Greece: Cyclades and Crete

itinerary map

Table of Contents

  • 15 days
  • 2014 Fall

This was my fourth trip to Greece and Steve’s first. It was also our first trip to a country where neither of us knows the language. Since I’d been here before and knew from previous visits and research that English is widely spoken, and Greece has a reputation for hospitality, it seemed a good choice for hitting our most foreign country (to date). We tried to keep to at least three nights per stop so we didn’t feel rushed. 

Food & Beverage $37 per day*

Average per person per day. We ate most meals out.

Lodging $62-$110 per night*

Santorini was our least expensive stay, though Chania was close; Athens was our most expensive with Iraklion very similar.

Transportation $270 per person*

Most transportation costs were ferries and flights between islands and Athens. (The flight from Chania to Athens was cheaper than a ferry.) We used busses and the metro in Athens. We did not rent a car.

Entertainment $184 per person*

We did three tours and visited several museums and and ruins. We saved on beach chair and umbrella rent by eating lunch at the restaurant that rented the equipment.

* Costs in US dollars at time of trip

Days 1-2: Athens

The Plan: While we didn’t want to spend a lot of our trip in the city, we did want to see the major historical sights and take in some of the older neighborhoods..

The Reality: The Acropolis was of course impressive though the Ancient Agora was also great and a lot less crowded. We enjoyed just wandering around the city, especially in the evening. 

  • Plaka
  • Acropolis
  • Ancient Agora
  • Monastiraki Flea Market
  • Acropolis Museum 
  • Filopappou Hill
  • Shopping for contact lens case and solution +

Related Posts: The first post describes daily activities and the destination. Other posts cover anything that generated lots of photos!

Days 3-6: Naxos

The Plan: We wanted to hit another island in the Cyclades besides Santorini, one that was new to both of us. We eliminated Mykonos as too pricey and touristy and eventually narrowed it down to Naxos or Paros. Naxos won out for it’s old town and food scene. 

The Reality: We’d planned to do some hiking on our own but when we got the opportunity to do a guided tour with a local expert, we did that instead. We still ended up doing a little hiking! 

  • Climb Mt Zas
  • Halki
  • Day trip to Delos
  • Guided tour of Naxos
  • Plaka beach

Related Posts: The first post describes daily activities and the destination. Other posts cover anything that generated lots of photos!

Days 7-9: Santorini

The Plan: I’ve wanted to go to Santorini since the first time I was in Greece in 1983. I hadn’t been able to fit it in until now. We expected to spend most of our time around the caldera. We stayed in Perissa because it was less expensive.

The Reality: We loved Perissa! It’s now our favorite beach town. We didn’t actually spend much time around the caldera, though we did walk from Fira to Oia. (And were woefully unprepared since we did it spur of the moment.) 

  • Walk from Fira to Oia, stay for sunset (Saturday, no cruise ships)
  • Ancient Akrotiri 
  • Walk to Ancient Thera?
  • Beach time

Related Posts: The first post describes daily activities and the destination. Other posts cover anything that generated lots of photos!

Days 10-15: Crete

The Plan: Hiking the Samaria Gorge was another bucket list item I didn’t fit into a previous visit to Crete. We were able to arrange our schedule so that we could do Knossos en route to Chania. And we planned to go to one of the famous beaches on the east coast of Crete. 

The Reality: We hiked the Gorge and it was as wonderful as expected. Knossos also went as planned. In the end we decided the beach at Chania was nice enough that we didn’t make the effort to get to one of the more out-of-the-way beaches. 

  • Knossos
  • Hike the Samaria Gorge
  • Elafonisi or Falasarna beach
  • Neo Hora beach in Chania

Related Posts: The first post describes daily activities and the destination. Other posts cover anything that generated lots of photos!
Greece book cover

Resources

  • We used Lonely Planet Greece (Kindle format) as our main resource
  • Greek Travel Pages has a ferry search tool that allows you to enter an origin or destination and see how you can get from/to there. Great for researching possible ferry connections without having to know exact end points or dates. 
  • Matt Barrett’s Greece Guides has been around forever and is an encyclopedic resource to travel in Greece.

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