General information:

You need to travel a bit to get to Paros, but it's worth it very much; you will enjoy a perfect holiday without mass tourism or big hotels. Even during high seison, when it is 'bussy' in july and august, it has nothing to do with the mass tourism of for example Spain. On Paros there are no buildings with more then 2 floors.

To fly to Greece you can choose from Athens, Mykonos or Santorini. Arriving in Athens you can take another domestic flight of half an hour to Paros. Or you go about 1 hour with the bus (bus 96 from starting point untill the end) or the metro to the port (Piraeus) and then another 3 - 4 - 5 hours with the boat. The faster the boat, the more you pay for the ticket. The boat from Mykonos will take about 2 hours, from Santorini about 4-5 hours.

We recommend arriving 2-3 days early on Paros, if possible, to get used to the climate change and not to be to tired from travelling when the yoga classes start. Paros is such a nice place that you will not regret it to stay a bit longer.

The 15th of August is a Greek national holiday, with a big party on Paros because of the Maria-icon in the church of Parikia. A lot of Greek people travel themselves around that time, and it will be hard to find any ticket. Try to avoid travelling around the 15th of August.



FLYING TO GREECE:

* If you come from the Netherlands the best airline companies to check are KLM, Olympic Air and Lufthansa. (Je kan ook op de site van D-reizen of Vliegwinkel kijken, dan krijg je verschillende mogelijkheden.)
* If you come from the United Kingdom, from 3 May 2009 Easy Jet flies directly from London's Gatwick Airport to Santorini.) They also fly on Athens.
* If you come from France Easy Jet is also a possibility.
* If you fly from Bruxelles there are more cheaper alternatives. You can find them on Internet, for example at http://www.opode.be
* In general a good site for airplane tickets is http://www.edreams.com

ONCE YOU ARRIVED IN GREECE:

If you want to have a connecting flight or boat at the same day, you have to arrive in Greece early/in the morning. If you arrive in the afternoon chances are big that you don't manage to ge an domestic flight to Paros. The hotel at the airport is very expensive. If you have to spend the night before you can continue the trip to Paros, probably it is best to take the boat the next morning and spend the night in one of the two ports, Pireaus or Rafina. Boat times change a lot, but in general the boats from Pireaus to Paros go at 06:00 - 07:00 in the morning, around 12:00 and around 17:00 - 18:00 hr. During high seison there are more boats, also nightboats with cabine, which is a good option for the way back.
If you want to go by boat, the best thing to do is on arrival at the airport, buy your boat tickets there, for both ways. When you go through the glass doors into the entrance hall, go left and you'll find a few offices which sell boat tickets. Then you are sure to have a ticket for the best connecting boat. Don't forget to ask also for the second port Raffina. It is located between the airport and Athens. Especially during high seison (july/august) its better to buy the return ticket for the boat as well on arrival.
The taxi from the airport to the port of Athens (Pireaus) costs about 40 Euro. There is also a good bus- and metro-connection between the airport and Pireaus, and this costs only about 2 Euro. Bus X 96 goes 24 hours a day from the airport to Pireaus, from starting point untill the end.
Bus X 95 goes 24 hours a day from the airport to the centre of Athens, the last stop is on Syntagma square. If you find a hotel there, you can spend some time in the centre of Athens and take bus 40 from Syntagma square to Pireaus on another day.

The fastest way to get from Athens to Paros is to try to get a conecting flight from the airport of Athens with the small airplane of Olympic Air. They fly several times a day, untill the afternoon.
Daily time schedule Olympic Air:
Athens - Paros: (cost 79 Euro)
06:50 - 07:30
11:45 - 12:30
15:05 - 15:50
extra flight on friday 17:05 - 17:50
Paros - Athens: (cost 61 Euro)
07:50 - 08:30
12:35 - 13:20
16:05 - 16:50
extra flight on friday 18:05 - 18:50

Try to book it in advance to be sure of a connecting flight and a seat; the number of seats is limited, since it are small airplanes.
Telephone Olympic Air in Amsterdam = (00 31) 020 - 405 72 15
Telephone Olympic Air in Athens = (00 30) 210 - 9 66 66 66

For the website of Olympic Air click here.
For the website of Blue Star Ferrys click here.
For Dutch people this site is maybe more easy for boats.

If you fly to Athens but don’t take the domestic airplane, and you decide to go with the boat, there are two ports;
1)'Pireaus', the port in the centre of Athens, where most of the boats leave from, and

2) there is the port of 'Rafina', located closer to the airport. Plenty of boats leave from there.
BUT.... if there is wind take care not to be on the 'Sea Yet'; it's a faster and smaller boat and if you don't get sick yourself, many others on the boat will be sick and you can not get out on the deck because the boat is closed.

1) Click here for a good and cheap hotel in Pireaus; Argo Anita
e-mail: argoanita@hotmail.com
telephone: 00 30 210 412 17 95
23-25 Notara street
Piraeus

2) Hotel Corali, one of the cheaper hotels in Rafina: click here.

3) For Hotel Adonis in Plaka/centre Athens, click here.
In case you decided you want to stay in Athens a bit, this is the place to be. With good weather you can have breakfast on the roof terace, overlooking the Acropolis.
Double room for about 60 euro a night.

4) Hotel Phaedra is another cheap hotel in Plaka with view over the Acroplis. Also a double room for 60 Euro a night.

A good site to find a hotel room with discount: click here

Mykonos and Santorini are the closest by islands with international flights. From there you can take the boat to Paros as well. The boat from Mykonos will take about 2 hours, from Santorini about 4-5 hours.
Time schedules of the boats change often, so we can not give them here. In general the schedule is made about two months in advance. If you don’t have a connecting boat, and have to spend a night on Mykonos or Santorini, at least you avoid the madness of Athens and you can enjoy the start of your holiday on another beautifull Greek island.

ARRIVAL ON PAROS:

Busses go regular between Parikia and Aliki. Bus number 3. Costs about 1 Euro.
There are more bus stops in Aliki, so tell the busdriver in which hotel you stay, to be sure you get of on the right bus stop. If you stay in Villa Konitopoulos the bus is a good option because there is a bus stop 50 meters away from the hotel, on the corner with the butcher and the pharmacie.

TO GET TO THE YOGA STUDIO:

My own map..... ;-)