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Greek Island Holiday Help


we have holidays every year in Greek islands / Cyprus for the last 20+ years.
1st. Toilet situation. Yes you still have to wipe the privates and put the paper in the bin. This is to protect the seas and their drainage system is small. It is not an issue. In fact can use wet wipes and bin, so keeps you that bit fresher.
Where to go. All down to personal choice. Crete and Cyprus are grand but were starting to creek full of Russians (do not know what has happened since the the conflict. Elounda in eastern crete was grand. Use bus system for agio Nicklaus.
Depends as well where you fly from.
Zante (Zakynthos), Corfu offer great flight times from Ponteland. early flights out about 7-8am and return some 4 hours later. So no midnight flights back. north of Corfu there is a real issue with mozzies. we went to east side of Corfu last year and not a problem. We have been to Zante 5 or 6 times (mainly because of flight times) always had a good time. somebody mentioned Tsvilli. Had a great time, amazing amount of tavernas. This is more like a village centre, so a lot going on.
Kefalonia, great choice. Used to be nicknamed the teachers retreat as there as so few children go and there is no great water parks. Tavernas great.
Skiathos, is a relatively quite island. Their runway is short, so sometimes on the way back have a 30 minute flight and refuel. Great island though. Has one main road round the southside, but this makes the use of the bus service a doddle. The capitol has a tremendous harbour / marina, with yachts' that even my wife was impressed with. They filmed part of Mama Mia there.
Rhodes was grand. again use the local bus service. choose your resort be aware of the party towns.
You need to think about what type of holiday do you want. what are your requirements re flight times. then you can whittle the locations down. do you want night life, or limited . is sunbathing your thing, by pool on the beach. want tours
every greek island has the very famous saint. they all have a fabulous church. They have canny wineries as well.
if you go to Zante (which is a cracking choice) make sure you buy a caretta carreta ( means turtle) woollen mat. Cost about £6 and use them as bath mats. get the heavier ones. weve bought numerous over the year. can just through them in the washing machine. Islands is also a great place for linen. either greek style or others. so remember to take the measurements of tables or cabinets.
hope you choose well.
 
To Zante aye but not Argassi. Only time to Zante was a lads holiday, so it’ll be a bit different this time.

Canny little place. Zinc restaurant the best we ate at in the evening but recommend you book up the day before cos it gets very busy. Skyfall pool bar/restaurant canny for during the day if you're fed up with the hotel, lovely family who run it. Beer Academy good for watching sport, Snack Academy across the road canny for a breakfast owned by the same people (order food in the latter and they'll bring it across to the bar). There's a place called Tiffanys where an old bloke outside will harass you to go in. It's one of the worst places I've ever eaten in nearly 40 years of travelling. Avoid at all costs.
 
Canny little place. Zinc restaurant the best we ate at in the evening but recommend you book up the day before cos it gets very busy. Skyfall pool bar/restaurant canny for during the day if you're fed up with the hotel, lovely family who run it. Beer Academy good for watching sport, Snack Academy across the road canny for a breakfast owned by the same people (order food in the latter and they'll bring it across to the bar). There's a place called Tiffanys where an old bloke outside will harass you to go in. It's one of the worst places I've ever eaten in nearly 40 years of travelling. Avoid at all costs.
Cheers for the tips.
 
Just to add with regard to beaches.

They don't come any better than the northern ones in Skiathos up around kounikarues.

As good as any you will find anywhere in the world. Pure white sand backed by palm trees. The small beach down from and operated by the Palace hotel you could easily be in the carribean

Maratha beach is called.. has a bar in it and serves snacks
 

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Going to Kos in August, first time ive been, i have nothing to add here
Where are you staying, which resort
Thanks for all the excellent suggestions and advice, really looking forward to going there now. We had our honeymoon in Lake Garda, where we'd never been before, and loved it so it was suggested we go back there, but no one in the family has been to Greece before either so the thrill of something entirely new has won out. Cheers, SMB folk.
What age range are you in mate. I suspect nearer pension age than teenager? :cool:
By the way let us know where you decide on
 
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Where are you staying, which resort

What age range are you in mate. I suspect nearer pension age than teenager? :cool:
By the way let us know where you decide on
I'm 54 :(
It's looking like a toss up between Kos and Kefalonia now, I think. We can't make the final decision till quite last minute as I have a work thing in Frankfurt coming up and the customer keep pushing it back so it's still not confirmed yet. It's only for a few days, but as soon as I'm back we'll book something last minute on Tui or something like that. We're nearer LHR than anywhere else, living in the sarf as I do.
 
I'm 54 :(
It's looking like a toss up between Kos and Kefalonia now, I think. We can't make the final decision till quite last minute as I have a work thing in Frankfurt coming up and the customer keep pushing it back so it's still not confirmed yet. It's only for a few days, but as soon as I'm back we'll book something last minute on Tui or something like that. We're nearer LHR than anywhere else, living in the sarf as I do.
Beblot more options from Gatwick and Stansted for Greek islands
 
Beblot more options from Gatwick and Stansted for Greek islands
Yeah, there’s a lot. She got a brochure from a little travel shop in town for Olympic Holidays but their prices are much higher than the TUIs and lastminute.coms of this world and for some of the smaller islands they show you a flight to somewhere, Santorini for example then seem to leave the rest up to you! I’m presuming a ferry or something, but it’s annoyingly vague. The year I’ve had, I just want to book somewhere, fly there and bloody well relax by the waters edge with a drink. I’ll leave stressing about ferries and connections for another trip.
 
Yeah, there’s a lot. She got a brochure from a little travel shop in town for Olympic Holidays but their prices are much higher than the TUIs and lastminute.coms of this world and for some of the smaller islands they show you a flight to somewhere, Santorini for example then seem to leave the rest up to you! I’m presuming a ferry or something, but it’s annoyingly vague. The year I’ve had, I just want to book somewhere, fly there and bloody well relax by the waters edge with a drink. I’ll leave stressing about ferries and connections for another trip.

If you go in a Tui shop you can usually haggle £50 off each person that the online price is. The advisers have a bit of slack to get a sale. I just go through them cos everything is done from start to finish. Use the app and you don't even get to see a rep unless you want to, even at the airport. It tells you where your transfer is waiting outside.
 
Agios Stefanos, NW Corfu. Plenty of Tavernas in the village and quite a few on the beach for during the day and evening meals watching the sunsets. Will be there in 4 weeks time. Been going each year for over 30 yrs and lived there for awhile. Can't recommend it enough.
 
Yeah, there’s a lot. She got a brochure from a little travel shop in town for Olympic Holidays but their prices are much higher than the TUIs and lastminute.coms of this world and for some of the smaller islands they show you a flight to somewhere, Santorini for example then seem to leave the rest up to you! I’m presuming a ferry or something, but it’s annoyingly vague. The year I’ve had, I just want to book somewhere, fly there and bloody well relax by the waters edge with a drink. I’ll leave stressing about ferries and connections for another trip.
Olympic are not the cheapest by may means

If you can do Stansted then I'd highly recommend jet2 for trouble free experience.

They cover a good array of islands
 
Olympic are not the cheapest by may means

If you can do Stansted then I'd highly recommend jet2 for trouble free experience.

They cover a good array of islands
We just did Jet2 from Stansted. Jet 2 great, Stansted f***ing rubbish compared to other airports we have flown from. Handling too many people for its infrastructure. Mind you it did have the the lip and eyelash brigade out in full force. I’ve never seen so many in one place.
 
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