Have you been to a Greek island?

[badger2005]

Hoping for help from wonderful mumsnetters to plan a holiday for next year - long dreamt of doing this so want to make the right choices!

Me, dh, ds(16), dd(14). Ds loves ancient stuff, so we want to be near Athens/spend some time there/do some cultural stuff. But we have never been to a 'resort' - with pool etc, and want to try it - at least me, dd and ds and me do! I think it would be amazing for ds and dd to be able to e.g. try some watersports etc.

I looked at Irides Aegina as a place to stay, maybe then hiring a car and doing a day trip to Athens and all the other wonderful stuff. But now I am wondering whether this will really meet ds and dd idea of a 'resort'? An alternative is to spend a couple of nights in Athens, and then go to a resort on an island maybe?

Any advice would be very much appreciated!

Cant speak for Aegina.

However, we went to Crete this year, stayed in a small independent hotel just outside of Chania. Would highly recommend, we got to visit Knossos and spent hours exploring the Venetian harbour in Chania. We also hired a car and drove through the mountains to Elafonisi lagoon/beach.

if you definitely want to visit Athens I’d recommend a different island/location though as the ferry is 8 hours.

Hope you have a lovely holiday!

Yes though over 20 years ago. It was far too full of almost all British tourists. So cannot offer any advice but hope others can, and that you have a lovely holiday.

No need ro restrict yourself to Athens to see historic stuff (although the parthanon is incredible).

Crete is the obvious island for history (I assume you mean ancient Greek history?) choice, but you could also try Naxos. Much greener than crete, we hired a quad bike and there was just Greek temple ruins dotted everywhere.

Corfu town also has very interesting history, an old fortress from 14th century and buildings from venetian and English rule.

Rhodes old Town is UNESCO world heritage listed and absolutely beautiful, with loads of medieval history from the knights templar and Turkish rule (old Turkish baths), mazes of cobbled streets.

In fact, it's probably hard to fund a Greek island without history!

Visit Olympia, my favourite ever world heritage site.

Thank you BubblesWoo - sounds lovely. What was your hotel called if you don't mind me asking?

And thank you too balalake. That doesn't sound ideal...

I went to Aegina every year from around 2006 to 2013 and have been back a few times in recent years and my parents still go there a few times a year. I have also since been to Crete, Corfu, Rhodes and Kos.

Aegina is lovely however it is very Greek. There is not a huge amount of tourists and it will not be a “resort” as such such as you would find in the more mainstream islands such as Crete, Corfu etc. i have always found all the Greek islands to be quite authentic unless you go to the major party town of a particular island they are not “English” like for example Benidorm, magaluf where a full English is advertised every 5 steps.

we always stayed in Aghia marina it is the main beachy part of the island. You can go to the various little towns and beaches on the island for day trips, boat trip, ferry for the day to agistri which is beautiful. I would probably recommend you did say a week in Aegina then stayed a few nights in Athens to see it. It’s not very practical to go back and fore on the ferry every day between Athens and Aegina.

alterntively Athens port is massive you could get a boat to a bigger island if you wanted more a resort. Or maybe look at mainland Greece or gylfada which is like edge of Athens and I believe has a beach but I’ve not been there.

Ooh thank you SunnyKlara - sounds great - we'd like to see all of those things! Yes - Ancient Greek (or other) history... 'classical civilization' stuff. I don't know much about it, but he is v into it all. Where did you stay on Naxos?

RedHelenB - thank you for this tip!

strangerontheinternet thank you. This makes me want to go to Aegina more - it sounds lovely. It would be much more interesting to stay somewhere more 'Greek' - and I can try to learn the language a bit first. So maybe a couple of days in Athens, and then to Aegina? Or vice versa.
Is there a place you stayed that you would recommend?

I suggest a couple of nights in Athens, then an island.

Corfu, Crete or Kefalonia. For Crete, Agios Nikolaos is lovely. You can do a day trip to Spinalonga and visit the old leper colony. Elizabeth Hislop’s book “The Island” is a fictional book on how life was there until the middle of the last century. Read it first then the tour comes alive and you relive the book. Very powerful.

Greece is amazing. We stayed in the Lindos view hotel in Rhodes which overlooks the acropolis which you can visit. Lots to see in Rhodes town which is about an hour away. Although we didn't do any, I'm sure there are plenty of options for watersports too.

We've just come back from Irides Aegina. It is absolutely lovely and we really enjoyed it but it is most definitely not a resort. It is one of the quietest, most peaceful hotels I've ever been to and we loved it but unless you're happy to travel to find stuff to do it probably isn't what you're looking for.

I would also bear in mind that it's really, really hot in the summer - personally I'm not up for much more than lying by a pool when it's like that. We would like to go back and do more sightseeing in Athens and the nearby islands, but we'll do that in the spring/early autumn when the heat isn't so oppressive.

If you do end up in the area and want to do kayaking then I'd thoroughly recommend Go Kayak Greece. We spent a morning kayaking in Agistiri and it was brilliant.

Yes, I used to live in Athens and island hopped most weekends. The Saronic Gulf islands are easy to access from Athens (out of Piraeus) with Hydra (pronounced Eedra) and Spetses being the nicest. No cars on Hydra. Always book accommodation in advance as they are busy with many options, but very busy.

I like to Dodecanese islands better. Also take the ferry out of Piraeus. Favourites include Milos for the town and beaches and Delos for the history. Also a big fan of Sifnos.

Yes it won’t really matter which way round but I usually do Athens beginning or end as you will have to go to Athens for the airport.
don’t get me wrong I love Aegina and I wish more people would go so it would be back to it’s hay day. I would warn you it is quite quiet. But the main town Aegina town usually has boats that come in for the day with tourists. If you’re comfortable driving probably hire a car and go round the island uou can go to all the little towns and find the secluded beaches.
Aegina town (main port)
agia marina (main beach)
perdika (can get a little boat from here over to this little animal sanctuary/beach for the day)
souvala (I believe this is where the hotel you’re looking at is) has a beach. Can’t remember much else about it.
near agia marina is the temple of afea (can’t remember spelling but it’s an old ruin I think it was a mock of the acropolis) but that’s good to see. There’s nectarios which Is a big church. There’s loads of churches on the island 365 I believe one for every day of the year.
get the ferry to agistri for the day for a different island/restaurants/beach.
at agia marina is a beach bar called sotos go there for the day for cocktails, food, swimming in the sea (nb it’s all rocks it’s not a “beach”).
we always stayed in agia marina it’s mainly hotels it’s not resorts, ie no pools and etc. I’m not sure there are many resorts on the island and hotel accomodation is usually basic but clean which is fairly standard in Greece.

@MadeInChorley
Spetses (where they filmed The Lost Daughter, Olivia Coleman) had a big litter problem a few years back. Have they sorted that now?

Qik sounds fascinating - I need to read that book!
Bumblebeefriend thank you - am googling that hotel now...
Reallybadidea that's v helpful thank you. We are actually planning to go at Easter, so should be cool enough to do things, but maybe actually not hot enough to make use of the pool at a resort?! So much to think about!
MadeInChorley did you go on day trips to the islands? Or stay over there? One issue I am having is that it seems you have to stay at places for 7 nights. Am wondering whether we should stay in Athens the whole time....

strangerontheinternet it kind of sounds amazing. For context, we have been on holiday previously to Scottish islands and are generally happy when it is just us and the sheep, so it might not be too quiet for us. I am torn because this is supposed to be a different holiday - going abroad, going to a resort - but maybe Aegina will be a good compromise...

I went on day trips, weekend and longer trips. You can certainly do Hydra, Aegina and Evia on a day return. But book the Flying Cat or Ferry home because places can be limited in high season.

Also, if you are planning to go at Easter that is not always high season and the smaller islands might still have limited options and opening hours. Also remember that Greek Orthodox Easter falls at a different time to the Western church dates and accommodation will be very busy. I’d recommend checking out remoter parts of the Peloponnese too which can be just as lovely as the islands.

I agree with Peloponnese, there is now a good road from Athens to Kalamata or you could fly. Kalamata is a large town with resort hotels or go south to Stoupa which is fabulous and has a great beach and restaurants, but no large hotels. If you hire a car you can do an amazing drive to Sparta. It is very beautiful.

MadeInChorley thank you - v helpful. I think I am realising how much of a difference going at Easter rather than in the summer makes. The pool becomes less important I guess! Would it be okay to go to a Greek Orthodox church for Easter to see what that is like? (Not disrespectful I mean). Sorry to ask you so many questions, but about the remoter parts of the Peloponnese - is there a town or place to stay that you would recommend?

mumonthehill thank you - you just answered the question I was typing! Will check out Kalamata

I visited Kos a few years ago.

The town has a good selection of restaurants and cafes. A pretty harbour.

I found the people very friendly.

There are some ruins in the town centre and various other historical sites.

We also took a boat trip to a beautiful bay and swam off the boat.

Athens will be hot and busy and as pp have said not necessary for historical stuff as the whole country is literally steeped in history.

I lived in Rhodes and the old town is absolutely full of history, street of the knights, acropolis, ancient amphitheater, mandraki harbour etc etc and then in the south of the island there are beautiful beaches and resorts (Lindos is probably best area imo)

There are tons of lovely places to go which all have an abundance of history (skiathos, Crete, Santorini, Zakinthos, corfu the list goes on!)

If you're set on Athens I would do a few days there then internal flight to an island!

Forgot to say I was a diving instructor in Rhodes and you can now dive on historical sites too.

Don’t go to Lesvos! It is a beautiful Greek island; but I have never seen water sports! There are a couple of ancient ruins (a Roman bridge, an aquaduct and a Greek temple - but the temple is about knee high). There is an ancient city, mainly in the sea after an earthquake.

We do stay in a nice hotel with a swimming pool; and there is a long sandy beach - but only fishing boats go out in the gulf! There are very few excursions; apart from the trip to Troy. Lesvos is not really developed for tourists, like Corfu or Crete are!