Practical guides and checked advice to plan a trip to Greece: the Cyclades islands, ferries, itineraries, budget and seasons.

Athens airport to the centre and Piraeus port: metro €9, X96 bus €5.50, taxi €50, pre-booked transfer from €62. Prices checked on 6 Oct 2026, plus the traps.

Renting a car in Greece as of 6 October 2026: €23 to €47 a day, licence, deposit, ferries only with permission, tolls and the traps to check before paying.

Santorini excursions as of 6 October 2026: catamaran from $62, Akrotiri €20, the Fira–Oia hike is free, sunset 6:55 pm. What to book ahead and what to skip.

Seven days behind the wheel, day by day, and the toll calculation that decides the shape of the trip — official 2026 scale in hand.

No invented daily average. Three published figures — island VAT, the accommodation levy, flight compensation — and the method to build your own budget.

The Greek state has priced every month, and that scale shows where the crowds are. May or September — and the hour that beats the month.

In Greece you are not booking a boat, you are booking a risk: the fast catamaran stops sailing one notch of wind before the conventional ferry does.

Santorini has one bus hub, and it is Fira. A village’s real cost is counted in changes, not euros per night. The full calculation, village by village.

Seven nights are not seven island days. The full calculation, and the one leg to move to win back half a day without changing anything else.

Paros and Naxos: twelve crossings a day. Folegandros: small boats the wind stops first. How to choose on the one criterion you can check.