Trick to getting to Kalymnos for less than 3 grand?

So, I've been considering going to Kalymnos after graduating college in mid May (I've got a month between graduation and starting work), but I waited until now to book flights and the prices I'm seeing are a bit beyond my budget.

Is $3k from the US west coast to Kos normal, or am I looking in the wrong places?

Also, if anyone has any suggestions for a different European climbing destination that's solo-climber-friendly, I'm all ears! Looking for somewhere sunny with lots of sport that won't be way too hot in late May through early June.

QRohlf wrote:So, I've been considering going to Kalymnos after graduating college in mid May (I've got a month between graduation and starting work), but I waited until now to book flights and the prices I'm seeing are a bit beyond my budget. Is $3k from the US west coast to Kos normal, or am I looking in the wrong places? Also, if anyone has any suggestions for a different European climbing destination that's solo-climber-friendly, I'm all ears! Looking for somewhere sunny with lots of sport that won't be way too hot in late May through early June.

One way i've looked into doing it is flying to istanbul then flying from istanbul to kos. I just did a quick look in early may and i could easily find that trip for around 1500.

kennoyce wrote: One way i've looked into doing it is flying to istanbul then flying from istanbul to kos. I just did a quick look in early may and i could easily find that trip for around 1500.

ISIS does it the same way.

find a cheaper place to fly into. there are a few budget airlines that can get you around europe on the cheap. beware, their schedules are a bit hard to keep track of, so if you're willing to do your homework and work your international flight around the smaller flights and don't mind spending some time in airports getting around, you should be able to knock the price tag down a lot. i flew into istanbul, took a bus to bodrum, ferry to kos, then a ferry to kalymnos to get there. then a ferry to kos, flight to athens, then a flight to istanbul to get back and did it all for under $1000 last fall.

I can find tons of flights that get there for $1200: google.com/flights/#search;f=SFO;t=KGS;d=2015-05-11;r=2015-05-27

Pull up the search by date, or use something like ITA Matrix ( matrix.itasoftware.com/) and get a month grid view.

Yeah, I got LAX to Athens from around 1000 to 1400. A couple hundy for a Greek airline flight to Kos, then a ferry to Kalymnos, should be doable for around 1600 or so.

If you go through mainland Greece, Meteora is very worth a visit.

I'm seeing ~$1,300 roundtrip for Portland to Athens on Google Flights, ~$100 Athens to Kos round trip. This is all mid-May to mid-June.

Ferry from Kos is the way to go. You can sleep on the beach where the ferry drops off/picks up for free.

It turns out that Kayak is really bad at finding good flight prices to Kos. Google flights is better, but for some reason round-trip flights are way cheaper than a one-way, which seems super weird. I was hoping to fly into kos, climb for a week or two, then take a flight to the mainland and goof around there for a while. Looks like that might be less than feasible unless I just buy a round-trip and ignore the return flight... weird.

I'd book a flight from the US to Athens and the flight from Athens to Kos separately. I'd probably book the Athens to Kos directly with the carrier rather than a discount go-between. That'll give you more pull if there's any interruptions and/or changes in flights. And, there could be.

Highly recommend getting to Meteora. As well as a day in Delphi and a day or two in Athens.

$3000 Sounds kind of like first class pricing. That's silly.

I am in Kaly now. Got here on well scheduled flights straight through Denver-Frankfurt-Athens-Kos. Going home Izmir-Munich-Frankfurt-Denver with a long enough layover in Frankfurt to stay and relax for the next morning before the direct flight back to Denver.

Search search search, shop shop shop. Each search engine tends to list something a little (or a lot) different.

If you dont care about time door to door, and long layovers, aeroflot sometimes has some cheap fares from US to Istanbul via Moscow, then pick up a flight to Kos.

And a warning: Be careful about how online booking engines schedule your actual flight sequence. Last year, they had me arrive in Athens too late getting in and too early leaving for Kos. The metro closes at night and it's 45eu or so to get a cab from the airport to Athens. Would be cheaper to rent a car. So it's either hang at the airport for 8 hours, rent a car to get to cheaper lodging, pay the cab fee to get to cheaper lodging, but that ends up more expensive than the "airport" holiday inn for over $100. Or the Sofitel for over $200.

And, Regarding Brian in SLC, great idea if you are laying over in Athens. But if traveling straight through, if you book two separate itineraries with different airlines with connections that are too close, then are a no show and miss the flight on Agean, they have NO responsibility to accommodate you. You might be out of luck other than to buy another ticket on the spot. But if you book with say United with thier itinerary to the final destination on star alliance partner Agean, if you miss a connection, it's on them to get you to your final destination.

Look on Kayak.com for flexible dates.

I booked last year one way for $500 to Athens in Feb.

Take the bus from airport to ferry port in Athens.

Take the overnight ferry from Athens to Kalymnos direct for 50-60€.

Done.

It should NEVER cost you 3 grand.

mountainhick wrote:And, Regarding Brian in SLC, great idea if you are laying over in Athens. But if traveling straight through, if you book two separate itineraries with different airlines with connections that are too close, then are a no show and miss the flight on Agean, they have NO responsibility to accommodate you. You might be out of luck other than to buy another ticket on the spot. But if you book with say United with thier itinerary to the final destination on star alliance partner Agean, if you miss a connection, it's on them to get you to your final destination.

Concur, always best to book direct with an airlines and get the entire itinerary covered. Great advice. And, sometimes the baggage allowance transfers to the smaller carriers with no fees too. Sweet deal all the way around.

I've found that booking through a discount third party...and you miss a flight...then the airline has you go back and figure things out through whomever you got the tickets from. Not that easy in a foreign country.

Give yourself adequate time to make the connection. Sometimes an option to move the flight up too if space is available.

I'm usually on more of a time budget than money. I'd rather take a 12 hour flight, arrive in the morning, and, climb on the day of arrival, rather than a multi city itinerary that takes 36 hours. Even if it costs me a couple hundred bucks more.

Always interesting to hear how folks "get there". Thanks!