9 Days in Greece: Discover Athens, Milos, Santorini and Mykonos
We think that we can’t put in words what we love Greece. We were lucky to visit it for the first time in a route of 9 days in Greece ad, this is one of the trips that we enjoyed the most. Greece has all we like of traveling: incredible beaches, nice villages, places that look like extracted from a fairy tail, a very interesting history and a delicious gastronomy. For all of this, the trip to Greece is one of our favorites and a place where we would go back constantly.
Our trip was distributed in 2 days in Athens, 2 days in Milos, 2 days in Santorini and 3 days in Mykonos. In each island, we rented a transport to be able to move, meanwhile in the capital, Athens, we took public transportation, we walked and we took taxi to visit all the places.
Without further ado, let’s go with our adventure of 9 days in Greece!
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ToggleDay 1: Athens
We finally arrived in Athens! You can’t imagine how excited we were to discover this city with lots of history and places to discover. We arrived very late at the hotel and, after having some rest, we started visiting Athens
Our first activity as it’s usual was to do a free tour to start knowing the basics of the city and discover some things that can be interesting for us. In this case, we chose this free tour in Athens of Civitatis. The responsible was a very nice Spanish guy that ave us lots of tips and data of the city. We could see (obviously from outside, the visits came the day after :)):
– Metropolitan Cathedral of Athens
– Athens Agora
– Adriano’s library
– Zeus Temple
– Acropolis
– Sintagma square to see the change of Guard
– National Garden
– Olympic Stadium
After doing the 4 hours visit, we could make an idea of the places that were the best for visiting and which ones were a must for us.
As we mentioned, we arrived very late to the city, so after lunch we were so tired. We dedicated the afternoon to walk through the Monastiraki Square and we could see the Monastiraki Market. This market is the typical where you can find second-hand products. It is a very lively area, ideal to lunch and have a drink.
After this, the sun started to fall. Greece is famous due to the incredible sunsets, and we can assure that we have never seen any sunset like those. We decided to go to one of the most popular places in the city, the Lyccabetus Hill. A recommendation, go there soon. It is very crowded, specially in summer and in the sunset time, so if you go late, it won’t be the best experience. We achieved to take some photos, but not in the top of the hill.
When the sun felt, we decided to go to the bed to rest after such an exhausting day.
Where to sleep
We were accommodated in a nice apartment in Omonia. It is an area that is not recommended as it is an immigrant area and people say is dangerous, but we didn’t have this feeling.
Where to eat
We ate in a typical greek food place in Monastiraki Square. The truth was that is was delicious and we could try some dishes like Musaka, Gyros or greek salad. The name is The Greco’s Project and the price was 15-20 pp.
We had dinner at home taking food from a supermarket.
Day 2: Athens
Our second day in Athens was dedicated to visit most important places of the city and the most important monument, the Parthenon and the Acropolis.
We started the day visiting the Acropolis, as we wanted to go as early as possible. We didn’t find the place very crowded, a complicated thing in summer, so it was a good idea.
The Acropolis of Athens is a city located in the top of a hill and whose main function was defensive. In addition, it was a place of worship and it contained the most important places of the city. The main places that you have to visit in the Acropolis are:
- Parthenon – The icon of the city
- Erecteión
- Propileos
- Dioniso TheatreTeatro de Dioniso
- Herodes Odeon
- Atenea Niké Temple
We would recommend a complete morning or afternoon to this place. It has a huge historical significance. It is true that most of the city monuments are ruins, but they are ruins of a very powerful and important civilization, so for us, it was worth it. The entrance price varies depending if you want audioguide. We leave you a link where you can check different options and buy the Acropolis ticket. We recommend to buy the tickets through Internet to avoid the queues in the ticket box. The schedule is from 8h to 20h.
After lunch, we walked through the Plaka neighbor, one of the most lively places of the city, that is near the Acropolis.
Lately, we wanted to access some interesting monuments in the city. You can do it paying the individual entrance for each one or buying the Athens City Pass that includes several access.
The first one we visited was the Zeus Temple. They are Temple ruins of the 500 b.C. The truth is that, as we mentioned, it’s basically ruins, but to see parts of an ancient temple is really impressive, specially if you love the history like us! The entrance price was 10€ and you can buy it in this link.
After visiting, we went to the Roman Agora of Athens. It is an area that was the centre of political, administrative, comercial and social activity of the old Athens. We also leave a link to buy your access to the Roman Agora, that costs 12.5€.
Last but not least, we wanted to visit the Library of Adriano. As the name indicates, it is a library that was build by the emperor Adriano to maintain his book collection and serve as a reading and convention place. You can buy this ticket directly in the ticket box for 6€.
After this intense day, the temperature in the city (40 grades) and that we were traveling the next day, we decided to have dinner at the room.
P.D: If we had more days, we would have visited Meteora, a complex of monasteries placed in a rock top that are really impressive. There are multiple excursions of a day that bring you to Trikkala to see this place. We leave you here a link for a tour of 1 day with visit to Meteora.
Day 3: Milos
We reached our first day of the 7 days that we were visiting the greek islands of Milos, Santorini and Mykonos. We started visiting Milos, and what an experience! From the first moment we arrived in the island we knew that this would be one of our favorite places in the world and that will remain in our memory forever.
Milos is a very beautiful island with nice places and beaches but also with very interesting villages. Our recommendation is to rent a transportation to visit it. We did it with a motorbike that we rented when we arrived.
The departure was very early from Athens. We bought our tickets by internet and we did it with Golden Star Ferries, that was a very good company, but you have many options. The journey is 4 hours, so we dedicated part of the morning to reach the island.
The first thing we did was to rent the motorbike. We decided to go walking (it’s near the harbor) to the best ranked company and they gave us a really good service. The company is called Smile Car&Moto Rental Services.
After doing the checkin and having lunch (you have the places above, specially the lunch one, it was AMAZING) we started our visit. As we were very tired, we decided to go to a village that was near our hotel, Plaka. The best thing you can do in this place is walk and have a drink. We recommend to go at the sunset time, as it was really impressive. Go to the Plaka Castle, in the top of the hill and enjoy the views. It was the best sunset of our 9 days in Greece.
Where to sleep
We slept in a hotel that was very nice near the harbor of milos. We recommend it a lot as they treated us very well, it was clean and the location was perfect. It is called Anamnisi.
Where to eat
The best recommendation that we can give you, food wise, is to go to O! Hamos! Tavern. It is a farm that make the food with their own product. To give you some context, they made us an omelette with cheese that was INCREDIBLE. It’s a must if you go to Greece. The best restaurant in our 9 days in Greece.
Day 4: Milos
This day was our big day in Milos, and maybe, our favorite in this route of 9 days in Greece. We wanted to see lots of things so we started early in the morning. The first thing we did was to spend some time in the beach, so we decided to go yo Firiplaka beach, one of the best in the island to enjoy a beach day.
Firiplaka is a beach with incredible water that has a big rock with a cave that you can go inside. We recommend it if you want to subath and enjoy the incredible water of the greek island, one of the best we’ve ever seen.
Later, we wanted to see some key points in Milos. Maybe, the most famous place it’s the Sarakiniko beach, the place we visited next. It is a beach made of white rock and is often compared to moon rock. The shape of it is due to the volcanic rocks created and eroded by wind and water. The truth is that is one of the more peculiar beaches we have ever seen, so it’s a must visit.
Next, we wanted to see some interesting places, that are quick to visit, like:
– Firopotamos, a small fishermen village very cute and photogenic.
– Mandrakia, another fishermen village. It is a small bay whose great curiosity is that the people living there built boat parkings in the rocks, and it was very eye-catching.
– Klima, our favorite place. It is another fishermen village that is located in the seashore. This village has colorful houses that made it a very photogenic place. Another must-see place in this 9 days in Greece.
– Pollonia: A charm village located in the north area of the island.
As you can see, we did lots of things in this day and we didn’t lose our time. Milos is an island where we would have stayed more time as we really felt in love with it.
Where to eat
In this day, we ate take away food.
Day 5: Milos and Santorini
This 5th day of our 9 days in Greece was a nice day for us as we were doing the best excursion in the island, visit an area that is only accesible by boat, Kleftiko.
Unfortunately, the wind made the excursion to be cancelled, making us be so sad as we couldn’t visit this area. We would recommend to do the excursion if you go, everyone recommended it. We leave you here the excursion to Kleftiko in boat, you must make it!
As we couldn’t do it, we visited the capital, Adamas, to make some time until our boat to Santorini depart. Adamas is a cool place, a little bit bigger but photogenic and with some cool corners to see (all the houses are white, so you will find nice places for sure).
Time to say goodbye to Milos and discover Santorini. It took us 3-4 hours to reach the island, so we arrived in the afternoon.Our first objective was to rent a motorbike. We did it directly in the capital, in the company that was best ranked, Tony’s Rent a Car & Motorbike. The truth was that the process was very simple and quick and the motorbike was good.
Next, after the checkin in our hotel, we went to have dinner in the capital and walk in this village, Fira. It’s the main place in the island and it’s a very lively place. You can also have great views of the Santorini Caldera, the name that has the shape of the island.
Where to sleep
We were accommodated in a nice villa (with a nice price) in the Firostefani area, called Villa Firostefani. We strongly recommend it, the owners were nice, the breakfast was top and it was cheap to be in Firostefani.
Where to eat
As it was a day where we changed of island and we were tired, we ate supermarket food in the ferry and we had dinner in a fast food place, as we do in all our trips 🙂
day 6: Santorini
The 6th day of our route of 9 days in Greece was fully dedicated to discover this amazing island, Santorini. Firstly, it is important to mention that Santorini is a very crowded place in summer, as it’s a typical holiday destination and also a classic stop of lots of cruises. Due to that, the best advice that we can give you to visit our first visit (one of the most touristic, Oia) is to wake up early and go there to see the sunrise. To give you an idea, we went to Oia around 7 am in the morning, to be able to walk calmly through the village and take some photos of the key points.
Oia is amazing. It represents the typical greek village, with white and blue houses that you have seen thousands of. times. It is a village built in a cliff, so it’s even more impressive. Our recommendation is to get lost through the streets and find your favorite cornes, we believe that in places like this it is better to not recommend any specific place.
After visiting Oia in 2 hours, we went to the next destination, Firostefani (where we had our hotel). This place has one of the most impressive places in the island, a viewpoint in a church with a blue dome that is pure beauty. You can find this place in the following link.
After having lunch in Fira, we wanted to see the village. It is impacting to see all the villas with infinite pools with Caldera views. We know people that went in low season that were accommodated in this hotels with a very acceptable price, so if it’s your case, do it!
Last but not least, we visited the Akrotiri Lighthouse in the sunset time, located in the south area of the island. We leave the photography above to describe this place 🙂
Where to eat
We ate in Kokalo, located in Firostefani. Greek food at good price.
At night, we ate a take away crepe in Creme de la Crepe in Fira. The truth is that we wanted to change the type of food and we loved this place as it was delicious and cheap.
Day 7: Santorini and Mykonos
The 7th day of this itinerary of 9 days in Greece was dedicated to walk through Fira streets and go to our next destination, Mykonoss.
The boat journey between both islands took us 3 hours and it left us in the Mykonos port. When we arrived at the island, the first thing we did was to book a transportation in the island. We couldn’t rent a motorbike as the requirements were more strict than in the other, so we rented a small car. One thing to have in mind is that Mykonos is not the best place to drive as most of the roads are two-direction, so you will face another car in very narrow places. We rented with iGo Rentals Mykonos, goo price and good service.
This day was dedicated to be relaxed and rest, so we took something to eat in the room and we stayed in the hotel
Where to sleep
We were accommodated in a cool apartment called Apostolis Windmills. It is a complex of windmills located in Psarou, near to the capital. Quality/price is perfect.
Where to eat
We had lunch in a restaurant near the hotel, called Souvla. It is was delicious and cheap, so if you are near the area it is recommended. In addition, they were super cool.
Day 8: Mykonos
We reached the last days of this route of 9 days in Greece and we wanted to discover the Mykonos island, maybe the most known of the country, as it has a big fame due to the beaches and party. It’s the Greek Ibiza. We enjoyed the island, but we would chose another island if we went again as the kind of tourism that we wanted to do was more oriented to relax, culture and beaches.
During this 8th day, we wanted to do a mix of beach and culture. In the morning, we decided to go to the beach, enjoy in the water and relax by sunbathing. Special mention to the beaches in Mykonos, that are full of resorts that are doing activities and also clubs that organize parties in the beach, so finding a relaxed beach is not easy. We chose the Paralia Elia Beach.
After spending the whole morning in the beach, we went to the hotel area to have lunch and then we went all the afternoon to Mykonos Town or Chora. It is a really nice village to walk and have a drink. We could see places like:
– Old Mykonos harbor, one of the most lively places on the island.
– Little Venice, a place with houses built above the sea, like in Klima (Milos). It is really cool and a top place to see a sunset.
– Mykonos churches. There are several if you want through the city. The most important and famous is Panagia Paraportiani.
– Kastro. A curious neighbor of Mykonos with narrow streets where you will find lots of people. It is recommended to get lost through this streets 🙂
To finish the day, we wanted to see the sunset from Little Venise. There are lots of people, so go with some time to be able to take a good place.
Where to eat
We ate a sandwich in the beach and some take away food in the hotel.
Day 9: Mykonos
Out last day of this itinerary of 9 days in Greece :(. It started very early as some people recommended us to go to one of the most famous places in Chora in the sunrise, so we started our day at 6 am to see the famous Kato Milli Windmills. They are a serie of windmills aligned in a small hill and located in Chora that are very photogenic. The truth is that it was a great idea, we saw that with few people and we have some good pictures.
Later, we wanted to go to another beach to enjoy our last day. We chose Psarou beach, and it was not bad, bearing in mind that all the beaches were super crowded.
In the afternoon we went back to Chora to buy some souvenirs and we wanted to have a special dinner there.
as you can see, Mykonos is not the best place to visit things and we believe is much more oriented to another kind of tourism, more party and resort oriented. It is not the kind of tourism we enjoy, so as we said, we would have enjoyed to spend more days in Santorini or MIlos.
If we had more time, we would have done a excursion to Delos, a island that is near Mykonos that have interesting ruins with lots of greek mythology history. We leave you the link of the excursion in boat to Delos to encourage you to do it!
¿Dónde comer?
We had dinner in a super cool place to say goodbye to our trip called Karavaki Restaurant. it is top, a little bit more expensive to the rest of restaurants (30-40 pp) but with an incredible views of Chora (it is in the Chora hlls). Unfortunately, we didn’t have any picture of the restaurant, but it was a top moment on our 9 days in Greece 🙁
Maps
Athens
Milos
Santorini
Mykonos
And here ends this series of 9 days in Greece. For us it is one of our best trips because, although it was not too long, we loved the country and found it spectacular. We would return again and again to this country that combines so many things that we love, so if you have any doubts, Greece is always a yes.
If you have any doubts about any of the points, don’t hesitate to ask us in the comments or on social media.
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