Greek Islands for Sandy beaches

[sniffydog]

I'm onto our 2023 summer hols and am looking for recommendations for Greek Islands that might suit us. Priorities are:

• direct flights from London
• some sandy beaches
• not mega busy or clubby but some things to do (waterparks etc) for our early teen DD's
• bonus if we could island hop over 2 weeks

We've previously been to Kefalonia, Zakynthos and Volos but looking further afield is boggling already! Any suggestions welcomed. Thanks!

How about Tingaki on Kos? It's got a great beach and good taverna's but it's fairly quiet. However, it's not far from Kos town with activities like a water park for your teen DD's. I did a great boat trip to 3 islands, including Kalymnos which is stunning.

I’d suggest splitting your trip between Kos and Rhodes. The ferry between the two is about 3.5 hours. Our favourite beaches in Rhodes are Tsambika and Stegna. Charaki is a quiet resort but our favourite is Lindos, although Rhodes Old Town is stunning too.

We went to Parga on the mainland this summer and absolutely loved it - obviously not an island but really felt like it! We had a boat trip to Paxos and Antipaxos and it's also pretty near Corfu. Beaches were stunning and the town was really buzzing in the evening. My DDs ages 9 and 12 loved it and did loads of water sports on the beach.

Skiathos has glorious beaches and is still very Greek. It is also a ferry away from Skopelos which is also beautiful. No water parks though, it's a tiny island. We have been a lot over the last eight years and DS has never been bored.

That was our last abroad holiday and we loved it. We took a boat trip to a volcanic island, and caught the bus into Kos town to eat and explore while we were there.

We ate really well at all the tavernas.

Tingaki looks lovely! Any hotel recommendations gratefully received!

The place we stayed at was not luxurious. It was basic and spotlessly clean. The rooms were laid out round a garden, and the pool area was perfect for us.

The tavernas all sell lovely food, and one lunchtime we walked along to a vineyard that also had a taverna. So don't go all inclusive.

This is where we stayed.

Corfu - the east coast has sandy beaches and in the centre of the island is the big Aqualand water park.

Following with interest!

Santa Maria beach in Paros is lovely and there were water sports and an outdoor cinema.

It's easy to get to the other Cyclades from there too so you can do some island hopping.

www.greeka.com/cyclades/paros/beaches/santa-maria/

I suggest Kos, wonderful beaches, easy to navigate around and wonderful water parks to visit.

I would agree with the East coast of Corfu (Elounda in particular). Lovely little resort, fabulous restaurants and lots to do (water sports etc) for your teenage DDs. I also loved Skiathos - so easy to get around the island.

Contrary to above, I would avoid Lindos if you're limited to school holidays. I imagine its gorgeous in perhaps May / June or late September but we went in August and it was awful - one day I counted 53 coaches of day trippers by 10am and that was just one car park. It was completely rammed. If you do go to Rhodes, get the ferry straight to Symi - that is stunning.

We have booked skiathos for next year. Beaches look lovely and some good restaurants we hope. Island is not huge so hoping to travel round and we plan to visit the mama Mia island. We went to Santorini this year and that was stunning but the beaches are volcanic ash.

We looked at corfu but were put off by the insect bites.

@mrsnjw
skiathos has some great restaurants, it gets busy tho so you may have to book some of them , but even the out of the main town , tavernas are great
try to go to richer poorer , in skiathos town , it has stunning views over the bay and excellent food

Thanks muchly for all the replies! I'll so some digging.

Oh dear is it worse there than other islands? DW and 1 DD get eaten alive and are very anxious about it wherever we go.

I'm not sure. Just some of the reviews I read. Lots of people get bitten.

@Mercedesbenz2022 thank you I'll put richer poorer in my calendar x

DH is a walking buffet for biting insects and he did get bitten in Corfu, but he gets bitten everywhere we go if he so much as misses a cm of skin when applying insect repellent.

It does depend what time of year you go as well. Corfu has a big wasp problem in September.

Kefelonia

@mrsnjw
greek name is Ricchi E Poveri , if that helps

I meant East coast of Crete not Corfu. Doh!

Skiathos is just the most perfect island. Great beaches and beautiful green scenery. Maybe less for older kids though. Crete has so much to offer. It's like a country in its own right.