Greece help

[Deleted User]

alex-andra wrote: »

Looking to book a holiday to Greece in Sept, but just overwhelmed by all islands and resorts....can anyone help narrow down my search

I Want to fly from Glasgow/Edinburgh, nice resort, a few bars and restaurants....but not party central

Any suggestions?

Thanks for help

September is an excellent time of year visit Greece.
The peak season is over,the weather is still excellent and the locals are beginning to unwind as the hordes depart.
Basic research will enable you to weed out the worst of the resorts.
But I would also consider flight-only deals and organising your own accomodation- Greece is geared up towards mobile tourists happy to spend a few days in one area before moving on to another.
And most islands have a good bus network that avoids the need for a hire care.
Personally I have a soft spot for Paxos and Sifnos but there are so many great places on the islands and mainland.
Websites to visit are Homeaway,TripAdvisor Holiday Rentals,Owners Direct.

benjus

Personally I think Crete is a great way to start with Greece as it has a bit of everything. It's an island but a big island, so there's quite a bit of variety. It's got great beaches and some great historic and cultural sights. I would say avoid the resorts and stay in tavernas, small hotels or holiday rental places - but that's just my preference.

Last year we stayed at this place: https://goo.gl/maps/mC1XAvj8Apr in late June - it was incredibly relaxing. Hardly anyone around in the area, we spent a lot of time walking around incredibly beautiful and mostly empty beaches. You would need a car though, and some of the roads wouldn't be recommended to nervous drivers.

Then we went on to stay near Sitia (also a good area, quite popular with Greeks for their holidays, although still very foreign tourist friendly), and finally in the extreme northeast of the Island, near Balos beach. Balos is spectacular to look at but a pain to get to and there are almost no facilities once you get there, so we only went once - Falasarna beach was better in our opinion. Elafonissi beach, with the famous pink sand, was just too crowded to enjoy.

Pollycat

Moving on from benjus's post:

Chania area of Crete (west) is good if you're a keen walker as there is the Samaria Gorge.
Not sure of the best time to visit, possibly earlier in the year.


And we love the Botanical Park that you can get the local bus to from Chania Town.
Chania must be one of the prettiest harbours in Greece with its Venetian influence.

Twopints

In addition to those suggested so far, I like the Saronic Islands which are a fairly short ferry / dolphin trip out of Athens. These islands tend to be favourites for Athenians to visit for their holidays or for the weekends, but should be back to sensible levels in September

Aegina - I don't think there are any package tours as the hotel operators refused to deal with them. Book direct.

Hydra - famous for having no cars (but lots of donkeys), but also a cruise ship destination so fills up during the day

Poros & Spetses - I haven't been to for a while but are also lovely.

As they are close together you can also do day trips or cruises round the other islands.

Parga has been mentioned but there is also Lefkada which you also access via Preveza airport, so could do either or both. Lefkada is techinically an island but is attached to the mainland by a bridge / causeway. Avoid Lefkas town (nothing wrong with it, but too busy for me), but Nidri, or further south Vasiliki, and if you want really, really quiet, Sivota.

StaffieTerrier

We stayed in Tsilivi in Zante a couple of years ago. It's more family orientated and only a short bus ride to Zante town. We were there the end of September and it was very much winding down for the season, so that's something else you might want to consider.

z1a

StaffieTerrier wrote: »

We stayed in Tsilivi in Zante a couple of years ago. It's more family orientated and only a short bus ride to Zante town. We were there the end of September and it was very much winding down for the season, so that's something else you might want to consider.

We were there 2 years ago as well, agree with everything you've said. not too far a walk into Zante town, up the hill and round the coast. One of the best Chinese restaurants I've ever been too as well - Courser.

19lottie82

Stalis is fantastic . I’ve been 3 times in the last two years.

There is a main road along the beach full of restaurants and bars. They all shut by midnight apart from the 2 main pubs which have live music / karaoke.

There’s good transport links into Hersonnosis, Agios Nikolaos (?) and Heraklion, if you want a day out.

Yes, it’s close to Malia, but that’s never been a problem for us. And the old town of Mailia is beautiful.

We always stay at the Sergiani Garden Apartments. The rooms are basic but clean, the restaurant is very good and the staff are fabulous.

Ganga

Twopints wrote: »

In addition to those suggested so far, I like the Saronic Islands which are a fairly short ferry / dolphin trip out of Athens. These islands tend to be favourites for Athenians to visit for their holidays or for the weekends, but should be back to sensible levels in September

Aegina - I don't think there are any package tours as the hotel operators refused to deal with them. Book direct.

Hydra - famous for having no cars (but lots of donkeys), but also a cruise ship destination so fills up during the day

Poros & Spetses - I haven't been to for a while but are also lovely.

As they are close together you can also do day trips or cruises round the other islands.

Parga has been mentioned but there is also Lefkada which you also access via Preveza airport, so could do either or both. Lefkada is techinically an island but is attached to the mainland by a bridge / causeway. Avoid Lefkas town (nothing wrong with it, but too busy for me), but Nidri, or further south Vasiliki, and if you want really, really quiet, Sivota.

We have been to Aegina and Poros,both with package holidays out of Newcastle but was many years ago,both good holidays.

BarryBlue

discat11 wrote: »

We did exactly the same.
Ironically we stayed in Sidari and the area a few times some 20 years ago - toured the whole island and laughed at the godawful state of Kavos (lovely beach but wall to wall bars, tattoo parlours & kebab shops -nothing written in Greek and dead as a dodo until evening when it turns into anyone over 20's worst nightmare of binge drinking).
After going back several years ago Sidari has turned iinto a bigger version frankly.

Watch out for brochures/holiday companies calling it the 'canal d'amour' area etc -check on the map if it's within a couple of miles of Sidari it'll be the same, the holiday companies know the name is a bit toxic so will try to 'roll it in glitter'.

We're going back to Corfu this year but late August and Paleokatritsa -possibly the nicest resort and many miles from Sidari!

My favourite Ionian Island is Kefalonia -absolutely gorgeous and steeped in history (despite the 1953 earthquake).

I used to go to Sidari in the 80s when it was relatively quiet and undeveloped, with several wonderful family run tavernas and nice quiet beaches. We stopped going in 1995 as it was changing for the worse.

However, some friends of ours still go regularly and when we saw a cheap week in September 2016 when they were there, we thought 'why not?' and booked it. Not a great decision!

All the old tavernas had gone, replaced by corporate places churning out faux-Greek food. The main street is now a mayhem of loud clubs, dodgy bars and burger joints. We did catch up with a few people we had known from 20 years previous, but were quite sad to say we would never be returning.

As someone else has said, weather not great in the Ionians in September either.

Ganga wrote: »

We have been to Aegina and Poros,both with package holidays out of Newcastle but was many years ago,both good holidays.

Both lovely islands, but we prefer Agistri which is just across from Aegina. Smaller, quieter, and very Greek. There are boats and catamarans from Piraeus.