funkster said:
1) From what I hear Santorini is quiet, not too expensive and romantic, and
2) Mykonos is stylish with nightlife and has a club with big name DJ's, cool
beach bars - but is very expensive. Both great islands to visit.
3) ideally would like some relaxation and some nightlife.
4) Do both islands have airports?
5) Would it be cheaper to do a package holiday deal on one island and leave the package hotel room empty for 2-3 nights whilst on the other island? Or would it not work out that much more expensive to get each way flights to and from each island and book accommodation directly?
6) Also, I have been told that many hotels are a rip off and that for a little extra you can get superb private accommodation in villa or place on the beach - this sounds ideal and would make it very special for our 2nd year wedding anniversary.
The timeframe we can have off work is from Saturday 25th August to Sunday 2nd October - so 9 days to work with.
Any ideas/advice much appreciated as the clock is ticking!
Happy anniversary!
Here's my fresh tips... By our experience... All about double rooms and a couple experience, as it were... [It was my b-day, so I was taken for a holiday of a lifetime, hehe...]
Went to
Crete [Heraklion] and stayed there for 3 nights in Mirabello Hotel, C class, €64 per night, double room, can find on the net, ask for 3rd floor rooms with a little balcony terrace, a bit of a sea view and all... It's in the Venetian old town, not very good but OK.... That one we booked beforehand [online], as well as the last leg of the journey in Athens, and the rest we relied on the advice given here and elsewhere, that people will wait for you with offers, when you get off a ferry... Insist on seeing the pictures, when they show you and woo you, as well as precisely where they are located on the map etc.
Knosos is a must! Minoan civilisation was quite something, some 3900 years ago, until Santorini erupted in 1600 BC or so... Two museums should also be seen and so on. Many things to see on the island itself, from a big gorge to monasteries, beaches [Kokini Hani, past the airport is nice!] etc.
Slow ferry to
Santorini costs €17 [and the fast ones are almost double] and it took some 4-5 hours. Delays are easily possible and being late goes hand in hand with being Greek...
Villa Rosa [the owner is called Rosa and she's from Newcastle or summink]] is €35 per night [or Pension George €45 per night, pool included] - she took us from the port to her place and a rude guy from Pension George back to the port when we were leaving. [The latter is online and they are next to each other, some 15 minutes from the centre, a nice walk.]
Compared to the cliff/seafront restaurants [a daylight robbery] we ate close to Rosa's villa!
For a gorgeous sundown/dusk/whatever - must be on the edge/cliff and prepare the cameras... Public walks all over the edge, so no need to be in those restaurants! Allegedly the best sunsets are in Oia - the place next to Fira - again, on the edge of the cliff... Bus ride away, some 15 - 20 minutes, and they are regular, just see the panels at the bus station for times... Taxi ride, if you wanna stay there longer, is about €20 or so.
Beaches? Southern ones. Black sand. Nice, though. Not much else, mind...
Oh, the airport is tiny and I think for small charter flights only - but not sure. Small island, you see... About 25 by 3 km.
It's the Santorini caldera that is impressive, created by that eruption, a super explosion, which left the rims of the island only, plus a volcano in the middle. A boat ride away, maybe you should see that, too - just to be able to appreciate what it took to bring down the Minoans and opened the way to Mycenaean Greeks...
There are different packages to explore the volcano itself, including the full day ones, with a trip to the hot springs, where you can swim, too - and a dinner and all inclusive, with drinks and a sunset and all... If not, and you decide to do it on your own and just go to the volcano [say, 11 - 2.30 or so], use the cable car [€4 per ride per person] down to the old port. The foul smell of donkey dung is a real put off, if you wanna go on foot, down there or back up...
Next stop
Naxos! It was cheap, in all directions, unpretentious, nice restaurants and cool food, not expensive at all. Eat and drink well for some €20 - 25 for both. Panos villa, €35 - 45 per night, it's in the centre and on the beach [the other villa of his colleague's, he put us in, as he was full]. We rolled out onto the beach for a morning shower in the bay, as it were...
Shallow and protected, very warm and lovely! Nice walks to the Venetian castle above, easy going shops and so forth... We loved it, once with kids - this is the place to take it easy and allow them to play in the shallows etc.
Mykonos by Superjet catamaran ferry, €20, 1 hour crazy ride, if the North wind has its wicked way... Expect your stomach in your ears... The captain doesn't let go in big waves and 35 nautical miles [some 70kmph] is nuts... The Superdzet, as the Greeks pronounce it, dear pasandzers
, grabs and gobbles up the sea but sometimes, when on a bigger wave, lets go and then plunges back onto the sea... Whoof... Sit at the back of Superdzet, if you can, as in front - it's vomiting time... for many...
Villa Pareskeva at €75. In the centre, very nice... Ate near a church [Panagia Paraportiani] in the middle of the main town, not at the waterfront, for the obvious reason - money... well, also waves and wind! A very nice and reasonably priced restaurant, too! With almonds liqueur after, as a nice little bonus...
Bloody expensive, Mykonos, all in all - and for nothing... Unless you like Ministry of Sound, who were there, when we came... But not our kind of thing, so we gave it a big miss...
Unless you wanna "party on" on the beaches etc. [Paradiso or Super Paradiso or whatever]... Well known, apparently, as a gay island, too. We went during the day and it's nice but a lot of wind and so on, hence the bamboo high fences etc. It all costs, btw, from being in the shade onwards... Mixed beaches, with a corner for nudists.
I found it all worth a big miss but for you it might be great... Dunno... Loadsa wind, dust, noise and not much else. Seriously expensive but has more or less nothing, other than drugs and boom-boom-boom-boom heavy duty industrial hammer and anvil music type of parties...
Delos is a must, mind... An island next to it, if the boats are going, as the winds [North in particular] are murder sometimes... Possible to visit from Naxos, too.
From there we went to
Athens by a slow ferry, with great delays, for wind reasons [slow and cheap ferries] and then came early in the morning, so went to the hotel to leave the luggage in the basement, eaten nearby in an all night kinda small restaurant/cafeteria and straight to Acropolis - and it's FABULOUS at dawn... No one around... There is this rock next to it and from it it's... WOW! A must do, really! And then, we went in, at 8, when they open... Will never forget that one... Then Ancient and the Roman Agora, museums, Akademias Platonos, Zeus' Temple and whatnot...
Aristoteles hotel, near Omonia, €44 with breakfast, all cool...
A plane from there back to London...
Some links:
http://www.hostelworld.com/availability.php/PensionGeorge-Santorini-1139
http://www.pensiongeorge.com/
http://www.studiospanos.com/
http://travel.diadiktyo.net/paraskevas-villa/english/
Hope I answered it all...
Oh, buy or borrow the Island Hopping Bible 2007 - well worth the money!
