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Planning on going to Greece and Italy for 3 weeks total in September. Nothing's booked yet, including flight, so let's start there.
What options should I look at going from Ottawa to Athens? We want to start with Athens for a night, then head to the islands for duration of our stay in Greece.
Seems like Air Canada is the only option, do I wait for a sale? Air Transat doesn't fly to Athens out of Ottawa, so I would have to fly/train etc to either TO or Montreal and go from there. Should I try and wait for a sale? Anyone know how their sales patterns work? Just don't want to wait too long and see sky high prices.
Itinerary
About two weeks in Greece and a week in Italy, going back home from there.
Between Santorini and Mykonos, which do you prefer and why? Wondering if we should stay at one island longer than the other.
In Italy, we plan on doing Rome and Venice, is a week enough for both cities?
Accommodations
How soon in advance should I be booking hotels?
Any suggestions on where to stay in Athens, Santorini and Mykonos? Where are the ideal places to stay, don't want to spend too much, but would splurge at one location since it is our honeymoon.
Same for Italy, suggestions on places to stay in Rome and Venice?
What sites do you typically use for places in Europe.
Stuff to do
Looking for suggestions on stuff to do and things to see at each location.
I think that's it for now!
Thanks!!
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Feb 28th, 2011 05:16 PM #1
Help with Honeymoon to Greece and Italy...
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Feb 28th, 2011 05:59 PM #2
Let me add some input (I did honeymoon in Greece May 2010)
- it sucks you're flying out of Ottawa. Toronto/Montreal has better options, I'd consider them if fares are cheaper
- I know AC has non-XM'ed 767 YYZ-Athens in Summer..not sure if Sep 2011 has them. No Biz class in them, only Eco and Eco+
- I think you may find better luck with Montreal-Paris-Italy-Athens route with Air France as they're promoting heavily recently
- I took Air Transat for YYZ-London first, then flew to Athens. so YYZ-LGW, ATH-YYZ cost me $995/person a.i. (vs YYZ-ATH round-trip of $804 a.i. at that time)
If you can afford it, I'd upgrade to Club Class (bigger wider leather seats, no PTV/AVOD though, but crazy amount of food) for $300/person each way... since it's your honeymoon
- I stayed 3D2N in Athens, you should have 2 full days in Athen if possible
- I used Priceline for major city hotels. I got Intercontinental Athens for like $65/night + fees. Then I booked island B&B individually
- Santorini is nice.. I hear Mykonos is quite similar so you may not want to duplicate the visit
TripAdvisor is a better place for actual trave questions
http://www.tripadvisor.ca/ShowForum-...92-Greece.html Reply With Quote
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Feb 28th, 2011 06:44 PM #3You should take a look at flying out of Toronto/Montreal if there is a price difference or convenience factor involved. I am planning my honeymoon as well and I'm going with Air Transat flying out of Montreal to Nice and then from Paris to Toronto. In terms of sale patterns it is really hard to figure that out, since there really is no pattern but more about availability. I looked for about two months and I looked at farecompare.com as well which had some historical pricing to Europe for the past few years. I knew under a $1000 is considered a good price for France in August so I ended up finding it for $975 taxes in on Expedia a few weeks ago.
Originally Posted by Smoothie
Not sure how soon you plan on going on your honeymoon after your wedding but I would suggest relaxing for a bit in one location before you start traveling to other cities.
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Feb 28th, 2011 07:26 PM #4
Athens, Santorini, Mykonos, Rome and Venice. That is huge for a 19 day trip (3 weeks minus 2 travel days). I hope you enjoy living out of a suitcase (or backpack). It is a lot of travel days packing and unpacking your bags.
I do understand you wanting to make the most of your time. Have you ever considered a Mediterranean cruise which starts in Rome and takes you to Naples, Athens, the Greek Islands and maybe somewhere else? After the cruise, take a train to Venice and then back to more and fly home?
I have been on this cruise and loved it. Unpack once, a new place every other day, nice rooms, great food. http://www.celebritycruises.com/sear...Search+Results
Get off the boat and take the 5 or so hour train ride to Venice. We stayed at Grand Canal Hotel. Just so you know, not all rooms have a canal view and don't get a ground floor room (noisy and sometimes the canal odor is strong).
Then back to Rome.
Then we stayed in Rome at http://www.hotelcampodefiori.com/inglese/hotel.htm Perfect location, within walking distance of everything. Lots of restaurants everywhere and, a great market in the piazza during the day.
One other thing, Europe is pricey. You can really blow the budget fast. If you try to do it too cheaply your experience will be, well, diminished. I don't mind budget hotels but in Europe, they are all self ranked so be careful when you choose. A 4 star can very easily be a hole with shared bathrooms.
Oh and the flights. Yes, you may be able to get a direct flight from Toronto or Montreal to Rome or Athens but I travel out of Ottawa all the time and it is not much more (a lot less than driving to TO or MTL, paying for parking or staying in a hotel overnight).Last edited by Pete_Coach; Feb 28th, 2011 at 07:28 PM.
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Feb 28th, 2011 10:20 PM #5
Fly to London and then transfer to Athens/Rome.
Inter-Euro flights are dirt cheap.
easyjet is my personal fave, just make sure you read all the restrictions though, especially if you go with ryanair. But their are other options in addition to those 2.
Prob a lot cheaper than flying out of YYZ. Reply With Quote
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Apr 9th, 2011 08:33 PM #6
We just booked the same trip for our honeymoon - similiar dates and travel plans. We booked our flight to Athens and flight home from Rome for 1715 tax in (Air Transat). We have about 19 days to plan for. We are going to pick two islands and stay a nicer hotel/resort for the Greek part and then book guest apartments/suites in Italy. From what we have heard, once you have seen two Greek Islands, you have seen them all. We figure Santorini, and either Crete or Rhodes with some day trips to smaller islands. I just dont want to blow our budget on travelling between 5 or 6 different locations.
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Apr 11th, 2011 07:44 AM #7
Lots of good advice from the previous posters above..
Just gonna add some suggestions too since I did the same locations on my honeymoon back in October 2009. I would pick a round-trip flight to Rome and catch a flight to Athens. Flying into and out of a different city in Europe was more costly for us from Toronto.
Would suggest picking one island to chill out and relax rather than island hop.. definitely less stressful (and since it's your honeymoon). Visited Santorini and loved it - would definitely recommend to anyone - but the dates you are going is high season so expect the prices to be much higher. Try out a traditional cave hotel room (arched ceiling) which is kinda neat if you stay in Thira or Oia on Santorini.. it is worth the extra bucks in my opinion to spring for a cliff side view - you will never forget it! Both towns are nice - very picturesque and will be super busy during the time you're visiting. Make sure you book your accommodation well in advance!
Took the slow ferry from Piraeus to Santorini and the fast ferry back.. either one is fine depending on your schedule (slow ferry is nice to just hang and chill out - seeing Santorini from the boat when you first arrive is very cool, fast ferry is very windy if you step outside). Alternative is to take a flight in, but not as fun as taking the boat scenic-wise.. you're on your honeymoon so would recommend just taking it easy and relaxing!
Athens is good in 2 days, gives you a chance to see the Acropolis and the National Museum.. Acropolis museum was not as good (they are still waiting for the original marbles to be returned from England). Walking around Plaka neighbourhood is nice, subway is clean and brand new compared with Rome's.
If you have a week in Italy, gonna recommend at least 3-4 days in Rome (Vatican, Galleria Borghese, Coloseum, etc), 1-2 days in Venice is enough - beautiful to walk through but gonna be super busy in the summer, and maybe 1 day stop over in Florence to check out the museums (Uffizi galleria). This part of your trip is gonna be less relaxing since you're in tourist mode and on the go more often. Might be a nice balance with the relax mode when you're in the Greek islands..
Anyways, have a good time! Reply With Quote
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