Planning our 2021 Greek Island Hopping
It has been almost 2 years since Nate and I have taken an actual "vacation"! Like everyone else, the past year and a half has caused us to cancel so many planned vacations. It has been brutal on my travel planning heart. We booked a trip to the Maldives & cancelled, we booked 2 trips to MX & cancelled, we had a November TA on Allure of the Seas cancelled, etc etc etc…In spite of all of the cancellations, we continued to accumulate credit card points as much as we could. We also made several trips to Florida, sold our house in CO, and rented a house in CO for the next year (step daughter’s senior year).
Through all of these cancellations and all of the stress and breakdowns since March 2020, we both kept feeling Greece calling us to return. In May on 2021, I received an email that United was having a major mileage sale. We were able to score two first class one way tickets to Athens in October for 60k miles each. I went ahead and booked…knowing full well that so much could happen between May and October. Ok…we’ve booked…what now? Where do we want to go? How long can we be gone for? How will we get around?
I started watching several YouTube videos and googling blogs for people who had done DIY trips to Greece. A plan came together pretty quickly….and then of course I changed it. Initially, I had us visiting Athens, Ios, Paros, Milos, Naxos, and Santorini. Not surprisingly, the ferry I had planned from Ios ended up moving their days around and it didn’t fit in with my planning. So, I cut Ios. As I continued to study Paros, I became disinterested. Paros = cancelled. That left Athens, Milos, Santorini, and Naxos.
Once I had our plans outlined and aligned with ferry schedules, I booked return tickets with Chase points via Delta Comfort Plus.
Then came the difficult struggle of figuring out where to stay on each island. I’ll go into more details as I progress in this trip blog, but there were some amazing hotels to choose from. I did know that I wanted to use points as much as I could. My goal for this trip was to only use money for: food, ferries, excursions, and shopping.
With all of the restrictions, it was definitely an anxious planning experience for me!
We enjoy watching travel vlogs on YouTube and are big fans of Roamaroo. They had done a Santorini video a few years ago and I just fell in love with the hotel they stayed at.
I knew I MUST book us there. I began watching my Chase points portal for deals and finally booked us October 9-13. I messaged back and forth with the hotel and Collette from Roamaroo a couple of times as well. We are so very much looking forward to this stay.
I follow a guy on IG that goes to Greece every summer and I asked him for Milos recommendations. He recommended an Airbnb in a tiny fisher village. I reached out to the owner and booked directly through her for a savings. She also referred me to a car rental agency whom I booked with through email.
After doing further research, I realized that an international drivers license was in fact required for car rentals in Greece. Hubby and I both got ours done at our local AAA office for $34 each (cost of photo + permit) back in August.
On to Naxos accommodation planning…
there were several properties available in my Chase portal. I knew I wanted to be in Chora with views of the portara. I chose Chora because the lab that does Covid tests is there and I know it will be easiest for us rather than trying in Athens before we fly home.
after much research and reading trip reviews, I booked us with points at Iliada Sunset suites, a 10 min walk from the ferry.
https://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotel_Review-g580192-d23100330-Reviews-Iliada_Sunset_Suites-Naxos_Town_Naxos_Cyclades_South_Aegean.html
I have Nate use his Hilton Amex for his every day purchases. By doing this, we have stayed for free for over 2 weeks in hotels this year and are now diamond status. Apply for an American Express Card with this link. http://refer.amex.us/CRYSTGWNqE?xl=cp19
I booked us at the Hilton Athens at the beginning and end of our trip.
I researched back and forth on the restrictions for flying to
islands/mainland vs taking the ferry and they’re all pretty much the
same.
nate and I are all about experiences, so settled upon island hopping
via ferry. So that left me to pick which ones and how long we wanted to be on
them.
I booked our ferries:
piraeus to milos
milos to santorini
santorini to naxos
naxos to piraeus
I downloaded the Ferryhopper app and it was quite easy! I also got a 5% promo code and applied that for a small bit of savings. For all of these ferries for 2 people we spent $477 USD.
There are so many options for transport in Athens! You can take a taxi, bus, train, transfer service, rent-a-car.
I researched and researched all of our options for getting to/from the
airport to hotel and to/from hotel to ferry port. There are numerous
private transfer services available. How does one even pick?! I
initially reached out to a company that Hilton Athens recommended, but
that company did not have good communication and I chose to research
others. I settled on Athens Transfer services. I paid deposit via PayPal
and we paid the remainder upon transfer.
https://athenstransferservices.com
To get back into the US we needed a negative PCR or rapid antigen test taken within 72 hours of our flight departure time. Our flight left at noon on the 17th and I didn't want to rush around Athens the afternoon beforehand, so I booked us to take our rapid test for 20euros each in Naxos on the 15th. Their clinic was very easy to communicate back and forth with via email.
http://www.diagnostiki-naxou.gr/en/home/
Regarding transport in Santorini…Technically, you can get to Grace Hotel via bus from the port, but
it requires changing buses in Thira. I began researching the benefits
of renting a car, hiring a transfer service, or opting for the bus. I opted to hire a transfer service recommended by Dana Berez
on YouTube. Cost was 25euros for semi private transfer. To note: the hotel wanted 100euros for each transfer!
Stay tuned!
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