I have a bit of an obsession passion when it comes to planning. Over the years I have helped countless friends, family members, international colleagues, friends of friends and random strangers on planes plan the perfect itinerary for their time on the Athens Coast.
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What should we do?
The timeless question heard around the world, in so many different contexts… Today we are going to focus on What YOU should do while on the Athens Coast with some additional adventures included in the itinerary.
These ideas are not just for visitors, but also to give local residents some new ideas of things to do.
6 day Glyfada/Athens/Santorini Itinerary for the ‘non-beach season’
Recently I planned an entire trip for three girls traveling to Greece for their first time. It was a girl’s trip and I was super excited when I got an email from a friend saying that they were coming to Athens in early March. After reading her mail, I looked at my schedule for the day and knew that I didn’t have the time at that exact moment to do justice to my itinerary capabilities. I actually put it on my schedule for later in the day to reply to the email and now I am going to share that dazzling gem of a schedule with you.
What they wanted…
These gals wanted to do as much as possible in the short time that they were going to be here. Food, Drinks, Sunsets and Santorini! They knew they were not coming during beach season, but were ok with it and in all reality, probably got much more bang for their buck because they weren’t spending hours lounging around on the beach. It was go go go!
Day 1
- Arrive at ATH Airport and a prearranged Taxi will be waiting for you
- Taxi to your hotel in Glyfada
- Stroll around in Glyfada and get your bearings.
- Walk along Metaxa street for shopping
- Zisimopoulou/Plateia Esperidon for Greek cafe life
- Take a nice walk along the coast
- Sunset drinks at Ark
- Dinner at Proedros for your first night in Greece
Day 2
- Enjoy Brunch at a local restaurant (check for hours based on day of the week)
- Catch the tram and head up the coast towards SEF/ΣΕΦ (suggested stops listed below)
- Zefyros/Ζέφυρος : Nalu Cafe and walk along the coast past famous beach clubs
- Flisvos/Φλοίσβος : Walk towards Plateia Ethinikis and walk up Agiou Alexandrou through Palaio Faliro
- Trocadero/Τροκαντερό : Flisvos Marina
- Tzitzifies/Τζιτζιφιές : Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Center
- Meet your (pre-arranged) taxi driver at your hotel for a drive to Sounio for sunset at Poseidon’s Temple
- Dinner along the way back can be arranged with your driver
- Drinks at Brewklyn (grab a pizza here if you didn’t have seafood along the coast)
Day 3
- One Day Cruise to the Saronic Islands of Aegina, Poros and Hydra
- Arrange with the hotel to have your luggage transferred to your new hotel in the center
- The cruise operators will pick you up and drop you off after the cruise
- Check-in to hotel in the Center of Athens
- Dinner at Oineas (Psiri)
- Drinks at TAF (Monastiraki)
Day 4
- Center of Athens day! Acropolis, Acropolis Museum, Panathenaic Stadium, National Gardens, Plaka, Monastiraki
- Lunch at Mana’s Kouzina-Kouzina / Μάνας Κουζίνα-Κουζίνα (Monastiraki)
- Sunset drinks at Thea Terrace Bar -Central Hotel (Syntagma)
- Dinner at Tzitzikas Mermigas (Syntagma)
Day 5
- Early morning flight to Santorini
- Stay in Fira City (also called Thira), but definitely explore Oia a bit
- Eat a bunch!
- Watch the sunset over the Caldera (I prefer to be on the north side of Fira to catch the sun reflecting off of the buildings).
Day 6
- Flight back to ATH in time to catch your flight home
Let Me Help You
Are you planning a trip to Athens? Short weekend break or long summer holiday? Contact me and I’ll be happy to help you out- free of charge!
Athens: I’m so glad we did all these big attractions at the start of our trip! We spent a day going to the Acropolis, Panathenaic Stadium etc and then had a wonderful dinner and really enjoyed the Thea Terrace Bar to watch the sunset and the drinks were fabulous!
Santorini: We were soooo glad we flew to Santorini versus taking the 8 hour boat. We stayed in Fira which was perfect! There was a bus station that was a 2 minute walk and it was a 20 minute bus ride to Akrotiri to get to the beaches (we went to red beach, but white beach and black beach are close as well) or a 20 minute bus ride to get to Oia and like a 3 minute walk to get to the Caldera (the cliff side). We stayed at a hotel called “Hotel Leta” and it was a PERFECT location- it was near everything we needed: food, bus, port etc. It wasn’t luxurious but nice and they picked us up from the airport for free.
We did do a pirate ship tour which took us to the volcano to hike, then we to the natural mud hot springs for a dip, and then had dinner on the ship near the island of Thirasia and watched the sunset on the boat near Oia. It did take a whole day (like 1-11) but it was worth it! The food was decent too!
Jessica’s itinerary was EXACTLY what we were hoping for with our Grecian Honeymoon 🙂
You really packed in a lot for your short time in Greece! I look forward to planning your next Grecian adventure +1 🙂
Such great tips! Jessica helped me plan a 10 year anniversary trip for me and my husband. I too am a planner at heart and like to have things pretty organized before I go :). Jessica gave us excellent tips for Athens – we ate at Tzitzikas Mermigas and it was wonderful. Also took her advice and enjoyed evening views of the Parthenon after dinner from the Hilton rooftop bar. Can’t wait to go back!