Church in Oia, Santorini, Greece.

Disclaimer: I’ve recently begun documenting my journeys on my personal site. I’d love for you to take a look.

Yesterday my fiancé and I returned from the trip of a lifetime.

We’d spent the past ten days celebrating our engagement while exploring & admiring Athens & two of the Greek islands: Mykonos & Santorini. Our Greece trip had been planned for months (we’d originally scheduled it to party for our birthdays), but to my surprise, he’d popped the question just 2 weeks prior to our trip — making our vacation even more exciting & special (YEP, he’s a keeper).

Greece had been on my bucket list ever since I was a child. Something about the vibrant, bright colors set against the white, block-y houses always appealed to the aesthetics fiend in me. That, & the love inspired by Mamma Mia!

I’m sure many of you share the same feeling of awe for Greece that I do. Therefore, I made sure to track everything we did down for you so you may plan & budget for your own trip to Greece sometime soon using ours as a guide. In this piece, you will find our 10 Day Greece: Athens, Santorini, & Mykonos travel itinerary, AirBnBs, transportation, excursions, packing list, food & souvenirs. I’ll also list a rough estimate on what we spent so you have an understanding of how-to budget for your personal Greece adventure.

Our 10 Day Greece Travel Itinerary

My fiancé, Keith, & I began looking for flights to Greece sometime last year using our favorite flight tracking app, Hopper (charges a $14 commission upon booking). In January 2017, we found a great price on tickets to Greece — $667.72/PER PESON!! — for September 2017. Of course, the flights were not direct (see below), but we didn’t mind much since those were the cheapest tickets we’d seen in a long time (& on great airlines too)!

A cute shop in Mykonos.

We didn’t want to stay in Athens too long since we were more interested in getting to the beautiful beach spots we’d seen on Instagram than we were in the historical sites. Therefore, we planned to fly in/out of Athens & only stay there for two nights total. If you’re a history buff, I’d recommend crashing in Athens for a little bit longer than we did. There is a ton to do & look at. Just be sure to watch your wallet & valuables — Athens is known for it’s pick-pockets. I noticed most people carried their backpacks in front of them & had a hand over the top of their purse to ensure no one could get in without them feeling or seeing it.

September 6th: Flew from Salt Lake City to Toronto (2 hours — thanks for the surprise upgrade, AirCanada)! Flew from Toronto to Athens (9+ hours).

September 7th: Arrived in Athens, Greece. Took the metro to the center of town. Walked to our AirBnB.

September 8th: Ferry from Athens to Mykonos (5 hours). ATV-wagon from port to AirBnB.

September 8–10th: Mykonos.

September 10th: Ferry from Mykonos to Santorini (2 hours). Bus from Athinios Port to Fira (thirty minutes). Bus from Fira to Oia (thirty minutes). Walked to AirBnB.

September 10–14th: Santorini.

September 14th: Taxi from Oia to airport. Flew from Santorini to Athens (fifty minutes). Taxi to AirBnB (twenty minutes).

September 15th: Taxi from AirBnB to airport (twenty minutes). Flew from Athens to Zurich (2+ hours). Flew from Zurich to San Francisco (11+ hours). Flew from San Francisco to Salt Lake City (1.5 hours).

In total, we spent around $1,323.78 on roundtrip airfare from the U.S. to Greece.

Side note: I’ve recently begun documenting my journeys on my personal site. I’d love for you to take a look.

Transportation in Athens, Mykonos, & Santorini

There are two main ways to get between Athens & the islands in Greece: ferry or plane. We decided to try both & decided neither is better than the other, it just depends on what you are up for & how much time you have.

Beach in Mykonos.

The ferries we took were booked back in August. You don’t have to book as far ahead as I did (you can book the day-of at the port), but I do like to have all of my transportation & lodging arranged before I travel to ensure a smooth trip. The ferry from Athens to Mykonos was via Blue Star Ferries ($36.5/person) & the ferry from Mykonos to Santorini was via SeaJets ($81.58/person). The Blue Star Ferry was our favorite since it was very large & there was no assigned seating. We sat on the deck for 5 hours reading & drinking cappuccinos. It was lovely.

Instead of taking a ferry from Santorini to Athens, I booked a flight via CheapOAir back in August ($130/person). I did this to be sure we’d make it to our next AirBnB on-time since we were leaving the following day for the U.S. Honestly, the flight wasn’t so bad — it was quick (just try not to think about how squished together you all are if you are claustrophobic like me). The airport check-in part was the real nightmare. People were frustrated, the airport is small, & it was super hot that day. A total recipe for disaster. If you want to survive this chaos, arrive at least two hours early for your flight, pay attention to the signs, ask questions, & don’t carry a ton of luggage with you. Lastly, be patient with others.

We had no problem with the taxis on either Athens or Santorini. It was easy to find them in Athens (they were in the city center). In Santorini, you must call ahead of time to reserve a taxi (or ask someone like a waiter/waitress/bellhop to call for you). Be sure to do this about an hour before you need to be somewhere since they’ve only got about 40 taxis for the entire island. We couldn’t get a taxi in Mykonos since we were too slow getting off the ferry. It took thirty minutes of us waiting in-line under the hot sun before I saw an old man on an ATV-Wagon & asked Keith to talk to him about taking us to the AirBnB. Honestly, I couldn’t think of a better way to arrive at a place like Mykonos than in the back of an ATV-wagon. Quite the experience.

An unconventional form of transportation: donkeys.

If you take anything from this post, let it be this: DO NOT TAKE THE BUS ON THIRA (aka Santorini). Seriously. Don’t do it. We did it to save money (a taxi would’ve cost about $72 to get from the Athinios Port to Oia, while the bus cost only $9.08 total). It wasn’t worth it. First off, the buses drive a few miles straight up a cliff — so if you’re a control-freak who’s terrified of heights (no comment), you’re absolutely not going to have a good time. Secondly, they squish as many people as they can onto the buses — AND IT’S HOT & HUMID. There was a point where I thought it probably would’ve been better to have gone off the cliff than it would be to continue to roast in the back of the bus with the smell of B.O. wafting through the air. /rant.

On a much better note: our absolute favorite way to get around Greece was by ATV. Yes, you read that correctly. We felt like the coolest people around. In Mykonos & Santorini you can rent mopeds, ATVs, dune buggys, & cars from bike shops around the island (we liked Rizo’s on Mykonos). We opted for the ATVs (about $32 on Mykonos & $48/day on Santorini) & had the greatest time quickly zipping around the islands. A few things: always wear your helmet, be safe (European drivers can be reckless, don’t try to keep up), wear sunscreen, shop around (one shop said we could only rent with an international license, another was fine with only our US IDs), & buy the insurance (please refrain from causing an international incident by protecting yourself & your finances).

In total, we spent $260 on airfare from Santorini to Athens, $236.16 on ferries to Mykonos & Santorini, $9.08 on buses, $180 on ATVs, & $114 on Taxis.

Greece AirBnBs

I booked our AirBnB’s back in June. In hindsight, I probably should’ve booked them a few months before since September is still a peak time to go to Greece (especially Santorini). While there, I was told the tourist season is year-round, but it is heaviest from April thru the end of October. Because of this, we had limited options on where we could stay, but we still found some great spots. Overall, we were happy with all of the spaces we booked this trip. Seems like we can’t go wrong with AirBnB!

The view from our AirBnB in Athens.

First night in Athens: The apartment we stayed in doesn’t look like much from the outside (or really the inside either for that matter), but the view it has made up for it ten-fold. New!! Acropolis View (now $72/night — during peak season it was $112/night) has a 360 view of the city & is only two minutes from the metro. I loved laying in the roof-top hammock & staring out at the Acropolis at 3 AM (thanks, jet lag).

Sunset view from our AirBnB in Mykonos.

Mykonos: Our stay at Studio Mykonos View (now $110/night — during peak season it was $193.5/night) was thoroughly enjoyable. This traditional, Greek cave-style apartment has a fantastic view of the sunset & is only a short walk from the beach. Plus, there was a neighboring rooftop swimming pool open to us as long as we bought drinks from the bar (warning: cocktails started at a steep $14). We did have one small issue here — at 4 AM our first night, we were awoken by a bright, emergency light inside of the apartment which was switched on when the power failed. Thankfully, it shut-off after ten minutes & didn’t happen again.

The view from our AirBnB in Oia.

Santorini: We saved the best for last & decided to go all-out in Oia ($110/night — during peak season it was $249/night). The Double Room in Oia with Direct Sea & Caldera View was everything we’d hoped it would be & more. This private, cliff-side spot overlooks the picturesque town, sparkling sea, & active volcano. However, it’s only a few blocks away from the bustling strip. Each morning we’d wake up, open the curtains on our private balcony, & lay in bed to watch the fishing boats float by. Very romantic! Our bellhop, Lefteris, was fantastic as well. He carried our bags to the AirBnB, gave us tons of recommendations on where to eat & explore in Santorini & Athens, arranged our taxi to the airport for us, & answered all of our questions. You can find much cheaper places to stay in Santorini (for instance, I saw a lot of great spots in Fira), but you won’t have the picturesque, Instagram-view you traveled 2k+ miles for if you choose one of those over Oia. If you do choose to stay in Oia, you should search for a place that has a private pool/Jacuzzi on the balcony. Honestly that’s the only thing I wish our place had had that it didn’t.

Last night in Athens: I was pleasantly surprised by the last stop on our trip: In the Attic ($49/night). This quiet apartment was the perfect spot to rest before we started our long journey home. The day we got there, we walked to the sea (only 5+ minutes away) for lunch. Afterwards, Keith took a dip in the Aegean before we walked back to The Attic to read on the balcony. The host was more than helpful with us. I’d highly recommend it.

When booking your accommodations in Greece, I recommend looking at a map to see how you’ll get from one island to the next, ensuring your rooms have air conditioning (if this is important to you — many European rooms do not have it), & checking the cancellation policy. Also, make sure to bring extra Euro for the trip since many Airbnbs require a visitors tax which is expected to be paid when you arrive (for the record, we’ve never been asked for this tax). We were also sure to tip any helpful bellhop we had while there.

In total, we spent around $1,544 on AirBnBs this trip.

Greek Excursions

Ahem: I’ve recently begun documenting my journeys on my personal site. I’d love for you to take a look.

I previously mentioned in my Italy post how much I dislike planning day-to-day activities for our vacations. Having the transportation & lodging all worked out makes me feel secure & ready-to-go. I figure we can figure the rest out once we arrive. Plus, it’s nice to have an understanding of the area & chat with the locals to hear their recommendations before planning out the daily itineraries.

That being said, I plan to do a bit more research for our next trip abroad. This was my first time going to a country where I didn’t know even a lick of the language. We probably should’ve done more reading on basic phrases to be respectful to the culture (learn from our mistakes). I’m sure the Greeks got a kick out of my basic Italian-Spanish mash-up & Keith’s college French.

Also, did you know Thira (originally Thera) is the true name for Santorini? Or that Santorini was formed from one of the largest volcanic eruptions in history: the Minoan eruption? And Santorini sits directly across from the active volcano which created it? Oh, & that the Thera eruption may be the root of the legend Atlantis? Yea, me neither until we got there — so cool! (This is where that research would’ve come in handy…lesson learned).

Day to Day Overview

First Day in Athens: Jetlag was TOUGH this day (we fell asleep at 3 PM), so we didn’t do much other than explore the city, hike through the garden below the Acropolis ($9.50/each), & stuff our bellies with lots of squid & calamari.

A perfect beach in Mykonos.

Mykonos: We really just lounged here. Our days consisted of driving from one beach to the next with our ATV, finding new places to eat, playing with the friendly stray kitties,& exploring the town. Watching the sunset each night was a must. Keith liked to do it with a Cuban cigar while we split a bottle of wine. Since we had jet-lag, we enjoyed walking to get pastries & cappuccinos in the early morning hours. Then we’d sit by the beach & watch all of the people walk home from the clubs (Mykonos is a BIG, HUGE party island — they start at 12 AM & go hard till about 7 AM).

Oia, Santorini, Greece

Santorini: By far our favorite part of the trip (other than the bus ride to get there). The first day was spent exploring the island via ATV. We walked & shopped on the narrow, cobbled streets of Oia. I especially loved visiting the breathtaking town church to light candles for my family. The outside is plain, but beautiful, while the inside is a whole other story — it’s gold-laden, with intricate paintings. Something you have to see. The rest of the day we laid out on Kamari beach, visited a Monastery in Pyrgos, & stopped in Fira for gyros & frozen Greek yogurt. Our second day was supposed to be spent on a Sunset Cruise ($174/person), but it was too windy (the only day it was like this), so sadly the cruise was cancelled, but we got a full refund (I’d still recommend booking this if you can, & if you do, be sure to do it FAST — it books up quickly). Instead, we laid by the public pool which overlooks the ocean (no entrance fee, you just have to buy a cocktail or two) & got more Gyros (go to Nico’s place). Then we hiked down to the bottom of Oia so Keith could cliff jump (yep, I’m still afraid of heights — see above). I wish we had had more time because there were some super fancy, delicious-looking restaurants right on the water there (if you go, tell me how they are). But it was still a dream come true to get to ride the donkeys back up the hill afterwards ($12/each)! I’ll forever remember what it was like seeing the famous Oia sunset on the back of a donkey while a Greek man serenaded us. On our last day in Santorini, we rented another ATV & drove to the far side of the island to visit Red Beach — one of the most popular tourist areas. I wasn’t a huge fan — the water was rough & the sand was rocky, but it was gorgeous. This is where I’m going to remind you to wear your sunscreen & a hat & drink lots of water: I got pretty sick after spending 1.5 hours on the back of an ATV in a bikini without any shade.

My handsome man at Santo Winery.

Our last — & arguably most romantic — excursion on Santorini was to the Santo Winery ($35/each) for a tour of the famous winery & a sunset tasting. Incredible. There. Are. No. Words. Just Go.

Last Day in Athens: By the last day, we were absolutely exhausted. We got into town, grabbed a bite to eat & laid on the patio reading all afternoon. It was bliss.

If I were to do it all again, I’d do exactly what we did this first time. However, I’d also schedule a horseback riding trip on Santorini (it’s near Red Beach). If you go, & you like horses, be sure to look into that. I’d also have liked for us to have stopped at the Venetian Castle (near Red Beach) & White Beach.

Excuse me: I’ve recently begun documenting my journeys on my personal site. I’d love for you to take a look.

I didn’t expect to enjoy connecting with other tourists on this trip, but I did. Something about being ‘stuck’ on an island in a foreign country with no-cell service really brings people together. I loved meeting the people around us & finding out why they were each visiting, who they were visiting with, & where they were visiting from. We met a few couples on their honeymoon, women on a ladies’ trip, a couple celebrating their 20th anniversary, & many other interesting people with intricate backgrounds & personal stories. It was a unique connection I feel we’re often lacking these days due to technology. So here’s a friendly reminder, even if you’re not in Greece: put your phone down & ask a stranger their story. You might be surprised what you learn & what other’s will tell you when you listen.

In total, we spent approximately $113 on excursions. (If we had been able to have gone on the Sunset Cruise, it would’ve come to a total of $459.)

What We Packed for Greece

As you know from my past posts, we like to pack as lite as possible. It’s easier to get around — especially when you’re traveling from city to city using planes, trains, & automobiles.

One of the cute swimsuit cover-ups I found at Zaful.

Here’s what we brought with us this time:

The gorgeous chest in our Oia AirBnB.

T-Shirt — We each packed a few shirts to mix-and-match.

Bottoms — I brought a jean skirt, 3 pairs of cotton shorts, & 3 dresses.

Swimsuit — Keith brought two of his favorite swim trunks from Chubbies & I brought my suits from Monday Swimwear & Zaful.

Books — While there I read, ‘The Brilliant Friend’ & ‘Personal MBA’. Keith read ‘Game of Thrones’.

Extra contacts, contact solution, & glasses — If you’re a four-eyes like me.

Allergy Medication — This was surprising for us! On our second day in Oia, we were knocked-down by the worst allergies we’ve both ever experienced.Thankfully, Keith had brought some allergy meds with him for us to share.

Blankie — Keith always makes fun of me for carrying my giant blanket around the airport, but when he starts shivering on long flights he doesn’t even hesitate to try & steal it from me!

It was humid & hot while we were there. Most days it was high 70s with a 60–70% humidity (which made it feel like it was 100+ degrees). Plus, there is little shade on the island which makes it even warmer. I’d advise packing light if you go in September or earlier.

Lastly, don’t forget to exchange your dollars for Euro before you leave, call your cell phone company to switch to an International plan while you’re away, & call your bank(s) to let them know you’ll be abroad. This can save you lots of money & headaches!

Pro Tip: Buy your sunscreen at your destination. Yes, it’s more expensive. But it’s better to spend then money than have a spill &/or have to check a bag.

Greek Food

We don’t have to tell you that the Greek food is incredible, you already know. The Gyros, Souvlaki, Greek yogurt, Greek Salad, Fried Squid, Moussaka — all. of. it. It’s mouthwatering.

I scream, you scream, we all scream for Frozen Greek Yogurt!

While there, we ate as the Greeks did (or at least we tried). But we noticed it got a little expensive towards the end (especially in Santorini — the most popular tourist spot). Therefore, we started to grab Greek yogurt & breakfast cookies from the local market for breakfast, cappuccinos at a local coffee shop, & gyros in towns far away from the main tourist attractions (they can be as cheap as $4/each). Then, we’d splurge on dinner.

I’m not even going to try to add up how much we spent on food. We could’ve done better here with our budget, but we are foodies & we value good food — especially when we’re on vacation. If this is something you’d like to save on, find local markets, stay away from the restaurants at the center of town, & pack snacks for the airplane(s).

Souvenirs

Keith & I both love to give gifts — to each other, to family, & to friends. It’s one of the love languages we share. Therefore, one of our favorite parts of going on vacation is bringing back souvenirs to give to our loved ones. We always look for unique, fun items which will fit in our small bags. For instance, this time I brought back Greek Delights (like Turkish Delights — I know because I already ate an entire box) for my team at work & we both got a few bottles of Ouzo (Greek vodka) to try with friends.

The coast of Oia

For our house, we like to get decorations which will last a long time (when we went to Italy last Fall we got a tile which we had added into the wall of our kitchen. It’s so fun to see it each evening when I’m cooking). On trip, we found a beautiful set of Greek tiles to hang in our living room & a Greek-pillar shaped jar of Ouzo for our bar cart.

If you’re like us, I’d recommend waiting until your last day to buy souvenirs. This way you can budget accordingly &/or spend the last of your Euros. Plus, it means you can spend all your time looking for the “perfect” gifts to ensure you get the best price (I noticed a few shops in Santorini sold the same thing at multiple different prices). Be sure to ask about shipping — some of the shops do this & it’s always a good deal, in my opinion.

Oia with my fiancé, Keith.

In total, we roughly spent around $3,780 on our 10-day Greece trip to Athens, Mykonos, & Santorini — about $1,890 each. (Does not include food, souvenirs, or the 900€ we brought along for spending).

Our ‘engagement-moon’ truly was a dream come true! And Greece was everything I’d ever hoped it to be & more. I want to go back again some day soon. Until then, I’ll enjoy living vicariously through your Greece Instagram pictures while I plan our upcoming honeymoon (suggestions welcome on where we should go)!

Please feel free to comment below if you have any questions for us &/or ideas for others planning to travel to Greece in the near future.

Ciao!

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