I love Greece. It is a beautiful country of white sand, crystal clear turquoise waters, and gorgeous sunsets. Who wouldn’t want to go there as a family? While any international trip will cost more than a domestic trip, Greece is certainly doable. Let’s check out our Friday Family Vacation to Greece today! Our flights will take us to Athens, but you can certainly take a ferry to one of the islands. I love Santorini and Paros and am itching to visit more islands!

 

Flights

There are many flights you can take to get to Greece. And many transfer partners that will work. Today we will concentrate on American Express Membership Rewards and their partners. Because you will need about 60K/person roundtrip in economy, we want to get both the AMEX Platinum and AMEX Gold to make this trip happen with flights. I have both of these cards, and they are part of my long-term strategy and remain in my wallet. Remember the Chase 5/24 rule though, because they will each take a 5/24 spot (unless you go for the business versions of these cards). You will want one player to get both cards, as you cannot combine Membership Rewards with another person.

I looked at  Avianca Airlines as a transfer partner for these flights. I could find 60K roundtrip flights in economy class. You could also look at other partners, so remember to grab our THM Transfer sheet that helps you know what currency transfers to which partners.

 

 

I also found availability for 30.5K each way on Singapore Airlines (flying on United). Just be sure that you are looking at the Star Alliance for flights as highlighted below:

 

 

 

 

Lodging

There are some fantastic Hyatt stays in Santorini and Mykonos. However, it is a lot of points to stay as a family. In this instance, we will plan to stay in an Airbnb and use Venture Miles to pay for our purchase and then get a credit back for it. This is known as the travel purchase eraser. The usual signup offer on the Venture Rewards Card is 50,000 Venture miles, and the Venture X card is 75,000 Venture miles. If Players 1 and 2 get it, you will have $1250 towards your Airbnb.

If you just plan to stay in Athens, you can certainly use any co-branded hotel cards for your stay, as Athens has many hotels. I don’t feel like you need more than a few days in Athens, so you might want to check it out and then take a ferry to an island or two. That is what we did on our first trip to Greece.

 

 

 

 

Bottom Line

With just four credit card welcome offers, you can pay for most of your family vacation to Greece.  You could easily earn those bonuses in a year and take your family to explore the beauty and magic of Greece the next year.