Mallorca or Greek Islands HELP
 

My boyfriend and I desperately want a holiday in the sun. I am from South Africa and have been stuck in my boyfriend's rainy, gloomy England for the duration of my Summer.
We have a not-so-healthy-budget as we have just surpassed student-status so that is to be considered.
Ok, the dream: Enchanting turquoise seas lapping onto white sandy beaches with interesting landscape as a back-drop. Some sort of culture and local history and a feel of being somewhere other than home... Yummy, exotic cuisine, delicious beach-side cocktails... My nightmare is the tourist, man-made-from-nothing, Sharm El Sheikh. We want something romantic, unique, islandy, something beautiful to keep as a memory forever.
So far we have considered Cala D'Or (the covey beaches look like a dream) but i fear it may be a tourist manefestation. It's said to be a holiday resort. Does that mean it is not a town and has no history? Is it purpose-built? We then looked at Chania, Crete. I'm afraid the coastline may be too flat and not have the enchanting beauty of turqouisey seaed Mallorca. But on the otherhand, it looks historical and truly Grecian, which is what we want. Another option is Rhodes Island?
Any advice would be so appreciated, other suggestions will be considered!
Thanks a lot,
Jessica

We havent been to the other places but we were in Naxos last Sept and absolutely fell in love with Greece. The water was crystal clear blue and warm, beaches fantastic. Very reasonably priced as well. I would highly recommend it!!

I have been to many Greek Islands and Hania is got much of what you are looking for. Mallorca...I'm not sure as I have not been there but we just returned from Spain and I got the impression that it cater to holiday village tourists mostly from Germany. Now I'm sure you could seek out more untouristed areas but my guess would be Greece would be more what you are looking for...but not really long stretches of white beach. Also from a cost perspective you mentioned a "not so healthy budget" and I would think your money would go further in Greece. If you can go just before the season goes into high season prices which in many cases is July.

I'd say any Greek island (well, except Aegina maybe...too close to Athens, not "exotic" enough) rather than Palma de Mallorca, which, as Turaj says, has become too much of a group-tour holiday destination, especially for German tourists. Nothing wrong with this -great pubs and even better beer!- except that I don't think it's the type of idyllic destination you're hoping for.

Thank you! Naxos and Chania both look gorgeous. Definitely looking into them!

From the history perspective I think Crete will offer more than Naxos. For example you could with ferries maybe combine two islands...one for more beach and other a historical seafront city like chania. I don't recall the beach situation on Crete but do remember how beautiful it was.

I agree Crete has what you are looking for : nice beaches and rich history.
I can share with you where we went in Crete a month ago. We flew from Athens to Chania, we like it but found it too touristy for our taste, vendors everywhere, 3 days was enough for us. The hostess of our B & B suggested her favorite place in the south western part of Crete-Paleochora and Loutro. We liked her enthusiasm so we changed our plan and went with hers. We took the bus (real cheap) as suggested by her, found the beach front B & B ( a must) that she booked for us, the island has 2 beaches-one on each side, in front and back about 15 minutes apart by feet, plenty of eateries including a great seafood restaurant that we enjoy + some good bakeries. Really Lovely!!!
Loutro is calling so we took the boat there, met some loutro regulars from England on the boat, they fell in love with that island since years ago and have been going back annually. That island is very special, it has tons of charm, my husband loved it there. It's small, there is a long strip of beach and nothing else, you can walk from one end to the other in 15 or 10 minutes. All the buildings are all white with a touch of blue(a mini version of Santorini). We had a very relaxing time there. Next day we took the car ferry to Reythymon(no time to stop unfortunately), then bus to Iraflion (a nice city with great museums & restaurants). From there, we took the fast boat to Santorini( the island really pretty & super romantic), it's the most expensive island in Greece but so worth it. 3 days wasn't enough, hate to leave. From there overnight ferry to Rhodes. If you want history, Rhodes is all about that.
I had a wonderful time but we miss hiking the Samaria gorge and walking the mountain between the islands. There were many people who went to Crete just to hike, i hope one day to join them.
Hope this helps.

From Rhodes we took the ferry to Marmaris, Turkey. The reason I am telling you this is there are charter flights from to and from England by Thomas cook i think.
You can find out more by going to Trip advisor, type in Marmaris and ask the destination experts there if you are interested.

Mohan
Loutro is not an island, it is a village.....
To my knowledge there is no boat connection between Loutro and Rethymno...
Finally you liked Rodos that much, and yet you wanna send the OP to Marmaris in Turkey?
I am sure there are charter flights from the UK to Rodos.
( easyjet for instance is flying from Gatwick to Rodos ) :)

I apologize. clauser, you are right, Loutro is a village, a village with a beach front.
We took the ferry to Skafia, not Rethymon. Why did I type what I typed is beyond me.
I like Rodos just fine, the reason I suggested Marmaris is because of the charter flight.
OP just finished school, I offered them an alternative to be economical. What's wrong with that?

it's Sfakion rather.

mohan, when there are charter flights directly from London to Rodos ( both EU countries), it makes no sense to fly to Turkey, to get then to Rodos.....

You are right, clauser. It makes no sense to fly to Turkey if ALL they want is Rodos. Rodos is great, it has rich history, lovely beaches and more.
I have no knowledge of the charter flights but I do know many Brits go to Marmaris and Fethiye regularly and that can make the charter flights very inexpensive. So if it is much cheaper to go to Turkey, they could really just take the ferry over to Rodos or whatever, right? The ferry ride is less than an hour. In this case they get to exerience Turkey as well. That was my train of thoughts.

Charter flights are cheaper than regular flights ex officio....
You write all this about Rodos, making it sound that you would recommending it to the OP.. and you are closing your post with the advice to go to Turkey? without telling us anything about it? That rwally doesn't make any sense...
I will only repeat that if OP wants to go to Rhodes, there are lots of inexpensive charter flights from the UK....

I haven't understand if the OP is looking on a package holiday or a DIY trip, and if they have specific dates and time frame. An approximate budget would help too. Having 50 euro available per day is different than 100 per day although this might mean budget to some people. Or not : ) It is personal thing. We need more specific info to provide specific advice, but in general I need to point out that direct flights from UK mean obviously more touristy and crowded places. Yes, I understand that even the busiest islands have their quiet corners, but if thousand of people invade an island every week, obviously this great beach would have been discovered long ago by someone...

Naxos nowadays is a mainstream tourist island, but features a tiny airport so no international flights, and port is not suitable to cruise ships so people arrive on local flights from Athens or on regular ferry. Island feature the highest mountain on Cyclades and some water so it is has a fertile interior and there are many inland villages. Locals deal with agriculture too, so it is not about tourism only. I think this is a good option. Crete is a good option if you plan to hire car and drive outside the most popular parts on my opinion.