Greece and Italy would be a great trip. There are numerous ferries (overnight, so you don’t “lose a day” to travel) plus flights. Just remember that any flight will kill the better part of a day with getting to/from airports, check-in time, security time and actual flight time. Getting around Greece (IMO, what you really want to see and do is on the Islands, not in and around Athens) takes some logistical planning but there is frequent fast ferry service in the summer. I think it would be hard to comfortably cover Italy and Greece in two weeks, but you should be able to do it in three. Pick a couple of islands and “go for it.”

This was one of my favorite trips. Ours was a two and a half week trip, and we spent more time in Greece because we’d already been to Italy before. Oldlady offers good advice.

i’m doing greece + italy this summer too!
fly into athens, spend a couple days there then check out the islands Mykonos, Santorini, and Ios (a notorious party island) for 3-4 days each. Then it’s pretty easy to fly to Rome from Athens for about 100euros (Olympic and Aegean airlines) otherwise you can take an overnight ferry and then catch a train in italy but that would be more complicated (finding which port to leave from and how to get to the italian train station) and costs as much if not more than a flight.
I havent been to greece before but I have been researching it all day actually!
i’ve been to italy many times and here are some ideas:
2 days in Rome is enough, its kind of big so buying a subway-pass for the day is a good idea. Definitely do the “spanish-steps-pub crawl”, they have a website to let you know the details.
Other places in Italy worth checking out are: Florence (1-2 days is enough.. check out the leather markets), the Cinque Terre (5 small towns on the north-west coast of italy, by La Spezia.. I walked the 5 towns in 1 day but 2 may be more laid back.. I suggest staying in Monterosso since its the biggest town), Lake Como, Venice (it is actually so busy in the summer time that its not as nice, but still.. its venice!) and Rimini (a city on the east coast of the adriatic known by all europeans as the party town in Italy. there are so many hotels and it is pretty customary in italy if youre staying at a family-run hotel for them to serve you 3 home-cooked meals/day that you’re staying) its also very close to San Marino, which is a beautiful place for a day trip.

the italian train website is www.trenitalia.it , you can check schedules & prices. the cheapest train is the R and the most expensive being ES and ICplus

Dbars, In my opinion, Athens could be done in a day, two at the most. Spend more time at the islands. Look at your flight arrival times and see if you can fly into Athens and jump on a ferry or flight to the islands. Stay in Athens on your return. Look at your return flight and your ferry arrival times in Athens. I have also seen posts here that say to look at flying from Athens to your furthest island and work backwards by ferry to Athens or visa-versa. Watch out for sketchy men coming up to you and asking “where you from”? or “What time is it”? even though they are wearing a watch. Con artists. They want you to join them at a bar for a drink and you get ripped off. Just ignore them and keep moving.

Thanks for all the advice! We have booked our flight. We are flying into Venice on August 15th and flying out of Athens on September 2nd! This is our tentative itinerary so far.
Day 1-2 Venice. Travel to Florence.
Day 3-4 Florence. Day trip to Siena. Travel to Rome.
Day 5-8 Rome. Travel to Naples.
Day 9-10 Naples. Day trip to Pompeii. Travel to Bari. Overnight ferry to Greece.
Day 11-12 Travel to Athens. Athens.
Day 13 – 16 Island hopping, Santorini, Ios, and Mykonos.
Day 17 Travel back to Athens.
Day 18 – Flight home.

Is this to much? Or is there more we can squeeze in, or things we can cut out?
If anyone knows of any good websites for booking hostels in these areas, or good hostels you’ve stayed at, that would be helpful as well!

i agree with what Packer suggested (thanks btw), when you arrive in athens (which ferry line did you find that gets you from bari -> athens? id be interested in that maybe) catch a ferry immediately to the islands and spend your time in athens the day before your flight since athens can be done in a day or less. i’d suggest even taking 1 day away from rome to add to the islands.. you probably wont want to leave

Yes, as I’ve written before, the commute from Naples (or Rome) to Athens will be very long. It’s a mistake many people make to go staight to Athens without breaking up that commute. You’re bypassing highly worthwhile areas.

In addition to that, I wouldn’t say your itinerary is overambitious (although it is very busy_ ) but you need to redistribute the days a bit.

I kind of like the Italy leg of your journey. But I would take a day, maybe even two days away from Rome, and distribute them to the rest of your trip. Maybe add a day to Tuscany and/or another to Campania (the region where Naples is).

I don’t like the Greece leg of your journey. You’re doing this long 2-day commute from Italy all the way to Athens, bypassing great places along the way, only to concentrate the entire Greece leg of your trip to a single region (Cyclades). Don’t expect much of a regional/scenery/architectural difference between Ios and Mykonos, and 3 days to island hop at least 3 islands is not as logistically feasible as you might be thinking. If traveling every other day (on average) during your Italy leg is enough, traveling everyday in Greece leg won’t be worth it.

Here’s my recommended itinerary:

• Day 1-2 Venice.
• Day 3 Depart Venezia Santa Lucia in the morning (around 6 or 7am), arrive in Florence 3 hours later. check in to hostel. take daytrip to Siena
• Day 4 full day in Florence
• Day 5 either depart Florence at midnight and arrive in Rome about 5 hours later (little sleep), or preferably depart Florence at 6 or 7am and arrive in Rome 2 hours later. check into hostel. don’t do too much sightseeing in afternoon (reserve most sights for following morning). Ideal for the afternoon would be the Vatican and Vatican museums if you’re all checked into the hostel and have time. Go for a leisurely stroll at night, explore Piazza Navona, Piazza di Spagna, etc (maybe try that pub crawl someone suggest earlier, but go to bed early if you want to sightsee the next morning).
• Day 6 sightsee in the morning until noon. relax in the afternoon or visit the Vatican if you didn’t have a chance to the prior day.
• Day 7 again, you can depart Rome close to midnight and arrive in Naples 5 or 6 hours later, or leave early morning and arrive in Naples about 1.5 to 2 hours later. Check into hostel, and then either check out Naples, or take a quick trip to Pompeii (half hour away by train), and then do a stroll in Naples in the evening.
• Day 8 full day in Campania. If you didn’t have the chance to go to Pompeii the prior day, then take your trip to Pompeii today. One option is you can do is to make this an entire day dedicated to Greco-Roman archaelogical sites. So, in additional to ancient Pompeii and Herculaneum, you can also check out Paestum, an hour away from Pompeii. If you already visited Pompeii the prior day, you can check out Capri or Positano for a day; you can get there by hydrofoil www.metrodelmare.com (coordinate the times and which lines you’ll take)
• Day 9 I would say don’t bother with an overnight train to Bari. Depart Naples in the morning for Bari. Arrive in Bari in the morning or early afternoon. Book a ferry for Corfu that leaves in the evening (after 5pm), and spend the afternoon checking out Bari’s old quarter.
• Day 10 arrive in Corfu early morning, check in to hostel. One hostel that’s been getting great reviews is the Sunrock, which is supposed to be a cool backpacker’s hangout. Then there’s the notorious Pink Palace, where college-age North Americans go for a cheesy frat-like atmosphere. The Pink Palace isn’t that bad, though, if you get a private room and stay away from their parties. Both of these hostels are located in stunning locations outside Corfu Town, and you will be greeted by their staff members and shuttle buses at the port. But definitely make an effort to visit Corfu Town by using the island’s public buses (part of the nation-wide KTEL network of intercity buses) or the hostel’s shuttle. If you want to stay in Corfu Town after the last bus has left to go back to the hostel, you can always take a cab back.
• Day 11 spend the afternoon relaxing on the beach, then take overnight bus to Athens. KTEL operates at least one daily overnight bus (leaves around 7pm from Corfu Town intercity bus station). If you stay at the Pink Palace, this hostel has its own overnight bus to Athens on alternating days. Another option would be to fly to Athens, if you find a seat last minute, and it fits your budget (it shouldn’t cost too much). Total flying time is less than an hour I believe.
• Day 12 arrive Athens, check into hostel. Spend late afternoon and evening checking out Athens’ old quarter: Plaka, Monastiraki, Thissio, and the gentrified Gazi and Psirri district at night.
• Day 13 morning sightseeing (Acropolis, Agora, roman Forum, etc), then catch ferry to Santorini, one that leaves in the evening. You will arrive in Santorini around midnight, check into hotel (stay in Firá).
• Day 14 full day in Santoríni
• Day 15 leave for Mykonos or Ios in the late morning, arrive early afternoon, check into hostel/hotel
• Day 16 full day in Mykonos or Ios
• Day 17 travel back to Athens
• Day 18 fly home

Thats very helpful! Lots of places we never thought to go! Thank you!
After I wrote that comment we thought of maybe flying from Naples or Rome right to Athens but that would mean missing Bari, Corfu, etc. but would potentially give us more time elsewhere, what do you think about that?

You could do that too, but I think that visiting Greece’s west coast [even if it’s only Corfu] will give you a bit more of a balanced Greece itinerary, instead of concentrating in one region (the Cyclades), and likewise, Puglia (the region of Italy where Bari is located) is overlooked by North Americans (same goes for Greece’s Ionian coast). The Cyclades are wonderful, but you’ve seen one Cycladic Island, you’ve pretty much seen them all (with the exceptions of Santorini and Syros which are more unique), but the rest of the island chain is the same: same architecture, same landscape. So, stopping by an Ionian Island will give you a taste of Greece’s regional differences. Just because you haven’t heard of it, doesn’t mean it’s not worth visiting; it’s very well known to Europeans, but not very well known outside Europe.

Flying from Naples to Athens will “save” some time, but then you need to fill that time up elsewhere. Greece’s Ionian Coast/Islands are well worth visiting, and you’ll might as well spend this “extra time” here, in my opinion.

If you haven’t already noticed, the itinerary I gave you is one-day short of the actual total time you’re going to be in Italy/Greece, leaving you with one extra day. I was debating where I should suggest you spend that extra day. I was considering the following options:

• Spend an extra day in Florence, and use that entire day as a day trip to La Spezia, if you’re willing to take the 2-hour train commute each way (I think it’s worth it).
• Stay overnight in Bari. On your second day, take a quick trip and explore a nearby town, like Monopoli, before heading back to Bari to catch your evening ferry for Corfu. Puglia region is too often overlooked by backpackers.
• Spend an extra day in Corfu, and either rent a car and drive around the island, or take a day trip to the neighboring island of Paxi (sometimes referred to as Paxos in English) one-hour each way by ferry, although time tables are not always daytrip-friendly, so inquire when you’re there. (There’s also “water taxis”, but I’m not too familiar with how these work, and how much they cost).

I think your trip it’s already planned… and i really hope you planned it for Italy and France. Easy to travel from a country to another and wonderful places to visit. Definitely worth seeing! They might not be as cheap as Greece or Spain…

Greece and Spain have gotten expensive over the past decade.