Best Greece

[MondeoFan]

Was looking at Santorini. Was hoping for authentic Greece, pretty white buildings and a little town for shops and restaurants etc. I’ve heard it’s expensive. Heard a lot of good things about Kos and Zante too. Only ever been to Corfu but that was many years ago. For 2 adults and a 12 year old next summer

Loved Naxos, ticks the beach/restaurants boxes , but Folegandros is out of this world…but very small so maybe not lots to occupy 12 year old?

how about island hopping in the Cyclades group of islands, it’s fab to do with kids….

also don’t discount Crete, it’s a stunner!

Back to say Santorini could be v busy, lots of cruise visitors descending….might dilute the “authentic” experience! And yes, probably more expensive as a result!

I’ll have a look at Crete. Never heard of Cyclades will look that up. 🙏🏻

I am also searching for the authentic greece i remember from the ‘80’s.

The Cyclades is a group of islands including Santorini. As @WingnutSOS says Naxos does tick your boxes and I would probably recommend going there with a 12 year old. I agree too about Folegandros, absolutely stunning place!! Probably too quiet for a 12 year old so agree on that too.
you could fly into Santorini and get a ferry from there to other islands DS. If you spent a night or 2 there then you could tick the Santorini box as it is stunning and just accept it’s going to be busy.
then take ferry to Naxos or other islands. As well as Naxos you could look at Ios or Milos both of which have probably got enough to keep a 12 year old happy as well as the adults. Then ferry back to Santorini (or even Mykonos) for return flights home.

You can fly direct from London to Skiathos, and from there take the ferry to Skopelos. It’s so beautiful, and was where a lot of Mamma Mia was filmed. It’s not nearly as expensive as Mykonos or Santorini. Another place to look at is Lindos on Rhodes, which is busier but would have more to do with a 12yo.

@jocktamsonsbairn is absolutely correct! Had forgotten Santorini is Cyclades also. I tend to not include it or Mykonos when I think about Cyclades - they are both fab islands but not what I think of when I want the archetypal Greek island experience 🥰

Smaller islands tend to be nicer. I think Skiathos is the smallest with an airport. Lovely beaches.

If you go for a larger island like Crete or Zakynthos just research into the various towns/areas because while one part of the island might be lovely, others are not. So asking for recommendations for particular locations might be helpful. I stayed on Kos this summer, but sadly the beach wasn’t good compared to elsewhere on the island where they have miles of yellow sand. We had horrid brown shingle.

Kefalonia 😍