would you cruise to see as many as possible or stay somewhere? best small cruise lines for this trip? anyone have experience?

If you want to see the islands of Greece, do travel light. Start in Pireaus and take a ferry to Aegina. Stay in a room or a small hotel. Do not reserve but fix it on arrival. Stay as long as you want and move on to the next island by ferry. If you are not on a sailboat, that is the best way to experience the Greek islands and the "Mama Mia and Zorbas the Greek" feeling. Do not take a cruise.

Thanks for the advice, can I ask why no cruise? I was thinking of that as a way to keep it simple. looking at a smaller boat not a large cruise ship.

In a cruise ship, big or small, you will be herded around. You will see a lot, but you will not get the island feeling.

That would absolutely TERRIFY me, to do that, to travel without a reservation! <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Shocked.gif" alt="" /> I would not be able to enjoy it at all, as I am too anal for that. I would love to do a cruise on a smaller ship through the Greek Isles one day. Something like Star Clipper. If you do decide to do it, toast, would love to hear about it afterward!

I agree, it is not for all, but if you are adventurous it is the way to go. In every port, when the ferry arrives, there are a number of people with signs saying: rooms or cheap hotel. You might get it with or without a bathroom, with or without a shower, but there is always a taverna downstairs where you can meet the locals. Remember: "Calimera" is good morning and "Calispera" is good afternoon and good evening.

Oh, I've got to have my own private bathroom and shower!! <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Laugh.gif" alt="" /> The taverna would be great, as we definitely enjoyed meals in Gasthouses in Germany, but I'm too spoiled to do without the bathroom and shower... Folks in Europe are a lot more flexible about such things.

You should go with a cruise ship, but then you know what you are? <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Grin.gif" alt="" />

I knew up front that I should go with a cruise ship, but that word is not me. We've been traveling on cruises since 1987 and we have not been that word, even once. Just because you travel on a cruise ship doesn't change who you are..

Agree Carol, and Jorgen. Thank you both. I am also not a cruiser but when you want to go unfamiliar it is sometimes the best option.
I have bought a book and a map now, am going to read up and figure out which way. This will be my best friend of 40 years and I 50th bday present to ourselves. May not happen till we're 51 though <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Grin.gif" alt="" />, but it WILL happen. thank you for your thoughts and ideas. <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Thumbsup.gif" alt="" />

One advice: Stay away in July and August. Hot and crowded. May and June are the best. All is green with lots of flowers. Also September and first half of October are great, but the hills are more yellow and brown.

Well it has been 7 years since we went to Greece. We did a little of both. 3 days in Athens, then got on the Motor Sailor Sea Crown and traveled the islands. The boat had room for 10 couples. The food was the best I had in Greece and that is saying something.

The winds in Greece can be challenging and there are some pretty strict laws on boats carrying passengers and weather. I think it relates back to more than a couple ferry accidents. What I am saying is your planned itinerary may not be the traveled one when you are on a smaller boat. Sea Crown was 120 feet if I remembering correctly. We sailed a little and motored a lot.



When it was all said and done the one Island we never made it to was the primary initial goal � Santorini. However we built 4 unplanned days on the back end of the trip to see something we missed or redo something we loved. So we jumped on a ferry in Syros and went to Santorini for 3 days before returning to Athens once again on a ferry.

My favorite place we went to on the trip was not a planned destination � Nafplio in Peloponnese.

My favorite island would be Kythnos. When we stepped on Terre Firma there were 20 tourists on the island. They all had come from our boat. We explored the mountains, enjoyed the people, and the food� oh my. Very Very Sleepy place.

Santorini was magical also, and is a must see. Syros was a working island nothing exciting. Tinos is special and another place worth exploring.

And we had a blast in Poros (not Paros) when we got invited in to an 30th anniversary party, which the couple renewed vows and had one amazing reception.

We traveled the last week of September and first week of October. Weather was great, but windy. I would like to return in the spring when all floral life is in full swing. Hope this helps.

Oops the post of above was from me...
Here is the picture of sea crown

thasnk for the tips.

I just found some old pics from 2001 when I went sailing around some of the Greek Islands.Can't believe it was 10 years ago, had no digital camera then, so these have just been scanned.





















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Antigua,
Fabulous pictures. Thanks for posting them! We have been to Greece twice! Did Athens, Aegina, Agristi, Mykonos, Delos & Santorini.
Love Greece. Aegina had the best pistachios and Santorini is spectacular! Delos was amazing and we did Athens in a modest hotel and at the Grande Bretagne.
Love Greece!
Cheers
irina

thank you for the photos, looks great. How long were you sailing for, I noticed some of the dates on the photos.

We were there for 2 weeks. My pal owned yacht through Sunsail, anything over 40' gave us a free week at the hotel half board then we took out the boat for the following week. It was great. We sailed Turkey the following year 2002 and I think that was even better, very very cheap.

We sailed the Greek Islands by chartering a sail boat with a captain but without a first mate. Used a company called Seascape. They also sail in Thailand. It was a great trip.

Just looked at a friends facebook pics from a recent trip to Santorini and am now thinking about a future trip and researching . Planning a Greece/ Italy trip for 3 weeks in 2014 ( turning the big 50 - yikes) and this thread is exactly what I need. Also not sure how to go? Small cruise ship for part of it( never did a cruise before and worried about the " herding" aspect) or book and do our own thing? Glad to here about the May June being the best time- we were thinking late June. Also great to see some fellow TTOL BVIers on this forum too. Thanks so much for all the info! <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/circle.gif" alt="" />

SandSailSun,

Sea Crown (see post above) that we took I think has moved to Croatia, but highly recommend that size boat. There were 10 couples on the boat. We went with another couple, and it was wonderful. We also made some new lifetime friends from the left coast. We are not big on Cruising, but this was a nice match.

We used Viking Tours (not to be confused with the River Cruise folks)and everything came off great. They have an office in Wilmington, NC and Athens.

Make sure you leave yourself 2 or 3 days before you get underway just to ease into the lifestyle and 2 or 3 on the backside just in case you do not make some place you had your heart set on. The winds did not allow us to get to Santorini so when the trip was up we were in Syros, so we caught the ferry to Santorini for 3 days and all was good in the world.

The winds in the Greek Isles can be pretty tricky even for experience sailors.

Enjoy

Wonderful Tom thanks for the tips

Take a look at seascape.com. We used them for 2 weeks in the Greek Islands. Rented the sail boat and captain, it was a perfect trip. There were only 4 of us plus the captain so we used the empty cabin for luggage and purchases. We would use Seascape again - hopefully Thailand in 2015.

There's an awful lot of island groups to explore and neither a cruise or following the main ferry routes is going to get you to them all in a less than a whole summer. Out favourites are the Cyclades (esp. Naoussa on Paros) followed by the Ionian. Normally we go somewhere in Greece at least once a year.

One compromise is to travel by ferry but book ahead into accommodation - there's plenty of net access or use a smartphone. You can get ferry tickets on demand at the terminals or from lots of the travel agencies in the resorts/ports.

A lot of the Aegean is very windy in high summer with the Meltemi blowing hard quite often. By the end of August we normally (but not always) find it is better and the days are still warm and it isn't dark too early. We find late Sept/Oct the days are too short and you start to find places closing - some as early as 1st Sept! Earlier in the year is nice but the Med hasn't warmed up.

Wherever you go you'll love it!
Yammas!

We have cruised in a big ship (Holland America) and medium ship,Le Boreal, with Le Compagnie du Ponant. Highly recommend the latter. We vastly preferred the smaller ship. We would go even smalled and cruise on a large sail boat for the best access to the smaller islands. We would also do the ferry route out of Pireus, but we would probably book in advance.

Hello,
I want to ask you if somone had visited Tinos?
Thank you

First welcome to TTOL.

Yes we have been, but it was 10 years ago. An amazing place and absoulutely beautiful. We did not stay on island because we were on a Motor/Sail in the harbor.

Yes, and if a tourist want to go with a cruise he cant because not cruise ships come to Tinos, I think that someone should to talk to the cruise lines because Tinos is something different