Should I stay in Athens for another 4 days (Post Cruise)?

[sweets2323]

I am set to sail from Oct 10-19. Ravenna to Athens Cruise

Flying into Venice on Oct 9th and leaving Athens on the 23rd. 

I was thinking of changing my flight to land in Venice on the 8th in the morning and leave Athens on the 20th. .

That will give me the 2 days in Venice and basically no days in Athens. 

I forgot to mention. I will have 2 days in Ravenna. The Ship is staying overnight.

My question is.... Do you think I should stay in Athens until the 23rd?  4 days is a lot of days to me.

But then again this is my first Cruise in this country.. So what do I know.. I am here to ask the experts. :-)

Just wanted some feedback...Its going to be a busy week with so many ports.

Thank you again. 

 

[Huntingdon1701]

You could easily fill it with the acropolis and museum on 1 day, then the oracle at delphi, then corinth canal, and then a day to just wander athens and recover.

 

If you've had a busy cruise then you might not want to go as far as corinth and delphi as they're full day tours, albeit not very strenuous coach journeys.

 

Recommend the Athens Gate Hotel if you do stay - fantastically located and the restaurant has the best views of the acropolis at night.

[sweets2323]

Will I need 4 days? 

[zqvol]

Two days in Athens proper is more than enough. If you want to venture out of town to Delphi and the Cori th Canal add a couple more days. 

[Host Jazzbeau]

Meteora is absolutely worth two days in this 'Athens' post-cruise stay – stop at Delphi on the way there, get to Meteora for sunset on the first day, stay overnight and see 2-3 monasteries on the second day, then be driven back to Athens or the airport.

[GALSews]

Huntingdon1701 recommends a day for Acropolis and museum. I would assume that is the Acropolis Museum. I eould add tge agorra and its museum and the National Museum which houses many ancient artificats, especially the Antikythera Mechanism. (Nova has an interest8ng program on it,)`So if your intent at this time is one and done, I'd suggest two days in Athens. My DIL who spent a fait amount 9f time in Greece would suggest dining 8n the Plaka. BTW, try out the loukamadies, the Greek version of donut holes with honey,

[sweets2323]

So what day would you recommend leaving the 21, 22, 23?

Ship docks on the 19th. I am assuming I would be tired from the hustle and bustle getting off the ship etc and your not counting that day.

[N-8]

A lot of this depends on what you like to do, we stayed in Athens 3 nights BEFORE a cruise and one day after. We just stayed in Athens and 3 days for us was perfect. We didn't want to feel rushed off the cruise so stayed one more night but just relaxed and found a cool spot to have lunch and dinner.

 

If you are just going to stay in Athens, I would say two days would work. 19th - drop your luggage off and explore Plaka. 20th - Acropolis and Museum. Fly out on the 21st. If you want to venture out to the other sites (Meteora and Oracle of Delphi), you'll probably need to add a couple of more days. 

[Sailing12Away]

9 hours ago, sweets2323 said:

So what day would you recommend leaving the 21, 22, 23?

Ship docks on the 19th. I am assuming I would be tired from the hustle and bustle getting off the ship etc and your not counting that day.

Sounds like you need to do some research about what exactly you want to see in Athens first. Once you sort out what is a must see vs a nice to see, then you can figure out how many days you'll need to get to all of it. The day you get off the cruise would be a good day to check in to your hotel, and if it's walking distance to the Acropolis or some sights to just do that as a casual day. If you get tired, go back to the hotel and nap. If you're not tired, keep walking.

 

Look through this site, we used them for our trip to Greece for an airport pickup and transfer to hotel, full day tour of Meteora, and then when our cruise stopped in Athens for the day used them again for another private tour in the South. It will give you some ideas on things to see and how much time you need to do it 'right', and ballpark on costs.

 

https://www.premium-athens-transfer.com/

[9tee2Sea]

On 4/22/2024 at 12:35 PM, sweets2323 said:

I am set to sail from Oct 10-19. Ravenna to Athens Cruise

Flying into Venice on Oct 9th and leaving Athens on the 23rd. 

I was thinking of changing my flight to land in Venice on the 8th in the morning and leave Athens on the 20th. .

That will give me the 2 days in Venice and basically no days in Athens. 

I forgot to mention. I will have 2 days in Ravenna. The Ship is staying overnight.

My question is.... Do you think I should stay in Athens until the 23rd?  4 days is a lot of days to me.

But then again this is my first Cruise in this country.. So what do I know.. I am here to ask the experts. 🙂

Just wanted some feedback...Its going to be a busy week with so many ports.

Thank you again. 

 

check out Home and Poetry Hotel. Right around the corner from Plaka area.  Close to a Hop On Hop Off stop, close to subway to airport.  Good free breakfast Made to order omelettes) on rooftop with great view of Acropolis.  2-3 days will be enough.  Traffic in Athens is really bad, so travel time by road sometimes takes much longer than expected.  And DONT get me started if there is a strike, and then ALL the roadways will be jammed

[toeloop]

We stayed four nights post cruise last summer. We wished we could have had two more days.  We did the Acropolis, Delphi and the Temple of Poseidon at sunset. One of our favorite outings was taking the ferry to Hydra for the day.  We rented an apartment.  Six women and one bathroom. Our cousin's wife was from Athens, so she joined us and was our personal tour guide.  We did schedule private tours through Viator for our outings to Delphi and the Temple of Poseidon.

[1bighund]

Depends on your interests and the time and $ you can afford.  I spent 4 days in Athens on my first trip there and plan 4 pre-criose next year.  I would also have 3 nights in Venice if possible

[Sailing12Away]

Just to throw another monkey wrench into the works, if you're taking advantage of the B1G1 free airfare promo - the most you can stay pre or post cruise is only 2 nights. So keep that in mind as that may decide for you how many days you're staying if you're using their free air package.

[itsnotjustme]

We recently had a B2B out of Athens going to Israel (in September), Cypress, Turkey and more of Greece.

 

Pre-cruise we spent three overnights giving us the remainder of the arrival day, and two full days.  We filled these easily and only used public transportation.  We stayed at the NEW Hotel (Marriott) using credit card award nights.  It is perfectly located between the Acropolis and Syntagma Square.

 

Post-cruise we stayed one more night at a small local hotel on the eastern coast.  We chose to take the cruise transfer to the airport and picked up a rental car there.  We were going to rent near the cruise port, but it would have been a long walk with luggage to the rental agency.  We then drove to our hotel and dropped off our luggage and proceeded to the Archaeological Site of Sounion (Temple of Poseidon) and Archaeological Museum of Brauron.  This was actually as good a day as any of the cruise ports.

 

But what you do is up to your preferences.

 

[cwsdks48]

We had canceled the Greek Isles/Israel cruise (oct 8 2023 out of Athens) prior to recent events in Israel due to concerns. However we kept our before and after plans (3 nights Lisbon, night in Zurich, 5 nights Athens, 5 nights Frankfurt area.(family))

In Athens we booked a 2 day CHAT tour to Delphi and Meteora monasteries.

The tour leaves from Amalia hotel around the corner from Syntagma square. So that’s where we stayed and the tour also used them near Delphi.

In Athens we were within walking distance of all sites including Plaka and could see Akropolis at night.

 

From the airport we took the X95 bus (€6) to Syntagma Square and walked with our carryons around the corner to the Amalia hotel. We took the same bus back to the airport. This was the only transportation cost in Athens other than the two day tour ($400 for both of us including hotel in Delphi).

We had the best time!