Greek Islands - where to start?!

[SJane45S]

My DH has decided that he wants to go to the Greek Islands - spending most of Sunday playing the latest Assassins Creed has inspired him enough to want to go (yes, really!). He doesn't usually have any involvement with holiday planning or where we go (mostly because he doesn't want to!) and as this is pretty much the first time in a long while he's said he wants to go somewhere, I think that's what we should do. I book things way in advance so this would be for next year. So any of you out there who know the Islands well, if you could offer any suggestions on the below, thank you very much!

• Which Islands to go to? DH seems to want to go to a couple so I'm guessing doing the ferry would be what we're looking at. If we had 2 weeks and 3 islands to pick, which ones would recommend? How easy is the travelling around by ferry? We'd probably be looking at renting apartments or villa's, wouldn't be hiring a car and just personal opinion but AI resorts bore the bejesus out of me. We like history, lively towns, pretty villages and nature and the DD (who'll be 12) is pretty much happy as long as there's somewhere to swim! We went to Corfu many years ago and while we liked it, we do like to go to new places
• Whether it would be better to go at Easter or the summer. I've been to Greece in summer and cooked but if it's going to be too cold to swim at Easter, cooking would probably be the better option!

Thanks a million! I've pretty much no idea where to start with this so any ideas much appreciated

I have been to Kos, Skiathos, Santorini, Crete (Agios Nikolaos) I would recommend Skiathos 1st and Santorini 2nd. Skiathos you can do boat tours to other islands such as Skopelos where Mama Mia was filmed. Skiathos is a beautiful island with fab restaurants and beaches!

Thanks for that - the DD is a big Mamma Mia fan so that's a great suggestion as somewhere to look into!

They used to have the open air cinema playing Mama Mia a few times a week which was fab!

It’s worth remembering that the smaller islands pretty much shut down out of season, so accommodation and restaurants are shut except in the big towns. The season tends to be start of May- mid/end October. Sea will definitely be cold before May.

The open air cinema is still going in Skiathos town. You can fly direct from a few UK airports, and if you want to stay on Skopelos you can go by ferry from Skiathos town. Be prepared for a lot of steps on Skopelos! We were holidaying in Skiathos at the end of August last year, it was bearable heat, you just cool down in the sea!

Kefalonia is my favourite. Look up Melissani lake, worth going just for that. It's a beautiful island and like a lot of the Greek islands is quieter. We've stayed in Lassi and Lourdas I'd recommend Lassi as it's then walkable to the capitol city, Argostoli.

Not islands, but the Peloponnese. Easy access from Athens or Kalamata, loads of sights, Mycaenae, Epidaurus etc, lovely beaches. You could have 2 different bases, one for each week, and there are some islands, eg Elafonisos, that you could go to as a day trip.

Thanks all - will take a look at these! I had a quick look at Skiathos just now & the TUI blurb was all about yatchs, designer shops & celeb visitors which made me wonder if the accommodation might be a bit pricey but I'll have a proper look into it (watching Mamma Mia at an open air theatre would be a big thumbs up for my CD if not my DH!!)

DD not CD - bloody auto correct!!

It isn’t that posh! There are some 5 hotels around, but even 2 ones can be of a good standard. We stay at one on a B&B basis, but there are lots of self catering apartments. We stay in Troulos, (bus stop 18)

You could get a skippered yacht. Then you could see lots of islands! It's not as expensive as you might think.

We've been sailing round Dodecanese (Kos, Rhodes, Simi etc), islands around Athens and then south Ionian (Kefalonia, Lefkada etc).

Sorry just had to read what you wanted again.

I think a sailing trip round Dodecanese would suit you. Rhodes old town is gorgeous and has lots of history. Simi is beautiful! Loads of nice islands to visit.

I love Kefalonia as well but that's more natural beauty I would say than busy towns. TBH I've not been to a Greek island I don't like so don't think you will go far wrong.

Thanks imamearcat,while I can handle a ferry, standing on deck with the wind in my face, anything smaller i spend the whole time vomiting over the side! I'm not the woman anyone would want to have on a sailing trip basically! What I had in mind was flying into one great island & then moving on to 1/2 others, the third preferably with an airport on it too. But the other alternative is staying on one island & taking trips out

We had a great trip a few years ago - flew to Santorini (staying in Pyrgos, which was v untouristy, rather than Oia which is the town you see in ALL the photos), then ferry to Paros which was lovely (staying in Naousa), and then ferry to Mykonos. We flew home from there.

It was great holiday - mix of chilling, visiting small towns/villages, the odd boat trip... and lovely greek food and wine!

We did this many years ago. Flew to Skiathos for a week then ferry to Skopolos. They were a good contrast. This was 30 years ago though

I’ve played his game A LOT recently and it’s also made me want to go on holiday to Greece so this thread is very helpful!

I’ve done Greek island hopping - a long time ago but don’t think the system has changed much, except mercifully the schedules are now online.

Basically the islands are divided into several groups. Each group is well connected by ferries within itself, with a hub island and the others as spokes iyswim. Each hub is connected to Athens. However the groups are not very well connected to each other.

So if you want 3 islands, start by looking at the Greek ferry schedule, figure out which are the hub islands (often the ones with airports, luckily) and then pick a hub you like the sound of. Then pick two islands connected to it to do hops to. Bear in mind you may need to come back to the hub island in between.

For example if you fly to Skiathos, you’ll be able to get to Skopelos and Alonissos easily (and maybe Skyros? can’t remember) but not Naxos as it’s a totally different group. And not Kefalonia as it’s the other side of Greece . Skiathos is quite developed, Skopelos and Alonissos much quieter but pebbly (I loved Alonissos).

watch out as not all routes run every day.

We’re doing Mykonos (staying there briefly as not a fan of the island but it’s where we’re flying too), Tinos and Syros this year. Chosen as they’re in the same ferry route and only 30ish minutes apart.

Thank you! Some really useful info in there. I've always fancied Santorini so will have a closer look at that itinerary - I take it from Jaimx86 we wouldn't want to spend much time in Myknonos though?! Shantoto - when we went to Florence & Venice the DH walked around going 'yep, climbed that ', 'fell into a haycart from that ' and so on!

You could do Santorini/Crete/Rhodes

Corfu/Paxos/Preveza or Parga(mainland)

Thessaloniki(mainland)/Skiathos/Skopelos

Skiathos/Skopelos/Alonissos

Zakinthos/Kefakonia/Lefkada or the mainland

Rhodes/Simi/Kos

As others have said look at groups of islands then check ferries. Dead easy. Skiathos is much trendier now after Mamma Mia so that will be more expensive than Corfu/Crete/Rhodes etc where low budget airlines fly. Check prices of flights from your local area and you could probably make it work from that choice - or include Athens and see the sights before getting a ferry to literally anywhere!

Look at thassos. My second home, beautiful Island and could start your trip from there? I loved paxos/anti paxos, not touristy and idyllic scenery. However thassos is amazing, something for everyone, I've been going once or twice a year for 30 years!!! Since I was 4. Just booked for June.

If you can find any holidays to Naxos that has been the best island for hopping as it is a ferry hob, we did Paros, Ios, Mykonos and Delos. You could also do Athens and Crete if you want. The great thing about it being a hub is you can get off the ferry at 2am and there are tavernas open