Greek islands, where should I go? It is true that Greece has many islands each one
offering a different multitude of services apart from sea and sun and most
importantly each one is addressed to people having various needs. The first
thing before deciding in which island to go is to questions your needs. Are you
a family man, travelling with your family, are you a couple without children,
are you friends travelling alone, do you seek peace and quiet holidays, do you
seek some romance during your holiday, do you want to party all night.
All of these questions will help
you determine what exactly you want from your holiday in Greece and then you
will be able to make the right decision and go to an island that suits your
needs. If you like to party, the first option is Mykonos. Mykonos offers an intense
nightlife and many options for partying, it is full of dance and clubs and it
is not unusual for Mykonos to see a beach bar with people drinking and dancing
even in the mid-day. Mykonos has also a lot of perfect golden sand beaches,
full of people of course to the point of crowdedness but you are there to socialize
and party so you like that. Say for example that you are a couple and you seek
some quality vacation and romance with your spouse, or husband or wife, which
is the best place to go? Santorini, perfect sunsets, breathtaking views, you go
to a café to have a coffee and you think you are in the cockpit of an airplane.
You like some quality time out, go to a “fancy” restaurant, Santorini has
plenty of them and some are awarded with international awards. Experienced
chefs are at your service to offer you a memorable dinner. In Santorini you
could actually participate in a tour and be in a modern catamaran or in a traditional
ship to enjoy the sunset, visit an island made of lava or take a bath in hot
volcanic springs.
At this point it should be said that in both
islands you could be culturally enriched too, Santorini greece which is also perfect for santorini weddings has the archeological
site of Acrotiri and Mykonos has a nearby island called Delos which was one of
the centers of the ancient world and is worth a visit.
Leaving the
two most popular options of Greece, if you for example like to go in exotic un-crowded
places and live your own “Mamma Mia”, do have a go at the Sporades islands Skopelos,
SKiathos and Alonissos but bear in mind that these are accessible from Volos
and not from Pireaus port, thus they are a little harder to get.
Apart from
Sporades islands if you also like green tropic waters, then go to the harbor of
Patra or Kyllini a little further “down the road” from Patra and catch the
ferry to Kefalonia, Zakynthos or Ithaki. Kefalonia is a very big island, very
nice too, Ithaki is much smaller and family type and Zakynthos especially its
part Laganas has been for years the place where young people from England
choose to party.
If you like
to visit ancient Knossos and Phaistos, where the Minoan civilization thousands of
years ago flourished, vote for Crete. Crete is a very big island, has excellent
beaches, Heraklio and Chania have a good night life, it is perfect for family
vacations too and if you like to always meet new places you could try to meet
the whole of the island. It must be a total of 6-8 hours driving from west to
east, just to give you a reference of Crete’s size. Agios Nikolaos and
Ierapetra are also very nice towns to visit.
Dodecanese
with its most known island Kos awaits you, Kos is good for Family vacations but
it is also preferred by young people for partying too. In Cyclades the island
of Naxos, Syros and Paros is very lively too (apart from Mykonos). In Cyclades
we should also mention Andros with its famous Cycladic museum; Andros is the
place for family vacation.
This was just a quick taste of what Greek
island have to offer, there are many more islands e.g Paros, Tinos, Patmos are
islands for religious tourism that have famous monasteries full of important
relics, but it is not the scope of this article to cover Greece as a whole.