Greek Island-Hopping

The Real Deal: Round-trip airfare, eight nights' accommodations, and interisland flights and ferry rides from $1,499 per person.

When: Depart Oct. 8, 15, 22, 2007; add $100 for May 7, 21; $150 for Sept. 10, 17, 24; $440 for May 28; $460 for June 4, 11.

Gateways: New York City; add $53 for Chicago, Miami; $148 for San Francisco; $224 for Houston; additional cities available.

The Fine Print: Breakfast daily, airport/hotel transfers, hotel taxes, and fuel surcharges are included. Additional airport taxes are $175-$215 per person. Based on double occupancy; single supplement starts at $281. For general guidelines on evaluating deals, click here.

Book By: No deadline, but book as soon as possible--select dates are already sold-out.

Contact: Gate 1 Travel, 800/682-3333, gate1travel.com.

Why It's a Deal: The lowest round-trip fare we've found between New York City and Athens in mid-October is $891 per person (Continental). For about $500 more, Gate 1 Travel covers the international airfare as well as two 1-way flights within Greece, ferry transportation, airport/hotel transfers, and an eight-night stay.

Trip Details: The package includes round-trip airfare to Athens on a major carrier (such as Delta or Air France) and eight nights' accommodations. When you arrive in Athens, you'll immediately take a 40-minute flight to ever-popular (and often overcrowded) Mykonos for a three-night stay at the beachfront, family-run Hotel Artemis. The monastery of Panagia Tourliani and the St. Ioannis beach area are among the highlights of an optional half-day tour priced at $64 per person. You can also choose to take a day trip to the ancient religious center Delos, where there's an archaeological museum and a temple guarded by lion statues, for an additional $73 per person.

Next you'll board a ferry for the roughly three-hour ride to Santorini, famous for its cliffside whitewashed houses and postcard-perfect sunsets. You'll spend three nights at the 30-room Plaza Hotel near Fira, one of two main towns near the top of the island's caldera. An optional volcano cruise, with stops for swimming and for hiking on nearby volcanic islands, is an extra $73 per person.

We suspect it will be tough to leave, but Athens calls! You'll fly 45 minutes to the capital for a two-night stay at the Oscar & Oscar Hotel which has a pool, a rooftop garden bar, and a restaurant. It faces Larissa Station, a metro and train stop, and is a short walk from the Archaeological Museum. An optional half-day city tour, whose itinerary includes the Parthenon, the Acropolis, and the Temple of Olympian Zeus, is $53 per person.

Note that flights within Greece are on Olympic Airways and/or Aegean Airlines. And while you cannot break up in the trip in the middle, you can add extra nights either before or after the set eight-night itinerary. Rates start at $26 per person per night in Santorini, $44 per person per night in Athens, and $52 per person per night in Mykonos.

The package is cheapest in May and October, when average temperatures in Greece are in the mid-60s. It may be too chilly to swim, but you'll save money and save yourself from the hordes of tourists who descend in the summer months. 

Before you go, check the weather, exchange rate, and local time at BudgetTravelOnline.com. For more on what to expect, visit the official tourism website.

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