Greek island hopping with 3 and 4yr olds, madness?

[letsfindsuperworm]

We're looking at going away for the first time in May 2024 before we're stuck in the school holiday trap. Kids will be just turned 3, and 4y8m. My initial thought was to do an easy all inclusive resort type holiday, even though I've never done anything like that before it seemed the easy option. But the more I think about it the more I'm wondering if there's another option. We love Greece and I'm thinking island hopping would be exciting for them. Am I deluded? Probably 7-10 days. Maybe 2 or 3 islands so we're not packing up and moving every day. Has anyone done this? When I did it before (albeit 12yrs ago) we were turning up on an island getting a room for €30 a night no bother. It seems appealing given we're likely to be close to £3k for a week all inclusive.

Depends on the kids really and what they would enjoy. I don't think £3K for a week all inclusive is that crazy if the kids will have the time of their lives! I think it depends as well if you're the "relaxing" type or the "adventure" type 🤣

Will there be enough to keep the kids entertained? I always think of the Greek islands as more of an adult holiday, unless you are in one of the big AI complexes. Could be totally wrong though.

Have you considered Eurocamps? We have had some great holidays driving through France and/or Spain, staying a few nights in each site. They all have great pools, playgrounds etc and make really good bases to explore. Nice to go out for a morning somewhere and then an afternoon by the pool. A decent chalet for 4 costs around £1000 for the week. Need to add ferry (can be £££) and money for meals but we all love a French supermarket so ate fairly cheaply by barbecuing etc on site.

My other thought, and I’m not sure if you had considered this, but the fairies between the islands can be quite… Rocky sometimes, I know there is medicine out there to prevent seasickness, but please don’t underestimate what it can be like on a boat with people being sick, and no way to get off. The ferry from Athens to Crete, which would be a great place to go actually, is 8 1/2 hours. Also, an idea might be to check out the local events going on in Greece, many people don’t consider doing things like this when they’re on vacation, but there are some great events that everyone enjoys, whether you’re a tourist or local, and often you can find some things that kids will enjoy.

people do live on islands and they do have children, so there are things to do, you just have to know about them and where to look.

Thanks @Chickoletta the problem is getting there. We're in Scotland so it's a long drive, plus the thought of driving on the wrong side of the road isn't really my idea of a relaxing holiday! I wonder if there are sites that link easily with airports. I mean I'm sure there are. Another avenue to research endlessly! We did lots of eurocamp as a child and loved it.

Relaxing vs adventuring @rhino12345 ? Who knows. It has been that long since we've left the country I can't even remember what we like. And I'm sure adding two small children to the mix makes it different anyway. Something about an AI resort just seems like not a real holiday, like you are just paying a fortune for sunshine and you could be anywhere at all. I want a wee bit of culture, and ideally good food!

By the way, I am visually impaired and I use dictation, and it often changes the word Siri, like the boat, to fairy, the creature with wings so I’m sorry but you do know what I mean hopefully. I live in Greece, I live on the mainland but I do know enough about the place to be able to help if needed. I also speak Greek, so I’m often looking at the Greek websites, and I often come across events and things like this. It is worth thinking like a local sometimes, and you will find some things that you may not otherwise. Also, a suggestion for the islands, look at things that entertain Greek children’s during the summer, so be check For things that would entertain Greek children during the summer, the beach is very very popular, as you would imagine and you can find things like very easy swimming lessons or surfing lessons or activities at the beach for children. There are some different festivals that go on during the summer, some are adult fromly, others have things for children, but keep your eye open for things like this and don’t exclude them, if anything you will learn about the local culture and what it’s like to live in Greece, which can really add to your holiday in a lot of ways.

My son would have enjoyed it a lot but he liked the planes , boats and trains bit of a holiday the most. You know your children and their patience levels!!

I love island hopping and have spent a lot of the last few summers in the Greek Islands, but I'm not sure of the practicality of it with young children. The slow ferries v rarely run to time, and you can spend hours queueing for them in the blazing sun/trying to get onto them via the car deck with lorries and motorbikes manoeuvring around you. The seajets are much quicker but way more expensive and you can't go out on the deck during the journey. Also people waiting to rent rooms at the ports seems much less common than it did a decade ago, last year I only saw it on naxos. Booking.com seemed a much more popular way, and it is still possible to get a room/studio/apartment for 30-60euros a night. Our ferry from Syros to Sifnos got cancelled due to bad weather last year, we took it the next day but our journey had gone from 2 hours to over 5 hours as other islands needed to be added to the itinerary, and I've never experienced such a rough journey, there were just people throwing up all around us (as a side note, I bought 'travel gum' from a Greek pharmacy and was as high as a kite for the journey but wasn't sick at all)

Greek Island hopping would be my worst nightmare as an adult let alone with a with a 3 /4 year old. Multiple ferries, lots of hanging around ports, different hotels every night.
A greek Island cruise would give the best of AI and variety. However with such small children I would go for the easy option of a hotel or apartment on one island and a boat trip.

I don’t think I could even face that with my 7 and 12 year old! I think with young kids it’s much easier to stay in one place. As PP suggested we tend to do Eurocamp holidays and usually manage to keep it under £2000 for a week for flights + accommodation.

I stayed here with my boys last year and there were lots of toddlers/very small children.
https://www.eurocamp.co.uk/campsites/france/dordogne/pomport-beach-campsite

The trick is to fly to an island. My suggestion is Kos then get a 10 min cab to mastihari a totally chilled village with a mile long beach 30 min ferries leave for Kalymnos from the port where you can pick up the big ferries or get a boat over to telendos no cars no roads. They will love it.

Island hopping with two little ones sounds much more stressful than driving to a family friendly holiday park, even with driving on the wrong side of the road. You could do 3 locations over two weeks, incorporate some beautiful scenery and historic towns and have a holiday park base with fab pools and playgrounds.

I guess it depends on the temperament of your kids though. Mine were happy to do museums, historic towns etc alternating with pool and playgrounds. Flying and ferries wrestling luggage and children wouldn’t have worked for us. We were extremely adventurous before DC.

We sort of did this for a couple of years with 2 under 4. All booked in advance unlike the old days of seeing where the ferry took us.

Booked return flights to Kos, stayed there in an apartment for one week then took ferry across to Kalymnos for another week. Returned to Kos for flight home.

Both wonderful holidays but boarding the ferries was quite stressful with baggage and buggies all loading at the same time as cars, rest was absolutely fine.

There is lots of middle ground between island hopping and AI - stay in a self catering apartment somewhere and enjoy the freedom to picnic, eat out, travel around on local buses and see the island you're on, without being stuck in a single resort.

One option OP is to fly to Athens, stay a night then get the fast ferry to spetse and then do 4 days Spetse, 4 days Porto Heli and 4 days Hydra- all lovely and very Greek but relatively upmarket and a quick 30 min ferry between each of them- apart from the Athens to Spetse bit which is 1 hr 40.

You could do the same in various 'groups' of islands

Just back from Skiathos which would be fab. Regular flights from UK to one of the chillest airports on the planet. You can stand at one end of the runway watching the planes and there’s a beach at the other end - hilarious! Fabulous island with cheap as chips buses that go every 10-15 mins all round the coast.

Got ferries to Skopelos and Alonissos whilst there, even in August don’t need to book more than a day or so ahead. 6 ferries or so a day from Skiathos to both - the Alonissos one stops in Skopelos on the way but still only takes 1-2 hours.

I say go for it!

We have done Greek islands holidays since our DD was 2. Just rented rooms/ apartments near the beach. No need of a resort, spending the day on the beach is enough entertainment at this age. Usually go to beach in the morning, get back to rooms around 1 when sun is too hot and have a salad (or eat at the local taverna), then have a siesta which young kids need and then beach again in the afternoon and go out to the village/ town for dinner in the early evening. Sometimes our DC would sleep on the beach after lunch (we had one of these beach tents).

I would go to the Cycladic islands nearer to Piraeus- so combine maybe Sifnos and Serifos or Tinos and Syros- just check which islands are easily connected. I would probably only do 2 in 10 days. Are you thinking late May? The weather is still unpredictable in May. How about June, right after half term? The first 2-3 weeks in June are usually still rather quiet.

I don't know if you can find rooms for €30 for
4, but you can find rooms for less than €80 I would think in May- June. Of course you can go and find rooms on the spot, but because of the little ones, it might be easier to have something booked beforehand.

Do you plan to rent a car? For the islands I mentioned above, you would need a car if you want to explore. Or, if you book rooms by a beach, then you could only rent a car for 1 or 2 days for each island and these can be your exploring days and the no car days the relaxing days.

Good luck!!

I wouldn’t do island hopping with those ages, no way.

I wouldn’t do AI either. There’s a lot of options in between.

I’ve taken my kids to Greek islands a lot and we have mostly chosen an island with a direct flight, then booked self catering accommodation (but with restaurants nearby for when we can’t face cooking). Choose area carefully so it’s not too developed/party resort and has nice beaches nearby. We generally hire a car to explore and to make trips to the beach easier. Sometimes we stay in two different places on the same island, if going for more than 7 days. I guess you could do two close neighbour islands (eg Skiathos and Skopelos or Corfu and Paxos). Definitely book accommodation in advance, it’s not like it used to be where you can just rock up.

Having holidayed with kids of similar ages I would book an apartment close to the beach with a couple of bedrooms so that you have the option for siestas of an afternoon. Somewhere with nice tavernas nearby. They aren't old enough to appreciate island hopping in the same way as an adult. A beach is a beach to kids!