May 2017
I had such an amazing 10 days trip to Greece with my best friends. From Dubai I took EK203 to Athens. We stayed at Athina's airbnb for a night before we headed to Santorini. I highly recommend her place if you ever wonder for a place to stay in Athens. It's a small apartment with fabulous decorations and very unique. It's walking distance to the Acropolis.
We walked to the acropolis from our airbnb around 5pm on a gloomy day so that's why the pictures aren't too bright. Entrance to the Acropolis itself is €20 for summer and half price for winter.
The next morning we took the ferry to Santorini from Piraeus port. There is another port called Rafina that you can as well depart to Santorini from. We book the ferry tickets online at https://www.letsferry.gr/ There was a booking fee per booking on this site while http://ferrytickets.seajets.gr/ has no booking fee. You can as well book tickets at booking offices in town. You'll reiceive your paper tickets at the counter at the port before departure.
In Santorini, we stayed in Fira, the town itself is very similar to Oia, - picturesque town with blue domes. I think it's best to stay in Fira where all the bars, restaurants and shops are but cheaper than Oia. Fira is in the center of everything. From Fira, we took the local bus to black beach, red beach and it was super cheap. It was around €2 one way. Public buses in Santorini are quite cheap and very clean. We took the bus to Oia from Fira for €1.80/way and it took a good 25 minutes. The view in Oia is breathtaking. So don't forget to stop there for sunset. It was very busy so try to squeeze yourself in to catch that view for a bit. Just like any other tourists, we took millions of photos there
Don't take the last bus back to Fira. The bus are quite full at night and trust me there are no taxis! So try to catch the bus before or even earlier. Fira bus station is right in the center of town. You can ask the friendly Greeks and they will point you to the right direction.
Black beach, Perissa
Red Beach
I had such an amazing 10 days trip to Greece with my best friends. From Dubai I took EK203 to Athens. We stayed at Athina's airbnb for a night before we headed to Santorini. I highly recommend her place if you ever wonder for a place to stay in Athens. It's a small apartment with fabulous decorations and very unique. It's walking distance to the Acropolis.
We walked to the acropolis from our airbnb around 5pm on a gloomy day so that's why the pictures aren't too bright. Entrance to the Acropolis itself is €20 for summer and half price for winter.
In Santorini, we stayed in Fira, the town itself is very similar to Oia, - picturesque town with blue domes. I think it's best to stay in Fira where all the bars, restaurants and shops are but cheaper than Oia. Fira is in the center of everything. From Fira, we took the local bus to black beach, red beach and it was super cheap. It was around €2 one way. Public buses in Santorini are quite cheap and very clean. We took the bus to Oia from Fira for €1.80/way and it took a good 25 minutes. The view in Oia is breathtaking. So don't forget to stop there for sunset. It was very busy so try to squeeze yourself in to catch that view for a bit. Just like any other tourists, we took millions of photos there
Don't take the last bus back to Fira. The bus are quite full at night and trust me there are no taxis! So try to catch the bus before or even earlier. Fira bus station is right in the center of town. You can ask the friendly Greeks and they will point you to the right direction.
Oia, Santorini
While in Fira, we went for drinks at Momix lounge. We loved the creative drinks there. We also tried out Tango lounge, the drinks are pretty tasty and lastly, Two brothers. This place is more like a pub with some good music. In terms of restaurants, I don't remember much just remember to AVOID a restaurant named Don Angelo/Don Donna or cactus. This place is a scam! TripAdvisor it then you'll know why. There are many many restaurants with the sunset view in Fira so please stay away from this Don Angelo restaurant! I found that food aren't too expensive in Santorini despite the fact that it's a very touristic island.
Jelly shots from Momix
Pool in Kastro Suites
Then off to zakynthos we went, my favorite island in Greece. From Athens, you can either fly to Zakynthos or take the bus+ferry. Flights are not daily so we took KTEL bus from Kifisou St. Come early to book you ticket bc it can get quite full quickly and the bus runs every 2-3 hours. It was a good 4-5 hours bus ride and 1 hour ferry. You can purchase both bus and ferry tickets at Kifisou Station or you can as well buy ferry ticket online or at ferry port after the bus ride.
Keep in mind, there's no "city center" in Zakynthos. Near the port is where everything is. So book your stay in that area. Once you get to the bus station in Zakynthos, there are absolutely no taxis! you'll be lucky if you can catch one. No uber or any sorts of transportation beside taxi. Taxi does not go by meter so don't forget to ask them how much from point A to B. They're very honest most of the time. From the bus stop, make a left turn, after a few mins of walk, take the steps down to the port direction to where everything is.
How to get to the Shipwreck Beach: You have 2 options, do the tour or rent a car or ATV to get there yourself. Tour is around 20 euros but they DON'T take you to the top with that beautiful view you've always seen on the internet. It will only go to the beach itself and some more places like olive oil factory,..
The view from the top was our priority so we rented an ATV (quad bike) for 40 euros for the whole day (last min price, it's usually only 20 euros or so) We drove to the Shipwreck view point and OMG it was amazing! There's no way you'll go to Zakynthos and miss this view. It was a little more than an hr go get there from town with our offline map (i'm a slow driver). Then from there we drove to the port for the ferry to the Shipwreck beach itself. We rented our ATV and bought our ferry ticket with Isala Travel. I highly recommend them for your rentals or tour. They're very helpful and friendly.
Port to take the ferry to Shipwreck Beach
Our ride <3
While in Fira, we went for drinks at Momix lounge. We loved the creative drinks there. We also tried out Tango lounge, the drinks are pretty tasty and lastly, Two brothers. This place is more like a pub with some good music. In terms of restaurants, I don't remember much just remember to AVOID a restaurant named Don Angelo/Don Donna or cactus. This place is a scam! TripAdvisor it then you'll know why. There are many many restaurants with the sunset view in Fira so please stay away from this Don Angelo restaurant! I found that food aren't too expensive in Santorini despite the fact that it's a very touristic island.
Fira/Thira, Santorini
Our next island was Mykonos! It's well known for being a party island in Greece. I did a good research of where to stay and decided to stay at Tropicana Hotel right on Paradise beach. Tropicana beach club is 3 minutes walk from our hotel. We had a blast there with very good music and not too expensive drinks. If you're allergic to the loud noise then don't stay around there because you can actually hear the music from the club in your room. The next day, we took the bus to Mykonos town. It was a 15 minutes ride cost €2 one way. The town is pretty small so you can walk around easily. We checked out the windmills and little Venice. We didn't have time to check out other beaches.
little Venice
Mykonos town
Windmills in Mykonos town
party at Tropicana beach club
Keep in mind, there's no "city center" in Zakynthos. Near the port is where everything is. So book your stay in that area. Once you get to the bus station in Zakynthos, there are absolutely no taxis! you'll be lucky if you can catch one. No uber or any sorts of transportation beside taxi. Taxi does not go by meter so don't forget to ask them how much from point A to B. They're very honest most of the time. From the bus stop, make a left turn, after a few mins of walk, take the steps down to the port direction to where everything is.
How to get to the Shipwreck Beach: You have 2 options, do the tour or rent a car or ATV to get there yourself. Tour is around 20 euros but they DON'T take you to the top with that beautiful view you've always seen on the internet. It will only go to the beach itself and some more places like olive oil factory,..
The view from the top was our priority so we rented an ATV (quad bike) for 40 euros for the whole day (last min price, it's usually only 20 euros or so) We drove to the Shipwreck view point and OMG it was amazing! There's no way you'll go to Zakynthos and miss this view. It was a little more than an hr go get there from town with our offline map (i'm a slow driver). Then from there we drove to the port for the ferry to the Shipwreck beach itself. We rented our ATV and bought our ferry ticket with Isala Travel. I highly recommend them for your rentals or tour. They're very helpful and friendly.
Shipwreck Beach top view
On Shipwreck beach
Sunset view from Zakynthos town
That was the end of our journey in Greece! Enjoy my post and Safe travel!
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