Luxury Greek Islands Cruise Itinerary
Day 1 – Athens (Pireaus)
A city of legend, civilization and enduring culture, Athens is a majestic and magical urban sprawl. Extraordinary elegance and grace combine with grit and graft in Greece’s capital, where highways encase ruins from antiquity, and gleaming museums and galleries stand beside concrete sprayed with edgy street art.
Day 2 – Paros, Greece
Paros is the Cyclades island that rewards the traveler who has grown impatient with superlatives. Less celebrated than Santorini, less fashionable than Mykonos, it offers the Greece both of those islands used to be: a port of bobbing fishing boats and bougainvillea-framed lanes, beaches of exceptional quality, and a pace of life not recalibrated for external consumption. The Panagia Ekatontapyliani, the Church of a Hundred Doors, is one of the oldest and most beautiful in Greece. Paros repays every hour given to it.
Day 3 – Souda Bay (Crete), Greece
Souda Bay is one of the largest and deepest natural harbors in the Mediterranean, its dramatic entrance flanked by hills and the fortified island of Souda. The bay holds a NATO base and the Souda Allied War Cemetery, where soldiers of the 1941 Battle of Crete are buried with quiet dignity. Chania, twenty minutes away, is Crete’s most beautiful city, its Venetian harbor, covered market, and Ottoman-era streets offering an afternoon of exceptional quality. Souda Bay is an entrance worthy of the island it serves.
Day 4 – Gythion, Greece
Gythion is a small harbor town at the southern edge of the Peloponnese, its neoclassical houses climbing the slopes of Mount Kourmaros above a quayside of fishing boats and waterfront tavernas. The town claims Hercules and Apollo as its mythological founders; nearby Marathonissi, the ancient island of Cranae, is where Paris and Helen of Troy are said to have spent their first night together. The ancient theater, the archaeological museum, and the beaches of the Mani coast are all within easy reach. Gythion is an unpretentious Greek port that rewards a quiet morning ashore.
Day 5 – Milos, Nisos Melos, Greece
Milos is the most geologically theatrical island in the Cyclades, its coastline shaped by volcanic forces into colored cliffs, sea caves, and the famous multicolored fishing village of Klima, boats moored directly below boathouses painted in every warm shade. The Venus de Milo was discovered here in 1820, now in the Louvre; the island’s museum holds the cast. The beaches, Sarakiniko’s lunar white pumice, Tsigrado’s hidden cove, Firiplaka’s golden sand, are among the most varied and beautiful in Greece.
Day 6 – Kusadasi, Turkey
Explore the towering columns, and storied remains of Ephesus – one of the most spectacular cities left by the Ancient Greeks. Kusadasi welcomes you to the Turkish coastline and is your base for exploring these majestic remains, which sit just 10 miles inland from the port. The Ephesus UNESCO World Heritage Site is a true archaeological gold mine, and an amazingly well-preserved site – once home to 150,000 people.
Day 7 – Mykonos, Greece
Indulge in idyllic island life, as you take your fill of superb foods and wines, and soak in endless views of sweeping turquoise seascapes and pretty whitewash buildings. Known for its lively nightlife and rejuvenating, carefree outlook, Mykonos is a dazzlingly beautiful island escape.
Day 8 – Athens (Piraeus)
Return to Athens and disembark the ship, transfer back to the airport for your flight home
