GWB07

I have a dilemma. My wife and I are visiting Athens as the first leg of a Athens-Munich-Paris trip in March. We are arriving in Athens around noon on a Friday after taking the redeye from the USA and connecting in CDG (praying for no strikes). Our flight to Munich is on the next Tuesday morning. Currently booked cash-points at the Grande Bretagne. Planning on using a full day to do the Acropolis, National Museum, etc.

We'd both like to see the white washed buildings of the Greek isles via Santorini. We'll have to fly because high speed ferries don't run in March. Flying means packing and airports. I was thinking about doing this Sunday-Monday, but I suppose it is a possibility to book a flight on Friday afternoon and go directly to Santorini for 1 or maybe 2 nights. I'm not sure there will really be anything to do other than oooh and aaah for a little bit. Lots of hotels appear to be closed and I'm guessing restaurants and bars too. Not much in the way of beach activity.

We could scrap Santorini entirely and opt for another trip out of Athens. I have the UNESCO site at Meteora in mind. Also an overnight trip, but by train. I imagine the trains will be a lot cheaper and less hassle than any flight. And the train station is probably easier to get to than the airport from the Hotel, meaning that we can go whatever day we want rather than possibly rushing to Santorini on Friday night to avoid an extra airport trip.

I think Meteora is much more practical and very compelling site in it's own right. Further, even though I like off-season tourism to avoid crowds, I think Santorini and the other islands warrant a separate trip when there is more action. But my wife is worried we'll never go back to the Greeks isles and she'll never get to see the white buildings.

Has anybody been to both Santorini and Meteora? (Most advice I've been given has been biased because Santorini is wonderful and nobody has been to Meteora). Any advice or suggestions?

Some previous threads I have viewed about Santorini in March:
Link 1
Link 2

Alsacienne

I'm biassed because I've been to Meteora and not to Santorini! Definitely worth doing in March without the mass crowds and buses. You could overnight in Kalambaka, but you will need transport to get up close and personal with the monasteries as they are situated out of town in beautiful countryside. The monasteries ooze spirituality and calm and I really think that you couldn't equal this on Santorini. Certainly different and VERY Greek.

Pangro

Have not been to Meteora, but I can assure you Santorini has a calmness next to nothing I have ever experienced. And I've been to other greek islands ^ Meteora looks amazing though, never been there. I would do both, it's two completely different things.

david55

Think weather...neither location will be ideal in March....but if I had a choice and limited time I would also consider in my travel itinerary ease and delays.... you could get stuck on Santorini because of weather... you can't at Meteora and could always make your way back to Athens for your next flight.

Besides one or two nights in Santorini is too short...it's an ideal length of time for Meteora.

For me...it would be a no brainer...Meteora.

KLouis

Both are excellent ideas, the open question here is "cuisse ou poitrine?". Apart from your preference for island vs. [close to] mountain, the main argument in favour or against one or the other is that you can get to Meteora easily by renting a car, you can go there early in the morning and, if you want to go back to your hotel, you can be back in Athens in the evening. Sort of too much for Santorini. But believe me, whichever you choose, it's going to be worth it!

RussellJ

I have spent some time at both. The Santorini experience was only a day trip from Paros while Meteora was a stay of 3 days. We were travelling in May & apart from bus day trips there were very few other travellers in Meteora (mainly German climbers). We were totally reliant on public transport & caught buses up out of the village & walked around between monasteries & sometimes back down to the villages-the locals were very helpful with advice so we did get up close & personal without driving. We had a great time & to us it was much less commercial than Santorini.

Showbizguru

Pretty much any Greek island has pictueresque white buildings.
Santorini is a heavily-sanitized,tourist version of an authentic Greek island - think Miami v the rest of Florida.
I'm not even sure I'd want to go to Santorini in the height of summer but definitely not in March for a day.
As a previous poster has said Meteora definitely of the two but why not consider an island close to Athens such as Poros or Hydra ?

www.greektravel.com/greekislands/poros

WilcoRoger

Santorini is beautiful and in some sense unique but my vote would definitely go for Meteora.

Of course the optimal solution would be "both"