Athens and Santorini, Greece

During fall break, we visited Athens for two days and then spent 5 nights on Santorini...a small Greek island.  I would recommend our hotel in Athens (Plaka Hotel- www.booking.com/PlakaHotel).  It is located near the Acropolis and perfect for walking to local shopping and restaurants.  We did a half day Athens tour with www.privategreecetours.com  and we were able to see a few highlights of Athens.

We flew to Santorini from Athens on Aegean air relatively cheap...120Euros per ticket.  We stayed in a wonderful private villa located south of the island in Pirgos. www.voreinasuites.gr  Fira in the city in the middle of the island where cruise ships come in and they have more dining and shopping options.  Oia is the most picturesque city with all the white and blue domed churches that are built on the cliffs.  If we were to only visit for a few nights or had no worries of a budget, we would have stayed in one of the two larger cities.  Everything is twice the price!  

Another tip is to visit in June or September.  We had fabulous weather in Mid October but we heard "this is off season and unusually nice weather" many times.  You can also take boat ferries to Crete or other neighboring islands quite inexpensively.

Overall, this was my family's favorite vacation so far! Fabulous weather, scenery and food.

Santorini from the plane

The view of The Acropolis and the Pantheon