Honeymoon in Greece!

Josh and I decided to honeymoon in Greece for just about 2 weeks and it was a DREAM! Many of you have reached out and said you are doing a similar trip soon and wanted all the deets. Initially we wanted to do Italy and Greece, but when planning, Italy was still on lockdown so we just decided to island hop our way through the Aegean Sea. We did use a travel agent for this trip who set up our hotels, flights, transportation, Athens sightseeing tour, and ferry tickets. Is this something you can plan yourself - definitely. But there was a lot of transfers from island to island that I wanted to be taken care of and not have to worry about! Here we go!

ATHENS

First up - Athens. When I asked others about Athens, a lot of people said, “Oh you just need 1 or 2 days there. / Don’t spend too much time. / It’s kind of dirty, not much to do.” Okay, to me… those people are crazy. I LOVED Athens. We stayed at Electra Palace for 3 nights. This hotel was in a fabulous location right near Plaka, a cute neighborhood under the Acropolis. We didn’t worry about making reservations at restaurants because you honestly could find a seat as you explored the city. One of my favorite parts taking a run through the National Gardens. Athens almost reminded me of a mix of DC and New York.

Day 1: We arrived at 10:30 am after 15 hours of flying. This was our catch up day. Walk around / hang out.

Day 2: Jam packed day! Athens city bus tour, tour of Acropolis + Acropolis Museum, caught the changing of the guards. This was set up by our travel agent, but you can easily find similar things online. I highly recommend doing some sort of organized tour because thats how you can really learn the history!

Day 3: Hike Mount Lycabettus + more exploring. Stumbled upon an adorable wine bar I highly recommend, By The Glass. We didn’t make it to this place, but many people suggested 360 Cocktail Bar.

MYKONOS

Day 4: Bright and early ferry ride from Athen to Mykonos. Mykonos was my favorite part of the trip!!! We stayed at Katikies, which I highly recommend to anyone!! It was a beautiful hotel, the staff was amazing, and it didn’t hurt that we got upgraded to a honeymoon suite. We had a huge balcony, with a private pool, that overlooked the water. DREAAAAM. There are different areas to stay in Mykonos. Many people stay close to town, but we were actually a 10 minute ATV drive from there. It was nice to not stay where it was so crowded and touristy. **Fun fact: the Greek Islands are really only open from spring to early October. We decided to go in September, the tail end of the season for less crowds. There are only about 30 cabs on the island, so we rented an ATV from Moto Speed to get around (a popular thing to do). The roads have big curves, so you just have to be careful. It was amazing to just hop on and off as you please to get around! There is a public shuttle that runs the course of the island, but I didn’t want to have to wait for them.

Day 5: We took our ATV out and explored. Went into town for lunch. Ventured to Paradise and Super Paradise Beaches. Hung out at the hotel pool. Stumbled upon a lounge bar/restaurant, Hippie Fish.

Day 6: Rented lounge chairs at Tropicana Beach Club. SO FUN. Drink service, DJ, sun. I could do that every day!! There are so many beach clubs I was between. The most expensive, celeb one is Scorpios. We stopped by there and it was BEAUTIFUL… but I got a pretentious vibe and the reviews online were terrible. Given it was pretty expensive, we ditched our reservation and ended up finding tropicana just through exploring. So happy with our choice! A lot of the beach clubs were hit hard by COVID, so what they were before might not be what they were when we went.

SANTORINI

Day 7: Another early ferry ride from Mykonos to Santorini. We were SO excited about Santorini from all the amazing things others had said! And it did live up to expectations, but coming from an amazing, buzzing time in Mykonos, Santorini was a lot quieter and low key. We stayed at Aressana Spa Hotel and Suites, which is located right in Fira. The location was perfect, but unfortunately you have no view of the Caldera from the hotel… which is the biggest part about Santorini. We were definitely disappointed. Santorini is all about relaxing, and we felt like we could not relax in our room because it really was just a hotel room. The positive was that Fira was right at our fingertips. SO MANY RESTAURANTS and the shops are AMAZING. Better than the other islands. There are not too many beaches in Santorini, like Mykonos. More pool days and town days.

Day 8: This was one of our best days in Santorini. We did a 5 hour boat tour of the island, making stops at the Red Beach, White Beach, Amoudi Bay, and Hot Springs. We had lunch on the boat, which was actually one of the best meals of the trip. We were able to jump off the boat at various stops and swim freely in the ocean. We did the day cruise, but there is a sunset option which I hear is incredible as well.

Day 9: We took a little day trip to the top of the island, Oia - most famously known for their sunsets. Its a beautiful area and another great place to stay. Although this area is more picturesque, its definitely quieter with less restaurants and shops. This is where the famous blue roof churches are! We stayed for the sunset this day… and let me tell you… CROWDS FLOCKED. It was honestly a little insane.

Day 10: Our last day! We were sad, but almost a bit ready to get back. This day we just lounged by the hotel pool, did some last minute shopping, enjoyed a sunset dinner. Every place I had made a reservation for, we actually forewent! Once I got the lay of the land, we just had a better time walking and finding an open table somewhere. I found that almost EVERY MENU WAS THE SAME. It made us chuckle because by the end of the trip, it didn’t matter what restaurant we chose…. the menu was going to be pretty identical to the last. Great food, but same menus!!!

Hope this gives you a bit of help if you are planning a trip to Greece. There are other islands people love. I really wanted to make it to Crete, but time wasn’t on our side. I am genuinely so grateful and happy that Josh and I could do take this trip and spend the time together. It is one we will remember forever! xx