Travelling to Greece / Islands but not going package

Where would be a good place to take my 16 yo daughter next year? She’s said she’d like to go to Greece or the Greek Islands, but the cost for us both via TUI if we need separate rooms etc looks quite prohibitive. So i’m thinking of getting a 2 bed appt direct.

Any suggested resorts to start looking at? Would need to have good public transport links to an airport that connects directly to Manchester or Liverpool.

I’d just look at AirBnB. I’d start by looking at the bigger/most tourist-friendly islands such as Corfu, Rhodes or Crete but avoid Mykonos and Santorini as those are getting silly expensive and are just rammed with ‘influencers’.

Manchester has lots of flights to most of the Greek islands. You could even fly directly to Athens, see some of the sights then get a ferry to Aegina (an island close to the mainland). I don’t think any of the big holiday companies fly to there anymore so it is less touristy, but there will be people at the port ‘selling’ their properties.

Greece generally has very good public transport links.

Do you actually need two separate rooms? I only ask cos Tui are currently doing a £150 discount for solo parent with child! And you can book a twin room and/or extra child bed rather than a normal double.

What do you want to do when you’re there? Lying on a beach all day? Partying all night? Looking at ancient stuff? Quiet town/village or busy resort?

We went to Lefkas in August (on a basic Jet2 package) that was pretty affordable we left it until right at the end of the Summer hols, and went for a less well known Island, it was a good break, the room was basic but acceptable, Breakfast was included.

It was a base that had a pool and a bar basically, I managed to rent a road bike, and car rental was as available as anywhere else.

It would definitely have cost us more to Air BnB it with separate flights etc, but then posher accommodation probably would have meant we didn’t want to go out and see things as much, So there are upsides to using a package company (TUI do seem pricey whenever I look though)

I wouldn’t totally rule out packages but think about finding less popular destinations and timings, School holidays obviously have a huge impact on demand and thus pricing, but the same is still true if bolting a trip together for yourself…

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Yep – Teenage girls and their privacy etc.

We regularly go to Greek islands, Crete mainly and have often booked 1 bedroom apartments separately. Jet2 seem to have priced themselves out of our regular searches but we’re happy booking flight only with Ryanair or easyjet, then searching for the apartments once the flights have been booked.
As already asked, if we know the type of holiday you’re after, beach, culture, towns vs resorts, then we can maybe fine tune it for you.

EDIT: we usually find the apartments on booking,com and then search for their own websites and then ask if they’d prefer us to book privately, which they always are. Cheaper for both parties that way.

Cheers. I think it would mainly be a “lying around a decent sized pool or beach and then meals out in the evening” type deal

I’d go Paros or Naxos (the fast boats between the islands are ace – think you can get them from Athens or fly into Santorini and get them from there).

Blackflag
Free Member
Cheers. I think it would mainly be a “lying around a decent sized pool or beach and then meals out in the evening” type deal

In which case, Paros is nice, we did a week there in apartment in Paros town – fly to Mykonos, bus to ferry, lady from apartment picked us up from ferry. All booked independently easily enough, lovely beach down one end of town, another via a nice walk around the headland, loads of restaurants in town

In which case, Paros is nice

Back in 1990, I had a lovely few days in Piso Livadi when island hopping – it’s a beautiful island.

I think it would mainly be a “lying around a decent sized pool or beach and then meals out in the evening” type deal

assuming you dont want tooooooo busy, and recommending what i know in crete, if flying into chania airport then georgioupolis, agia marina, kalyves or almyrida would suit those requirements, if heraklion airport then elounda or agios nikolaos.  all of these are on the ‘main road’ with good bus links, and have decent beaches.

assuming you dont want tooooooo busy, and recommending what i know in crete, if flying into chania airport then georgioupolis, agia marina, kalyves or almyrida would suit those requirements, if heraklion airport then elounda or agios nikolaos.  all of these are on the ‘main road’ with good bus links, and have decent beaches.

I came back from Rethymno last week and would add that as well. An utterly gorgeous town, plenty of places to eat and plenty of hotels, but not too busy. (At least it wasn’t last week, but then it’s the end of their season.) We also visited Agios Nikolaos which was very nice. My first time in Crete and I loved it.

airbnb can be cheap – its also quite easy to bundle together athens (which often has cheaper flights into the summer) with a few days on the islands nearby (either returning to athens or flying back from elsewhere) – so you get a mix of culture with lounging on a sunbed

Greek here … as others said forget mykonos santorini and prety much most of the cyclades especially July August. Since we are in a cycling forum let me suggest Kos island . Easy access with lots of charter flights and all inc packages and cycling is popular with most of the town and surrounding beaches accessible by rental bikes. A small selection of decent trails in the (one and only) mountain above main town and you can easy get rental mtbs/emtbs also giuded tours. The three island tour to 3 nearby islands is a must and main town is more than lively. Again try to avoid August ! September 10th is the start of the school year in greece and things slow down a bit

Maybe worth looking at easyJet holidays they come out a lot cheaper than TUI/ jet2 etc

Tried a new island this year; Amorgos.

Flew into Santorini, Small Cyclades line to Katapola, and transferred over the hills to Aegiali. Very laid back, and very quiet in comparison to naxos/paros/mykonos/santorini etc.

Good recommendations for islands above so I will leave that, but I would stress that flying to Athens is often cheaper and the fast ferries (pre-book) are a great way of getting to another island.

If you stay a night or two in Athens you could also do the Acropolis, again pre-book.

All good advice above, but consider domestic flights to the islands if you’re flying into Athens. Whilst there’s a certain romance to the ferry, they’re getting to be more expensive than flying.

I love Naxos, been many times over the last twenty years. But I’m reluctantly calling time on it as it’s getting too expensive and too busy. I’m sounding my age, but I do miss the days when the only information you found was in Lonely Planet. Social media really has changed the feel of the islands.

but I do miss the days when the only information you found was in Lonely Planet.

OT but I picked up a Lonely Planet guide to Crete. It was the biggest waste of money in the whole holiday – a shadow of what they used to be. It gave no useful info at all.

Try Jet2 holidays and search through the various options available, you can choose a lot of options re. rooms, or flights only. We’ve managed to get two rooms before for not silly prices, you’ll need to look through various options to get the best process/options.Went to Kos earlier with them in the year and it’s my favourite island from recent trips.  Just back from Crete a few weeks ago, it was ok, but wouldn’t rush back again, but that might have been the area we were staying in.

but I do miss the days when the only information you found was in Lonely Planet. Social media really has changed the feel of the islands.

100% – I InterRailed down to Greece then island hopped for the summer back in 1990 – all we had was a Thomas Cook European Train Timetable and a rough idea of where we wanted to go. I made the very occasional call home but sent lots of postcards (which I still have). Places like Santorini *were* touristy but nothing like what they are like now. Over the last few years I have revisited some of the places I went to in the 1980s and 90s – most of them are barely recognisable.

 Just back from Crete a few weeks ago, it was ok, but wouldn’t rush back again, but that might have been the area we were staying in.

@withersea curiosity getting the better of me as we love the island…… im going to guess you were on the north coast somewhere around the hersonissos/stalis/malia area?  thats tourist central and somewhere we stay well clear of.