What does it cost?

Norsk utgave (Norwegian edition)

To rent an apartment at the edge of the volcano at Ia, Santorini is not very cheap. The price for this type of accommodation might be as high as 125€ per night.

PRICES IN GENEREL

Most goods and services have the same price through the season. The exceptions you find in renting accommodations and vehicles. These services will vary a great deal during the May-October period and will in general at least double in price. You can read more about this under each category. The rest of the prices will be more or less the same but variations among the islands do exist depending on the number of tourists.

AIRFARE TO GREECE

Since this is a Norwegian homepage price examples will naturally be between Norway and Greece.

The airfare depends on whether you choose to travel on standard everyday flights or by using chartered flights. Lowest everyday flight is about 3500 NOK and this price you can get year around if you order you flight in advance. The children’s fare is 50% of this price.

Using chartered flight the round trip "just plane ticket" is about 2000 NOK when you look in the catalogues. But this is the lowest price and is highly dependable on the time of the year. More important, the children do not get any rebate. But if you stay cool and don’t panic it is possible to get extremely low fares if you choose to travel just before or after the children’s school holidays. The lowest "rest fares" you will usually get in May and in late August, early September. As an example, the cheapest round trip plane ticket available late summer 1996 and 1997 was 900 NOK. This is extremely cheap and it is impossible to guaranty this price every year.

An OK place to look for rest tickets might be on your national text TV or here at the Internet.

DOMESTIC FLIGHTS

For exact prices, take a look at Olympic Airways homepage. But here are some examples:

These were the fares for the February 2004. Insurance surcharge of USD 3 (approximately €3.44) is not included in the above prices. On top of this you will get the tax which is 12€ each direction for travelling inside Greece. The tax apply to everyone over the age of 5 years. From Athens new airport you also have to pay 9,18€ extra in tax. This tax apply to everyone over the age of 2 years.

FERRIES AND BOATS

Here you will find a table that lists the ferry prices for summer 2005 at tourist class.  The fares are for a one way trip between Athens (i.e. the port of Piraeus) and the different islands. The prices include all the taxes and extras that built into the tickets. I have only selected a few of the islands but it should still be possible to get a picture of the price level. You will find that the prices using faster boats are about twice as much as compared to the ferry prices. The prices are close to equal no matter which line of boats you choose.

ACCOMMODATIONS

This is the part of the travel where you can save the most. The cheapest is off course to sleep on the beach. As previously said, this is free but not quite legal. When it comes to all the other alternatives where you have to pay, there are many factors. For instance, how popular is the island, how far away from the centre of the city can you tolerate and when do you want to travel. There are two main seasons; From May to July and from July to August with the latter period having the highest overall prices. If you stay away from these two months there are lots of money to be saved. Lets exemplify this using the accommodation "AEGEO INN" at Antiparos:

The summer of 2004, prices start at about €10 per bed per night, rising as the summer progresses. Around 1 July they start escalating  to a maximum of €25 for the same bed in the period of 1-12 August. After this they go rapidly down again to about €10 by the end of September. This is the case for almost all places throughout the season. In other words, the price per bed almost trebles during the summer, and then returns to the starting point by the end of the season.

All the accommodations in Greece, from the smallest private rooms to the most expensive hotels, have been authorised by the authorities. Every room is being checked every year and poster should be found stating the highest price the owner can charge you depending on the season. Most of the time the owners will charge you less than this price. Still, the price of two seemingly comparative accommodations might vary considerably. So ask around. To be a little bit more specific. Private rooms can be rented at a price of 8€ per bed per night. There might be even less expensive rooms but then you really have to dig deep. If you are willing to pay 10-17€ in the low season and 17-30€ in the high season, there are plenty of alternatives. There are off course many more expensive choices. In August 97 we stay in a "cave hotel" in Ia at Santorini. The prices for this alternative varied between 75 and 125€ for a single apartment depending on the size of this.

 

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Sea View at Ag. Anna, Naxos is an example on recently built apartments at a decent standard and at a decent price.

RENTING A VEHICLE

Just like accommodations, the prices vary greatly when it comes to renting a vehicle. The price to rent a car depends very much on when you do it and where you do it and obviously on which car you choose to rent. My own two examples are the following; The summer of 97 (mid June) we rented a small Fiat Panda 800 at Naxos for 2 days. Everything included we paid 65€. Two days later we rented the same type of car at Antiparos and paid 50€, also for two days. Then we came back to Antiparos is August and the car could be rented to a price of 52€ for one day. Same week, but this time at Ia, Santorini we paid 56€ for a brand new Ford Ka. This is inexpensive compared to the small and a little worn Fiat. Be also aware of price differences between the different car rentals.

We rented this car for a week at the end of June 1996 and paid approximately 200€ including gas.

This 7-seats minibus cost about 90€ for 2 days rent in the end of June 1997 .

FOOD PRICES

Food prices are in general about 25% less expensive then you find in northern Europe. In the next table you will find listed a few examples from Antiparos at 21. May 2004.

EATING OUT

It should be possible to get a decent meal for about 8€ but in general will a dinner at a tavern cost you 12€ or more depending on your meal. The next table gives you a few examples from a inexpensive tavern (Tavern 5F, Antiparos) which is a place where they serve you good home made food. Prices from Summer of 2004.