Going to Greece in May (hoping to avoid peak busy season) and looking for recommendations on area/hotels. We're looking for nice, good values hotels that won't break the bank, but are willing to splurge a little ($500/night) at one or 2 places if they are a must stay. Here's the areas we plant to visit:

Athens - Planning to stay in Plaka potentially Coco-Mat hotel
Mykonos - Looing for somewhere close to nightlife, but not right in the middle of it
Naxos
Paros
Santorini - Staying in Oia but is it better to stay at an Airbnb with how expensive hotels are?
Milos - Looking at the Artemis Seaside Resort

Any other recommendations are welcome.

Ttt

For Athens, this place is great, King George, A Luxury Collection Hotel, Athens

Santorini - imerovigli. Half price of Oia and the same views.

Mykonos- we stayed just south of the old Town at absolute Mykonos suites. Was a 5 minute walk into all the action and pretty chill at night.

If you are taking ferries they run late a lot. Plan accordingly.

I suggest you fix your itinerary first and then focus on hotel recommendations. There are many great islands to visit that will make for a great trip so need more detail on the islands you want to visit. You could spend 1-2 weeks on Crete alone. Also have good recommendations for Naxos, Paros, Mykonos and Santorini.

Thanks! We'll definitely be staying at Naxos, Paros, Santorini, and Mykonos, so happy to hear about any suggestions you have at those islands.

OilManAg91 said:

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I suggest you fix your itinerary first and then focus on hotel recommendations. There are many great islands to visit that will make for a great trip so need more detail on the islands you want to visit. You could spend 1-2 weeks on Crete alone. Also have good recommendations for Naxos, Paros, Mykonos and Santorini.

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You sound like you have some experience in Greece. Would be interested to hear your thumbnail suggestions for a Greek isle itinerary with 10-14 days to work with.

Looking maybe at 2024. More interested in sights, views, culture and activities than nightlife, although we like to eat well.

How long are you going for? Part of what makes Greece such a great place to visit is how laid back it is… and a 6 stop trip doesn't sound too laid back.

stuckinaustinAG said:

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For Athens, this place is great, King George, A Luxury Collection Hotel, Athens

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I stayed at the Grande Bretagne in December. It is also a LCH. It joins the same building as the King George. In fact, I'm pretty sure they share some facilities like gym, spa, etc. on the lower level. Their location is ideal if you're using the metro at all - right across the street from Syntagma.

In Naxos, 18 grapes was the highlight of our trip last summer. Take the wine dinner/tasting with the family/owner of the hotel. It was as authentic as you can get. Also rent a car and drive into the mountains for a day.

Didn't care for Mykonos. Too crowded and expensive. Paros was much better however we were there for 1 day on a sailboat tour from Naxos.

Santorini was fun but can see most everything in 3 days

We stayed at cavo tagoo in Mykonos. Very nice hotel but the water in pool on our balcony was frigid.

In santorini we stayed at Athina luxury suites and really enjoyed the location and hotel staff etc. we went to oia one evening and glad we didn't pay a premium to stay there.

We're going to Athens and Santorini for our honeymoon in a couple months prior to going to Croatia - for Athens, we went with AthensWas Hotel, but the CocoMat youre considering is one of a handful of places I'd narrowed it down to, so seems to be a good option. A couple others in that general area that I was looking at were Herodian Hotel, Ava Boutique Hotel, and Home & Poetry Hotel. King George which had been mentioned looks super nice but would be a decent bit more expensive.

For Santorini, we're staying at Katikies in Oia. I know you pay a premium for staying in Oia and some argue you're better off staying in Imerovigli because of that, but we really liked the hotel and somewhat disregarded the cost. That being said, we have friends that stayed in Imerovigli a few months back and they loved staying there and highly recommended it instead. So you may want to at least consider places there if youre looking for value, because Oia and value dont go hand in hand from what Ive seen.

Here are a few notes from my trip last summer, hope this helps:

Crete: is a bit off the beaten path and probably deserves its own trip but it's one of my favorite islands as it is very authentic Greece. Many different beaches and towns to hit, but the island is huge. We stayed in a condo in Lygaria which is a 20 min drive from Heraklion and it was fantastic

Santorini: the view is great, but I didn't think there was much else to do besides enjoying the view…which again is spectacular. Stayed in Oia at Charisma Suites. It was really great, not cheap but for 1 or 2 nights (at most) it was a good choice. If stay is Oia, then for dinner highly recommend walking down the Oia steps to eat at Dimitris Taverna on the water…great food and very memorable…then ride a donkey back up to the top.

Naxos: One of my favorite islands. Very chill with lots of great beaches and beach clubs. Highly recommend Nissaki Beach hotel…really great location, nice rooms, great breakfast / restaurant

Paros: Kanele's Rooms & Suites. Not on beach but very short walk to beach and town. The town's alleyways are very picturesque with beautiful flowers and nice restaurants, but compared to other islands I would skip Paros as I didn't think it was anything special.

Mykonos: island is very crowded and everywhere you stay is a party. But it's crowded for a reason as it is very pretty, great restaurants, incredible yachts, beautiful (and naked) people and 5 star beach clubs that rock until the early hours. We stayed at Petasos Beach Resort & Spa and it was great…very nice and great location close to the beach. If you stay here then it's a short walk to Scorpios beach club which is a Las Vegas style club for those that don't care about money and want to stay up until dawn.

Lastly, the water ferries work great traveling between the islands. Always pay extra to take the fast SeaJet ferries to save time.

My wife and I rented this house on the island of Spetses. It was amazing. The island is pretty much all locals and only accessible by boat and everyone on the drives a scooter or 4 wheeler. We rented a 4 wheeler while we were there to get around. The pictures do not do it justice and the owner was amazing bringing us local wine, cheese and honey from the island.
https://greece-stay.com/en/o/spetses-bounty,28c31.html

Oia, one of the most beautiful places we have ever stayed. Chelidonia Traditional Vullas apartment burrowed into the cliff face. Stunning.

I second going to the harbor in Oia, for the sunset and pick-your-own lobster spaghetti. We walked down a cabbed it back up to our apartment.

Also thought Oia was worth the price of admission. At least for a short stay. Our hotels are over OPs stated budget, but we used a lot of saved-up points and travel credit and definitely didn't hold back for Greece. We really enjoyed each stay.

Alta Mare by Andronis in Oia, Santorini.
Psaravolada Resort in Milos. Highly recommend, rent an ATV.
Hotel Bretagne in Athens. If going again I'd stay at King George.