Please or to access all these features

Add post

Watch this thread

Save thread

Start a new thread

Flip thread

Hide thread

My feed

Active Unanswered threads

Getting started FAQ's

Unanswered threads Acronyms Talk guidelines

Hide shortcut buttons

Talk

Holidays

Use our Travel forum for recommendations on everything from day trips to the best family-friendly holiday destinations.

Flip

Original poster

Afitos and Halkidiki in general

18 replies

TheRealMrsJohnSimm · 22/02/2009 16:13

Anyone been? Any recommendations for accommodation?

We want to go a small hotel or a self-catering apartment/villa. Not interested in those huge resort hotels.

OP posts:

MissisBoot · 22/02/2009 16:27

We loved Halkidiki when we went a few years ago - we stayed in a self catering apartment a bit further down from Afitos - I remember when we drove back to the airport we drove through Afitos and thought it looked lovely.

No recs for accommodation though - sorry.

Original poster

TheRealMrsJohnSimm · 22/02/2009 17:30

Thanks MB. Nice to hear that it looks as lovely as it appears on the net. Do you remember which town you stayed in? Am curious because we haven't definitely decided on Afitos yet but it seems the less developed of the resorts in that area.

OP posts:

tattycoram · 22/02/2009 17:40

How funny, I just came to shorthaul travel wanting to ask about mainland Greece. Will watch with interest.

Original poster

TheRealMrsJohnSimm · 22/02/2009 19:10

Tatty - are you only interested in Halkidiki?

The only place we have visited on the mainland is Parga. It was lovely and the old town is particularly charming.

OP posts:

fruitshootsandheaves · 22/02/2009 19:11

thought this was a baby name thread must pay more attention.

tattycoram · 22/02/2009 22:10

No, not at all, interested in mainland in general. We're looking for a little village with a nice beach where two adults and a two and a half year old can potter about for a week.

Parga sounds nice, will google. Is there a good beach?

Original poster

TheRealMrsJohnSimm · 22/02/2009 22:20

Beach is good at Parga - there are two main beaches in the town and several within short driving distances.

We stayed here. We booked through Simply but it is possible to book direct with the owner. The villa is lovely and the views are stunning. Only downside is that it is just a little too far to walk into Parga with the little ones (there is a rough but drive-able track from the villa to the main road) but it is only a 5 minute drive. The owner (Thomas Tousis, I think) and his wife are so kind and helpful too. His wife regularly brought cakes, lemons and even a special hangover cure (don't ask!) to our place.

However, Parga isn't a "lively" resort so I think even with LO's you would be fine staying in the town itself.

OP posts:

tattycoram · 22/02/2009 22:42

That looks lovely!! I've just been googling Parga and it looks perfect for us - your villa is booked up for June already, but I'll keep looking at Parga, thanks for the tip. How far is it from Athens? Did you hire a car for the whole period?

Original poster

TheRealMrsJohnSimm · 22/02/2009 22:53

You can travel from Athens but Preveza is nearer (approx 1 - 1.5hrs iirc). We did have a hire car for the whole period but that was included in the Simply price. Not sure if it would be worth it for two whole weeks if you are happy in the centre of Parga, but then I always err on the side of caution and would rather have a car at our disposal anyway!

It is such a lovely place that it is still on our "potential holiday 09" list......and generally DH and I don't go back to the same place twice - not because the places we've visited have been awful but because life is too short!

OP posts:

tattycoram · 22/02/2009 22:58

There are lots of good accommodation options on that site aren't they. I see myself with my morning coffee here

tattycoram · 22/02/2009 23:02

There are lots of good accommodation options on that site aren't they. I would like to drink my morning coffee here. We don't need much space really - DS can sleep in a drawer on a fold out bed if they can provide one.

tattycoram · 22/02/2009 23:03

Sorry, thought that message hadn't posted but it had. Anyway, it looks like just what we were looking for.

Original poster

TheRealMrsJohnSimm · 23/02/2009 10:58

IIRC, that place is in a really nice spot. If you have a seaview room, you will be able to look out at Panagia - its a small island just off the Parga shore which has a church on it. Everything is in walkable distance from there. I would go for it! You are right about the space issue - most of the time you are out anyway.

Also, we have resolved to do basic this year as ime you only get exceptional quality if you go totally top-end in terms of budget. We have been disappointed the last two years with our choices - a 4 star hotel in Sardinia (which was 4 star due to location only - definitely not related to room we had) and the most god-awful villa in Majorca 2 years ago. We rented that one through Thompson and it was appalling. It stank to high heaven, they had lied about its location (brochure said 1km from resort........was actually 6!! which definitely NOT walkable with LOs in tow) and the owners were vile.

I reckon there is so little regulation in terms of ratings that you may as well search for yourself and go with something basic but clean and in a good area.

OP posts:

tattycoram · 23/02/2009 18:42

Yes, I agree. Pre DS we used to go in early June or September, hire a car and find somewhere we liked. I like having somewhere very near the beach so you can go back for things you've forgotten, or a shower. In fact, I think we are going to fly to Athens, drive round the Pelopponese for a week and end up in Parga (where we will book). Then we can fly home from Preveza. Very excited now - thanks very much.

Original poster

TheRealMrsJohnSimm · 26/02/2009 19:08

Do you have any plans for specific places to visit in Pelopponese?

I have just booked flights with BA to Thessaloniki. They were cheaper than Easyjet (£800) and Thomson (£1300!!).

Have booked a hotel in Afitos called Stamos Hotel which is small - 18 rooms, own pool - but just a few streets away from the main square and 5 mins walk from beach. B & B rates were great (?90 per night for all four of us).

If we had booked a package to same hotel via Thomas Cook it would have cost us £1000 more .

OP posts:

tattycoram · 03/03/2009 08:14

Sorry, only just saw this. That sounds absolutely fantastic. We scrapped the Pelopponese idea - once we'd looked at a map we realised we'd spend the whole time driving. Have booked flights though . We're going to Parga in the first two weeks of June. I'm dashing off to work now but perhaps I could ask your views on a couple of accomodation options later, the one we first liked is a bit too expensive and we're not sure now whether to stay in town or on the beach (think it's Valtos?)

Original poster

TheRealMrsJohnSimm · 04/03/2009 22:50

Hi Tatty. Yep - fire away. If I don't know the answer I will email my friend who lives in Parga for an honest opinion .

There is a beach in the town itself which personally I would recommend over Valtos Beach. IIRC, there wasn't a great deal going on around Valtos Beach other than some hotels/holiday village type place. I don't remember being particularly impressed.

OP posts:

tattycoram · 07/03/2009 09:13

Right, am ruling out Valtos on the basis of yr last post and have just had time to do a trawl, so here we go.....

Our main criteria are good location and a nice space to sit and have a drink once DS is asleep. We want something as cheap as poss tbh.

this is the place we originally looked at but the sea views are a bit out of budget, but there is a terrace so we can still have breakfast looking at the sea

this one is potentially noisy isn't it? It looks like a fab location

no 1 (only the apartment is available but quite good for DS to have room to potter around. Looks like a good locatino but hard to tell

this one looks nice but might be a bit of a walk to the beach

another one that looks fine

Any input appreciated!
Also, it's quite out of season so I did wonder about booking somewhere for the first few nights and then going and choosing somewhere. Dunno if that's a bit risky tho

Flip

Swipe left for the next trending thread