Hi janiebaby

Island hoping is one of our 'To Do' lists but we will do it in a few years when we are in to our 50's (just)

To start you off here are a couple of bits of info from past questions on HT

http://www.holidaytruths.co.uk/viewtopic.php?f=17&t=112633

http://www.holidaytruths.co.uk/viewtopic.php?f=17&t=97679

My advice go for the 4 weeks (or more)

Graham

I loved Poros but we did go quite a few years ago. You have plenty choices of islands close by. I would definitely go for it. (When we went it was package and it was a few years later before I thought about DIY!)

I'll just edit my previous post on the subject:

Starting points and ferries:

Island hopping is easiest when you go to chains of islands that are on regular ferry routes (i.e. predictable). You don't have to start in Athens, it is not the only choice by any means.

EasyJet have cheapo (sometimes....) scheduled flights to Athens, Mykonos, Rhodes. These can be used as starting/finishing points. Along with other charter flight destinations like Kefalonia, Zante, Samos, Kos, Santorini.

A couple of easy examples:

1) Athens/Piraeus > Paros > Naxos > Ios > Santorini > Piraeus (you could also take a charter flight to Santorini and do the same thing).

2) Rhodes > Samos > Patmos > Lipsi > Leros > Kalimnos > Kos > Nysiros > Tilos > Symi > Rhodes. In this case ferry/catamarans/hydrofoils are daily and you can just pick a few islands for your 3-4 weeks (You could also take charter flights to Samos or Kos).

The Cyclades island ferry routes are quite complex. 5 main ferry routes and others.

Travelling and Accommodation:

Backpacking in the islands generally speaking the way to go, it's for all ages not just the young ones. Flexibility is the key, easier off the hi-season, and easier to reach the less touristy islands where ferries are not daily and may be at odd hours of the day/night.

Most seasoned Greek island hoppers never book accommodation in advance and travel out of hi-season when accommodation is never full. Room and hotel owners are very flexible about the length of stay and only require 1 day notice of when you are leaving or if you want to stay a few days longer, no problem.

Accommodation is easy to obtain on arrival on most islands, except for mid July/August, the best price is usually obtained by bargaining direct with the hotel/rooms for rent place. On smaller islands there may be no hotels, however there will be 'rooms for rent', signs around the villages. Expect accommodation to be simple and basic, it has improved over the years.

A useful guide book is 'Greek Island Hopping' pub: Thomas Cook. Reasonable island village maps and ferry routes, timetables out of date, but gives you a general view of what to expect.

Hi Janiebaby,

Have done the greek islands for the past 3 years, gone for 3 weeks each time, really recomend it, we are mid 40s and have been all over the world but this is def the best. The freedom and flexibility is brilliant.
Easyjet do a good flight to Athens from luton, arrives athens early evening. Pre book your hotels in athens, we always stay 2 nites as the ferries to most of the islands leave Pireaus 7am or so.
Always stay around Monastraki area which is Metro stop for Airport and Pireaus.Check late rooms or booking for best deals.
In 3 weeks you could do most of the larger Cyclades, our favourites are Paros, Naxos Mykonos Ios, Tinos and Santorini.
Naxos in Particular is fab, lovely accomodation in naxos Town Pension Stella, high standard but very reasonable.
an idea would be to fly into Athens and back from Crete then you could visit all islands between and not have to return to Athens. Thomsons do a cheap charter from Crete to Gatwick
any other info get back to me, beeen to over 30 islands so far and many more to visit yet.
cheers
Noel