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Thank you all so much for your insights. I have narrowed my trip down to two choices: one is a sailing tour that starts in Leros and ends in Kos. I like this because we stay on the sailboat the whole trip and have a lot of opportunity to swim and snorkel plus we spend time with local people in off the beaten track places. The other option is a cruiseship tour that visits Crete, Mykonos, Rhodes, Ephesus, Patmos and ends in Santorini with me getting off the ship there and spending three nights so I can go sailing for a day and diving another day then ferry back to Athens.
The cruise ship visits the places I really want to see but the idea of sailing in Greece is a dream.
Being a Greek, I would like to give those of you planning to visit Greece in the summer a little piece of advice: try not to listen to your travel agent when he/she suggests that you visit the typical destinations of Corfu and Rhodes. There are HUNDREDS of smaller Greek islands which are nicer, A LOT CHEAPER, and -some of them- off-the beaten track. I was happy to see a lot of Americans visiting Milos and Kimolos islands last year, which I visited for the first time too.
Fantastic islands are the following:
Milos
Kimolos (about 500 inhabitants, 30 mins away from Milos)
Syros (the capital of Cyclades)
Tinos
Folegandros
Sikinos
Sifnos
Serifos
Skopelos
Antiparos
There are daily ferry services to almost all greek islands, so you shouldn't worry about transport. What you need to do, though, is to book your tickets in advance, as it is extremely difficult to find tickets to the islands in the summer, especially if you are planning to rent a car and take it with you to the islands.
Party animals should opt for Mykonos, Paros, Corfu, Kefalonia, IOS, Rhodes and Kos. Santorini offers excellent nightlife, but you'll find that most people visiting the island are couples, so it's hard to meet new people there. Santorini is considered to be the most romantic destination in Greece.
Finally, there are excellent places in mainland Greece. Kastoria, Trikala, Grevena, Giannena, Pelion (Pilio) near Volos. All these places offer fantastic opportunities for trekking and hiking lovers and they also have some of the finest beaches in the whole country, for instance, Milopotamos in Pelion.
Last edited by britgreek; 04-12-2010 at 07:34 PM..
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