A Croatia and Greece Honeymoon: An Eleven-Night Itinerary

Days One and Two: Landing in Athens

Day one of a Croatia-and-Greece honeymoon usually starts at Athens' airport at 8 AM, and by the time you have checked into your Athens Greece honeymoon hotel and eaten your first evening meal, you already understand why Greece packages honeymoon travelers keep returning and why a honeymoon hotel Croatia stay eventually anchors the second half of the trip.

You clear customs by 9 AM, take the 35-minute transfer into Plaka, and drop your bags at Hotel Grande Bretagne or the Four Seasons Astir Palace on the coast. Neither property lets you check in early, but both hold your luggage while you walk out into your first full day.

You start at the Acropolis. Book the 8:30 AM first-entry slot online three weeks before the trip — this is a UNESCO World Heritage Site with two-hour queues after 10 AM in summer, and the first slot is the only version of the visit that feels contemplative. The Parthenon takes forty minutes, the Erechtheion another twenty, and you walk down through the Ancient Agora on the north side by 11:00.

Lunch is at Kuzina in Psyrri or Karamanlidika tou Fani in Monastiraki. Both do traditional Greek small plates and both sit within a ten-minute walk of the Agora exit. Afternoon at the National Archaeological Museum. Late afternoon you nap at the hotel.

Evening one is dinner at Nolan or Aleria — two of Athens' most-booked modern-Greek restaurants — with sunset views over the illuminated Acropolis from Dionysos rooftop if you time the reservation right. Day two you take a private day trip to Cape Sounion for the Temple of Poseidon at sunset, or a half-day walking tour of the ancient ruins at Delphi.

Days Three, Four, and Five: The Cyclades

Morning of day three you fly Athens to Santorini (a 45-minute Aegean Airlines flight) or catch the SeaJet high-speed ferry (five hours, book a business-class seat). By mid-afternoon you are at Katikies Kirini in Oia, Grace Hotel in Imerovigli, or Andronis Concept in Imerovigli — the three anchor properties for the caldera-view honeymoon on Santorini.

You spend the afternoon in your suite. There is nothing else worth doing on arrival day. The Cyclades island geometry rewards patience.

Day four you walk the Fira-to-Oia caldera trail. It is a six-mile walk that most itineraries schedule for the afternoon; you start at 8 AM instead, before the ferries dock and the cruise-ship crowds start climbing the ridge. You reach Oia by 11:30 for a swim off the rocks at Amoudi Bay and lunch at a taverna at the water's edge. Sunset views back at your hotel, dinner at Selene in Pyrgos.

Day five is a day trip out to Naxos or Milos by high-speed ferry. Naxos delivers Portara at sunset and a mountain-village lunch in Halki. Milos delivers Sarakiniko's white stone lunar landscape and a boat tour along the north coast that stops at coves accessible only from the water. You are back in Santorini by 8 PM for one last dinner. Wine tasting at Santo Wines or Estate Argyros the following morning if you can fit it before the transfer.

For the deeper island-selection logic across the Cyclades honeymoon options, our full Greece honeymoon spots and places guide covers the trade-offs between Santorini, Mykonos, Naxos, and Milos in detail.

Days Six and Seven: Athens to Dubrovnik

Day six is a travel day. There is no direct Santorini-to-Dubrovnik flight, so you route back through Athens on the morning Aegean flight, layover for three hours, then fly Aegean or Croatia Airlines onward to Dubrovnik. You land at Čilipi airport by mid-afternoon, transfer 22 kilometers north into the Old Town, and check into Villa Dubrovnik or the Excelsior — the two honeymoon hotel Croatia properties with balconies facing directly across the water to Lokrum Island.

Evening six you walk the ramparts of the Old Town at sunset. The walls take about an hour and a half to circle, and the light on the terracotta rooftops is best in the last ninety minutes before dark. Dinner at Restaurant 360 inside the walls, at Proto on Široka, or at Bota Šare for the Adriatic oyster tasting menu.

Day seven you take the cable car up Mount Srđ for the morning view over the coast. Lunch back in the Old Town at Nishta or Azur, then an afternoon boat trip out to the Elaphiti islands (Koločep, Lopud, Šipan) for swimming stops and a late lunch on Lopud. You are back in the city by evening for one more meal inside the walls.

Days Eight, Nine, and Ten: The Dalmatian Coast

Day eight you rent a car (or hire a driver) and drive north up the coastal road to Split. It is a three-and-a-half-hour drive through some of the most photogenic natural beauty on the Croatian coast — cliffs, small harbor villages, ferries to the Elaphiti and Šolta islands crossing your view. Lunch is a detour to Ston for oysters at Bota Šare's original oyster farm, or at Konoba Bugenvila in Cavtat.

Split is your base for two nights. Judita Palace or Hotel Marmont in the Diocletian's Palace old town both work at the boutique honeymoon tier. You spend day nine on Hvar — a 55-minute ferry hop from Split — with lunch on the harbor at Gariful and an afternoon of open-air wine tasting at one of the island's small vineyards outside Stari Grad. Return to Split for the evening.

Day ten you drive to Korčula via a car ferry. Korčula's walled town is the smaller, quieter version of Dubrovnik's Old Town, and the two nights you spend there anchor the closing arc of the trip. Lešić Dimitri Palace or Aminess Korčula Heritage Hotel handle the honeymoon hotel Croatia tier on the island itself.

For a deeper look at island hopping the full Croatian coast, our Croatia Islands Itinerary and Luxury Hotels Guide covers Hvar, Korčula, Vis, and the Kornati archipelago in more detail.

Day Eleven: Home

Day eleven starts with the ferry back to Split, a two-hour drive down to Dubrovnik, and the afternoon flight home. Try to book the return with a layover in Athens rather than Zagreb — the routing usually saves four to six hours.

What Makes This Route Work

The reason this itinerary lands consistently is the pacing. You spend two nights each in three of the six stops (Athens, Santorini, Split) and two nights at your Dubrovnik and Korčula bookends, which gives you enough time at each property for the suite to feel like your suite. You never move more than every two or three days.

The other pacing decision worth naming is the direction. Starting in Athens and ending in Croatia means the trip's cultural density (ancient ruins, museums, honeymoon in Greece itineraries) sits at the front when you are still fresh, and the slower coastal rhythm of the Dalmatian islands sits at the back when you want the trip to slow down before the flight home.

Booking Notes and Ferry Realities

Book Aegean Airlines flights between Athens, Santorini, and Dubrovnik as early as possible — inventory tightens sharply in June and July. The SeaJet high-speed ferries out of Piraeus require booked seats and do not sell same-day tickets reliably. Croatia's Jadrolinija ferry between Split and Korčula runs multiple times a day in summer but drops to two crossings a day by October. Book any hotel transfer directly through the property rather than through an online aggregator.

For the deeper editorial on Dubrovnik's Old Town, Diocletian-era history, and the world famous restaurant program inside the walls, Frommer's Dubrovnik travel guide is the reference for corners of the city most first-time honeymooners skip.

Where the Trip Actually Lands

You get off the plane home eleven days after you left. You have driven the Dalmatian coast, walked the Acropolis, watched a Santorini sunset from your terrace, and stood inside a Renaissance city that was still standing when Ragusa was a republic. That is the reason this route works. Not because it is efficient. Because eleven days is enough time for two different countries to actually change how you think about the two of you together.