namaka

We are a family of four and we will have 12 days in Greece. After arriving after midnight, we will take the bus to Hotel Attalos and stay overnight. This will give us a partial day to get acquainted with the area. Our thought is to take the overnight ferry from Athens to Santorini although I realize it is still too early to get any details for this. I see one that leaves Athens around 10pm and arrives in Santorini at 5am. We were thinking to get a cabin to sleep in thus saving by combining the costs of travel with a place to sleep. Any thoughts on this?

Once in Santorini we will be staying at the "Old Oia Houses" suggested by Brotherleelove (sp?). It is reasonable at 130 euros per night on the Caldera. Here we will stay for 5 nights.

Our next island choice is Mykonos and I've yet to find any places that are around 100-130 euros for the four of us that have decent reviews or aren't already booked. We would like to stay 2-3 nights. Any recommendations?

Last, we will head back to Athens for another 2-3 night and we will again stay at Hotel Attalos.

Oh, and this will be for late June, early July 2011.

brotherleelove2004

I haven't stayed there but I love the look of this place: http://www.mykonosthea.com

Heimdall

You may want to reconsider your choice of a second island. While I like Mykonos, you will get better value for money on Naxos or Paros. I'm not knocking Mykonos — it has lots of fine hotels, shops, and restaurants, and some good beaches, but isn't really a budget destination. The beaches on Naxos and Paros are even better, and prices lower. Naxos is a particularly good choice for families.

namaka

brotherleelove, I have seen this place and it may work. I'll let you know how it turns out.


Heimdall, while I too have considered Naxos or Paros, my real reason for Mykonos is so that we can do a day trip to Delos or am I over estimating Delos as a "must see" site?

Heimdall

If seeing Delos is your main reason for choosing Mykonos, then I fully concur. The site is simply wonderful, and I've been twice, both times from Mykonos. By sheer coincidence I was viewing Delos on Google Earth just before reading your latest post.

You can visit Delos from Mykonos 6 days/week (the site is closed on Mondays), and the boat ride takes 30 minutes. Naxos and Paros also have day trips to Delos, but only 3 days/week. The trip takes 10 hours from Naxos and 8½ hours from Paros.

travelerjan

Heimdall, Your times are a bit off about the excursion to Delos/Mykonos.

You leave Naxos about 8 am, and you stop at Paros, and you arrive at Delos at 10:30 .... about 1 pm, the excursion boat takes you the 25 minutes or so to Mykonos. You leave Mykonos about 5- 5:15 pm, and arrive Naxos about 7:20.

My travel companion did this trip last year, and can confirm these times. This is the company that uses HM Alexander, the larger vessel. Perhaps the rival company that has a smallish boat called Naxos something, has a different timetable.

travginny

I visited Delos/Mykonos from Naxos, as described by travlerjan, a few years ago. The excursion to Delos was very, very interesting. A must see. Really enjoyed my stay on Naxos.

I also stayed at the Attalos Hotel in Athens. I had asked for a room with a balcony and a view of the Acropolis, and got it. The rooftop terrace is quite nice and offers a marvelous view.

parosblue

I like Hotel Attalos too - good value for the money, great location, and they are always helpful.
I agree with others that think a stay on Paros or Naxos instead of Mykonos is a worthwhile consideration. However, if you only have a couple of days and want to see Delos, a day excursion from these islands would not be a good use of your time. Personally, I find Mykonos the more touristy island and tired from all the foot traffic.

namaka

Glad to hear good thing about Hotel Attalos.

And I guess it's settled; Mykonos for 2 nights so we can see Delos. Any other suggestions of where to stay under 160 euros per night for a quad room/spt?

parosblue

Hi Namaka,
The Poseidon on Mykonos is nice with lovely views and an easy walk to town. I think it was about your price range but we stayed there a few years ago and I don't know the cost for a quad.

travelerjan

namaka, I don't know what the make-up of your "family of Four" is, and there may be some reason beside economy that all 4 of you need to be in the same room. A "quad" room is not that common around the islands. It would be much easier to find a "studio unit" that has a Bedroom that sleeps 2 and a 2nd room that has 2 daybeds (and a small kitchenette -- very handy for children who get hungry at odd hours). ... These are the common in smaller family-run lodgings, much likelier to be under 160€ than a "quad" room, which would be in recently-built larger, and more "luxe" hotels.

For Mykonos, I suggest checking http://www.booking.com/searchresults.en.html?iata=JMK and specifying Mykonos city and putting in tentative dates (i.e. July 4-July 6) and see what you get. I did that and saw there were a number of quads at 300€ for 2 nights, which would be at your budget. If you get one with no pool, even less. Also click "apartments" & see what you get. Do not pick something farther out than half a mile from the port. Do not pick a place at the beach. You need to be able to walk to the port to get the Delos Ferry. If your chlidren are small, watch out for hills.

When you get a price on Booking.com, then e-mail the hotel direct... that way you can get more info on the nature of the room and book direct.

here's one I had bookmarked last year: http://www.tagoostudios.com/index.php?ID=tagoo_hotel ... check out the excellent Trip Advisor reviews;you are picked up at port by mini-bus. It is a 25-minute walk to the port ... and you have not shared what age your children are, which may affect your choice. My Constant Plea -- more information!

Heimdall

Travelerjan, you make so many mistakes! ;-) I took the times of the Delos excursion directly off the M/V Alexander brochure, saved for future reference. I am sitting here with the brochure in front of me, and this is what it says:

Departure from Naxos 08:45; Arrival Delos 10:20; Departure Delos 13:15; Arrival Mykonos 13:30; Departure Mykonos 17:00; Arrival Naxos 18:45. By my math that means a total of 10 hours.

I have omitted Arrival and Departure at Paros for the sake of brevity, but Alexander departs Naoussa at 09:30 and returns at 18:00, a total of 8½ hours.

travelerjan

I didn't make a math mistake, so much as misunderstanding a not totally clear statement. You said "The trip takes 10 hours from Naxos and 8½ hours from Paros." I took that as saying that the "Trip" i.e., the SEA JOURNEY, took 10 hours. I did not want the reader to think that the boat took 5 hours on the water to reach Delos, then another 5 hours from Mykonos to get back.

If you had said "The excursion takes 10 hours" I would not have been confused.

Heimdall

excursion |ikˈskər zh ən|
noun
1 <i>a short journey or trip</i>, esp. one engaged in as a leisure activity... (Italics mine)

I use the terms interchangeably — sorry I confused you. BTW, if your timings were correct, that would make a very long day from Naxos.

namaka

thanks again for all of your help.

travelerjan, our family of four consists of me, DH, DD (17) and DS (13). We do try to get a quad room or apt that can sleep all of us mostly based on the overall costs. It does save us quite a bit to be able to get one room instead of two and we are all fine with that. Unfortunately when I put that I would like something in the 160 or less range, I meant for one room that would sleep all of us. I will look into the link you provided and hopefully I can find something suitable.

In all of our travels so far (Ireland, England, France, Italy, Portugal) in Europe, we almost always find something in our price range for the four of us. In fact, the only time we had to get two rooms was on Capri because we really wanted to stay at the B & B.

Please continue to send any advice or hotel/apt recs. my way.....

amer_can

Stayed @ Princess of Mykonos with daughter,50/gr.d 19 and gr.s 21.. Quad room and lovely. good brkfst and resonable (at that time) dinner. Out of town but very quiet and easy walk to the bus (5 min to Center) and up the hill from Stephanos Beach. Try the web site.. You will love this trip and Delos is a MUST!!!

namaka

Have tried Poseidon and Princess of Mykonos. They don't seem to have availability for our dates and/or are out of our price range.

I am tryiing to get some information on the Tagoo studios but they have not responded yet. Hopefully that will pan out since it looks nice and has great reviews on TA.

Any thoughts on taking the overnight ferry from Athens to Santorini? My thought is to take it and get a cabin to sleep in but I know it's too early to get the time/costs yet? Anyone have some ballpark costs/times for me?

brotherleelove2004

You'll find fares listed on www.bluestarferries.com. Overnight's a good way to travel but overnight ferries aren't available every day.

Heimdall

As brotherleelove wrote, overnight ferries to Santorini don't run every day, so the 10pm-5am ferry may not be available on the day you want to travel. Those that do are mostly operated by Anek and LANE, and won't be listed on the Blue Star website. The overnight ferries to Santorini are 70s vintage, among the oldest in the Greek fleet (e.g. Prevelis, Ierapetra, V. Kornados), and are pretty well clapped out. Personally I wouldn't want to stay in a cabin on any of those ships.

If you want to take a ferry to Santorini, my recommendation would be one of the morning ferries (Blue Star or Hellenic Seaways highspeed) or the evening Blue Star, which leaves 3-4 days/week at 7pm and arrives on Santorini at midnight.

Greece does have some modern overnight ferries, deployed on longer runs to Crete and the Dodecanese. Among them are Blue Star 1 and 2, which stop at Santorini (midnight) on their overnight sailings to Rhodes.

namaka

hmmm, suppose I may have to rethink some things. My original thought was to take the overnight ferry as a way of killing two birds with one stone (getting to Santorini AND sleeping arrangements). I am looking at what is most cost effective.

I have joined Aegean Airlines site and have been watching for sales but it's still too early for our dates. Even so, it seems that it wouldn't be much cheaper than the ferries and I still have to get a room for the night (since it's quicker).

Any thoughts? I hope I am making sense!