In 2019, my sister Amanda and I traveled to Greece. We saw a tour online that visited Athens, Mykonos, Paros and Santorini. While researching the tour, we decided to look into what it would cost for us to book the trip on our own, and get our own choice of hotels and locations we’d be staying. It turns out, this option was actually cheaper for us (and we stayed in better hotels!) We traveled in May and we booked everything right around Christmas, which allowed us to get some pretty good deals, since May isn’t quite peak season, and in December, the hotels aren’t filling up just yet. Again, it pays to plan ahead, people!
We flew with Air Canada, going Calgary to Toronto (with a short layover) and then Toronto to Athens (it’s about 9.5 hours direct from Toronto). We arranged transportation prior to arriving in Athens, so our driver was in the airport holding a sign with our names on it. Our driver took us to our hotel (booked with credit card points), where we freshened up, changed, and we were then off to explore (no time for rest!) It was mid-day when we arrived, so at that time, it’s actually awful to sleep when you get there, because it makes it even harder on your body to adjust to the time change. Our hotel looked like it was in somewhat of a run-down neighbourhood; however, all of Athens is full of graffiti so it just has a different vibe to it. I would say we were in an immigrant neighbourhood, but our hotel was really nice (Centrotel) and we never felt unsafe while walking around. We never went out at night, because we had too many activities crammed into our 1.5 days in the city. I sometimes carried my backpack on my chest rather than my back, but I didn’t do this the whole time. Just sometimes when it felt extra crowded.
Our hotel was about a 15 minute walk to the Archaeological Museum, which was something we wanted to visit, plus, it was a pick-up for the hop-on, hop-off bus. We only purchased a one day ticket for the bus, so for the first afternoon, we were just going to be walking around. Luckily, there were a lot of sites for us to see within walking distance (plus, we love getting our steps in on vacation). We probably spent close to two hours inside of the Museum. They have everything in there; statues, artifacts, and just a lot of information about Ancient Greece. I told myself I would read up on Greek Gods before we went, but I didn’t, so I found that information very interesting. There’s also a restaurant right outside of the Museum, but we assumed it would be pricey so we ran across the street to get spanikopita (spinach and cheese inside a puff pastry, so; heaven) for like 2 Euro, or something cheap.
After the Museum, we watched the Changing of the Guards at the National Parliament, which is about a 20 minute walk from the Museum. The weather was beautiful, so walking around and seeing more of Athens was great! The Changing of the Guards happens every hour, and you can watch the ceremony. There are two that march in and do somewhat of a routine with the Guards they are relieving, before taking over their post for the next hour. While on duty, the guards must stay perfectly still and not make any facial or eye movements (other than blinking). There is an Army Officer there that will keep people back and also fix the uniforms of the Guards (if the wind blows them or if they get moved around from marching in). He makes sure everything looks perfect. Thankfully, they’re located under a little awning so when it rains or gets really hot, they’re slightly protected. Once the Guards are chosen, they have to go through one month of training to keep their body and mind at ease. How hard would that be? I don’t know if I could do it.
Next up were the National Gardens. It was almost hard to believe that this little slice of paradise was within a massive city. Once you got in there, you couldn’t hear the traffic and noise of Athens, and there was no graffiti, so it felt like you were transported somewhere else. You could probably spend half a day or more in there, but we probably spent under two hours. They have a ton of different tree, shrub and plant/flower species (is that the right word?) information, plus it’s basically perfect for good Insta photos. They had a little duck pond in the middle of the Gardens, so we hung out there for a while and watched the little cuties swim around.
We were pretty much beat after this, so we went to a restaurant recommended to us by someone (I can’t remember who for the life of me) and it was amazing. We basically had the place to ourselves, because, if you aren’t aware, Europeans eat supper quite late. We are used to eating around 5:30 – 6:30, which is when we went, and there wasn’t another soul in the whole restaurant. We ordered Greek salad, tzatziki and pita bread, and some pasta. Greek salad and tzatziki were basically staples at every meal we ate. You won’t regret ordering them, I promise.
The next day, we woke up and walked back to the Archaeological Museum to get on the hop-on hop-off bus. We visited the Acropolis and Parthenon, and also took advantage of the free walking tour that was offered (as part of the hop-on hop-off ticket). This was honestly such a good idea. You can skip the tour, but what do you really learn about the Ancient Greeks and Gods, if you just climb to the top of a stone structure? Don’t get me wrong, we did this as well, but it was great to hear the history behind Athens. Additionally, we got some really great photos of the Acropolis from afar (where you could barely tell it’s full of thousands of people). It will cost you to be able to walk up to where the Acropolis and Parthenon are located, I think it was 20 Euro each. I think it’s worth it, because, while you are fighting the crowds, it’s cool to see (up close) what this ancient civilization was able to build and create. If you’re going to make a stop here (and why wouldn’t you?), I would 100% recommended taking “The Secrets of Parthenon and the Athenians” walking tour. It’s included with your hop-on, hop-off ticket, so there’s no additional cost, but we did give her a bit of a tip because we thought the tour was amazing and informative. We also went to the Acropolis Museum, but unfortunately, we were rushed because it was closing within about 45 minutes of us getting there. We knew we had to go through it quickly, but at almost every turn, there was a worker there saying “we’re closing soon, we’re closing soon”. I get that it’s their job, but we’ve already heard it 15 times and we’re trying to get through as much as possible without losing the learning aspect of visiting a museum. We weren’t upset, we actually found it funny, so we would always say to each other “did you know they’re closing soon?”
After the Museum, we also visited the Temple of Zeus (basically across the street) as well as the Ancient Olympic Stadium. Both attractions cost a minimal amount to enter (I think between 5 – 7 Euro each), but when you’re in Athens, why not check everything out? We mainly just walked around the Temple and took photos. At the Stadium, we climbed to the very top to see what it may have been like watching events there, and walked around the main part where the sports would have been performed. They have a podium where you can pose like you’ve just won an Olympic medal, which is kinda cool. We had supper, and then another early night as we had an early flight to Mykonos in the morning.
Once again, we had arranged transportation to pick us up and take us to the airport to fly to Mykonos. You can also ferry from Athens (and between all of the islands), but when we looked into flying, it was about the same cost, with less time; so we chose flying. The more time we can spend lounging at the pool in the sun = winner. We stayed at Tropicana Hotel and booked through their website directly, which gave us a good rate. We were going for Amanda’s 30th birthday, so we ended up staying four nights in Mykonos (it almost wasn’t enough, it’s so fun there!) Anyway, they provide free transportation to/from the airport, so once we arrived, they were there waiting for us in a van. The flight from Athens was less than an hour, and the airport is super tiny, so you disembark on the runway and basically just walk inside to grab your bags and walk out. The roads are extremely windy there, so I wasn’t feeling the best by the time we got to the hotel (about 20 minutes). The location (Paradise Beach) and the hotel are amazing. We got to the hotel around 10 a.m. and went to lounge at the pool while we waited for our room. There wasn’t another person in sight (probably because they were still sleeping off the night before; more on that soon). When we checked into our room, we were impressed with how gorgeous it was. It’s a pretty new hotel, but we were very impressed with the room and bathroom! While staying at Tropicana, you have basically everything you need within a couple minutes. The club, the bus stop and a small grocery store are about 1 minute away from when you walk out of the front desk area. There’s also a restaurant near the bus stop, which, surprisingly, had really good food. Our staples in Mykonos were chicken souvlaki, Greek salad, tzatziki and gyros (pronounced yee-rows). They are little pieces of heaven, which include the meat of your choosing, tomato, lettuce, tzatziki, spices and french fries in the middle. They are so cheap and delicious, and you can find them everywhere! We had one every day while lounging at the pool. One additional thing to note, you can’t drink the water on any of the islands we visited, so it was nice to have a store close to buy extra bottles of water (you could also purchase them at the hotel too).
We had an excursion planned for later that afternoon, which took us into Chora/Mykonos Town to do some exploring and learn about the history of the island. There was a little bit of a cluster getting picked up and getting matched up with the rest of our group, but the tour itself ended up being great. No cars are permitted in Chora past a certain point, so there’s just a bunch of windy streets (if you can call them that; it’s almost like little paths). We wandered the streets, went to the oldest bakery in Mykonos, visited the many churches, Little Venice and the windmills. Everything, and I mean everything, on this island is picture perfect. It’s easy to see why it’s so popular. While we were in town, we ended up purchasing some alcohol and mix, since drinks in most places are about 10 Euro. They free pour (everywhere, at no time did I see anyone measuring alcohol put into drinks) so the price isn’t actually terrible for what you get.
We ended up meeting a guy on our tour that was roughly around the same age as we were, so we made plans to meet up for dinner and drinks later. We went back to our hotel and took the bus back into Mykonos Town (it’s less than 2 Euro each way). Well, that actually turned into quite the wild night (it was officially Amanda’s birthday at midnight and we celebrated a bit too hard). The clubs in Mykonos Town don’t really close until around 4 a.m. The beach bars close earlier, since you can party during the day there as well. Long story short, we ended up taking a cab back to Tropicana (it’s about 20 Euro, which is pricey, but there’s literally no other option, as the buses don’t run that late). The next day we had planned to just lounge at the pool and celebrate Amanda’s birthday by tanning, but, we spent most of the day inside napping. Later that night, and I mean, later; probably around 9:30 p.m., we figured we should actually get up and head into Mykonos Town for Amanda’s birthday dinner. We chose a spot right next to the water in Little Venice to have a meal and choke down a glass of Prosecco. After that, we went back to Tropicana to check out the club. It’s literally steps from the hotel, so it couldn’t have been a better location for us to stay since we wanted to party there. For the three remaining nights, we spent all of our time at Tropicana. We couldn’t beat the location, since we were staying steps away, the vibe was so fun; each person there was an absolute blast to party with, they had amazing music, and their staff are second to none (almost all of them look like Greek Gods and Goddesses so that probably helped as well). If you’re ever in Mykonos, you need to go to Tropicana. I promise you won’t regret it!
The next two days we spent our time lounging at the pool. They have a quiet pool and a party pool, which has a swim up bar. Our room was right beside the quiet pool, and we had a few loungers right outside of our door, so it was a no-brainer to spend our time here. Our final day in Mykonos was spent on a “country-side” tour. We knew that Mykonos had more to offer than just partying (which we did a lot of, to be fair). Again, we were picked up at our hotel and driven around to various locations and visited most of the island. We made stops at a monastery, churches, beaches, and finally, a farm, where we were toured around and provided lunch. The lunch included ouzzo, which, to be honest, was not my favourite, but I was also slightly hungover. We really enjoyed this tour and found it very informative. As I said in a previous post, I find it very important to learn about where you’re going, and we found this to be an educational and fun tour!
The next morning, we left Mykonos for Paros, which is a lesser known island then Mykonos and Santorini, but still beautiful. We were dropped off at the ferry port, by our Tropicana driver, and proceeded to try and maneuver through the chaos that is ferry transportation in Greece. Since Mykonos is so popular, the ferry port is very busy. We pre-purchased our tickets, but we still stood in a long line to confirm our tickets, and also pay the 1 Euro online/third party booking fee. They told us where to go, so we headed in that direction (keep in mind we have our bags with us; we’re gone for two weeks, plus we’re women, so they weren’t small bags!) There are others starting to gather around the same area, and we’re all comparing where we’re going and what time our ferry is leaving. Some of us are on the same ferry, others are not. Next thing we know, here comes the Port Police telling us that we can’t stand where we are. What? Didn’t the ticket agents tell us to go here? Anyway, they shoo us back to where we should be waiting. One by one, the ferries come in, and you can see the names, so you know which one is suppose to be yours. Everyone that’s currently on the ferry has to disembark, and then it’s your time to get on. They yell the name of the boat and the destination of the ferry. Everyone scrambles on, leaves their bags in the luggage racks, and heads upstairs (where the seats are). Honestly, the entire process takes maybe five minutes. It’s insane; absolute chaos, but it works! The ferry was about 45 minutes and disembarking was just as hectic, but Paros is a smaller, less visited island so it didn’t feel as chaotic.
The ferry port in Paros is located in Parikia and we were staying near Naoussa, so we decided to store our bags and wander around this little town prior to being picked up by our hotel shuttle. We also had a snack, Greek yogurt with honey and nuts, at a little outdoor cafe near the port. We were picked up by the shuttle that our hotel, Saint Andrea Resort, provides for its guests. We decided to splurge a little on our hotel here, and we weren’t disappointed! The hotel, grounds and pool were beautiful and we loved every minute of staying there. We spent a lot of time at the pool, and really enjoyed the happy hour they had every day, as we could enjoy our favourite slushy drinks. The resort served breakfast every morning (included in the cost of booking) and you could either eat inside or by the pool; we obviously chose to eat by the pool. They also have a dinner menu as well, which we ordered from one night, and again, ate by the pool, but the remaining nights we went into Nauossa to eat. Basically everywhere we went we ordered Greek salad, chicken souvlaki and tzatziki. You literally cannot go wrong if you order those.
We booked an all-day boat tour through Michael Zeppos after reading many Trip Advisor reviews that said this was the best tour in Paros. I can say that we definitely agreed! The tour worked out to $156CAD per person, but with the great reviews, we thought it was worth the cost. We had originally thought about taking the bus to Aliki, a small village on the other side of the island, where the tour departed from. We ended up taking the resort shuttle for 25 Euro each, per way, because we would have had to leave extremely early and make a bunch of changes to different buses to get there on time. There were other people from our resort going on the same tour, so we all took the same shuttle. There were probably around ten other people on our tour, so it was a rather intimate setting, which was great. We went to The Blue Lagoon where we could swim. We didn’t bring towels, but those were provided on the boat, so you don’t need to worry about taking up precious packing space. We toured around and stopped at a few other places, where we always had the option to get out and swim if we wanted to. Additionally, we stopped near a small island that had ancient ruins there; with goats being the only inhabitants. While we explored this island, the crew cooked us lunch, which was amazing. I don’t know how they made everything on that boat, but they did! There were plenty of options; a seafood stew, different dips and appetizers and it was all amazing! They also provide wine, water and soft drinks throughout the day as well.
After our tour, we ended up going out with some people from our resort as well as people we met on the tour. Paros isn’t as crazy as Mykonos, so there aren’t many bars and clubs to go to, but we still had a good time when we went out in Naoussa (the town we were closest to, and the one that reminded us most of Mykonos; white buildings and bright colours). One thing I would caution is that we could not get a cab after we left the bar and our resort was outside of the actual town. We ended up getting a ride from a person we met, but it would have been a long and possibly dangerous walk (due to no street lights and windy roads) back to our resort. Our last day in Paros was spent at the pool, and also exploring Naoussa in the daylight. Like I said, it reminded us of Mykonos and was so beautiful, we wanted to visit during the day and of course take lots of photos.
We took the ferry to Santorini (actual name: Thira, the main island) and the same chaos happened at the port, but again, organized chaos at it’s finest. It was slightly more organized that the Mykonos ferry, as we were lined up inside what felt somewhat like a cattle chute. This ferry journey was a little bit longer (almost two hours) and we ended up having assigned seating as the ferry was busier. Again, we arranged a shuttle through our Villa to pick us up at the port. The road leading to the Santorini port is insane as Santorini was built on a volcano and cliffs. Basically every time the bus driver turned a corner you assumed they would smash into the side of the cliff. Obviously that doesn’t happen, but I’m still unsure how! Once we arrived to Ifestos Villa we were able to check in. Our room was smaller than our other ones, but Santorini was by far the priciest island we visited so we didn’t get to be as boujee as in Mykonos and Paros. The room was very clean and quite updated. It was in Fira (town/neighbourhood), close to a grocery store and only about a five – ten minute walk into where the restaurants and bars were. We arranged a private tour of the island for later in the afternoon and they picked us up at our hotel. They first took us to Oia, which is basically every photo you see of Santorini. It’s a very popular tourist destination, super pricey, but absolutely gorgeous. In the main part of Oia, there’s no cars (similar to Mykonos Town) so they dropped us off at the entrance and told us where to go. There’s basically a path that takes you to the most photographed area, so we just followed the path. And crowds. When doing our research, we read that Oia is the best place to watch the sunset, although we watched from a winery and it was beautiful there too! We were also taken to the most photographed church in Santorini as well, and, you can see why – it’s a gorgeous view!
A little bit of history about Santorini. It used to be one big island, but in the 16th century, a volcano erupted and split up the island. Thira (what everyone refers to as Santorini) is where basically everything is located, although some of the smaller islands are inhabited. From the winery, were able to see a slightly smaller island not far from Thira, which was once part of the larger island. After our trip to Oia, they drove us to the black sand beach. I use the term sand very lightly, as it’s basically a black rock beach; thanks volcanic eruption! From there, we were given another hour or so of free time, in which we took photos and walked up and down the boardwalk. Prior to heading out on our tour, our guides stopped at Santo Wines to make a reservation for us to watch the sunset there, as they do not take phone reservations. We were very happy that they did this, as it was a wonderful place to watch the sunset and try a few of the wines from Santorini. We stayed there for probably two hours, and once we were ready to be picked up, we were picked up by our guides and dropped off at the grocery store near our villa (we requested this) as we wanted to pick up some snacks and alcohol to keep the fun going!
We ended up going to a super fun bar for dancing called Town Club. It wasn’t super busy when we went, but the vibe was awesome and the music was even better. The bartenders also gave out free shots and had cheap drinks, so we weren’t complaining! We spent plenty of time lounging at the pool at our Villa as well, and our final full day in Santorini, we decided to book another boat tour. This was the only tour we did not book before we left home. Amanda read some Trip Advisor reviews, and we settled on a boat tour that took us on a hike up an active volcano, swimming in hot springs and also stopped at another little island where we could have lunch and do some walking around. The volcano hike was really interesting, and somewhat tough (we were also slightly hungover). You go with a guide and they will provide you with all of the information you need, and you get a little bit of free time to walk around and take photos at the top. You can tell once you get near the active portion of the volcano because all you can smell is sulfur! When we got near the hot springs, we were told to jump off the boat at swim toward them. When we got there, we were slightly underwhelmed; maybe because we’re from Canada and had been to hot springs that are hot. I would call these warm springs; but it was still cool.
After the warm springs, we traveled to another little island for lunch. From where our boat docked to the top was over a thousand steps high. You could also rent donkeys to take you to the top and I can understand why because it’s quite the trek! We were given more free time here, so we walked about half way up.
For our last night out in Santorini, we watched the sunset from a hill not far from our villa and then went to a restaurant recommended by some girls we met at our Paros resort. It was a decent trek from the villa, but we did it anyways, and it was so worth it! When we arrived, we were given free shots of ouzzo; about 1.5 shots each (to be honest, it wasn’t any better than when we had it while hungover in Mykonos) but, I would never be rude and/or turn down free alcohol. So down it went! We had a delicious appetizer of puff pastry stuffed with brie, at the recommendation of the owner, and it did not disappoint! After some wine and more food, we headed out to Town Club again. We went to a few more bars/clubs that I definitely don’t know the name of. We ended up at a very Greek bar after the rest of the bars and clubs were closed. There were people literally smashing glasses and plates, since apparently that’s what you do when you’re Greek? It was slightly confusing and I felt bad for the people cleaning it up. Once we were done there, the sun was coming up, and we knew it was time for McDonald’s. You don’t really see any chains/franchises on the islands (the ones we were on at least) but we were very thankful McDonald’s was open all night! The next day was spent recovering at the pool, and we had an early evening flight back to Athens. We were so happy that we chose to fly instead of taking the ferry. The airport in Santorini is small, just like Mykonos. There’s actually one spot for you to check in and check your bags, and then you walk outside to enter another building where security and the gates are. The whole airport had seating for maybe half of one flight, and there was more than one flight leaving, so we were packed in there like sardines. Once we arrived in back Athens, we took the hotel shuttle to our hotel (Holiday Inn) where we packed up and got ready for our long trip home. We had a flight to Toronto, with another short layover, and then we were back in Calgary!
If you’ve made it this far – thank you! We really enjoyed this trip so I had lots to write about and tons of photos to share! Everything about it was great; there was a good mix of history, learning, partying, amazing food, great people and awesome weather. I would 100% recommend Greece, especially the islands, if you’re able to go! To be honest, I looked into moving to Paros after, as I saw an English school while we were there and thought I could teach English to Greek children (not sure why as I’m not a teacher). Don’t forget, you can always reach out to me if you have any specific questions or want more information about anything I’ve written about. Thanks for following along!
Join My Mailing List!
You’ll receive monthly emails to keep you up to date on new adventures and helpful tips!
Amy’s Adventures 
You saw so much of Greece in one trip! I remember the year when I made a point of visiting Egypt, Athens and Rome successively, to lay the foundations of European culture. There is so much to see. Thanks for sharing.
LikeLike
Thank you for your comment! We did see a lot, but there’s still so much more to see. I would love to visit Egypt as well, and I visited Rome when I was 14/15, and would love to go back! Hopefully the upcoming year is more travel-friendly.
LikeLike