hopping mad - Travel Weekly

DESTINATIONS — GREECE & CYPRUS
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Picture: g Adventures/scott urquhart
Katie McGonagle
tells you how to mix
and match Greek
hotspots on an islandhopping itinerary
HOPPING MAD
C
hoosing a favourite flavour of ice cream is almost
impossible – sometimes you crave classic vanilla, but
sometimes you fancy rich rocky road with sprinkles on top.
So why restrict yourself to just one, when you can have a
taste of every flavour?
The same applies to the Greek islands – where one excels in
noisy nightlife, another offers total seclusion, and yet another
has family-friendly sandy beaches and classic Greek cuisine.
That’s why island-hopping is the holiday equivalent of
giving your clients a spoon and telling them to dig in to any
tub they fancy – just find out which flavours might suit with
our guide to mixing and matching the Greek islands.
l PLAY THEN PAUSE
A simple twin-centre can offer complementary island
experiences, according to Olympic
Holidays commercial director Photis Lambrianides. He says:
“A fortnight on a small and peaceful island can be too long,
but combine it with a week on a busier island and you have
an excellent island-hopping formula. Many of the smaller
islands are within easy reach of more popular islands so
transfers aren’t a problem.”
Chief among those contrasts is action on one island –
whether by day, with watersports and sightseeing, or by
night with buzzing bars and clubs – followed by blissful
relaxation on another. Twinning Corfu and Paxos does just
that; the former has a selection of sandy beaches packed
with watersports, sightseeing highlights in the Old Town, and
busy bars at every tourist resort, while the latter’s version
of nightlife is a harbour-front
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13 March 2014 — travelweekly.co.uk • 41
DESTINATIONS — GREECE & CYPRUS
Stunning views: climb to the
Panagia Thalassitra church in
Milos to see beautiful sunsets
Pictures: thomas cook; intrepid travel; islands of greece; cv villas
taverna in a tiny fishing village.
There’s no airport on Paxos –
hence fewer tourists – but ferry
transfers from Corfu start at £30
from Olympic Holidays. Cosmos
offers a budget-friendly selfcatering option (Sample product,
page 44), while CV Villas can offer
properties sleeping up to four
people, with flights and car hire,
from £1,160 for two weeks in June.
Kos and Leros also offer a
similar winning combination,
with the former’s famed Bar
Street, well-established tourism
infrastructure and wealth of
historic sights, and Leros’s off-thebeaten-track product including
boutique hotels in converted
windmills, a growing focus on
scuba diving, and its history of
occupation during wartime. A
twin-centre break with Cosmos
starts at £550 for a week in
September.
Lambrianides also highlights
rugged Kalymnos as an
alternative partner to Kos,
offering excellent mountain
climbing, quiet beaches and
traditional sponge fishing.
Indulge: tuck in to fresh
seafood at local restaurants
l delve deeper
Sizeable Crete and Rhodes
make tempting twins for those
who want to discover the
country’s cultural heritage.
Both boast a lengthy list
of settlers who have left
their mark, with Minoan
palaces, Roman and
Byzantine architecture, and
a mix of medieval churches,
monasteries and Ottoman
mosques on the former to
the latter’s ancient Greek,
Roman, and Byzantine ruins,
42 • travelweekly.co.uk — 13 March 2014
Hillside heaven:
Lindos Blu Hotel
in Rhodes
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Double delight: twin
Grace Santorini and
Grace Mykonos
Quiet life: Paxos is only
accessible by ferry
and fortifications left
behind by medieval
Venetians, the
Knights of Saint John
and the Ottomans,
who occupied the
island until 1912.
Culture isn’t all
about days gone by;
tucking into fresh
fish or pausing in
a secluded beauty
spot can be just as
enlightening.
With one of the
most beautiful
harbours in Greece and
rugged walking routes
affording spectacular
views, Symi is Greece
in a nutshell, while
fellow Dodecanese
island Halki makes a
worthy alternative
for its picture-perfect architecture
and small, secluded beaches. A
three-centre with Rhodes leads in
at £1,051 with Sunvil.
Add a dash of cosmopolitan
chic with romantic hotspots
Mykonos and Santorini. The
ferry transfer takes two hours and
costs €80, meaning it’s easy to
split a week between gorging in
gourmet restaurants and celebrityspotting in the bars of Mykonos;
and revelling in the romance of
Santorini’s sunsets and stunning
caldera views.
Sovereign Luxury Travel offers
three nights at Grace Mykonos
then four at sister Grace Santorini,
with flights and private transfers in
May, from £1,089.
Insight Vacations also favours
luxury and boutique hotels on
its new eight-day mini trip Greek
Islands, starting in Athens with
two days in Mykonos followed
by high-speed ferry to Santorini,
costing from £2,225 for B&B
accommodation and sightseeing.
l GIVE ME MORE
The romantic pairing of Santorini
and Mykonos is one of Thomas
Cook’s three Santorini Island
Hopping itineraries; the others
combine Santorini with quiet,
typically Greek Naxos and either
lively Ios or low-key Paros; prices
start at £775 for 15 days.
Cyclades Island-hopping sells
well for other operators too.
Western & Oriental head of
product David Pointer says: “Our
most popular itinerary includes
Santorini, Paros and Mykonos.
With easy connections by ferries
and faster catamarans, we can
take the hassle out of connecting
the islands by not only booking
flights, accommodation and
transfers, but ferry tickets too.”
Likewise, Cyplon can tailormake itineraries such as three
nights each on Santorini, Paros,
Naxos and Mykonos, with
flights, transfers and ferry tickets,
from £1,248 B&B in May.
For some clients, hopping
between islands is their way of
escaping the crowds to discover
their own Greece. That’s why
Islands of Greece brochures
Undiscovered Cyclades, a 12day tour visiting Folegandros,
Milos and Santorini, from
£849 including flights. Similarly,
Inntravel has a chance for
independent travellers to forge
their own path, with Enchanting
Cyclades, a self-guided walking
tour of rugged islands Serifos,
Sifnos and Milos, where
the Venus de Milo statue was
13 March 2014 — travelweekly.co.uk • 43
DESTINATIONS — GREECE & CYPRUS
Dream duo: Skopelos
works well with Alonissos
l SAILING THE CYCLADES
As beautiful as they are on land,
these islands really sparkle at sea.
G Adventures is reporting
such strong sales of its sailing
programme that it has added a
fourth boat in Greece this year,
sailing eight and 10-day itineraries
from Athens to Mykonos and
Mykonos to Santorini, which can be
combined for a longer adventure.
Itineraries are flexible, meaning
skippers stop off at their favourite
spots along the way, and can
even teach passengers the basics
of sailing. Its best-seller is the
Santorini round trip on-board
a 15-metre yacht with time for
hiking, snorkelling and soaking
up sun on deck (from £1,049
excluding flights).
Charting a similar course
Harbour master: Skiathos
Town is busy day and night
TOP
Life on the ocean waves:
G Adventures has added
a fourth boat this year
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Ke fa
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through the Cyclades, Intrepid
Travel offers Sail Greece: Santorini
to Mykonos, an eight-day sailing
trip taking in Santorini, Ios,
Amorgos, Naxos and Mykonos
(from £870 excluding flights),
plus a 10-day Cyclades Islands
Overview, which adds the lessdeveloped Small Cyclades (from
£1,075 plus kitty and flights).
Sister brand Geckos Adventures
also boasts 10-day tour Poseidon’s
Playground, which drops anchor
at a new island almost every day
(from £1,075, flights extra).
l SEAFRONT SPORADES
The Sporades, of Mamma Mia!
fame, are another popular pick.
Sunvil managing director Chris
Wright says: “Skopelos and
Alonissos are close together, but
offer quite different experiences,
making them ideal for a two-centre.
“Skopelos is vertiginous and
green, with a pretty harbour of
winding streets and whitewashed
houses, with some lovely intimate
tavernas and sophisticated bars.
“Alonissos is wild and rugged,
ideal for walking, with clear waters
that are part of a marine park
protecting the rare monk seal and
dolphins.”
Islands of Greece includes
Stunning Sporades in its range of
island-hopping trips: sit on one
of 65 sandy beaches or enjoy
harbour-front nightlife in Skiathos;
then explore the lush forests
and clear blue seas of Skopelos,
before moving on to undeveloped
Alonissos to enjoy walking trails
or kayaking in the marine park
without hordes of tourists; prices
start at £989 including flights. TW
Sample Product
Cosmos Holidays offers seven
nights at Marilena Apartments
in Corfu and a week at Glyfada
Beach Villas in Paxos, from
£545 including flights from
Birmingham on May 5, selfcatering accommodation, and
airport transfers.
cosmos.co.uk
0843 227 1464
Planet Holidays offers 14 nights
at the five-star Elounda Mare in
Crete and Lindos Blu in Rhodes,
44 • travelweekly.co.uk — 13 March 2014
on a B&B basis, all flights, and
transfers, from £5,595.
planet-holidays.co.uk
0871 872 234
GIC The Villa Collection offers
seven nights at Villa Aquilo on
Alonissos with jeep hire, and
seven at Thalassa Vista near
Skopelos, both self-catering, from
£1,363, with Gatwick flights,
transfers and welcome pack.
gicthevillacollection.com
020 8232 9780
Picture: g advenTURES/leo tamburri
discovered. The itinerary starts
from £720 for 10 nights’ B&B
accommodation, transfers and
route maps, but excludes flights
and ferries.