ATHENS:
WHERE WE STAYED:
We stayed at the loveliest Airbnb right in the heart of Athens, Located in Plaka. Could not have been a more perfect location! We were able to save money by not renting a car, because we were in walking distance from everything! Also our host was so so sweet! She owns the little Greek donut and coffee shop right below our stay!
WHERE WE ATE:
- Plakaki Cafe – Amazing breakfast and service! We ate here twice!
- Trattoria
- Estia
- Peter’s Ice Cream and Greek Donuts – Right below our Airbnb
- Taverna Saita – SO SO GOOD! Also super affordable and felt like a place only locals really went to!
WHAT TO SEE/DO:
- The Acropolis – Go early in the morning when they first open to attempt to beat the crowds! Start your day here!
- The Acropolis Museum – So so amazing! You could probably spend half a day here! Good place to also beat the heat
- Roman Agora
- Hadrain’s Library
- Temple of Hephaestus
- Stili Olimpiou Dios
- National Botanical Garden – completely free! Lots of shade and walking trails. Would also be amazing and so fun for kids.
- Wallking around the streets of Plaka and Monastiraki (just north of the Acropolis)
- Go Thrifting/Antiquing in Monastiraki – there is this little pocket of shops I will link HERE
TIPS/THOUGHTS:
We absolutely LOVED Athens! We felt very safe the whole stay! The people were ridiculously kind! My biggest tip here would be to stay in the heart of things like we did. I feel like that just made the whole experience so much better just walking everywhere. We stayed for 4 nights and that was plenty! We took our time seeing everything, but you could for sure see everything just staying 2 maybe 3 nights! I can’t remember what the pass was called, but when you purchase a ticket to see any of the sights, there is this option to spend just a little more and allows you access to all the main sights, one time each within a week or so! This is a MUST! Also highly recommend waking up early and walking the streets anytime around 7:00am to 9:00. The lighting is just beautiful and it just feels like the whole city is still asleep! the streets and walkways are very packed between 10:00am to 9:00pm.
SANTORINI
WHERE WE STAYED:
We stayed in the most beautiful Airbnb with the most amazing View! We did splurge for sure on this one, but it was so worth it! Note: if you can’t do stairs this is not the stay for you! LOTS of stairs. Luckily our hosts were so amazing and carried out bags for us! They also gave a run down of all the best places to eat and places to see!
WHERE WE ATE:
- Vitrun – Breakfast and a view of the bay!
- Pitogyros – The garlic Pita bread was Devine! I need to teach myself how to make it! Also really amazing service!
- Skiza Cafe
- Lotza
WHAT TO SEE/DO:
- All of Oia Honestly
- Blue domes
- Ammoudi Bay – it is quite the workout going up and down those steps to get there! Also we didn’t eat here other than ice cream, but if we went back I would for sure eat at one of the restaurants down there!
- Ammoudi beach – you get here by walking down to the bay and then taking a trail just south! You can also swim out to a small island from there!
- Take a bus to Thera or the far south side of the island!
- Hike Fara to Oia
TIPS/THOUGHTS:
To start Santorini was MAGIC! Worth all the hype! Again this is a similar tip to Athens. If you can afford it and you are going to spend all this money to travel to Greece in the first place STAY IN TOWN! Stay in downtown Oia where you can walk to everything. Which saves you on renting a car. Also the main reason why I say this is because the streets of Oia are very small. There are no cars, only small sometimes 4 foot wide paths. Mid day the streets feel like Disneyland. Lots of people stay outside of town to save money or people come in on cruise ships mid day and then once they are there they are now stuck. Unless you are at a restaurant there is no place in Oia to just hang out and enjoy the views and beauty UNLESS you are staying there and have a view! I feel like our experience of Santorini would have been so different if we would have stayed elsewhere. It was so nice to wake up for sunrise each morning, go explore, take photos of the sights, get breakfast before it’s busy, then come hang out in our pool with a view during the heat of the day when it is the most busy! Also being able to watch sunset without dealing with the crowds was a blessing! Right during sunset and a hour before the streets get CRAZY with people trying to all find a place to stand and WAIT for an hour to watch sunset! Also if you are wanting to get those classic Blue Dome pictures you see all over social media, you have one of two options. Wake up for sunrise and be there first thing! (we did this twice and there was only a few people out doing the same thing) OR wait in lines of 50 or more people for the shot in the middle of the day. These lines also got worse as the day went on and got closer to sunset!
MILOS
WHERE WE STAYED:
We stayed at GEOMILOS Deluxe Rooms which was close to town! Honestly the island was so small that anywhere was close to town. This was a very nice clean stay. However we never had warm showers haha! Our room did have a really beautiful view and pool however it was stupid windy most this time when we were there and the wind just WHIPPED itself though there and I couldn’t even really bear it to hang out outside. If/when we go back I would probably stay in the fishing town of Pollonia on the east side of the island.
WHERE WE ATE:
- Alkis – Our favorite place! We ate here twice! Right on the water and had so many options for food!
- Jordans Meating
- Palaion Coffee – good breakfast! So so pretty
- Kayak
WHAT TO SEE/DO:
- Sarakinko Beach – Our Favorite beach by far! Lots of places to explore! We found ourselves here for sunset one night, sunrise the next day, and then also stopped by mid day as well! If we stayed in Milos for longer than 2 nights we would have for sure spent a whole day here!
- Papafragas caves
- Explore Pollonia
- Para Firopotamos – we never went down on it, but wow was it STUNNING!
- DO A BOAT TOUR!!!!! We did not sadly since we only had one full day there, however if we planned just a little bit better we would have stayed another night and did this for a day or half day!
- Fyriplaka Beach – Long Beach with lots of space. Parking sucks haha!
- Tsigrado beach – This is a MUST if you are willing to climb down to it. That was an experience, for sure my second favorite beach. You could for sure spend your whole day down there. It is very tight so you need to claim your spot! Also the climb in is not for kids!
- Go ATVing – The majority of all the beaches on the island can only be reached by boat or Atv.
TIPS/THOUGHTS:
This was the only place we rented a car, which is a must. Either that or an ATV. The island is so small there is really no bad place to stay, you can just drive to get there. Don’t be like us and just not do a boat tour! If you are there more than one or two full days I would recommend one of your first days just go beach hopping and then on another day pick your favorite and hang out there and relax for a full day! Also I did say this above, but the majority of all the beaches on the island can only be reached by boat or Atv. So that is up to you whether you want to rent that or not or if you are fine with just seeing what you can get to by car! Milos is also a very chill relaxed island, A LOT less touristy. Those who we talking to in Athens said that is one of their favorite if not their favorite islands!
MYKONOS
WHERE WE STAYED:
We stayed at the lovely Elena Hotel, which was located right in the heart of the town! Walking distance to everything! Was super cozy and clean!
WHERE WE ATE:
- Sinner Pizza – Some of the best pizza I have had! Buy by the slice or a whole pizza! Open stupid late! By this point in the trip I was missing home and this reminded me of home! So we had this twice haha!
- Cosmo Cafe – The perfect breakfast spot
WHAT TO SEE/DO:
- The Windmills of Mykonos
- Pump Gym – I know not for everyone, but this was at the end of our trip and it felt so good to get back to the gym! Get there when they first open!
- Go shopping!!! Shopping is HUGE in Mykonos. You got everything from local goods, Tourist traps, affordable boutiques, to crazy brand names
- Party, drink, do drugs?
TIPS/THOUGHTS:
All the locals in Athens, Santorini, and Milos had nothing good to say about Mykonos. They all said it was filthy and people just go there for the parties, the alcohol, the drugs, and the prostitutes… So basically our whole trip we were kind of dreading and not looking forward to traveling here. We still wished we would have just stayed 2 more nights in Milos, but oh well! We can now say we have been there and we don’t ever have to do it again. Ok I’m making it sound horrible I know. The town and island are GORGEOUS! Out of everywhere we went I feel like it had the best options for places to eat and also shopping. However if you are not into the party scene this place is not for you because other than that, there is really nothing to do. Luckily this was at the end of our trip and other than walking the town and waking up early to take some photos we just relaxed at our hotel instead of being out. Our experience there honestly was not bad we were just bored and tired. However the one experience that was interesting was when we woke up early morning just after sunrise to go take photos in the streets before everyone else was awake, the streets were disgusting… trash, broken glass, cigarettes, piss, and I believe maybe human feces in places!! Which was shocking because the day before when we first got there we saw none of that. However all night we could for sure hear drunk people in the streets haha. Then we started to notice all the locals and shop owners mopping and sweeping and vacuuming the streets. Which they probably do every morning, which was honestly really sad, but by 10:00 in the morning everything was back together again and ready to rinse and repeat! If you are just here for the white and blue buildings. We quickly realized that is what every greek island town looks like, it is nothing special!
In the end this trip was honestly a complete DREAM TRIP for me! Probably the most beautiful place I have ever been! I can’t wait to go back someday! Greece is worth the hype in every way! Such a beautiful country, culture, and people! So many Memories that I will cherish forever!
xx
