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Would you like a "daily" dose of island life?

Try our new Paros Hospitality Blog

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Light & Air for Artists

See More Here

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Learn Greek Cooking

Using all 5 Senses

(Read about Paros Cooking Workshops)

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Michael & Karin also create personalized tours of Ireland to suit your interests and your budget.  More information at

Ireland-For-You.Net

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Ferry Schedules

The most common question that we are asked about travel involves ferry schedules.  Ferries are subject to a great many more variables than trains, for instance, so they are seen as "unreliable".  To me, rather, it is just part of the Greek island experience to be more relaxed and tolerant of the uncertainties caused by wind, water, holidays and even labour strikes.

So rather than list all the possibilities for ferry travel here I will just state that it is very easy to island hop, but it does cost a lot of time and a little money.  E-mail me with your particulars of preferred dates and islands and I will respond with the best information available.

For details my favourite links are:

Greek Travel Pages    or    Greek Ferries

Kathimerini - A quick look at current sailings from Pireaus, Rafina and Lavrio.

Every year it gets easier to transfer between the Athens airport and the ferry ports.  Search our blog for the latest reports on underground (Metro), suburban railway and express busses.

Car Rental

Argus Car Hire is well represented through out Greece--and internationally.  They have a lowest price guarantee.  Click on the banner for details.  In my experience you can only do better if you are bargaining on the spot face to face, and you are good at negotiating.

Argus Car Hire

Athens

Athens is difficult to write about.  There is a lot to see and do, but a big city is a big city.  Most people are happier spending their time at other mainland sites or on the islands.  So we recommend two days, including arrival and departure, at the end of your vacation to take in the Acropolis and other essential antiquities.  This builds in some safety time in case of unforeseen delays.

Matt Barratt - As usual does a great job with Athens.

Note:  There are no reasonably priced hotels anywhere near the airport, but it doesn't matter because there are dedicated express busses to Athens, Pireaus and Rafina.  Email for specific prices and schedules.  The only hitch is to allow plenty of time for traffic; the fastest is 1 hour travel time and busses every 20 minutes; the slowest . . . . 

Athene Hotels: GoedBegin.nl - A comprehensive site for accommodations in English and Dutch.

Economy Air

We discovered the neatest site, AirNinja.  They are a discount airlines resource.  Best of all, by clicking this link

http://www.airninja.com/discountairlines/arrivals_AthensGreece.htm

you can find for your home city all discount flights to Athens, Greece.

If you prefer working with a travel agent, find one willing to work with consolidators(bucket shops in the UK) or seats only charters.

If you are flying long haul from the US, Australia or the like, don't search for Paros.  Locate your flights to Athens and then buy the Paros leg separately from Olympic.  It is much cheaper that way.  Our Economy Travel site is a good source for lowest price flights from standard airlines as well as deep discounts for restricted tickets.

Also, we have found, in general the most economical way to fly is to find a direct flight from your nearest gateway city to a European gateway.  Then a "no frills" or charter flight to Athens or one of the islands.  Most European cities, including several within the U.K. have direct flights, both charter and scheduled to nearby Mykonos, Santorini and Iraklion on Crete.  Paros is easily reached by ferry from all of these.

Other links:   easyJet                Virgin Express

    Ryan Air - Doesn't fly into this region, but usually has very cheap flights to Brussels where you can connect with Virgin--beware that they use different airports, but it is not difficult to transfer.

    Fly Budget by Fwoggie - A very useful site for anyone taking the economy route, including a guide to where to sleep in major airports and all European discount airlines.

Use Kayak to check all possibilities in one go:

Oh yeah, you can fly to Paros from Athens for about 80 Euro each way.  A beautiful flight over the Greek islands, but not quite the experience of a ferry ride.  Contact Olympic Airways for availability.

In 2007 Airsea Lines has started regular Seaplane routes to several islands, including Paros.  They also offer charters and excursions called flightseeing.  Eventually they intend to have a true inter-island route, that is island hopping by air.  Since then they have had delays in licensing--as does everyone in Greece--.  Check their site for current status.

Trains

A few people do come to Greece by train, the intrepid few.  The most common way is to choose a route to an Italian ferry port, then a long ferry trip, usually overnight, to Patras, then on again to anywhere in Greece.  The last couple of years, however, it has been possible to bring the train all the way to Thessalonica or Athens. The Man in Seat Sixty-One tells how it is done in great detail and reliability.  This is a thoroughly great site for train travel.

Links:  European rail lines and Greek railways.

Media

Athens News - We buy it for the TV schedule, but get a lot of good reading.

Kathimerini - English edition inside International Herald Tribune.

Was there something Greek that you wanted to buy but didn't?  We can recommend Greek Shops.  They have high quality merchandise at reasonable prices as well as separate delivery centres for both Europe and the USA.  Just like browsing the Plaka in Athens without the air fare.  

We have also set up an Amazon U.K. Store with a selection of     Greece Stuff

Want to know what to expect in the way of food and drink?  Read some of our experiences:

Talking about Food in Greece

Explore Greece Wines

Island Wine:  Taste the Place

Culinary Discovery

Crete

Crete is a big island with plenty of everything, including the incomparable Knossis.  During the summer it is easy and quick to ferry to and from Paros.  A quality place to stay in the fun town of Chania is Hotel Mike.

Ephesus

One of the most preserved cities of ancient Greece is in Turkey.  Everybody who goes there raves about it, but it is complicated to cross the Greece-Turkey border.  The best site I have seen for information--and a great place nearby to stay--is Atilla's Getaway

National Tourist Organization (GNTO) - The Official Site

GreeceIndex.com - A good list of all things Greece including excellent photo messages.

Seniority U.K. - a community for United Kingdom over 50's, including travel.

A most excellent site for well written feature articles is Greece for Visitors in the About Network by deTraci Regula

    In Norwegian and English

Greek Landscapes- A quality site with good graphics including thoughts and pictures from the natural and cultural landscapes, ancient to modern.

Greek Links - A directory with all the links you could ever want on everything and anything Greek.

Jump to a selection of sites about the whole region:

   Delmare Yachts offers everything you need for the ultimate sailing or luxury yachting throughout the whole country. 

Visiting Crete?  Custom holidays for individuals or groups in eastern Crete. Apartments for up to 6 persons in beautiful Agios NikolaosVisit Steve and Viki at the Mantraki!

Spirit of Greece - The islands of Paxos and Halki are well presented here for the independent traveler.

Greece Passion - A fun site for the mainland and the islands by two travelers with plentiful photos.

WebGreece - Ditto the above; browse for the fun of it.

Travel Greece - Travel guide with information about the popular destinations in mainland Greece and the Greek islands.

Links related to Greek islands

Greek Island Postcards - Holiday travel guides to the Greek islands

GreekVillage.com - A site for bringing Greeks dispersed around the world back to a virtual village.  Perfect for the Greekophile.

Robby - A well organized, easy to use, attractive directory and strictly for Greece.

Pictures of Greece - Ancient Greece Pictures Photos galleries of pictures of Greece Greek islands & ancient Greece

Google
 

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Karin and I enjoy reading about a destination before our journey.

We find that we get more from the experience by knowing something about the area and it's history.

Know Before You Go!

For North American residents we highly recommend our favorite big book store, Powell's.

For Europe and the rest of the world you can't go wrong with Amazon.

                                       

Last modified: 05/25/08