Travel to Greece in the month of July

We would like more of beaches. Thanks 😉

You mention only the most-popular, most-promoted, and most touristic destinations. You are starting very late to get all the arrangements you want. Your reply also reveals that you are very unfamiliar with Greece and have not done more research than looking at some internet photos (there is no such thing as 'a few of must-see Cretan islans' -- Crete is ONE island, the size of many nations). "People are saying" is not a basis for planning trips. With so much to learn, I do not think you get adequate help on a travel forum -- we can give Tips, but cannot substitute for a guidebook or agency.

Therefore I suggest you e-mail NOW the GREEK-based travel agencies that have very good reputations for trip-planning with overseas clients, working completely on-line. 3 of these well-regarded agencies are Dolphin-Hellas, Fantasy Travel, and Aegean Thesaurus. I suggest you e-mail all 3 TODAY, giving the following information:

• The dates you want to travel (they can book the airlines for you)
• The destinations you want to see (I think you need to limit it to 4, for 2 weeks)
• The budget range IN EUROS for the lodging you want
• Your priorities (sports, beach, nightlife etc)
• Your over-all budget including airfare to/from Nigeria (and be prepared, it will be expensive! Not because the agency charges you--- their services are paid for by the travel & lodging people -- but because you are going at THE most costly crowded time of year, and insist on the "must-see" (thus costly/crowded) destinations.
... when you get your answers, then you can act. And BTW, I gave you the same advice on another forum ... you cannot keep asking the same requests, and expect to get different answers. I wish you good luck!

Thanks for your valuable reply. But this is the first forum where I asked for.

Athens /Mykonos /Santorini/Athens
09 Nights / 10 Days
Itinerary :
Day 1 : Athens

Arrival Athens airport – meet and assist and transfer to the hotel
Overnight in Athens

Day 2 : Athens / City tour
breakfast at the hotel
Pick up for city tour of Athens includes visit to the Acropolis
And the new Acropolis Museum
Overnight in Athens

Day 3 : Athens /Mykonos
breakfast at the hotel
Pick up for transfer to the port to catch the ferry to Mykonos – arrival and transfer
to the hotel - Overnight in Mykonos

Day 4 : Mykonos /Optional Delos tour
breakfast at the hotel
Optional Delos tour
Overnight in Mykonos

Day 5 : Mykonos
breakfast at the hotel
Overnight in Mykonos

Day 6 : Mykonos / Santorini

Breakfast at the hotel
Pick up for transfer to the port to catch the ferry to Santorini – arrival and transfer
To the hotel – Overnight in Santorini

Day 7 : Santorini /Optional Volcano tour
breakfast at the hotel
Optional Volcano tour
Overnight in Santorini

Day 8 : Santorini
breakfast at the hotel
Overnight in Santorini

Day 9: Santorini / Athens
breakfast at the hotel
pick up for transfer to the port to catch the ferry to Athens – arrival and transfer to
the hotel – overnight in Athens

Day 10 : Athens
Breakfast at the hotel
Pick up for departure transfer

Can you suggest on this itinerary which my travel agent has given so as to make it more interesting & include places as mentioned above keeping in mind the interests being beaches, night life, adventure sports!

Extending it to 12 to 14 days will be fine.

If your travel agent is not willing to make changes to suit your interests better, then you should try another travel agent -- like one of the 3 excellent ones I suggested. We are volunteer helpers here, we are not replacing the work of a travel agent. If you are not getting what you want from your current agent, perhaps you need to think about how you are interacting with him/her. Are you actually having a conversation (voice, not text! )with him/her about your needs? Or are you simply sending a terse e-mail giving minimal facts & expecting him/her to read your mind???

Today too many younger people, living in a digital world, prefer impersonal transactions, like a "cashpoint" or ATM machine. Insert request -- punch buttons -- receive answers. Try the human approach with your agent ... you may be surprised! Or try the other agencies ... they are in the travel business. We forum contributors are not.

I think I came across OP's"agency" early in our planning. They run a lot of "itineraries" with 2-3 islands plus Athens. Looks like they basically move people around in groups of 20, making hotel and ferry reservations. Their customers (many not from north america or northwest europe) seem satisfied with the logistics assistance assistance, hotels and value they receive but this company does not offer a guided tour except for an Athens city tour. They did not respond to my request for some tweaking of their standard 3 island package so I don't think you can work with them to get help with sightseeing or determining how much time per island. So I think the advice to inquire with one or more of the "real" travel agencies would help. One piece of advice is that you don't need to go to a lot of islands to get a good "Greek Island" experience. You can find amazing beaches, quaint villages, interesting ancient and Byzantine ruins, good restaurants, etc on any number of different islands (even though each is different)

Lex, there are many identical itineraries offered by mediocre agencies, all around the world ... I feel sorry sometimes for the unskilled travel agencies these days ... all their former sources of revenue (plane bookings etc) are gone. So they can only manage to survive by booking high-commission trips like cruises or deluxe hotels. For the mid-level trip they cannot afford to spend ANY time, so they offer these "cookie-cutter" itineraries -- involving places they have never been, and sights they have never seen.

Of course, equal responsibility goes to the prospective travelers. If they cannot be bothered to do some homework in advance, they do not know how to judge an agency. Like everything worthwhile it requires a little effort. But lex, it's futile to advise people like this to make their own discoveries... that would take planning time. They want only the guaranteed "wow" ... the famous "must-sees" so they can impress those "people who say."

Right, travelerjan, this agency offers a set of canned itineraries, no customization. But their services may be of use to those in countries like Nigeria which are often blocked (due to massive endemic fraud) from using other online booking sites. So it's at least a way of easily getting hotel and ferry bookings down, and being assured of a workable itinerary and decent lodging. But if OP needs or wants more help deciding what to do on those 2.5 days per island, or which islands to visit, he/she will need a "real" agent.

You just organise it yourself. Travel agencies outside Greece tend to just offer the same generic island hopping to apparently must see islands.

However considering your interests, then islands such as the string of Mykonos, Paros, Naxos, Ios are suitable. easily accessed by ferry from Piraeus/Athens.

As an alternative are Rhodes and Kos in the Dodecanese islands, long ferry from Piraeus or fly from Athens, ferry between the two.

Crete is so large that it is often taken separately, the main nightlife beach centre is the downmarket Malia. The island has a lot more than that to offer if you wish.

People on here try and point people, hopefully, in the right direction from their experience. It is not a travel agency service.