Sparky24

Thinking of visiting Greece in late Spring or September with our son who will be 2 in March. We are interested in only spending a few days in Athens then on to an Island for some beach time and relaxation. I' m just not sure if it is a suitable holiday for a child of this age. I' m thinking an apartment or villa with pool would be better than a hotel. We will be in England prior to this, so I' m not worried about the time difference or flying.
Any suggestions or experiences?

Heimdall

Greeks dote on children, so your toddler will be welcome there. My favourite island, Antiparos, is especially child friendly, with a traffic free main street, and sandy beaches which remain shallow well away from the shoreline. June and September are both popular months for families with pre-school aged children.

tod

Yes, if he is a fairly easy child.
We took ours around Europe for six weeks and spent time in Athens & Skiathos. The most convenient way for daily walking around was to carry him in a kind of canvas chair backpack thing. When you took it off it could stand on its own.
This was all twentysix years ago and I can't believe we were so brave. Ah, youth has no fear! Go for it.

jaclynpoulson

Another island where I recall seeing children was Naxos. Pretty laid back and quiet with great beaches.

travelatte

Sparky24,
We travelled to Greece when my son was 2yrs.(he's now 9y)and it was fun. We only did a couple of days in Athens as well and then we flew to Santorini and Mykonos. Santorini was fine, We also went to Akortiri. We had a great hotel, overlooking the volcano and it had a great balcony. It had an extra room, so we put him to sleep and we had dinner on the balcony. The hotel had a resturant and delivered directly to the balcony, it was great. We stayed at a Best Western Resort on Mykonos and they loved our son, even taking him for a kitchen tour. Both hotels had refrigerators so we could have snacks for him. I would not probably return to Mykonos with kids. Santorini was just beautiful. Not beachy, but beautiful.

I'd take a backpack to carry him in, as suggested by tod. Not everplace is suitable for a stroller. And fly between the islands if possible. It is much quicker and works out great with kids.
We have travelled all over Europe with our kids 9y, and 6yr. Have fun. It's not the same as travelling without kids, but you see things differently.

I'm sure others have lots of island advice for you.

Travelatte

nukesafe

Sparky24,

Good advice we recieved when we were planning cruising in Greece in our boat with four small kids many years ago, " If you don't have kids while travelling in Greece, rent some!"

Turned out to be good advice. The Greeks we met seemed to take the kids as a signal to open their hearts to our family. Our main problem was trying to keep to our rule of "no candy", when every Greek seemed bound and determined to stuff our kids with sweets.

Lebanon was another matter -- when a fellow offered to buy my blonde twin daughters. (I think he was serious.) We never did get to talk about what the price should be for a "matched set", as he left the boat rather preciptously.

Sparky24

Thank you for the replies, so pleased that the Greeks love kids. I was hoping to fly between the islands, especially after reading that the ferries seem to run on their own time!

Heimdall

You can fly from Athens to most of the major islands, but there are no inter-island flights. Flying to or from Athens to Santorini, for example, would take about 40 min, while the highspeed ferry takes about six hours, and conventional ferries even longer.

On the other hand, ferries are an adventure, and there are hotels owners waiting at the dock, making it easier to find a room when you arrive on the island.

travelatte

Not sure if something has changed, but we flew between the islands in 1998. I'm sure others have flown more recently.

Travelatte

Sparky24

I'm thinking flying with a toddler and luggage will be a must, but that will cut down on the island we can visit it sounds like. In the old days dh and I would have been more adventurous, but kids change things. Are the domestic arilines good/safe? I know some charter flights go from the UK to some islands directly? Still can't decide on a island, wish there wasn't as many to choose from.LOL

Heimdall

Yes, with so many islands it is hard to choose. You can narrow it down by focusing on one island group, eg the Cyclades, which appeals to independent travelers rather than the package groups. My recommendation would be either Antiparos, as I said before, or Naxos. For Naxos, you could stay in Naxos Town near St George's beach (Agio Georgios. Otherwise, Agio Prokopios and Agio Anna are smaller settlements with good beaches, and both are near Naxos Town with frequent buse service.

To help you choose, go to http://www.islandstrolling.com, a private website with excellent photos and some good info.

Charter flights go into Mykonos and Santorini from the UK, but I wouldn't put either on the top of my list for a hoiday with a toddler.

The domestic airlines are safe and reliable. You can book online at http://www.olympicairlines.com/ or http://www.aegeanair.com/aegeanen/home/. I normally use Olympic, mainly because Aegean doesn't have a flight into Paros, where I normally go. Olympic doesn't have its summer schedule on their website yet, but once it does, it will fill up fast.

I'm not so sure that when traveling with a toddler, flying is a must, though. The advantage of ferries is you can get up and walk around, and some even have small play areas for young children. Try to get a highspeed or one of the Blue Stars if you can. Journey time from Pireaus to Paros is 3hrs on highspeed and 4hrs on Blue Star.

You can get a taxi from the airport to Pireaus if you think coping with luggage and child on the bus will be too much hassle. More expensive, but probably worth it in your case.