Self catering with pool - Greece or Italy

[Peonyyyy]

Hi all, am I being totally unrealistic here?

we’re looking for a self catering place with a pool and ideally near a beach and with a few restaurants and a supermarket to buy supplies within walking distance.

We will have a baby and a 3 year old.

Happy to be somewhere quiet but ideally we don’t want to hire a car.

Do I just need to give in and get a package holiday at a family hotel? (Hoping not!)

if anyone could recommend somewhere they’ve been or where they think similar exists would be great ☺️ thanks!

We've done loads of s/c holidays in Greece with a pool. We've always hired a car though. Is there a reason you don't want to?

We've usually hired villas via Air BnB or similar, then sorted flights separately. We had a lovely 2 bed villa in Elounda in Crete a couple of years ago. The bus service there is very good so you could definitely do it without a car.

We've also had some great holidays in Kefalonia.

Both are massive countries!!! I think you’ll need a car, much easier with car seats as a lot of places include them in the hire - otherwise you’re stuck with public transport to and from the airport.

We have never done a package holiday, so I can’t compare, but most of the places we go to are walkable to a town or beach. The car is great for days out and doing a shop.

A hotel sounds a nightmare with two young children. You’d all have to be in bed with lights out at 1930 - not much of a holiday!!

It’s the car that will be the issue. Generally self catered places big enough to have own pool will not be central.

Are you sure you want to be in a private place with pool that won’t be fenced in with a 3 year old? No lifeguard etc

I would go to a hotel with 2 bedroom on site rooms/ apartments if you want pool. You can get hotels that have self catered options. Ie we went last year with our 3 year old to Italy, it Was full hotel type place, with centre park type fully equipped 2 bed cabins. At beach also. So you could use all facilities, eat in hotel or self cater as you wanted. Not sure how easy it would be without car if you wanted to leave to local town or attractions

If you go on the jet2 website you can filter for self catering, loads of the resorts do the full range- SC, half board and all inclusive. So you’ll have the hotel, pool and activities but don’t have to sort your own food out.

We've never had a villa in Greece where the pool has been fenced in, so you need to consider that. You'd have to be very vigilant with your dc.

https://www.linodellefateresort.com/?utm_source=google&utm_medium=organic&utm_campaign=google_mybusiness&utm_term=hotel#/bungalow/trilocale.html

we have stayed here before

If you scroll to the bottom of that link, you can see all the other hotels and apartment hotels they have within brand ( all Italy). They have lots of places with small apartments or hotel rooms with kitchens as options within a hotel or resort complex

We have done self catering in Greek islands many times in small resorts where we haven't needed a car. When our girls were little we went to Roda on Corfu and Mastihari on Kos.
Italy may be more difficult without a car, we needed to hire a car when we went

Is Cyprus an option for you? I know it's neither Greece nor Italy, but it's similar. You'll need a taxi from the airport though. More options if you have a car (and in Cyprus they drive on the UK side)

If you’re happy with an apartment and a shared pool then there are loads of this sort of thing in Greece. Usually in or near a beach town so you can buy supplies at minimarkets, walk to beach, go out for the odd meal. They may sometimes be called hotels but you often actually get a kitchenette and two/three rooms so more of an aparthotel.

If you want your own villa with pool it is much tougher to find ones which are walking distance to everything, they do exist though. As these villas are in town they won’t have the views or space of the ones out of town but do avoid long hot walks or needing a car. Various villa websites like James villas will let you do a search for “car free” or “close to amenities”.

If you don’t want to hire a car then for airport transfer you can get a taxi (mind you in some places a taxi both ways is not much less than a week’s car hire).

In Italy, in my limited experience, accommodation is much more in the way of hotels, agriturismos and some large campsites. I haven’t really been to the beachy areas of Italy eg Puglia or Sardinia though so perhaps it’s different there.

Have a look at Ilayssos in Rhodes.
We stayed there in a self catering apartment a few years ago, walking distance to the beach, restaurants, supermarket etc