kurl

FlyingDoctorwu

GetSetJetSet

Was at Grand Bretagne years ago and enjoyed it. A friend I trust was there a week ago and also had good things to say. Should be a safe bet.

PapaNico

I'm following!
This could become useful for me someday

If you don't mind, would you tell me how you will travel between these hotels? Boats, rental cars, private drivers, air, etc.

Thanks.

david55

Grand Bretagne is the Grand Dame of Athens. If you can afford it , go for it. It's sister hotel right next door, King George, is a good second. I would not stay at a "seaside" resort while doing Athens.

While not luxe by any means, the seaside town of Nafplio is considered one of the nicest Greek towns on the mainland. Good restaurants, and lovely port scene. That could easily occupy two nights. It is 90+ minutes from Athens. There are some lovely B and B's and a few good hotels. And it actually is on the way to the Amanzoe.

kurl

Current plan is fly to ATH, rent a car, return it to ATH, fly to JTR, then back to ATH, with the Amanzoe-provided transfer from ATH. Would love to explore a direct transfer from Santorini to Amanzoe via helicopter, but not sure if that's going to work

kurl

Cool - that's what my gut said too

Great tip! Looking now. Any other suggestions for a night or two nearish Athens?

david55

Delphi.....this two day/one night journey would be magical. It is one of my favorite places in Greece. It is all about history and beauty..... hire a driver to take you up there ( 2.5 hours from Athens) and spend a night....have them come back the next day. You will have the whole town and archaeological site to yourself until the tour buses arrive late morning.

Beardedluck2

As far as where to stay in Santorini...OIA CASTLE LUXURY SUITES - if it is available book the honeymoon suite with the private jacuzzi - think it was called the cave suite or something similar to (the suite has two levels, top level where your room is and the bottom is where the private jacuzzi is located). When I say private...I mean private...completely private...100% lol. My (now) Fiance and I stayed there in August of 2016 and we are convinced it is the best room on the entire island. We had an unimpeded view of the sunset, there was no structure in front of us and the sunset. It is located directly above the steps where the donkeys walk, down to Amoudi Bay. One last note about the jacuzzi - ours was actually heated and you were able to control the temperature. A lot of the "private (plunge) pools" were cold only ... based off our research that is...can't confirm.

For help with planning your trip...go to www.santorinidave.com. My fiancé and I booked probably 95% of our trip based off of his recommendations. Which by the way, I'm not a travel agent or anything..don't reply to much of anything on here actually, but saw your post when I was researching tonight for our honeymoon. His site speaks to much more than Santorini, a variety of the greek islands actually. Our trip was Mykonos (Myconian ambassdor) 4 nights, Santorini 6 nights, Athens 2 nights, Meteora 1 night. Outside of Meteora, we use Santorini Dave's site for majority of our planning.


My 2 cents on Katikies
We stayed in Oia for 6 nights, so we explored quite a bit to say the least. When researching our vacation, I was hung up on staying at Katikies because of the infinity pool pictures and views Long story short It would have cost us a nice chunk of change, something we weren't willing to pay. I was pretty mad it wasn't going to work out. However, after comparing it to Oia Castle Luxury Suites, I was very happy it worked out the way it did. Katikies pool is extremely small, along with every other pool in Oia, and you do not have a direct sunset view. You will not be able to see the sun once it falls below the tip of Oia. I would not pay the money to say here if Oia Castle is booked. I can't speak to Canaves - we were interested in staying here, but was completely booked..blessing in disguise if you ask me.

hope this helps you out. happy to answer any questions if I'm able to.

Beardedluck2

sunset view from jacuzzi

obscure2k

NYT Travel section, 06/24/2018
Recommend reading the NYT. Here is a sample.. I cannot post entire article:

"In just a handful of blocks, the same ones we used to traverse nightly between a few spirited dives, there are now dozens of nightspots, including two cocktail bars, The Clumsies and Baba au Rum, that have been ranked among the world’s best. Our old haunts are mostly gone, though as I passed the motley art-cafe, Booze Cooperativa, I was heartened to see the eccentric proprietor and septuagenarian local cult figure, Nikos Louvros, still holding his position out front, intrepidly smoking and drinking in the noon day sun.

Neighborhoods that were rundown and neglected have become seed beds for the arts, like Metaxougio, which not long ago was best known for its junk stores and Asian groceries, but now hosts the thriving multispace Bios and one of the city’s most important contemporary galleries, The Breeder, which has helped bring international attention to Greek talent like the painter Sofia Stevi and Stelios Faitakis, a street artist whose murals evoke Albrecht Dürer and Diego Rivera.

Then there are the major public arts institutions, which were either donated to the state by private philanthropic organizations or funded before the crisis, in part with foreign money: the spectacular, largely European Union-funded Acropolis Museum, opened in 2009, that rises next to the Acropolis like a glass-and-concrete mirror image; the Onassis Cultural Center, which opened in 2010 and encompasses two state-of-the-art performance halls, an open-air theater and an exhibition space; and the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Center, a Renzo Piano-designed cultural complex, completed in 2016, some three miles down Siggrou Avenue from the Onassis Center on the Bay of Faliro. It includes facilities for the National Library of Greece, the Greek National Opera and a five-acre park, all of which the foundation donated to the Greek state.

The joke in town is that the most famous rivalry in modern Greek history — between Stavros Niarchos and Aristotle Onassis, shadowy shipping magnates who spent their lives feuding over business and romantic interests — now plays out along Siggrou Avenue and through the prolific cultural programming, grants, residencies and public works of their respective legacy foundations. Last year, among many other events, the Onassis Center staged its annual Fast Forward Festival, focused on techno-futurism and new media, a science fiction festival and an Afrofuturism series, which included a concert by the Sun Ra Arkestra with tickets as low as 5 euros. In the same year, the Niarchos Center made numerous high-profile performances entirely free to the public, including a Yo La Tengo concert and a presentation by the Shanghai Kunqu Opera Troupe.

In so many ways, Athens feels more alive, more culturally prolific, than ever, and it’s hard to understand how this could have happened in the midst of the worst economic catastrophe in the history of the European "

hotturnip

Renting a car in Athens sounds like a nightmare to me.

Ericka

offerendum

A rental car should be my choice instead of a driver.

SilverSpoon

When are you going? I'm doing Grande Bretagne and Amanzoe in September. I think Four Seasons Athens is due to open in 2019.