Hey guys,

I'm looking for any recommendations on where in Greece is good to go as a family with a 3 year old. Would love to visit 2 or 3 islands maybe over 2 weeks as long as it's fairly easy to travel between. Back up plan is to spend 10 days in one place like Rhodes, Crete or Corfu but have no idea where.

Any help is appreciated!

Cheers!

WHEN ae you talkinga bout going??? IN 2019, or a couple of weeks from now?? Makes a difference. If you want to relax, and not have to hassle with getting in/out of a car all the time, I would recommend Naxos, and staying on St. George Beach directly adjacent to the port town. Sandy, shallow, clean water, paradise for preschoolers. I'm there late may, early June, and love lying on sunlounger watching Scandinavian toddlers waddling around starkers, and playing with pails at waters edge. Very relaxing for adults, safe, and the beach is lined with family-run places that have patios & apartmentss right on the sand. you can feed the child on his schedule ... There are tavernas right there for dinners, And it's an easy flat walk along the shore in 15 minutes to the attractions of portside. You can take along a push-chair, enjoy sunset dinners at the seafront, while child has an iceceam & falls asleep in chair. You needn't rent a car until you want to do a drive round the island... good bus network as well.

Another island that's very toddler friendly is Anti-Paros, again, very walkable. And if you want there's a quickie ferry to explore the port t own of Paros too. I encourage you to do some homework, look at photos read a guide that's not promotional like a website ..

.... but of course if you are plannig to go in 2 weeks, what can I say? Good luck!

Sorry, would help if I gave at least a little bit of detail 😂

We�re looking to go in May 2019. Was thinking early may but not too sure if it would be better to go a little later as it�ll be warmer?

That info sounds great thanks. Will take a look. Where would you fly for those places?

There are no direct flights from Europe to Naxos ... that's one of the reasons, fortunately, that Naxos has not yet been inundated with package tourism from UK and N. Europe... but go in 2019, before it changes. You fly into Athens, and catch a flight from only airline servicing Naxos -- Olympic/Aegean (same ownership) which goes only 2x a day, and are small MODERN turbo-props, only 38 seats, so these fill up months ahead of time. As soon as you've booked your roundtrip from UK, book the best-connecting outbound flight ... allow 90-120 minutes layover. There's usually a mid-morning & a mid-afternoon Naxos flight. There are 2 levels of tickets but you must NOT go for "Go Lite" because y ou will have lots of luggage ... book the Semi-Flex which allows flight change if something happens. You can sign up for Aegean "newsletter" (actually an e-mail bulletin), and keep close watch -- usually early in the year they issue bulletins announcing 10,000 tickets at a "promotional" price to a list of islands. "Watchdog" this closely, and when/if Naxos appears on the list, POUNCE. You can save about 50%...then an adult ticket will be about €50 instead over over €100... thus will be less than a fast-ferry. & only takes 45 minutes.

Glad you asked about timing, yes you should go later in May... any time after May 15. In my visits I now tend to like the last week in May, just about perfect weather.... daytime highs about 28-29�C, night lows about 17�. Rains r over but everything is green & flowering. BTW, I guessed u are from UK because in a previous post you used the word "pram" -- but why be so coy about where y ou are from?? You could at least give the continent!! You are not in a witness-protection program I presume. Some of our advice is based on how long a journey people have to reach Greece -- and it's v. different if u are from N America or Australia, rather than Europe.

There are a number of family-owned places that are right on the sands, have 1-BR "studio units" perfect for you... but families return year after year, so they fill up fast, so if you find a good unit, reserve... at the "free cancellation" rate, where u can cancel or change, up to about 3 weeks before, thus no-risk. Some of these are Studios Kalergis, Studios Thomais, Sun Beach (these have balcony units OR beach-level units w patio, no stairs) Studios Lefkes, Hotel Palatia, Studios Diogenes ... a bit upscale & a farther walk down the beach from the port town, Villa Naxia, Hotel Ippokampos, I trust u know how to use booking.com -- it's still early to see bookings for May, but you coul put in a "dummy booking" for late sept, and click on "map view" to see if any are available & their locations. Then when u decide on your flight dates, you can write to these places direct, almost all have websites.

Amazing, thank you so much for your help! Will start looking and planning 😁

If you are from the UK there is a huge selection of direct flights to different Greek Islands, not only from London, but from many regional airports. Travelling to the Cyclades requires more work, but there are direct flights from the UK to Mykonos and Santorini. Many people fly to one of those airports and hop on a ferry to nearby islands.

A little correction on travelerjan's info about flights to Naxos: Aegean Airlines (Olympic Air) are now using the larger ATR-42 which holds about 50 passengers. All seats on flights to Naxos are sold as Flex, which costs a little more but is a good idea anyway. Sky Express is also currently flying to Naxos, but isn't showing flights for May 2019 yet. They have fewer flights than Olympic Air, but you can use their lounge at Athens Airport.

Antiparos (not Anti-Paros) is indeed a child-friendly island. The main town, where most people stay, is fairly flat, and you can easily walk to the nearest beach in only a few minutes. The main street is pedestrian-only. A stroller with big wheels helps when you walk across the sand to a shady spot on the beach. Most of the popular beaches are lined with tamarisk trees, where you can park the stroller in the shade. Access to Antiparos is through Paros, which has good ferry connections and a new airport served by 78 pax Dash 8-400 aircraft.

Thanks again for the info. Really helpful guys.

Yes we�re flying from the UK sorry.

We�ve been to Santorini before but would be interested in seeing a little of Mykonos. Is it easy to get to N�xos or antiparos from there?

We went in may with an infant of 4 months. Stayed in Rhetymnon, hired a car and visited some. Loved it. Cretans are like Greeks : fantastic with kids. We went with 2 kids under 10 (9 and 6 I think) in Athens, rented a car, went to Delphi Coerinth canal etc. Loved it, I can't see why not do it with a 3 years old.
Just adapt your schedule as best with kid (siesta ...) and the locals will simply do the rest : we even got sharp looks when we were telling our kids to 'behave' : Greeks told us to let our kids play and if they did some noise and created chaos, well they were kids and it is normal !

If you did a day-excursion to Mykonos from Naxos, the transit both ways would eat up a lot of y our day. You might consider a direct flight from UK to Mykonos, there seem to be lots of those ... but I don't know what your budget is... lodgings are a LOT more expensive there. If u were just staying one night, to get a "taste" of the isle, I can recommend a well-situated place, at edge of Mykonos Town, just uphill from the "bus circle" where u get local busses for 20-minute ride to the various beaches: Angela's Rooms. Then next day, there would be good choice of ferries to Naxos. If u got a "return ticket" to Mykonos to take advantage of a bargain, then u would have to go back there, which might cancel the savings... much to consider, but you have time. Glad that Heimdall chimed in with his indepth knowledge of Antiparos (and correctly correcting my hyphenation) ... it took a decade of his talking about the charms of Antiparos to get me over there, but I fell in love with it, the moment I stepped off the ferry. You will too.

We stayed on an island called Hydra which is an hour ferry ride from the port of Athens. No cars are allowed so it is safe and quite. If you need to transport heavy stuff or dont want to walk there are donkeys to ride. But it is easy to get around in fiot. To get to other side of the island you take a boat.

Check out YouTube video produced by Rick Steve's in Hydra to get a better idea.

You can fly directly to Mykonos from the UK, and usually get a ferry the same day to Naxos or Paros (for Antiparos). Going back to the UK you will have to spend the last night or two on Mykonos, which will give you a chance to see a little of that island, which you want to do anyway.

The ferry to Delos to see the archeological site takes only about 20 minutes from from Mykonos, and you can take an early boat back if your child gets tired. The day trip to Delos/Mykonos from Naxos takes 10 hours.

Incidentally, ian_rose2002, I live in the UK, so am fairly familiar with ways of getting from there to the Greek Islands. I, myself, prefer flying from London to Athens and catching a flight or ferry from there. People who don’t live in the Southeast usually find it easier to fly from a regional airport where there are many direct flights to the islands.

I am am writing this post from the Gatwick Airport Sofitel, waiting for a flight to Sardinia tomorrow morning. No Greece for me this year.

Will you be on Antiparos next June, Heimdall? It may be my Farewell Tour, makng all the stops along the way!

Can�t say for sure, depends on health and other travel commitments. I have AP penciled in for next June, and that may be my last trip to Greece. Been to South Africa twice in the past year, and have a niece�s wedding in Wisconsin next year.

Thanks so much for all of your help everyone!

As we live in Wales, UK, It will probably be easier for me to fly to Athens by the seems of it and then take the flight to Naxos or one of the other islands. I've never been to Athens either so will be nice to spend a day or so there anyway!

I'm just curious, would it be a possibility to fly to Naxos and spend 5 days and then ferry to Antiparos for 5 days? Can you get back to Athens easily from Antiparos? We may just choose one as a base and then just take excursions.

Sure, no problem. The ferry from Naxos to Paros takes one hour, and it’s only another 30 minutes from Parikia, the Paros port, to Antiparos. Either there will be a boat waiting at the Parikia ferry dock to take you directly to Antiparos, or you can take a bus or taxi to Pounta for the 7 minute car ferry crossing from there. The Pounta - Antiparos ferry runs every half hour from early morning until after midnight.

The new Paros Airport is actually closer to Antiparos than Parikia, the island capital. That, or you can do the reverse of what I described in the last post if you want to take the ferry back to Athens.

What are your thought on Mykonos with young children? Is there a particular area that would be better to stay? We�ve been to Santorini so was thinking 1 day Athens, 5 days N�xos, 5 days antiparos/Paros, 3 days Mykonos, 2 days Athens.

I may not bother with Mykonos if it�s not suitable though

Once you've enjoyed the best beaches on Naxos & Antiparos, the beaches on Mykonos will not overwhelm you. The first time I visited a Mykonos beach, in late May, after Paros & Naxos, I as impressed that the sunbrellas were wood-thatched & stuck in concrete bases ... but I soon learned why! A strong wind (gale!) suddently struck, sending things flying and so much sand that most people were driven off the beach... it may not occur for you, but the major beaches aren't as sheltered as the ones you'd probably take your kiddies to on the 2 former isles. Many people go to Mykonos because they're fans of Classical Greece, and want to see Delos. You have not mentioned this interest so far.