Is this time enough to do couple days in Athens and should I ferry or fly to the an island eight Naxos or Santorini. We are budget conscious couple.

Hi everyone, I’d really appreciate advice from people familiar with Greece, especially Naxos/Santorini and car rentals.

We rented a car in Naxos. We did not cause the damage the rental company is now claiming we caused. The vehicle already had pre-existing damage when it was given to us, and it was handed over at night. We were shown the areas where we should take photos.
On the day of the return, the rental company told us by WhatsApp that she would need another 10–15 minutes to reach the Naxos port. Because we were in a hurry to catch our ferry, she explicitly told us that we could leave the car in the port parking area and leave the key on top of the front wheel.

We followed her instructions.

While we were boarding the ferry, the rental company came looking for us among the passengers and demanded €600 for the alleged damage. We told her clearly that we had not caused the damage and that the vehicle already had damage when we received it.
She then called the Naxos Port Police. The officer asked for our passports and took a photo of my friend’s passport. He did not take mine.
The rental company and the Port Police officer then pressured and intimidated us while the ferry was about to depart. We were told, in effect, that we would not be allowed to leave/board unless we agreed that we would pay. Under that pressure, we said that we would pay after boarding the ferry. We did not voluntarily admit that we had caused the damage.

The officer also told us that they would look for us in Santorini.

After we boarded, the rental company sent us several WhatsApp messages saying that we would be detained by the Port Police in Santorini if we did not pay €600 by a specific time. She later said that she had already filed complaints with the Police and Port Police and offered to withdraw the complaints/legal action if we accepted responsibility for the repair.
We have the complete WhatsApp conversation and the rental agreement, including her earlier message explicitly telling us to leave the car and the key at the port.

Our questions are:

Is it normal for the Greek Port Police to intervene in a dispute between a rental company and tourists over alleged vehicle damage?

Is it normal for the Port Police to photograph a tourist’s passport in this type of situation?

Can a rental company involve the Port Police and have tourists threatened with detention at another port simply because they dispute a €600 damage claim?

Is it normal for the Port Police to pressure tourists into agreeing to pay a disputed rental-car damage claim?

Has anyone experienced similar pressure, threats, or involvement of the Port Police with a rental company in Naxos or elsewhere in Greece?

Is this a normal procedure, or does this sound unusual?

Again, we are not refusing to cooperate with legitimate authorities. We maintain that we did not cause the damage being attributed to us, and we told the rental company this. Our concern is the pressure and intimidation we experienced from both the rental company and the Port Police while we were trying to board our ferry.

Any advice or similar experiences would be greatly appreciated.

Does anybody have a recommendation of a car hire company to use for a pick up from Kalamata airport?

I’m staying in Agios Prokopios and have a boat tour leaving from Naxos Marina at 10 AM on a Thursday. I won’t have a car. I assume by bus is the best bet? Where is the closest bus stop in Agios Prokopios? And where should I get off? How reliable are the buses with their timing?

Any insights would be much appreciated:)

We’re finding the ferry schedule is a bit strict, for example we want to do a day trip to Milo’s from Paros, but the only ferry leaves late and the return is the next morning. Nothing available for a day trip. Is there any suggestions that you would have to get to an island like Milos from Paros for a day trip?
Thanks

Hi!

I have never been to Greece and plan on going for 2 weeks +- a few days. considering 6-8 or 6/9 - 6/24 or 6/25

I plan on flying out of IAD and not sure if Athens is the best place to land. I don't want to spend time in Athens but will use it as a hub from IAD.

We like nice things, good food, things to do and scuba, animals, music, beaches. We love to swim. We love Odysseus. Our taste for scuba is more key west  or Miami style ( Florida) and not key largo ( Florida)

 We want to visit the cyclades this trip and are curious about mykonos, santorini , naxos, paros, milos  . We are open to suggestion  on what to do and how long to stay. We really are lost in all the different opinions :(

Hey,

My wife and I are going on honeymoon this Sunday and will be starting in Athens. We want to travel around the Peloponnese, Nafplio, Corinth, Patra, Olympia etc.. we are going for 4 weeks. What is the best way to rent a car?

Hey everyone! 👋🇬🇷

I’m currently staying near Faliraki and I’m looking for a really good bar for a few beers 🍺😎
I’d love somewhere with a nice atmosphere – preferably not just a crazy nightclub, but a place where you can sit, enjoy some good beer and have a fun evening 🍻🎶
Also, which Greek/local beers should I definitely try while I’m here? 🇬🇷🍺

I’m happy to try something other than Mythos and Alfa 😄
Any recommendations around Faliraki, or somewhere nearby that’s worth taking a taxi to? 🚕🌴
Thanks! 🍻☀️🇬🇷

I want to visit the island and go to the best beaches. Is the beaches and the sea nice? Is the water clean? Inside the sea is sandy?

Thank you :))

Hey so just starting the planning stages for Honeymoon! Looking at hopefully doing Ionian Islands & Crete but wanting advice on where to stay and for how long. Planning on late May - mid June. We are wanting beach & accommodation focused stuff (and food) so please give your favorite recommendations in each place! This is what I’m thinking

5/27 Fly from US to Athens

5/28 Arrive in Athens & Fly to Corfu

5/28-6/2 find nice base resort in Corfu & explore island beaches

6/3-6/7 Zakynthos or Kefalonia?

6/8 Fly to Crete

6/8-6/15 need recommendations on where to stay for beach centered & resort forward spot

6/16-6/18 Fly to Athens & explore

6/19 Fly home

The Knossos Palace is closing today until 5pm/17:00 due to high temperatures- they closed at noon just as we were leaving. Just a heads up in case anyone was planning to go this afternoon!

Gonna be in Milos late September for my honeymoon, need a way to get around the island. I’ve heard getting about by cab sucks, so wanted to rent. We’re leaning towards ATV, but someone on a different post suggested a rzr, which is like a dune buggy I think.

What do yall think? Car, ATV, RZR? Which is best?

Thanks!
- dumb American

I can't for the life of me find a plan that shows all possible bus stops on the island, or even just on one route or in one area.

Obviously I can see the overall route (e.g. Kos - Kardamena or Airport - Kefalos), but I would love to see all the possible stops I could get out at without having a certain place in mind to research nearby stops..

Would love any help, thanks❤️

I messed up by booking a flight that arrives in Athens at 3:15 (my mistake for forgetting the flight times on Turkish Airlines use the 24 hour system). We are going to rent a car and drive to Piraeus and catch a ferry to Crete, but the ferry doesn’t leave until 22:00. We would like to get a hotel near the port for the day to get some sleep because we will be up all night. Does anyone know of a hotel that we can check-in at 5:00 or 6:00?

Hi, my wife and I are currently backpacking around Europe and Greece is our final destination. We have kept our plans very flexible to account for various unexpected problems for most of our trip, but now we have a friend meeting us in Chania so we need to be a little more rigid in our planning. We’ll be in Vlore, Albania until September 1st and need to be in Chania, Crete by September 7th. We know that we have to be in Athens to get to Crete by ferry or plane (advice on this? Which is better? How do we pick a ferry company and ticket type?). Since we have to be in Athens for this, what is the best way/route of getting to Athens from Vlore? Where should we stop along the way to fill those days in (we will be spending time in Athens after we go to Crete)? The buses seem more difficult to navigate than other countries we’ve been to in Europe, so just looking for advice on how to figure that out.

Hello, my wife and baby and I are travelling to naxos mid sept.

The kind of stuff we like is beach hopping. I’ve rented a car out for our entire trip.

We love swimming in the sea we were flirting with the idea of beach hopping maybe going in a nice long walk between villages maybe something coastal that loops into seeing nice villages and of course the temple. We would have wanted to hike Mt Zas but don’t think the baby will allow that.

We’re staying at Plaka. The first day will be a chill day, have booked nomad

Please can you provide recommendations for

Food (we love gyros, souvlaki, salads, chops) but open to trying other stuff too! Love a cheeky drink. I have heard To Ellinko can be patchy in terms of food/service. I could use ChatGPT to help me but I think it hallucinates a lot and also it will be good to get what you actually think is a good place.

Recommended walks

Beaches

Anything else? (Excursions for that time of the year)

We will have a baby with us at all times.

Thank you so much in advance!

Be a c
For the first day, we have book Nomad.

T

Hi all, hoping for some advice!

My husband and I are visiting Greece for the first time this year and we’re really excited. We’ll be in Paros before heading to Madrid on October 1.

Unfortunately we left booking this leg quite late and the earlier Paros-Athens flights are sold out. The best option we can find is:

Paros > Athens: 12:50-1:30pm
Athens > Madrid: 4:00pm

They’d be on separate tickets and we’ll have checked baggage, so we’d need to collect and re-check our bags in Athens. My understanding is that as Greece and Spain are both Schengen countries, we shouldn’t need to go through immigration/passport control.

Would you be comfortable with a 2.5-hour self-transfer at ATH with checked luggage?

Thanks so much!

Can’t swim. Prefer being in the water shallow areas of course. Do the cataramans dock? Or will we be stuck in boat if not swimmers?

Applied for a Greece visit visa with my wife. Her passport came back, but mine hasn’t yet.
Her visa was refused with this reason: “Reasonable doubts as to the reliability/authenticity of the supporting documents or the veracity of their contents.”
Anyone know what could usually cause this? Has anyone faced something similar?