Greece Travel Review: Athens, Crete, Santorini, History, Local Cuisine, Cooking Class, Sunset Cruise, Acropolis, 8-Day Trip

When planning an 8-day Greek vacation, I communicated with Dimitrios during the process and he was very knowledgeable and prompt.  My friend and I were seeking a vacation with culture, food, beach, and free time to roam.  He listened thoughtfully and crafted an itinerary draft in 2 days for our review.  Our itinerary achieved this balance with time spent in Crete, Santorini, and Athens.  

Since we only had 8 days on the trip, I knew we couldn’t visit every single island and choosing our destinations and time spent there was vital.  I was not very familiar with Crete and when I asked Dimitrios on why he had recommended this in the plan versus choosing Mykonos (which is what most travel packages include), he explained that Crete is the root of many facets of Greek culture and tradition.  Given the short amount of time we had, it would offer us a glimpse of more traditional Greek culture and history that we would not find in our other  destinations.  Of course, he did say he could switch it for Mykonos if my friend and I wanted, but I was impressed by his reasoning and I’m glad we stuck with Crete. 

Once the trip was planned, we were also in touch with Effie about the final details.  She provided us useful general information prior to the trip such as tipping culture, tap water safety, etc.  Upon our arrival, she met us at the airport and also gave us a welcome present from the company.  Afterwards, we were in frequent communication through WhatsApp during the trip.  She said that we could reach out 24 hours/day and i can verify that this was true because I had sent a very late message at 1 am  and received a message a few minutes afterward.  The communication is prompt and the team was great with confirming the plans of the day and also providing restaurant recommendations.  Transportation was on time and seamless.  

The accommodations were beautiful and well-chosen.  The activities and excursions we had were interesting and unique with a good balance of history, mythology, food, wine, and architecture. Thank you to the entire team at the travel agency and the guides/drivers!