party island with a ton of bars and some pretty big clubs.
Santorini is stunning and very different from the islands because the towns are built into the side of the the mountain like island. It is amazing!

[ESquared423]

I did a summer study abroad for a month in college, we were there in June. Weather was sunny and quite warm, we did a week in Athens (nice to take in the the iconic history, but it's not my favorite city...). Then we stayed on the island of Lesvos for the remainder of our session and it was INCREDIBLE! Amazing food (an authentic Greek salad will blow your face off they are so damn good, I dream of them often), great people, relaxing and full of history. Lesvos is also a short ferry ride over to Turkey, which was also fun to explore.

I definitely plan on taking my husband back someday, Greece is amazing!!!

[kershnic]

We went in late June/early July last year. Our trip was overshadowed a bit by ferry strike issues, but I'm told that in general you have to expect to be flexible in Greece. It was warm enough to wear summer clothes and we did swim, but the water was colder than I expected. If were planning the trip again I'd probably go in early September.

We did Athens (including day trip to Delphi), Paros, a sadly shortened by strike stop in Naxos, and Santorini. I loved Santorini (we stayed here: www.hotelketi.gr/ in Fira and LOVED it) although it was definitely busy and touristy. Catamaran sunset dinner cruise was one of my favorite parts: www.santorinisailing.com/ . But I would definitely go to an island other than just Santorini for the beach and relaxing experience.