Greek Island Hopping

this trip was so unbelievably awesome, from the people on the tour, the tour manager, the weather, views, amount of time spent in each place, hotels and the nightlife and food and beaches. everything was better then i could have imagined. i would do this tour again in a heartbeat. already planning my next contiki!

Best experience of my life and I would do it again in a heart beat! I met so many wonderful people who have become life long friends. I went solo and realised there is nothing wrong with doing things on your own! it only makes you stronger and more independent. The greek isalnds were one of the most beautiful and culturally blessed places I have visited. A must trip for anyone who just needs to get away and have a good time! The group leader was so much FUN! MJ would party till dawn with us and still be able to get up early the next day and teach us about Greece. the accomodation was beautiful especially Mykonos! you must visit the restaurant Taverna! the most beautiful scenery! the night life was amazing! Crazy and wild! I would recommend this trip to anyone - couples, singles and groups of friends. the tour has everything! whether you want a relaxing holiday or a crazy trip you can have both! GREEK ISLANDS 2012! OPEN YOUR MIND!

Courtney is the best tour manager EVER and you seriously have to do this tour. it was the best time of my life by far!

This was one of the best things I have ever done, met the most craziest group of people and travelled some of the most beautiful places in the world. ONE WORD: PARADISE BEACH. one of the best days of my life! mykonos and iOS nightlife is crazy, especially the first night in mykonos the bar crawl will leave you with a sore head the next day! tour guides were brilliant, knew so much, very informative and VERY crazy! santorini was beautiful, unfortunately i was unwell but i have been unwell in worse places to say the least! This tour was more that was I was expecting, if you want to travel, eat amazing food, meet crazy people while partying in the most beautiful places in the world this is the tour for you!!

This tour was absolutely fabulous! I had the most fun! It was quite a large group 66 people including 2 tour managers, but was still incredible despite the size. Athens, the first stop, a bit boring but it's good to see. The plaka dinner option is good for only one reason the dancing, food quality was not the best at all, if you're on a budget I wouldn't recommend this optional! Next stop Mykonos. Ah Mykonos what a place!! It was incredible, all the extras are worth while here! Hotel here is amazing an if you're hungry the tavern next to the beach across from the hotel is supper supper delicious!! Get most of your shopping done in Mykonos, there is so much there and the biggest variety you will find. Santorini is after Mykonos, Santorini is supposed to be the quiet time between party raging islands Mykonos and Ios. Haha this is not so. Santorini has just as many cool places to party. I didn't do the volcano extra, couldn't walk that day due to injury but heard the view was nice but it was a bit pointless. The Santorini day tour is pretty cool, the wine tasting is so boring but the rest of the day is good. If your not up for it you can just as easily do it yourself by hiring quads or scooters! Perissa beach is awesome and the red beach is really funky to see. Ios is the last island stop. The 'far out spa' is a great place to stay, ladies I totally recommend booking yourselves in for a massage, the cleopatra was amazing! Amazing views from the hotel the only bitch about it is ALL the stairs!! Ios is party central! Definitely do the water sports and the boat tour!! This tour was incredible, you can make it as busy or relaxed as you like which was great! The best destinations, although I would spend less time in Athens and more time on the islands, my only bad thing to say about the tour. I would give it a 10/10 I can not reccomend it enough!

The three islands provide everything you'd want: fun all-night raves, quiet restaurants with caldera views, hiking and sailing adventures with your group, and unique experiences. The more laid-back atmosphere of the trip lets you explore the islands on your own and even have the time to take trips to other islands in your free time.

I had the best time of my entire life on this Contiki Tour - I HIGHLY recommend this trip. This was my first Contiki trip, and it will not be my last. This tour provides the best of everything: lots of time with the tour guides, who will wake up early to provide amazing information on the cities and landmarks in the wildly ancient city of Athens and islands in Greece and still come out to party with you late into the night; amazing relaxation on the beautiful beaches on the islands and gorgeous pools at the hotel; incredible excursions and ME time optionals that you must absolutely choose to do (don't miss even one!); such an exciting nightlife; and friendships that will last a LIFETIME. The tour guides MJ and Stacey were so much fun, and so kind. They really listened to all of us, considered our interests and feelings along the way, and tried to provide the best of the best in entertainment, food, and nightlife all along the way. Best advice that I can give: fully enjoy the party scene (especially in the islands) at night, but DO NOT miss the excursions the next day simply because you are too tired or too hungover to wake up. Some of the best excursion days were the ones that occurred the morning after an extremely long night of partying. The volcano hike and donkey riding in Santorini, for example. Don't miss it! Enjoy every second of the trip, enjoy the long lasting friendships that you make, take advantage of the free time by relaxing by the pool or shopping in the towns, eat all the local cuisine you can, take quick catnaps whenever you can in order to make the most of the pub crawls at night, while still waking up the next day to enjoy the excursions. The only unfortunate thing was that there are a lot of additional costs for these optional excursions. Almost every special thing we did was "optional", but if you missed them, you'd really miss a lot of the bonding time and wonderful memories of the trip. Factor all of these costs in when deciding to book this trip. You should partake in all of them, but they are an additional cost that the tour guides will ask you for on the first couple of days of your trip. Be prepared to pay for them then. There are a few ferry rides, and most of them aren't too long or rough, and that is really the only major transportation you will use on this trip. A great thing is that you will not spend most of your time on a bus, like a lot of other tours. We really only took a coach bus to get us to and from some restaurants, or to and from the ferry and the hotels. You will walk lots (probably no need for heels, ladies!) so you'll get to experience the culture and excitement of the cities and islands firsthand, every step of the way. All in all, you won't sleep, you'll eat way too much, you'll party LOTS, and you will actually have the most amazing time of your life. Why haven't you booked yet?!

This was truly one of the best trips of my life. I met some of the most amazing people along with seeing one of the most beautiful and historic places in the world. Each island had it's own history and culture and spending 3 days in each place was perfect. If I could do this tour over the only thing i would change is bringing my own pillow but besides that each location was perfect, our tour manager Ed was beyond amazing and I highly recommend this if you are travelling solo or for your first time.

I had never travelled solo before. Hence, I was very iffy about taking this trip. I mean.. a new country, that is going through a financial crisis, and to top it all, I didn't know the language.. it was very nerve-wracking. But, I have to say that it was one of the best trips of my life. Greece was a dream, and I ended up booking one week before I left. I had an amazing tour manager, and the rest of the group was great as well. Greece is so beautiful. I didn't want it to end. I was crying during the last two days, wishing we could go to atleast one more island. Anyways, I do hope to go back and I recommend this trip to everyone! Don't even think about it.. just do it! You will not regret it!

Contiki provided a fun, well organized environment with a wonderful mixture of sun, great people and insight to Greek life. Greece is a beautiful group of islands and Contiki allowed me to see the uniqueness of each island. The will never forget the memories and friends I created there. It a great way to see a foreign place without too much worry about safety and navigation. I had a BLAST!

I had a great time at the Three Islands and Athens of course. Everyone including the tour guide friendly and social.

Wow, what a trip! 13 days were definitely not enough, but I still had the best time of my life! From the beautiful calm crystal clear waters in Mykonos, to the breathtaking views at the highest point in Santorini, to the extreme party life in Ios. There really is something for everyone on this tour, no matter what you fancy. You can go as hard as you like and party all the time, or sit back, relax and enjoy some delicious traditional food and the stunning landscapes of the islands. Our group was absolutely amazing and our your guide, Ed was just as great! I traveled solo on this trip and I'm so glad that I did, I met so many amazing people and have made some lifelong friends. Unfortunately in our last days in Ios my bag, phone, wallet and camera were lost/stolen. My group was so good though, everyone was so helpful and I am so thankful for that. Honestly, you become like a family with these people who were once strangers! My highlights of the tour would have to be the Beach Party at Paradise Beach (its even more awesome if you go back at night, thats when the real"party" starts), a day tour we did in Santorini - visiting the winery (all you wine lovers - this one is a must!) and definitely all the club/pub crawls in Ios - head to the fun pub, you'll have a ball! Apologies for the story long review but I really cant recommend this tour enough, if your thinking about doing it, even if you aren't, just DO IT! You wont regret it, I promise! :)

I did Contiki Island Hopping in 2014 in May/June. I think it was the perfect time to go, the things you see are perfect and the amount of time on each island is what initially appealed to me and it was totally worth it ! Beach, Sun, Partys, Friends.. It was a ball!

This was my first Contiki by myself (from being on two prior to this one with a friend of mine) and I was super nervous to meet people and be on my own since I'm only 19, but I had the time of my life in a beautiful country that I have dreamed off going to my whole life. First things first I wanna give a huge thank you to my Tour Manager Ms. Courtney Dailey! The best tour manager I've ever had who made me so feel so comfortable and not home sick at all. She always gave great recommendations on what to do in each place we were at and great local food to try in the area! She always made sure that each one of us enjoyed the trip as much as we could possibly do! So Courtney is you read this! Thank you so much for allowing me to have the time of my life and hope to see you again! Greek Island Hopping gives a mix of both - the history and the party! I had so much fun in Greece with seeing all the history and enjoying the awesome night life. Honestly I would suggest this Contiki for anyone cause it allows you to see all that you need to see in Greece! No Regrets!

The trip is great and pretty well balanced between sight-seeing and parting but what they dont tell you in the information sheet is how quickly the Greek islands' nightlife dies as soon as September starts. So if you want a more party packed holiday then make sure your entire trip is before the end of August. However if you want a more relaxed and chilled holiday with slight partying then go early September - the weather is still great, the beaches are less crowded and it is more chilled. Santorini (the 2nd island of this trip) is absolutely amazing so seeing it will make the trip worth it at almost any time.

I feel like this tour is missing a honest review from someone who has done other Contiki tours in the past. I was really disappointed and will no longer be calling this a tour but rather a trip for the rest of the review and that will be explained later. Athens: A interesting city but unfortunately you don't have enough time there to actually do to much other than go on a quick "optional" tour. This is a trip and not a tour as Contiki is not allowed by Greek laws to give you a tour, they actually have to hire someone to do it and unlike all other Contiki tours I've taken it isn't free, this is considered an optional event. The optional tour quickly stops off at 3 locations and very little information on history and historical relevance is given, i had more information in my travel book that i luckily brought with me. The hotel in Athens is nice and the staff there are very friendly. It has an excellent location across the street from the beach and there is a roof top bar/pool. The first 2 days is where you really start to get to know people on the tour and make friendships. Do not do the optional dinner the second night, i luckily didn't and everyone who did wished they hadn't. Mykonos: When i booked the tour the website boasted about a exclusive contiki beach hotel i would be staying at, in fact my itinerary when i received it in the mail even showed my reservation at this hotel. Upon my arrive in Athens at the first night meeting it was explained that Contiki had "over booked the tour" and we would not all be staying at that hotel as we would be divided up into 2 groups. Unfortunately I had bonded with quite a few people from the other group. You jump on a ferry which is quite large and comfortable, bring a snack as i found the food on the ferry limited, definitely do not drink the coffee, its vile. Our hotel in Mykonos was the Rhia which is according to Contiki "walking distance" from the famous beach hotel the other half of the group was staying. In reality according to google maps it is a 2 hour walk through dangerous roads. The hotel had a small pool and the rooms were little cottages. Internet was VERY VERY spotty and would come and go faster than the wind. The hotel staff were very friendly. The beach is not close so live it up in the hotel pool. Mykonos in general was a cool place to see, there is a huge party scene but with the location of the hotel it is not within safe walking distance (one of the guys on my tour decided to make the walk late night and fell into the rocks and needed stitches). Some people rented quads which Contiki suggested we didn't, i really wish i would have, then i could have actually enjoyed the island without having to pay a relative fortune to Contiki for a bus ride into the town. Taxis are non existent for the most part so if you are going to make your own trek during the day catch the bus. I had a friend who had booked this same trip 2 weeks later and so i advised her of the hotel switch, she called to check to see if she would be at the beach hotel or not and was told they would never swap hotels. This made me think it was a honest oversell… i was wrong, when she arrived in Athens she was told she was going to be staying at the Rhia. I took my photo of the windmills and did the optional tour which was somewhat informative, i feel this tour was worth the money as she explained a lot about the culture other than that I could have done without Mykonos. Oh also girls BE EXTREMELY CAREFUL here, we went to the beach day party and girls were getting assaulted everywhere. There were some very scary stories of narrow escapes. Stay with the group, don't venture off with people you just met, especially locals and you'll be fine. Santorini: This is an amazing island! Very beautiful and very romantic. The hotel was centrally located and easy to walk to many sights and shops. We were reunited with the other half of the group which was nice. The hotel was very very roomy but small beds. Some people complained about the showers but i found them good. Large pool in the middle of the hotel. The island is quite large and a quad would have made exploring much easier but after so many people had gotten injured drinking and quadding in mykonos i decided not to, especially seeing how there was a lot within walking distance. Despite what our tour manager told us there is quite a lot of ruins and cultural things to see on this island, i recommend researching it before you go as i missed seeing some pretty important ruins on the island only to see a documentary about them on tv when i got home and no I'm not talking about Akrotiri. I did the optional tour and it was money well spent as i did learn some things and got to see a lot of the island. I unfortunately signed up for the sun downer optional… total scam, just take a cab to the other side of the island with some of your new friends and sit in the same free patio for exactly that… FREE. Like mentioned very romantic place and i would recommend this island to anyone for a honeymoon. Ios: This is a pure party island, there is nothing to see culturally. The hotel is nice and there is a free shuttle to the beach or you can walk 30 mins down the winding road. Enjoy the sun and relax as there is nothing else to do. The optional pirate ship was supposively the 1 thing worth doing, i unfortunately missed it do to a family crisis i had to deal with over the phone. At night everyone goes into the town and does a pub crawl, i can't remember if the pub crawl was an optional thing or not, i know we always had to pay for a bus, there seemed to be extra charges almost every day for something and many of us felt like we were lining the pockets of our tour managers. The debauchery was out of control on this island and i was often ashamed of people who were on our trip. I won't go into the details as it was appalling and inappropriate to even write on this review. To give you perspective i used to be a bartender in the biggest nightclubs in western canada, love to party, frequent ibiza and have never seen anything like this. I did the optional dinner and it wasn't good value but it was nice to eat with everyone on the last day in Ios. You then return to Athens to the same hotel, everyone on the last day is pretty partied out so its really quite. At all the hotels we stayed at there was pricing on the door for the room, we did the math and we could have booked this trip by ourselves and saved significant money. For the people on this trip whose it was their first Contiki experience they said it would be their last as the value wasn't there. I encouraged many people to try some of the our Contiki tours as they are actual tours where you not only party but grow culturally. So on that note if you are looking for value and a balance between party and sightseeing/learning then this is not the trip for you. If all you want to see is the bottom of a bottle on island with very loose rules then this is the trip for you.

I just got back from doing greek island hopping and it was seriously the best two weeks of my life. I also did a mth around europe and i prefered greece. The islands are beautiful, there is so much to do but at the same time it is mega relaxing. It wasnt too full on either, there was sleep ins, time to do what you wanted too and not heaps of travelling. I loved this trip so much i would think about doing it again. Seriously if your maybe thinking of doing this, DO IT. You wont regret it i promise!

Greek Island hopping was by far the best tour I have ever been on with any group! Our tour manager Courtney Dailey was amazing! She gave us all the best info on each city we went to and made sure that we had the time of our lives! I could not have asked for anyone better :) The places I went and ESPECIALLY the people I met will never be forgotten! If you like to get lost in small towns,do a little sightseeing, go to the beach , eat amazing meals and party at night then this is definitely the trip for you! Also, you will never see a more gorgeous sunset then in Greece! Each is more spectacular then the next!

This was my first Contiki and I loved every moment! I was traveling solo for three months and this was definitely the highlight of my trip. The islands are absolutely amazing! The food is great. The drinks are strong. The nights out are insane! I would definitely recommend the Paradise Beach optional, the sailing trip in Ios and everybody should catch the sunset in Oia. Also, don't miss out on trying a Gyros. For 2 Euro you can't go wrong! Oh and try a Slammer Shot in Ios. Also a shout out to Courtney, my Tour Manager. She was amazing! There was nothing she didn't know about Greece and trust me I had some obscure questions. She made great recommendations for restaurants and activities you may enjoy if you weren't partaking in the optionals. She is very accommodating, always available if you need information, she put together a great time for my birthday and surprisingly enough she even laughed at my jokes. I had a great time on this trip! I met some amazing people, made some incredible memories and made some awesome friends! Definitely a must!

What a great trip. You hit 2 of the most popular islands in all of Greece and a unknown gem that's sure to please! This is a vacation dream for any sun soaker. Mykonos, Santorini and ios are so beautiful you won't want to leave. From breath taking sunsets to Sandy beaches this trip has it all at a pace that's just right. The night life is the big draw, even in the shoulder month's you'll find yourself having a blast at any number of clubs. For the adventurer I recommend a atv rental and exploring. This was a unbelievable adventure made possible by my great guide and friend David!