Cheapest way to Greece

GreenPlastic

I'm planning on heading to Greece to go island hopping in July for a few weeks and am having trouble finding the best way to get there. I live in Dublin, but am also able to travel from Belfast. Can anyone advise any airlines/routes, and a rough amount of what others have paid to get there?

Ponster

~€300 with Aer Lingus to Athens in July from SkyScanner.net

Victor

Where in Greece? Its a big enough country.

Potentially Luton-Brindisi (Italy) with Ryanair and ferry to Greece. Dublin-Athens with Aer Lingus. Other than that, there are dozens of code shares / connecting flights you can avail of here: http://www.dublinairport.com/plan-your-trip/destination_map.html to about 10 different Greek airports.

RubyK

Do you want to go to Athens, and then island hop from there?

Or are you hoping to go fly direct to a specific island and hop that way?

From Ireland you are limited in where you can go. Dublin - Athens with www.aerlingus.com is proabaly the cheapest option (From Athens you could visit the nearest island group, the Saronic islands - Aegina/Hydra/Poros. Or you could get a domestic flight from Athens, with www.airticket.gr or www.aegeanair.com to whatever island you wish.

If you want to get to an island from Dublin, Sunworld, Panorama & Falcon fly to Corfu (you could do Corfu/Paxos/Lefkada - Ionian Islands). The only other islands serviced by Irish operators are Zakythos and Crete. Zakynthos has only got a ferry service to the mainland port of Kilini, where you would have to wait for hours to get a ferry to Kefalonia. Crete, is the most southerly island, and far removed from others, so again island hopping wouldn't be the easiest.

If you can get a cheap flight to the UK you will have plenty of choice on what islands you can fly direct to. Have a look at www.travelsupermarket.com (Kefalonia - to do the Ionion islands) (Skiathos - to do the Sporades islands)

Easyjet fly from Gatwick to Santorini, which is a good base to see the Cyclades islands (Naxos, Paros, Ios (although it's known as little Ireland, and is a student party island, but that might be your thing ) and Mykonos - there are some lovely parts, as well as the hedonistic capital!). You can get a Blue Star Ferry for approx €15.00 return to these islands. And they have daily services.

You should pick up a book called Thomas Cook 2010 guide to Island hopping on amazon. It's good for showing the ferry routes for the different islands. Some islands are badly serviced by ferries, so you'd want to have a loose itenary planned.

How long are you hoping to go for?

I'm not half jealous. In 2008 we did Santorini/Naxos and it was the nicest holiday we ever had. We were just sorry we didn't get to Paros.

www.greeka.com is also a good site for tips on what do see etc.

Sorry for going on there. If you haven't guessed it, I love waffling about Greece

MaverickIII

Hi Rubyk, I followed your advice and bought the island hopping guide 2010. Excellent book. Looking at doing something simple as this is our first island hopping trip - perhaps flying to Athens and then doing Paros, Naxos, Ios and ending in Santorini. Then I'm debating whether I should ferry back to mainland or go on to crete and try and fly home from there. Any advice? Having trouble finding one way flights from CRete though. We are going for 2 weeks in July BTW.

If you also would like to comment on the islands I mentioned I'd welcome any advice.

Thanks
M

empirix

dingy it from dun laoighre, 30 euro dingy in the boat shop, bring lots of water though!

rossie1977

easyjet to athens from gatwick is the cheapest option

you can get to gatwick for as little as 6euro one-way from dublin with ryanair

gunnerfitzy

you can also go from gatwick to thessaloniki in east greece with easyjet. from there you can get a ferry to crete, santorini etc.

if you want to take in as many different islands as possible you can fly into athens and start lsland hopping from west to east and end up in thessaloniki to fly home via gatwick (or go opposite direction).

RubyK

Hi MaverickIII, I'm so jealous of your plans, I don't think we will get to Greece this year

A ferry from Santorini to Crete would be a long long journey, and getting a one way ticket from there in peak season might be hard to find (and costly).

Are you hoping to spend time in Athens? If you aren't, I'd recommend flying ex UK to Santorini, and island-hopping from there.

When we flew to Santorini, we spent 1 night in Fira (San Giorgio Apartments). The owner collected us from the airport, and dropped us to the ferry the next day (most places offer this). The accommodation was basic but cheap and central.

Fira is pricey, but the stunning views are a must see. We had an evening and full morning to look around. It was very busy, but we really enjoyed it.

We then too the ferry to Naxos. We stayed in St. Georges beach area - St. Georges Beach Hotel, which is directly on the sandy beach. Basic, but very cheap €240 for 7 nights. Dimitris the owner again collected us, and dropped us back to the port (he also gave us a large bottle of his homemade wine, which was delish. A lovely guy). Naxos Town was a 5-10 min stroll away. The town is lovely, and has a Kastro, that has lovely views and good restaurants and shops dotted around it, and the ruins of the temple of Apollo. The harbour is lined with traditional tavernas & a few bars. It's a lively town, but not full of lager louts. It attracts independent island hoppers. From the town, there's a regular bus service to the other nearby beach resorts of Agi Anna and Agios Propopikos (sp?), and Plaka which takes no more than 25 mins. These beaches are gorgeous white soft sand, with warm safe waters. They all have a selection of beachside taverna's.

We hoped to visit Poros for a day, but the ferry times didn't suit us. Time flew by in Naxos, before we knew it we were on our way back to Santorini.

We stayed 6 nights in Kamari - Acqua Vatos Hotel. It's a more expensive island than Naxos €600 for 6 nights. Kamari has a long beach that's made up of volcanic stone/pebbles, but the water is crystal clear, and gorgeous to swim in. The resort has an excellent selection of restaurants and some lovely bars. From Kamari, you can get a water taxi to the next resort of Perissa. It's smaller than Kamari, but it has a better beach (black sand), and a few beach side restaurants/bars. Personally, I prefered the feel of Kamari, but enjoyed the beach during the day at Perissa.

If you are feeling energetic, you can take a walk up to Ancient Thira. It's a fairly steep climb, but worth it. Be warned, don't like me, walk it in flip flops, especially if you want to climb down the other side to Perissa, as it doesn't have a road (didn't know that when we set off). It's a rocky, hair-raising experience, which I didn't expect The large cold Mythos at the end is worth it though.

If you can hire a car, you'll get around the island in a day. The sunset in Oia is famous, but gets really crowded. You can also see it from Fira town.

I can't comment on Ios, only I know it's really popular with students, and a great party island.

Sorry for waffling on there, I get a bit carried away at times

Have a look at http://www.greek-islands.me.uk/naxos.htm and www.greeka.com both good sites.

For accommodation, try to book direct with the hotel owners. They will give you a good deal.

MaverickIII

Thanks Ruby for the info. UNfortunately as we are going in July flights to Santorini from London with easyjet are pretty expensive (220 pp one way). Flight with aerlingus to athen, direct from dublin, work out lot cheaper at about 320 return pp. So looks like that what we will do. We dont intend staying in Athens, I was there in 2007 for 5 days and it was 5 days too long. Its a kip bar the parthenon.

I think we will just take a ferry from there and do something like Paros, Naxos, Ios , Santorini, or maybe drop one of Naxos or Ios.

We have been looking at some hotels and looks like average prices are around 80-100 per room per night in July. I guess thats not too bad, although some of them you cant book online for some reason.