"Greece is prettier than you would imagine" - We had a wonderful time in our short visit (7 days) during May-June 2014. Since we had limited number of days, we chose the more popular destinations - Athens, Mykonos and Santorini. May - Aug is the peak season, but the place was relatively non-crowded (not over crowded) during May end-June beginning.
Athens is well connected to most cities in the world. It is a historical city and is oozes of rich Greek mythology and culture. The city is built around the famous Acropolis and is well connected by metro trains. Ferries from Athens can take you to most of the islands in Greece. Food was a bit of a problem for us in Athens - we did not find many decent restaurants close to where we stayed, although there were restaurants in the many hotels in the locality.
Mykonos is the prettiest town ever ! The tranquility of the sea, the beautiful clear waters, the flawlessly white streets in little Venice and the amazingly pretty resorts will mesmerize you to the core. Surprisingly, Mykonos is also a party town. There are quite a few parties happening all round the year at the popular beaches. A heaven for scuba divers, not only the regulars but also the beginners, this island has the best dives.
Santorini is the most popular and commercial islands of Greece. With an unmatched view of the Caldera, Santorini is easily one of the most beautiful spots for travelers. Everything is Santorini is beautiful - the cobbled pathways through the towns, the white and blue structures, the breathtaking view of the cliff and the sea, the many churches with huge bells, the tiny shops in Oia town, the chic bars and restaurants and much more. The icing on the cake - the private island tour on a boat, a 5 hour ship ride on the Aegean sea with a barbecue dinner and a view of the mesmerizing sunset - you wouldn't ask for more.
NOTE: it costed us more since we were on our honeymoon and chose to stay at resorts. You could easily reduce the amount by choosing the many pretty BnBs in Santorini and Mykonos.
Also, leave enough time to laze around and soak in the beauty of Greece apart from doing all the touristy activities.
Athens is a historical spot and is famous for its rich culture and Greek Mythology. We arrived at Athens in the evening. If you are an outdoor person/couple/group - you could explore one of the wine tasting / Greek food tour / night sight seeing tour on the first evening and night. We did not want to over exert, so we spent the evening having a good rooftop dinner. There are a lot of city tours available. Since we had just one day, we chose the half day city walking tour (it started at the syntgama station and we covered House of the Greek parliament, changing of guards, National gardens, Temple of Zeus, The Acropolis, The Parthenon among others). We then headed towards the Acropolis Museum (you might want to skip it if you are not a big fan of history and archaeology, although the museum is grand). We stayed at hotel Melia (good , recommended) We took a ferry (Blue Start Ferries) to Mykonos - We started at 7.30 in the morning and it took us around 5 hours to reach Mykonos
Mykonos was my favorite of the three places. It's a beautiful small and pretty town. We arrived in the afternoon on a surprisingly cloudy day. We were picked up from the port by our hotel. By all means, this was the best hotel/resort experience - Hotel Mykonian Ambassador. Since, it was a cloudy and rainy day, we decided to just take a walk by the platys gialos beach (close to our hotel) in the afternoon. It was a beautiful beach with a lot of good restaurants. It was raining heavily by the evening and it was very windy and cold. So , we just stepped out for dinner on the beach. The other options would have been going to other beaches and beach parties at night. We wanted a serene evening and our hotel had it for us. Having wine while cuddling up in the bean bags placed in our beautiful patio facing the sea - perfect blissful evening we could have asked for. We had already registered with GoDive for a Discover Scuba Dive the next morning. We were picked from our hotel and taken for our dive. After an hour of selecting and trying on the equipment as well as getting detailed instructions, we were taken for our amazing dive. It was a wonderful experience and Kostas (GoDive) is a fantastic diver and instructor. In the evening, we took a cab to the Mykonos town and visited the beautiful Little Venice and the Windmills. It was crowded but it was pretty. People having their evening drinks by the sea in the hundreds of taverns was a beautiful sight. Try to go there well before it gets dark to get a magnificent view of the sun setting in the sea. If you start walking inside the streets of little venice, you'd find a number of small and big shops - from local items to souvenir shops to high end boutiques - you get'em all. There are quite a few restaurants and pubs around. We preferred staying indoors the next morning, but if you want to utilize your time to the best, you could take a short tour of Delphi (a historical island nearby, you would get ferry from the port) before you start for your next ferry ride to a different island. We had our ship to Santorini in the afternoon.
Breathtakingly beautiful island - 3 main towns - Fira, Imerovigli and Oia. We stayed at Rocabella resorts and spa.....which is off Imerovigli towards the north. It is a beautiful propoerty with an amazing view of the Caldera. Very expensive though. Taxis ply between towns and you can call for one from your hotel. We also stayed in Riverie (bed and breakfast) at Firostefani near Fira.
