Greece

tina1040

Any suggestions for family holiday in Greece next June? We have teens who like some sightseeing along with beaches and watersports. We don't mind moving from place to place.

Tsipras

Santorini is the most beautiful place i've ever been to, not as east to get to as some Greek islands but definitely worth it. Myknonos and Rhodes are lovely too

pjproby

crete is great and big enough for lots of variety. North coast is more developed and has some nice resorts but we really love the south. We have also been to athens and the Peloponnese and Saronic islands. All lovely and you can fly to athens and crete direct from dublin. Corfu is also great and aer lingus flies there. We go to Greece at least once if not twice a year.

Danny2580

A second home for me, and still my favourite travel destination having been umpteen times all around the country. Crete is beautiful, and there's the option to visit Santorini via ferry. It's handy to do the north coast via bus or car and there's loads to see, including a water park or two + beach sports for the kids. Malia gets a bad rep, but it's very different to what it was ten years ago, and the old town has a couple of restaurants and tavernas that are must visits. The old village is really stunning, and the locals very friendly. Agios Nikolaos is another must, great place to spend a day shopping and some incredible scenery. Obvious thing to do is fly in to Heraklion with Aegean and do the east side first, make your way west and fly out from Chania with Ryanair. Rethymon and Chania are also musts, two beautiful places and loads to do - a quick google is enough evidence! You'd easily fill ten or fourteen days, especially if adding Santorini. Go for it!

Seconded on Tsipras comments. Fantastic people who have a lot more in common with the Irish than it might seem at first glance.

RubyK

Like others have said, Greece is a beautiful place to holiday, with fab beaches and villages, great tavernas and very welcoming locals, we would pick it every year for a place to holiday.

Corfu is beautiful easy to get to with direct flights via Aer Lingus. Lots of lovely resorts to choose from, two of our favs are Agios Gordios and Paleokastritsa. Corfu town is great to visit in the evening, lots of lovely shops, tavernas to keep you busy. You can go via bus or boat depending on where you stay on this island. You can also do a day trip to Paxos & Anti-Paxos (where the beach is like something out of the Caribbean)

Direct flights also to Zakynthos (Tslivi & Alykanas/Alykes are lovely spots).

Direct flights also to Kos & Rhodes, via falcon travel (and maybe other tour operators).

Direct flights to Crete with Ryanair.

Direct flights to Athens with Ryanair & Aer Lingus - you can get a ferry or domestic flight to many many islands, the choice is endless.

Ourselves this year, we are flying to Athens, then onto Paros for a few days, then onto Anti-paros for a few days, back to Paros, and then 1 night on the mainland. There are so many options, if you book independently.

On Santorini - yes it is a stunning island, but if you are looking for golden sandy beaches, you won't find them here. There is a stoney beach at Kamari (lovely resort) and a black sand beach at Perissa (just around the headland from Kamari - boats run back and forth all day between the two resorts). I think there is a red sand beach, but afaik you would need a car to visit it. Fira the capital is gorgeous, postcard stuff, and Oia is famous for the sunset. We combined Santorini with Naxos (for it's lovely golden beaches and pretty old town and castle area). 1 night in Fira, 7 nights in St Georges beach Naxos, and 6 nights Kamari.

www.greeka.com is a good site for researching islands.

VG31

RubyK wrote: »

Direct flights to Athens with Ryanair & Aer Lingus - you can get a ferry or domestic flight to many many islands, the choice is endless.

Aegean fly to Athens as well. They have a range of connections via Athens to the Greek islands. They have reasonable prices considering their service is far superior to EI/FR (rated very highly on Skytrax and TripAdvisor).

RubyK

VG31 wrote: »

Aegean fly to Athens as well. They have a range of connections via Athens to the Greek islands. They have reasonable prices considering their service is far superior to EI/FR (rated very highly on Skytrax and TripAdvisor).

That's good to know VG31 - will def consider that for summer 2018

jadie

RubyK wrote: »

Like others have said, Greece is a beautiful place to holiday, with fab beaches and villages, great tavernas and very welcoming locals, we would pick it every year for a place to holiday.

Corfu is beautiful easy to get to with direct flights via Aer Lingus. Lots of lovely resorts to choose from, two of our favs are Agios Gordios and Paleokastritsa. Corfu town is great to visit in the evening, lots of lovely shops, tavernas to keep you busy. You can go via bus or boat depending on where you stay on this island. You can also do a day trip to Paxos & Anti-Paxos (where the beach is like something out of the Caribbean)

Direct flights also to Zakynthos (Tslivi & Alykanas/Alykes are lovely spots).

Direct flights also to Kos & Rhodes, via falcon travel (and maybe other tour operators).

Direct flights to Crete with Ryanair.

Direct flights to Athens with Ryanair & Aer Lingus - you can get a ferry or domestic flight to many many islands, the choice is endless.

Ourselves this year, we are flying to Athens, then onto Paros for a few days, then onto Anti-paros for a few days, back to Paros, and then 1 night on the mainland. There are so many options, if you book independently.

On Santorini - yes it is a stunning island, but if you are looking for golden sandy beaches, you won't find them here. There is a stoney beach at Kamari (lovely resort) and a black sand beach at Perissa (just around the headland from Kamari - boats run back and forth all day between the two resorts). I think there is a red sand beach, but afaik you would need a car to visit it. Fira the capital is gorgeous, postcard stuff, and Oia is famous for the sunset. We combined Santorini with Naxos (for it's lovely golden beaches and pretty old town and castle area). 1 night in Fira, 7 nights in St Georges beach Naxos, and 6 nights Kamari.

www.greeka.com is a good site for researching islands.

Hi,

I'm going to agios gordios in september. anything you'd recommend about the place? what are the prices like for eating out and drink? thanks

k123456

what are prices like on the Greek Islands , coffees, alcohol etc. Was briefly in Santorini last year, v expensive

sfakiaman

Just back from west Crete, prices seemed a bit up on last year but still cheaper than rural Ireland. Large beer was from €3 to €4, no idea what price coffee but it was cheap enough. I have a bill in front of me for a meal for two people including a large draught beer costing €25 including €4.84 tax, this was in a very nice restaurant beside the beach in Kissamos. If flying to Chania from Dublin it would be worth looking at flying back via Athens as the flight times are much better and staying over night in Dublin on the return is exorbitant.

k123456

sfakiaman wrote: »

Just back from west Crete, prices seemed a bit up on last year but still cheaper than rural Ireland. Large beer was from €3 to €4, no idea what price coffee but it was cheap enough. I have a bill in front of me for a meal for two people including a large draught beer costing €25 including €4.84 tax, this was in a very nice restaurant beside the beach in Kissamos. If flying to Chania from Dublin it would be worth looking at flying back via Athens as the flight times are much better and staying over night in Dublin on the return is exorbitant.

I have a bill in front of me for a meal for two people including a large draught beer costing €25

thats very reasonable

lensman

My wife & I have never been to Greece or it's Islands & can't think why we have looked but the huge choices available probably put us off, my wife will be spending a week in hospital this month (July) but should be fit to travel in Aug hence my stipulation that relaxation & recovery are the key words here so looking for somewhere special, nice & quite with a few nice places to eat,drink & soak up the sun & atmosphere, somewhere close to a nice beach.
Thanks in advance

scudzilla

lensman wrote: »

My wife & I have never been to Greece or it's Islands & can't think why we have looked but the huge choices available probably put us off, my wife will be spending a week in hospital this month (July) but should be fit to travel in Aug hence my stipulation that relaxation & recovery are the key words here so looking for somewhere special, nice & quite with a few nice places to eat,drink & soak up the sun & atmosphere, somewhere close to a nice beach.
Thanks in advance

Here's an old post of mine, resort is Kalamaki, Beach is a 5min walk and amazing, no watersports due to the caretta caretta (turtles) nesting there. Nice and peaceful place, with some great sights to see on island


http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=66109169&postcount=6

NikoTopps

i am flying to Athens in 2wks time with my boyfriend,its where he is from.Especially for historical sites&siteseeing athens is just second to none there.Athens have many beach you can access with tram for 1,40€ takes 20\30mins from Syntagma(Σύνταγμα) aswell.Goto sites earlyy to avoid most of tourists,you will have a ball!