How to visit the Greek Islands on the Cheap

| July 11th, 2010 | Greece, Travel, Travel Tips

Everyone wants to visit the Greek Islands at some point in their lives, right? I mean, how could you resist the famous sunsets of Santorini, the beautiful beaches of the somewhat undiscovered island of Milos, or the all night parties on Ios, and more.

Getting to Greece

As far as getting to Greece itself, I cannot give you too much advice other than to keep an eye out on Kayak.com in order to try to find a decent flight from your country to Greece. They’re generally pretty expensive if you’re traveling from outside of Europe. For us, we flew from Cairo to Athens for a mere $145 USD including all taxes and fees. You can actually find cheaper flights to Athens from Cairo from time to time.

Another idea would be to find a cheap flight to somewhere in Europe or Northern Africa (Egypt) like we did and then find a budget airline from that flies from there to Greece. If you have the time to layover for a few hours in between switching flights it can definitely save you a lot of money rather than going direct to your destination. As for finding budget airline carriers, check out this website called WhichBudget.

Getting to the Islands

It’s very easy to travel to the Greek islands from Athens. The main port in Athens is called Piraeus and is easily accessed by Metro/Train from almost anywhere in the city. The metro and trains are very efficient in Athens and they run from 6AM to 12AM which is pretty convenient if you ask me!

You can book your tickets for the island of your choice by going down to one of the many ticket offices at the port of Piraeus. The most popular lines are Megajet, Blue Star, Anek, and a few others. Figure out where you want to go and what the ferry timetables are by going to (Greekferries.gr).

Once you figure out where you want to go and which ferry company you will need to take then either head down to the the port of Piraeus to purchase your tickets, or make it easier on yourself and purchase them online at your ferries official website. If you purchase online, you will receive a booking reservation number which you will have to provide at the ticket office before boarding your ferry. You’ll also receive your hard copy tickets at the ticket office on check-in.

FYI: Ferry Prices from Piraeus (Athens) to Santorini: 34 Euro. Prices vary when you travel from island to island. For example we paid 16.50 Euro for our ferry from Santorini to Milos.

Finding accommodation on the islands

There are many ways to find accommodation on the Greek island of your choice.

1. The first way is to search online by using Google, Hostelbookers, or travel forums like Thorn Tree, Tripadvisor, etc. If you decide to search the travel forums, head to the Greece forum and post your questions about accommodations. You’ll surely hear back from many locals, and people who have traveled to the island of your choice. They may also be able to give you great advice on where to eat, where to shop, tips on activities and excursions, and more!

2. The second way to find accommodations is to talk to someone who has been to the island of your choice. If you’re in Athens, just ask around when you’re in the cafes, shops, and restaurants. You’re likely to find someone who has been to or knows someone that has been to the island of your choice. Ask them where they stayed when they visited. You never know, they might even know someone that lives on the island that might be able to find you a great deal on your accommodation.

3. The third way is the way that we’ve been doing it. Just show up! Don’t book any accommodation before heading to the island of your choice. Show up and you’ll be amazed at how many apartment and hotel owners that are awaiting your arrival.
The best part about this is that you can often find the best deals by booking your accommodations this way. Picture this, there’s 25 or 30 hotel and apartment owners that all want your business. They’re pushing past each other trying to get you to glance at the brochure that they’re waving in your face. They are at your mercy! Think of it this way, they need YOU! You don’t need them.

By choosing to simply show up on the islands of our choice, we locked in the following prices.

Santorini: 30 Euro (approx. $36.00 USD/night) at a hotel called Katefiani Villas located in Perissa. The owner Jacob provided a free transfer from the port to the hotel/apartment (this is always included, but ask to be sure) and when we arrived we were ecstatic with the condition of our room. It was an extremely clean room with a queen sized bed, tv, refrigerator, air conditioning, private bathroom, beautiful balcony with table and chairs, and best of all it was a two minute walk from Perissa beach. There was a mini market three buildings down, restaurants all over and a supermarket within 10 minutes walk. The location was perfect, the beach was beautiful, the owners were very helpful, and the price was excellent. We highly recommend this place if you’re headed to Santorini.

Milos: 50 Euro (approx. $60.00 USD/night) for a beautiful two bedroom apartment with a fully equipped kitchen, full sized refrigerator, living room, dining room, and giant balcony that was located about 2 minutes walk from the main port of Milos (Adamas). We split this apartment with a couple from Colorado that we had met on our travels. Splitting the cost of this apartment meant that we had two nice private bedrooms in a spacious apartment with a full kitchen so that we could head to the supermarket and cook up a feast, and that we did!

The amazing thing is that you can actually find cheaper accommodations that we did, but you’ll have to be ready to really haggle if you want to get yourself a room for two for less than 25 Euro/night.

If you need a cheap place to stay in Santorini or Milos, please contact the following:

Katefiani Villas (Santorini – Perissa):  Jacob is the honest owner of the amazing Katefiani Villas located in Perissa. Feel free to contact him on his mobile number +30 6946 590351. You’ll also be able to find him at the port by asking around for Jacob of Katefiani Villas.

Nicki (Milos – Adamas):  Nicki is a woman who owns a scooter rental shop, a hotel and many apartments in Adamas. We stayed at one of her places for 25 Euro/night and it was top notch. We highly recommend that you contact her if staying in Milos. Mobile #: 6936 942724

Getting around the islands

Scooters and Rental car shops are readily available and plentiful on the islands. We rented a scooter for the day in Santorini for 10 Euro. In Milos the four of us rented a small car for 35 Euro/day.

There are also public buses that will bring you to different areas of the islands but these buses are slow and it might not be worth it. I cannot give advice on this as I either walked or rented a vehicle on both of the islands that we visited.
Saving money on the islands

Depending on where you’re staying or where you’re heading to on the islands, it can be pretty pricey to shop, eat out, etc.

1. My advice is to find yourself a room or apartment that has a stove top or fully equipped kitchen like we did. You can save tons of money by simply taking a trip to the grocery store with a meal in mind and within an hour you’ll have a feast of food cooked. Save the left overs for later or pack them for lunch before you head to the beaches! At the least, make sure you get a room with a refrigerator so you can keep your drinks cold and maybe even throw some fruit in there for the morning.

2. Talk to the owners of shops and get to know them. After a few minutes chatting with the shop owners you may be lucky enough to catch a discount on an item you’re interested in purchasing. Either way it’s good to be social, and you may even learn something interesting about the island from your new friend.

3. Rent a scooter or car to make the most of your stay. Be sure to ask your hotel, apartment owner which place they recommend when it comes to renting vehicles. Sometimes they work with different car rental shops or have a friend that owns one that may be able to give you a deal on your rental.

To see more photos of our trip to the Greek Islands be sure to check out the following photo albums: Santorini & Milos

If you found this post to be helpful, feel free to leave a comment below!