frappant

I'm trying to scope out a trip in April, hoping for dry weather.

The islands I'm interested in are relatively far apart, for instance Rhodes. Not sure what else is near Rhodes. Actually Turkey seems closer than any other part of Greece?

Apparently there is ferry service from Rhodes to Crete but it's the far east end of the island and I'm more interested in Chania. And the transit times are over 10 hours?

So there are flights ranging from 3 hours or more, connecting through ATH.

The other islands would include Santorini and Corfu. And maybe some other Ionian island if it's easy to reach from Corfu.

Not sure what the ferry schedules would be like in April between Crete and Santorini or Corfu and another Ionian island.

This would be about a 15-16 day trip and I wonder if doing 3-4 flights between islands, probably all connecting through ATH, would be a good idea. Are these flights reliable? That is how often delayed or canceled?

Do Star Alliance Gold benefits help with luggage allowance or any other benefits on Aegean Airline?

nk15

You can check google flights for routes available in April. Connecting in ATH would indeed probably be best, with the possible exception of Crete-Santorini. You can also check ferries schedules in one of the many ferries sites, such as ferries.gr

Flights are reliable, worse case they should accommodate you on the next flight.

KLouis

You clearly have to meximize the time spent on the different islands you'll visit and not spend it on a ferry. This, though, does not apply for short distances such as, for example, Rhodes to Symi or Tilos. Flying via ATH is often the fastest way, unless you get one of the rather rare inter-island flights that Sky Express (and few with OA) offers. Greek Easter is on May 5 next year, it will be easier for you to find seats on domestic flight in April. Finally, my personal experience with Internet ferries sites is that they are often stupidly designed and, worse, the info provided is often outdated or simply wrong. Unfortunately for you, the easy solution to that for me is simply going to the next local travel agency on the island (I live on one ).

nk15

I like Ferries.gr because it shows how many seats are left in each booking class on a route (which is useful mostly if you book last minute), using an "at least 30 seats remaining" concept similar to the airlines J7/Y7 concept on EF. I then go and book direct on the specific company's website, which is recommended, because you get e-tickets and you can do ticket changes on the phone (at least for Seajets).

frappant

How reliable is the information on Google Flights for April? I see a bunch of Aegean flights now but some have nothing like flights to and from ZTH.

It does seem wasteful to fly several times between islands instead of taking ferries and mostly going to islands which are close together. But in a lot of cases, even the shortest ferry rides seem like at least 3-4 hours, which is what the duration of the flights are, including connecting through ATH. Of course you have to get to the airport earlier and also transit time to and from airports.

KLouis

Plane or ferry? It depends on many parametres. In June/July of a couple of years ago (at the end of the longest Covid lockdown in Greece), my wife, our two dogs and I decided to use our car and a lot of ferries to "combine" a lot of Ionian (8 of them) islands on a single trip. Everything was very smooth, even the Corfou-Erikousa and back legs, that I booked at the harbour agency in Corfou. Both of us being retired, time did not interfere with our planless trip that lasted a bit longer than 5 weeks. Had we have 2 weeks available (like in your case) we simply could not have done it. For example, to get from Lefkada to Corfou the direct ferry is difficult to use, as it only goes twice (or three times) weekly. So you have to cross by bus to Prevesa, and take another bus to Igoumenitsa to get over to Corfou. If you want to also visit Paxoi and one (or more) of the Diapontian islands you have to do that using Corfou as a base. On the other hand, if you're in Crete (like we are or you might be), you can take the 6:30 am flight to ATH, connect at CFU around 9 and be there at 10 am. In other words, you need some research, especially since you seem to want to "do" a lot of islands in the Docecannese, Ionian, Cyclades and Crete, all of those in a couple of weeks. Still doable, but believe me, after returning home you'll need a vacation!

As for Google Flights in April, I can't answer that, I can only say that although A3 usually releases next year's schedule in late summer, they don't really change much in terms of domestic travel, so you can always do your own preliminary scheduling of your vacation. Keep in mind that ferries have a much reduced schedule in April compared to the summer...

frappant

One of the articles said that you can't easily island-hop in the Ionian, like you can in the Cyclades. There are ferries but they start in late April and they might have different schedules from year to year.

Lefkada is an interesting case. There's an airport nearby, Aktion, but it doesn't connect from Athens. Instead it might connect from Corfu. If they're short-hop flights, then they're probably not flying A320s like Aegean?

Unless I extended to over 3 weeks, I would likely visit Corfu and maybe one other Ionian island, if I was going to still go to Rhodes, Crete and Santorini.

nk15

If you are interested in swimming, May will be better than April, although the late Easter this year will mess things up a little. Second half of May will be a better time (warmer, more transport options locally and internationally, more places open and still early/low season).

KLouis

@nk15: 100% correct! @frappant: Well, you had mentioned Corfu in the OP. I think that Rhodes, Crete and Santorini may be enough, Crete is big enough and worth visiting from the extreme east (e.g. Zakros) to the extreme west (e.f. Falasarna and/or Gramvoussa. I'd leave the Ionian islands (which I personally love) for the next time...

Fly ATH-RHO, then RHO to either JSH or HER, get a rental car anf go tp Santorini with one of the superfast cats. From antorini to Piraeus you could take a conventional ferry and "see" a few islands (their ports, et least) on the way.

frappant

I haven't swum in decades, not interested for some reason, though the blue waters of the Mediterranean are beautiful.

My one visit to Greece, 7 years ago, I didn't plan as much time as I should have. I think I did 3 nights in Mykonos, 3 nights in Santorini and 3 nights in Crete.

I just spent overnight in Heraklion after arriving on the boat from Santorini in the evening -- it was July. Then I departed pretty early in the morning, didn't get a chance to look around Heraklion.

I stayed on the harbor in Chania with a private terrace overlooking it. It was fantastic. Rented a car and went to some far flung beaches, forget their names right now. Also went to that Saitan beach just to take pictures of the unique landscape. The monastery near there was great too.

The Ionian lslands look spectacular because of the coastal cliffs. Yeah I could add additional days to Rhodes, Santorini and Crete, maybe visit some other nearby islands like Naxos instead of the Ionian.

My main draw to Greece is the scenery and photography, including with my drone, though the HCAA makes you jump through hoops to get approval to fly.

Have to keep researching.

flyingfkb

Kos is not too far from Rhodes but the only things there to see are the place where Hippocrates had his hospital https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hippocrates and Kos city. It is mainly a summer vacation spot with a lot of resorts.

frappant

Deleted since posted in the Aegean forum.

KLouis

Double posting is not allowed in FT! I've already answered your question (identical!) in the A3 forum...

brucedelta

I am going to Greece in a couple of weeks. I came to the conclusion that the only ferry I could do was from Crete to Santorini which is under 2 hours. Getting from the Ionian islands to Crete will be via Agean Air for my trip and we will return from Santorini via flight.

nk15

Ferries are recommended only for short 1-2 hour routes. For longer trips you are risking it that a windy day will turn the trip to a terrible experience and you should really be flying instead. When the winds gets to 6 Beaufort or higher the puke rates may get very high, under certain conditions.

Greek ferries will run up to 8 Beaufort winds (which is hellish conditions, but rare), but 6 Beaufort is common. At 8 Beaufort winds the puke rate will be 100% and many will beg to die…I traveled once as a child and I almost jumped overboard…