Travel to Greek Islands, Greece.

Country/Town Visited: Greek Islands (Ios, Santorini)
Date of stay: : 23 Sept - 2nd Oct 2011
Where you stayed: : Avanti Hotel (Ios)
Tour or pre planned:  Pre-planned

This is the second time I have been to the Greek islands, flying over from living in London - and both times it's been great.

I have done both the 'sail Greece' type trip (stopping at a new island every night), and this most recent trip where we chose to base ourselves in one place for the majority of the time. Both have their highs. But I would say that overall by choosing to base yourself you'll have more of a relaxing trip, done at your own pace. It's great to see as much as you can on the sailing trips (5 islands, 6 days) but in the end it all feels very rushed and transient - consistently needing to pack up to move from boat to land accommodation - and you are doing it to someone else's schedule. On the other hand, having based ourselves in Ios for 6 days, then having 2 days in Santorini - it felt like much more of a beach holiday. We explored all the corners of the island with quad bikes, had the option of busy beaches but also remote beaches, and didn’t have to be anywhere at any particular time. 

One of the reasons that made it so enjoyable is that we went towards the end of the season. We'd been told by a friend that we don’t need to book any accommodation at that time of year and he was very very right. On arrival at the island we had a group of chalet/hotel/guest house owners all fighting for our attention. The peak of the season had passed so at this stage they are trying to get what they can from the last scraps of tourists for the year, and this puts us in a good position. After a little bit of friendly negotiation we decide to go with one lady who has shown us the brochure to her place and offered us a nice and cheap rate of 15 Euro for the night per person. We went and had a look and signed up immediately, the Avanti Hotel was a great place, central, and cheap: That said, this is one of hundreds of places where you could probably get a decent deal - just look for the people crowding the tourists as you step of the ferry and start negotiating.

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