For the first time since the kids started school we have the option to go for a week of sun outwith the school holidays.
Travelling from Scotland, I quite fancy Crete or Santorini or similar, but I've never been.
Where do you suggest?
Ideally in a hotel with a decent spa, and access to sandy beaches.
What you got?
There are fancy hotels on the Athenian coast out towards Cape Sounion that might fit the bill. Not been myself as I prefer the more basic Greece. But a colleague went to a 4 or 5 star place and loved it. Handy for airport and flights are relatively cheap compared to the islands.
access to sandy beaches
Santorini has black sand so not to everyone's liking.
Blue Lagoon Village in Kos is very nice. 3 big pools 7 restaurants, long sandy beaches, Gym and Spa. Only downside is it's not near any town/villages if you want to explore, but if you want an all-inclusive week of relaxation, it's great.
We've not been yet, but are going here at the end of May:
https://www.marebluebeachcorfu.com/
Got a stonking deal through Easyjet holidays last year, after we couldn't go on a planned holiday to Lanzarote in Oct 2020 (we booked it in Jan 2020 before the Covid stuff really got started).
Looks like it's about £1k more now though.
I've never been to Greece so really looking forward to it, even if we do just lounge around the pool & drink too much!
The bit furthest away from Ukraine.
My First time staying here next year but comes highly recommended from a well traveled family member.
https://handluggageonly.co.uk/2019/07/13/10-best-things-to-do-in-kefalonia/
Cephalonia is brilliant but..
Not much old stuff if that is what you want. It all fell down in an earthquake.
I liked Kefalonia but the sea can be a bit weird sometimes as the island is full of caves (as shown above) so you sometimes hit really cold spots of water if there's a patch of it that has passed under the island.
Ohh, and if you haven't had them yet, get gigantes as a starter with every meal you have. I could eat that stuff all day long 🙂
Santorini has black sand so not to everyone’s liking.
Santorini has beaches of all colours so you should find something to suit :-). It also has posh hotels and good restaurants.
May is a nice time to be in Greece - much nicer than in summer IMO - so maybe a good chance to go somewhere with mountains eg Crete or somewhere on the mainland?
gigantes
Yes, I love them too. Strange cos “butter beans” were the most hated of school foods!
Santorini has beaches of all colours so you should find something to suit
Fair enough - I wasn't aware of any lighter-coloured sandy beaches when I went there. Perhaps I didn't look hard enough 🙂
Johndoh - maybe I came across as snotty, which wasn’t my intention. Apologies.
Kamari beach on the side of the island opposite from the port is black sand. There’s also a spectacular but very crowded red sand beach and plain old yellow ones. I’m too much of as softy to do beached in May 🙂
No offence taken 🙂
Thanks all, plenty to think about. Please keep the ideas coming.
I thought Kefalonia was a bit limited after 2 weeks. Myrtos beach is consistently listed as number 1 and it’s very photogenic but it’s made up of large pebbles. I came away thinking Greece has probably got better islands. That said, it was still a great holiday.
Skiathos is small but has some great beaches.
What you want is a tiny tent next to the beach in Ios, partying till dawn then sleeping on the beach all day. Greece at it's finest.
Fly into Mykonos and get on a few ferries and see a few of the Cyclades? Or into Mykonos and out of Santorini? Mykonos Naxos Paros Ios Santorini?
Ive done a few island hopping holidays around the Cyclades and all the islands are stunning and each with their own character. The style of holiday may not be your liking though.
Ive done a few island hopping holidays around the Cyclades and all the islands are stunning and each with their own character.
Me too - spent the summer in 1990 Inter-railing, got to Brindisi, took a ferry over to Piraeus then spent a couple of months exploring loads of the islands. Got back and bought my first ever mountain bike as I'd sold my car to go travelling and had no money left 🙂
'Napa, 'AVE IT!
Not really, have done Skiathos, Kefalonia and santorini, would go to any of them again, they all have resort type areas and quieter bits, Skiathos probably winning for me, lovely boat trips to smaller islands, Sandy beaches lovely little harbour with the requisite cafes.
The Pellion.
not sure if youre after heat or not but the hottest islands should be the ones further south, crete, kos and rhodes. been to all 3 of those and we faaaaar prefer crete, its massive and itd take years to see it all. its got a mix of whatever you want, busy resorts, quiet resorts and beautiful villages, history/archaeological sites, beautiful 'pink' sandy beaches. we just love it and try to get at least twice a year so know it quite well.
if you plump for crete and want any advice on it shout my way, May will be a lovely time of year to see it.