Would you travel any of the Greek islands at the moment?

[Maddogsand]

Would you travel to any of the Greek Islands at the moment, with the current situation in Rhodes & Corfu, and another heatwave coming in from Tuesday?

Eldest (18) has a holiday booked with her friends, flying out August 1st . . . not sure if I'm just being an overly cautious parent in thinking they'd be better rescheduling . . . or if that's the sensible and safe option given the current wildfires and heatwaves?

Also feels like emergency services out there are stretched already . . . and given no let up in the heat more wildfires could break out?

Would welcome thoughts on this one please, ultimately they'll decide themselves, but it's difficult to know what to advise when asked.

No, would not travel to anywhere experiencing severe heat and high wildfire risk this summer. Daily life in severe heat is really exhausting and severely limits what you can do: walking, cycling, exploring, even waiting for a bus can make you faint and sick.

Infrastructure during heatwaves is under severe pressure. Wildfire smoke is a health risk. And that’s before consideration of the climate impacts of flying.

Would cancel and do something else.

Well, of course. The last thing Greece needs is everyone cancelling their holidays to everywhere in the country. They’re barely back on their feet after Covid.

We have no plans of cancelling our trip to Mykonos in a few weeks.

Yes.

I'm off to Crete in a fortnight, it's nowhere near that side so I'm ok without it.

Yes, and wild fires happen every year. It is also hot every year.

If its booked and not on a red list I would still go. Unless it very close to the fires. Been to Spain during wildfires, of course you wouldn't choose to go, but if its already booked?

I think it's risk analysis and different people view risk differently. I'm pretty risk adverse

..ok with it I mean. Obviously it's devastating and I'm not 'ok with it' in terms of the destruction to the locals and the planet but I'm ok with travelling to Crete, to clarify.

Yes. We fly out on the 6th.

No.

Yes . I visit Greece at least once every year and have Greek friends. I know how hard they've had it this past few years and would want to support them . Wildfire happens every year in the Mediterranean as it does in California.

The heatwave is supposed to break on Thursday. What island is your daughter going to? They are not an amorphous mass, you know!

Some islands are also enormous. Crete has about 650,000 people. Some are tiny and barely inhabited. A fire on one is not comparable to one on the other.

I wouldn't book because of the heat. I don't go in a normal summer, let alone a hotter one.

It's not the wildfires putting me off, they wouldn't stop me booking elsewhere per se.

Wouldn't bother us different if there's warnings or planes stopped or something

Yes but I'd put a few more 'risk mitigation' strategies in place like:

• photos of passport, plane tickets, insurance information stored in a cloud storage system I can access from any device and copies sent to trusted family member
• make sure i have access to some emergency funds - credit card/willing relative who would transfer some emergency cash. In case I have to buy clothes/shoes/toiletries to replace stuff lost in a hotel
• handy list of contact information on phone, in cloud and hard copy in purse - embassy, travel provider, mum/dad, insurance

It depends where it is. I wouldn't go to anywhere that's suffering with the wildfires. I think they've got enough on their plates without having to bother with tourists just for a few weeks. Other places though, assuming one can handle the heat, yeah.

Yes, the Greek island rely on tourism. Wild fires are a yearly event in Greece, 2009 was a particularly bad year. There’s absolutely no reason to believe other islands will be any worse affected than usual this year.

I've been to Greek islands several times in last 16 years when it was 39 to 44 degrees - and no fires at all. It was hot but reasonably bearable and I'm not a lover of hugely hot weather - I'm not sure why they are getting the fires so much this year as I've been checking temperatures and it's been a lot of 40 to 45 - this isn't that rare.

Yes absolutely, Greece is a huge place. Many many different islands. It’s like refusing to visit Aberdeen because there are wildfires in Devon.

Obviously need to be more mindful of the risk, but unless direct then I would go.

Most of the people being evacuated seem to be package holiday bucket and spade types, so probably more unworldly than other types of traveller.

I'd travel to Greece again without a doubt.

Annually we have grass fires within a few miles from my home (usually caused by arson) and I live in the UK. It's not unique to Greece, this happens frequently in Europe/North America.

Yes I would.

They have fires every year, and it's baking hot in august every year. Yes it's been a bit hotter than normal but it's always hot/dry enough for fires to break out at this time of year.

Where I live it often isn't hot in summer, but we have had some dreadful wildfires most summers due to stupid tourists. I live in England.

There are 6000 Greek islands, and the two experiencing widlfires are bad in some small areas. Would you avoid being in England?

Greece has many islands.

Scotland has had wildfires before not the extent of the Greece one but it does show they can happen anywhere. We've been in the Costa del sol area with some happening nearby before.

According to Greek authorities the Rhodes fires were caused by arson (obviously the heat will have had a lot to do with it spreading).

I am on a FB page where literally all the locals are saying please still come to the safe areas as their livelihood is at stake otherwise. The north of Rhodes is fire free.

I’d go unless my tour operator cancelled it and offered to refund or reschedule. Or if the FO advised against it… it’s another reason why I’ll never again book through the likes of LoveHolidays or OnTheBeach, they’re literally just middlemen only interested in retaining as much cash as they can. I lost a lot of money in summer 2020.

The last thing Greece needs is people being wary of visiting and losing tourism income.

Not a chance.