The route that actually works: two days in Athens doing the things most visitors rush past, the ferry to Naxos as the base island rather than Santorini, the day trip to Santorini that gives you the caldera view without the caldera accommodation price, and the hidden Cyclades island that you add at the end when you realise you want one more day of Aegean blue before the flight home.
Reading time: 11 minutes | Last updated: 2026
Seven days is the sweet spot for Greece — enough for Athens and three islands, not enough to feel you’re rushing. The mistake most first-time visitors make is starting on an island before landing in Athens, or using Santorini as the base island for the whole trip (spectacular, expensive, crowded). This itinerary fixes both.
Before You Leave — The Booking Sequence
6-8 weeks before:
- Book the Acropolis combination ticket at etickets.tap.gr — covers the Acropolis and 6 other sites, valid for 5 days. €30 / £25.87. Saves queuing.
- Book the Naxos accommodation — Naxos in July-August fills 6-8 weeks ahead. Outside peak season: 2-3 weeks is fine.
- Book the ferry Piraeus-Naxos at ferryscanner.com or seajets.gr — the fast catamaran (3.5 hours) or the overnight Blue Star (7 hours). The catamaran is the correct choice for this itinerary.
- Check the Athens Acropolis Museum for any temporary exhibitions — the permanent collection is extraordinary and free to book.
1-2 weeks before: 5. Download offline maps for Athens (Google Maps), Naxos, and the ferry terminals. 6. Book the Folegandros accommodation if adding the final island — it fills earlier than Naxos.
The Route
Athens (2 nights) → Naxos (3 nights) → Folegandros or Santorini day trip (1 night) → fly home from Athens or Santorini
Total ferry cost: approximately €40-70 / £34.48-60.35 for the circuit.
The 7 Days
DAY 1 — Arrive Athens
Afternoon: Monastiraki and the Agora
Most European flights to Athens arrive in the afternoon. From Eleftherios Venizelos Airport: Metro Line 3 (the blue line) directly to Monastiraki station. 40 minutes. €10.50 / £9.05.
Check in. Drop bags. Walk immediately to the Roman Agora (the market built under Julius Caesar and Augustus — the Tower of the Winds, the Fethiye Mosque, the Gate of Athena Archegetis) visible from the Monastiraki square. Free to view from the outside. Entry: €8 / £6.89.
The Monastiraki Flea Market (Sundays only — if arriving on Sunday, the market covers the streets around the square from 8am: the antiques, the vintage clothing, the books, the ceramics).
Evening: Dinner in Psyrri
The Psyrri neighbourhood (adjacent to Monastiraki — the creative quarter, the street art, the tavernas serving the local population alongside the tourists). The Café Avyssinia (Kynetou 7, Monastiraki Flea Market) for the mezze and the raki at the tables overlooking the market square. €25-35 / £21.55-30.17 per person.
DAY 2 — Athens: The Essential Day
7:45am — Arrive at the Acropolis Gate
The Acropolis site opens at 8am. Be at the south slope entrance (the entrance on Dionysiou Areopagitou — the pedestrian boulevard) at 7:45am. The 8am opening: the Acropolis with approximately 200 people on 4 hectares.
The route: the Theatre of Dionysus (the world’s first permanent theatre, 5th century BCE, the stone seats still largely intact) → the Odeon of Herodes Atticus (the 2nd century CE theatre still used for the Athens Festival performances in summer) → the Propylaea (the monumental gateway to the Acropolis hill) → the Erechtheion (the temple with the Caryatids — the female figures used as columns, the originals in the Acropolis Museum, the porch facing north) → the Parthenon.
The Parthenon (447-432 BCE — the temple dedicated to Athena Parthenos, built under Pericles, the finest Doric temple in the world): the architectural refinements visible up close — the columns slightly tapered and not perfectly vertical, the stylobate (the platform) slightly curved, every straight line in the building deliberately curved to correct for optical illusion. The building appears straight because it isn’t.
By 10am: the tour groups arrive. Leave before 10am.
10:30am — The Acropolis Museum
The New Acropolis Museum (Dionysiou Areopagitou 15 — designed by Bernard Tschumi, opened 2009, built directly above the archaeological excavation visible through the glass floor of the entrance): the finest museum in Greece.
The Parthenon Gallery (the top floor): the surviving sculptures of the Parthenon frieze displayed in their original orientation, the building’s exterior programme reconstructed at the correct scale. The gaps where the British Museum holds the Elgin Marbles are marked with plaster casts — the most politically charged museum space in Europe and the most effective argument for the marbles’ return.
Entry: €15 / £12.93.
1:00pm — Lunch in Monastiraki
The To Steki tou Ilia (Eptachalkou 5, Thissio — 5 minutes walk from the Acropolis Museum): the lamb chops grilled over charcoal at the oldest grill taverna in Athens. The chops: €18-24 / £15.52-20.69 per portion. Order two and the Greek salad.
3:00pm — The Ancient Agora
The Ancient Agora (the civic centre of ancient Athens — the place where Socrates taught, where democracy was invented, where the Athenian citizens voted using pottery shards, the ostraka — hence “ostracism”): the Temple of Hephaestus (the best-preserved ancient Greek temple in the world — better preserved than the Parthenon, because it was used as a Christian church from the 7th century CE and therefore maintained rather than quarried for building material), and the Stoa of Attalos (the reconstructed 2nd century BCE colonnaded building, now housing the Agora Museum). Entry: €10 / £8.62 (included in the combination ticket).
5:00pm — Kerameikos
The Kerameikos Cemetery (Ermou 148 — the ancient Athenian cemetery and the neighbourhood of the potters, the most atmospheric site in Athens and the least visited): the Sacred Gate (the starting point of the Panathenaic Way procession), the Dipylon Gate (the main city gate of ancient Athens), and the grave stelae (the marble tombstone reliefs of the 4th century BCE — the finest examples of Greek funerary sculpture, the specificity of the individual portraits). Entry: €8 / £6.89 (combination ticket).
Almost always quiet. Go after 4pm when the guided tour groups have departed.
Evening: Dinner in Koukaki
The Koukaki neighbourhood (south of the Acropolis, the residential area that has become the best neighbourhood for food and natural wine in Athens):
Manas Kouzina Kouzina (Erechtheiou 27 — the modern Greek taverna, the seasonal mezze, the dakos, the grilled octopus): €30-40 / £25.87-34.48 per person. The neighbourhood at 9pm: the Athenians eating, the tables outside, the Acropolis visible above the roofline.
DAY 3 — Ferry to Naxos
Morning: Departure from Piraeus
Metro Line 1 (the green line) from Monastiraki to Piraeus: 20 minutes. €1.40 / £1.21. The ferry terminal: Gate E9 for the Cyclades fast ferries (Seajets, Goldstar — the catamarans). Gate E2 for the Blue Star overnight ferries.
The fast catamaran Piraeus-Naxos: 3.5 hours. Approximately €45-60 / £38.79-51.72 one way. Departs multiple times daily in summer — the 8am or 9am departure arrives in Naxos by noon.
The ferry advice: buy the ferry ticket online the day before (the on-the-day price is higher), arrive at the terminal 30 minutes before departure (the ferries leave on time), and take the deck in good weather (the Aegean view from the exterior deck is the specific Greek island ferry experience).
Afternoon: Naxos Arrival
The Portara — the marble doorway of the unfinished 6th-century BCE Temple of Apollo, standing on the Palatia islet at the harbour entrance, connected to the Naxos waterfront by a causeway. The most dramatic ancient monument accessible on foot in the Cyclades. Free. Walk to it from the ferry terminal.
The Naxos Town (the Chora) — the medieval Castro district above the harbour: the Venetian towers, the Catholic Cathedral, the Archaeological Museum of Naxos (the finest Cycladic art collection outside Athens: the marble figurines of the Cycladic period, 3200-2000 BCE, the abstract simplicity that influenced Picasso and Brancusi). Entry: €6 / £5.17.
Evening: Agios Prokopios Beach
The beach 4km south of Naxos Town (accessible by bus from the harbour: €1.80 / £1.55 every 30 minutes in summer) — the finest beach on the island, the Blue Flag status, the specific Cycladic beach. The sunset from Agios Prokopios.
Where to stay in Naxos: The Grotta Hotel (the most consistent value, the view over the harbour, 10 minutes walk to the Portara: €60-90 / £51.72-77.59 per night), the Studio Heleni (the self-catering studios with kitchen, the sea view: €50-75 / £43.10-64.66 per night).
DAY 4 — Naxos: The Island Interior
Morning: the Marble Villages
The Tragea Valley — the marble villages of the Naxos interior, accessible by bus from the Naxos Town bus station or by hire motorbike (€20-25 / £17.24-21.55 per day from the harbour area):
Halki (the village at the valley’s centre, the former capital of Naxos, the 17th-century Venetian tower, the Byzantine Church of Panagia Protothroni with the 13th-century frescoes), Filoti (the largest village in the interior, the kafeneion with the view over the valley, the starting point for the Mount Zas hike), and Apiranthos (the marble-paved village, the local museum of the Cycladic history, the specific northern Aegean character of a Naxos village without the coast).
Afternoon: Mount Zas
The hike to the Zas summit (1,001 metres — the highest peak in the Cyclades, the 3-hour return from Filoti): the view from the summit over the full Cyclades island chain, the Aegean in every direction, the Paros and Ios and Santorini visible on a clear day.
Evening: Naxos Town
Dinner at the Meze2 (Harbour waterfront) for the Naxos-specific specialties: the Naxos graviera cheese (the semi-hard sheep’s milk cheese, specific to the island, the finest cheese in the Cyclades), the Naxos potatoes (the famous local potato, specific flavour from the volcanic soil), the fresh fish from the morning market. €25-35 / £21.55-30.17 per person.
DAY 5 — Santorini Day Trip
Morning: Fast Ferry to Santorini
The Naxos-Santorini fast ferry (Seajets, 2-2.5 hours, €25-40 / £21.55-34.48 one way). Depart Naxos 8am, arrive Santorini Athinios port 10:30am. Return 5pm or 6pm.
The Santorini day trip from Naxos is the BGGD solution to the Santorini accommodation cost problem: you see the caldera, the Oia sunset view, and the Assyrtiko wine without paying the £150-300/night Santorini accommodation premium.
Day in Santorini:
The cable car from Athinios to Fira (the main town on the caldera rim): €6 / £5.17. Or the donkeys (€5 / £4.31, ethically contested — the donkeys carry visitors on steep steps repeatedly). The cable car is the correct choice.
Fira to Oia (the 10km caldera walk — the most celebrated walk in the Cyclades, 3-4 hours, the path along the caldera rim with the Aegean visible on both sides): walk in the morning before the afternoon heat.
The Assyrtiko wine tasting: the Santo Wines Winery (Pyrgos village, accessible by bus from Fira) or the Domaine Sigalas (Oia area, the most celebrated single producer). Entry to most Santorini tastings: €12-18 / £10.34-15.52 for 3-5 wines and the view.
Return ferry to Naxos: depart 5pm or 6pm, arrive 7:30pm.
DAY 6 — Naxos to Folegandros (or Rest Day)
Option A: Add Folegandros
The Naxos-Folegandros ferry (1.5-2 hours, €20-30 / £17.24-25.86). Check in to the Folegandros Hora (the clifftop village — the most intact Cycladic village still functioning as a village). The afternoon: the Hora walk, the cliff edge path to the Panagia Church above the sea, the swimming at Angali Beach (30 minutes walk from the Hora). One night in Folegandros.
Option B: Naxos rest day
The 12km connected beach walk (Agios Prokopios → Agia Anna → Plaka → the 12km of sand, the most complete beach experience in the Cyclades). The Byzantine frescoes at the Panagia Drossiani church (the 6th-century frescoes, the oldest in the Cyclades, in the cave church near Moni village — key held by the church warden: €2 / £1.72). A slower final island day.
DAY 7 — Return to Athens, Fly Home
Morning: Ferry to Piraeus
The Naxos-Piraeus overnight Blue Star (7 hours, the cabin recommended for the overnight crossing: €35-50 / £30.17-43.10 per cabin berth on top of the deck ticket) departing 9pm the previous evening, arriving Piraeus 4-5am.
Or: The morning fast ferry (Naxos to Piraeus, 4.5 hours, arriving midday) leaving the afternoon free in Athens before an evening or overnight flight.
Athens Airport option: If the flight is from Athens, the Metro from Piraeus to the airport (Line 1 to Monastiraki, transfer to Line 3 to the airport): 55 minutes total, €10.50 / £9.05.
Or fly from Santorini: The fast ferry from Naxos to Santorini (2 hours), then fly home from JTR. Ryanair, easyJet, and Aegean operate Santorini to UK airports in summer.
What It Costs
| Category | Budget | Mid-Range |
|---|---|---|
| Return flights (UK-Athens, open jaw Athens-Santorini) | £60-150 | £80-200 |
| 7 nights accommodation | £280-490 | £490-840 |
| Ferries (full circuit) | £90-140 | £110-180 |
| Food (7 days) | £130-210 | £250-420 |
| Site entries (Athens 5-day combo + islands) | £50-75 | £60-90 |
| Total | £610-1,065 | £990-1,730 |
The Key Decisions
Why Naxos not Santorini as base: Naxos costs 40-60% less per night than Santorini for equivalent accommodation. Naxos has the longest beach in the Cyclades and the highest mountain. The Santorini caldera view is achievable as a day trip. The Santorini caldera is not worth 3 nights at £200/night when Naxos exists.
Why not Mykonos: Mykonos in July-August is expensive, loud, and crowded without the compensating beauty of Santorini’s caldera or the substance of Naxos’s interior. This itinerary omits it deliberately. Add it if the nightlife is the specific goal.
The Greek island ferry rule: Book ferries online the day before, not the day of. Book accommodation first, then the ferry between it. Never miss the stated departure time — Greek ferries leave on time.
