Greece Revisited

Greece Part 2 – Couples Retreat

We knew we would return to Santorini one day, this time we invited friends to come with us to celebrate life, friendship and my 45th Birthday!

Such an incredible trip from start to finish. Let’s start with our hotel. Perfection at Armenaki. https://www.armenakisantorini.gr/

Welcome drinks, beautiful spacious clean room with an amazing view! Great location right in the center of town, close to the three blue domes.

After everyone got settled, met up at Niko’s for super yummy gyros and a stop at Meteor Cafe.

Jay, Jay & Jay
gyros have fries!
Cheers to tripping!

Back to the room for a relaxing evening in the pool. Most of the gang stayed at Charisma down the way, also a wonderful hotel and where the party rooms were at! Also where we had my birthday dinner. https://www.charismasuites.com

Up early the next morning to catch the Sunrise at Oia Castle and pre breakfast Affogatos at Terpsi restaurant. One of my top recommendations is to get up early like 6-7am early to watch the sunrise from Oia Castle. You will most likely have the place to yourselves, maybe a few people trickling in.

One of the super nice luxuries at both hotels is the breakfast spread! The day prior you check off what you want delivered the next morning for you to enjoy in your room or out on the terrace. It was a dream! We are all still thinking about breakfast in Greece!

Quick visit to Fira for some ice cream, window shopping and drinks

Party Time! Dinner was at the Charisma Hotel. Stunning property and great service. They made setting up a dinner party from home so easy. https://www.charismasuites.com/

Champagne and lots of beautiful sunset pics.

Dinner around the table was the best! Good food with good friends, chatting and laughing til night time was a birthday wish come true.

Santorini night lights on the walk back to Armenaki. It was a good night!

ATV crew

Affogato and chill crew

Met up for dinner at Amoudi Bay! Took up a row of waterfront tables.

Sunset dinner at Ammoudi Bay is a must, definitely make a reservation in advance and request a table by the water.

Lovely time with lovely couples.

Gelato stop!

Me and Alexa opted for a Spa Day

Others wine tasted, others relaxed. What was nice about our trip is that we did have group things planned and naturally ended up all hanging out together at different times, but there was also room to do your own thing. Everyone’s trip so wanted to make sure everyone got to do or not do what they wanted.

Dinner at Vezene at Cava Tagoo in Imerovigli, but first some small bites, drinks and blankets by the pool because it was chilly out.

Then the rest of the gang joined for dinner, but first pics. It was windy, but we still got some fun pics.

Lots more to celebrate! Jaymer’s Birthday, Michelle & Roger and Michelle & Triet’s wedding anniversaries. Cheers to more life, love and trips!

Last breakfast in Oia. We had our first three nights at Armenaki in their Alitana suite, but the last night wanted to give their Cliff Nest room a try since it has the rooftop as your terrace. It was really cool but a much smaller room so nice to check out for one night, and have the Alitana or Cave suite for the longer stay.

Off to Mykonos! Welcome drinks, shots and then headed over to Little Venice for eats and drinks by the water.

Didn’t realize a stop a Negrita would turn into an all nighter! Good drinks, good music, good people, super fun all around. We went to a few bars close by and Negrita was the friendliest and funnest, highly recommend! https://negrita-mykonos.com

Nammos World, but first these models!

Walk on the beach and lunch at Nammos restuarant

Jay and I were supposed to go on a bike ride around town, but got rained in. The gang had another fun night out at Negrita! And another day to go to the beach, relax at the pool and hang in Little Venice.

Truly an unforgettable couples trip! Cheers to good friends, good friends that love to travel, good times and making new memories in beautiful places around the world.

Couldn’t have asked for a better group to travel with. Love these beautiful couples. Can’t wait for our next adventure together!

Selfie with each of my Greece girls! Let’s get planning on the next!

We did 4 nights in Oia and 3 nights in Mykonos in late April into May just before the Summer Crowds. The one downside to that is while the weather was nice, not warm enough to go swimming in the ocean and not all the beach clubs are open yet. Most open mid May. I would still go during this time to relax, enjoy the city and eat good food, however if going into the ocean and going to a few beach clubs is a big part of your trip itinerary, then I would recommend a few more weeks into May to get a little warmer weather but then also making sure to get up early to explore the town because those narrow streets fill up fast throughout the day especially as people are coming in from other towns and cruise ships to watch the sunset in Oia. Overall, I think late May and late September are the best times to go.

I’m sure there are many other beautiful towns, hidden gems, local favorites throughout Santorini, but I think if you are going all the way over there, you should stay in Oia where the best Caldera views are. If you have the time to stay in multiple towns, definitely make Oia one of them. I am not against cruises, I enjoy cruises, but visiting a beauty like this deserves an overnight stay, so if given the option to go directly there and stay on land or cruise, I would stay a few nights in Oia. One of the best parts is getting to enjoy the sunrise and sunset there without being rushed for time.

Where we stayed

  • Santorini in Oia
    • https://www.armenakisantorini.gr – 100% would stay here again, the only thing is they don’t have a restaurant on-site which is why I had my birthday dinner at Charisma, but there are so many restaurants around so no big deal. Plus they have breakfast delivered to your room.
    • https://www.charismasuites.com – I didn’t stay here myself but I would since I loved their restaurant and everyone I spoke with there was so great. Friends that did stay there enjoyed it.
  • Mykonos
    • https://www.andronikos.gr
    • Super friendly staff, fun actually and very helpful. They served welcome drinks and even had some drinks with us. The food at the hotel was good, especially late night eats at their restaurant that is open late. The rooms we fine, but felt a bit musty due to the rain. They said they weren’t used to that much rainfall and were constantly mopping up water everywhere. It was walking distance to Little Venice or a short taxi ride if you didn’t want to walk back at night. Next time I would try another hotel even closer to downtown or close to some of the beaches to get a feel for the different areas in Mykonos.

Getting Around – Transfers (car service)

  • From the Santorini airport we scheduled our own transportation/transfers from our Hotels – most Hotels offer this service and will request your flight details and arrange for you. Two couples stayed at Armenaki and six couples stayed at Charisma. Because it was only two hotels between 16 of us and we all planned for similar arrival times, it was pretty easy to schedule the group transfers from the airport into Oia
  • I was able to make big group transfers from the hotels. There were 16 of us needing to go from Oia to Imerovigli for dinner and back and the hotel arranged two large cars for drop off and pick up
  • From Oia to the Ferry Port – also scheduled transfers through the hotel ahead of time
  • There is also a public bus that has regular pick up and drop offs from Oia to Fira and vice versa that the hotels can provide more details about
  • We took a ferry from Oia to Mykonos that we booked in advance online at Ferryhopper.com.

Booking

  • 16 couples, we each booked our own flights and hotels around the same times
  • I used Delta Vacations again for Flights and a 3 night hotel stay which was the Venice portion of our trip. Delta Vacation requirements are round trip tickets and a 3 night minimum stay at a hotel. Delta didn’t have many hotel options in Santorini or Mykonos yet so we booked our hotel stays through booking.com

Itinerary – mostly followed but remained flexible. We all felt it was nice to have a plan, but also have options.

Saturday 4/29 – Arrive in Santorini

  • Check in/Settle at Hotel
  • Niko’s for gyros
  • Bar Hop or Enjoy Hotel amenities

Sunday 4/30

  • Get up early like 6-7am to watch the Sunrise at Oia Castle
  • Walk around streets, see blue domes (entrance is by Poniros Jewelry and Alexandros Jewelry), stop for Affogatos at Terpsi Restaurant
  • Breakfast at Hotel
  • Free Day to Explore
    • Stay in Oia or Go to Fira/Thira OR
    • ATV Tour around Island
  • Group Dinner at Charisma Hotel Restaurant

Monday 5/1

Tuesday 5/2

  • Breakfast at Hotel Or Restaurant
  • Options
  • Group Dinner at Cavo Tagoo in Imerovigli

Wednesday 5/3

Thursday 5/4

  • Breakfast – make an individual reservation or eat at Hotel
  • Nammos World for Lunch and Shopping
  • 180 degrees Sunset Bar Mykonos or Cycling Tour with Beach Picnic or Beach or Pool Day

Friday 5/5

Saturday 5/6 – Fly from Mykonos to Athens to Home

Travel Tips for groups- because more the merrier but it can take a lot to get the trip out of the group text – setting a date that works for everyone is the hardest part so if you’ve found a date that works, you are halfway there!

  • Kept a Google doc with a sample itinerary and where everyone inputted their travel plans, flight info
  • Made group dinner reservations and group transfers needed ahead of time
  • Sent and shared each other’s travel check list
  • Get International Driver’s License if you are thinking about ATVing, driving, Scooter/Vespa/Mo-ped
  • Having a responsive and timely group made making reservations and putting down deposits easy

Other Links on the list that we still have yet to try

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