Greece is also about lovely, sun drenched islands set like jewels in the Aegean and Ionian Seas, a warm climate, a care-free lifestyle, good food and wine. It is idyllic for vacations. The only problem when you consider Greece as a destination for incredible holidays is not which place to visit but the rather select one from the bewildering array of choices.

You can have Greece holidays in the North; holidays in the islands by the seashore; explore the ancient sites or troll through the lanes and marketplaces, living life like a Greek.

The Greek Islands

If you wish for a complete getaway, a peaceful sojourn in a tranquil, unspoilt place, head for the Greek Islands. The islands are perfect for a romantic holiday or for a quiet break from a busy schedule. There are hundreds of islands but the most popular are Mykonos, Paros, Corfu, Zakynthos, Alonissos, Skiathos, Crete, Rhodes and others. You can choose Ionian Islands or Saronic islands in the Aegean sea or the Dodecanese group of isles.

The Ionian Islands are made up of Zakynthos, Ithaca, Corfu, Lefkada, Paxi and Kefalonia as the largest with many smaller islands dotting the sea. The deep blue seas, verdant landscape and the rich heritage will keep you enchanted for the duration of your stay. You can go deep sea diving, windsurfing, climb perilous mountains, laze on the beach, have your fill of Greek delicacies, attend cultural events or explore monuments in the region. Greeks are hospitable and cheerful and it will not be surprising if you make friends with the locals—one of the best ways to have incredible Greece holidays.

The gorgeous Cyclades in the Aegean are just as attractive as the Ionian Islands. Made up of a group of 39 islands, the well known isles are Naxos, Mykonos, Santorini, Tinos, to name only a few. If nightlife is what you seek, the -Cyclades give you more than your fill. Legend has it that Poseidon, infuriated at the Cyclades nymphs, turned them into islands. Apart from the nightlife you have all the opportunities to explore the deep blue waters, the charming olive groves, gurgling streams and picture postcard scenery. According to legends, the pearl of Cyclades, the Anafi Island, rose from the sea to shelter the Argonauts. If legends interest you Delos will; it is said to be the birthplace of Artemis and Apollo.

Some might prefer the Dodecanese in the South-Eastern Aegean Sea, made up of Rhodes, Kos, Leros and Pserimos islands. Rhodes, undoubtedly, should be on your list for its medieval walls and gates, a legacy of the Knights. Kos has the usual Greek attractions in addition to being home to the plane tree under which Hippocrates used to teach. If you love nature, Karpathos has everything by way of caves, forests, streams and lush landscapes to keep you entranced.

Why not pick a particular group of islands and visit a few for your Grecian holiday? It will be hard to tear yourself away when it is time to go home.

Travelling in Greece

If you have made the islands the choice destination for your holidays, travelling inside the country does not present any problems. You can land in Greece at any of its 15 international airports. You can travel by trains or buses to the nearest ports that will get you a ferry to the islands. If you like you can travel by domestic airlines and have a view of the breathtaking scenery as you arrive at the island of your choice. Motoring does have its charms; you can travel across the longest cable suspension bridge in Europe. Just take care to book in advance if you plan your Greece holidays in summer.

If you belong to the EU, all you need to travel to Greece is your police ID or passport. Visitors from other countries, except those on the notified list, need to follow visa procedures.

Accommodation and Eating in Greece

Greece has a well developed infrastructure in place or tourism. This means you have access to accommodating ranging from budget to the priciest in most islands. There are hotels, bungalows to rent, campsites, apartments and rooms.

Gastronomes, however, will focus on the variety of Greek cuisines. Greek cuisine makes use of fruits, vegetables, cheeses, wine, fish, wheat, barley and a whole lot of fresh herbs. Move from one island to the other and enjoy typical dishes. The Ios offers cuisine based on wheat, pulses, vegetables and dairy products. On Mykonos you sample dishes based on pork, herbs, cheese, fish and sausages. In Naxos it is vegetables, red meat and red wine. Over to Syros and you have roasted fish, tomatoes and octopus waiting for you.

Just pack your bags and set out and explore Greece on your own. You might come across the Pleiades.

Lifecruiser Love Greece

Other Greece travel related posts at Lifecruiser:

5 Top Beaches of Greek Islands
Mediterranean Dream Cruises
Travel Sales Trend: Increased in Sweden
Driving in the mountains – scary experiences
Luxury Dream Cruises
5 Tip Top Beaches of Lifecruiser
Monday Memories Honeymoon
When hubby was rally Harry
Love Trips Snips
 

Here are five of the best all-inclusive European Resorts for you to enjoy:

1.) ClubHotel Riu Guarana, Portugal

This incredible four-star all-inclusive resort provides luxury amenities on the coast of Portugal. The resort also includes many great recreational opportunities including golf, tennis, volleyball, a full gymnasium and fitness center as well as amazing swimming pools and jacuzzis. The resort also includes on-site restaurants like the Yasumi Asian restaurant, a lounge bar and terrace, swim-up bar, a poolside restaurant and poolside bar.

2.) ClubHotel Riu Oliva Beach Resort, Spain

The Spanish Resort is set right on the white sandy beaches of Spain and includes amazing scenery and an all-inclusive environment. Whether you like windsurfing or relaxing in a jacuzzi, the resort has many activities for you to enjoy.

3.) Cargese Resort, France

Experience an amazing all-inclusive resort vacation on the Mediterranean coast of France when you visit Cargese. This incredible resort provides relaxing bungalows, nearby nature parks and easy access to the beaches on the Mediterranean Sea. There are many recreational activities at the resort as well as lessons for beginners in archery, windsurfing and more.

4.) Gregolimano Resort, Greece

Relax on the coast of Greece when you visit the all-inclusive resort in Gregolimano, Greece. You will be given a choice of deluxe luxury rooms or suites facing the coastline or the forest of pine trees that back up against the resort. The resort has a mini club Med feel and provides recreational activities for all ages.

5.) Napitia Resort, Italy

If you enjoy the Italian Coast, check out the resort at Napitia. This incredible destination provides an all-inclusive setting with a hotel swimming pool and jacuzzi, shuttles from the resort to nearby shopping venues and many great recreational activities.

If you are ready to get away and experience a soothing and refreshing all-inclusive resort, there are many choices waiting for you. For more options, check out AllInclusive.co. You are sure to find a resort that will meet your vacation needs.

Lifecruiser Love European Resorts
 

When it comes to beaches in Europe, Spain is said to be the leading country, but in my eyes Greece shares this place with Spain because of the gorgeous crystal clear Mediterranean water surrounding the Greek islands.

There are some island beaches that I have heard mentioned more often than others, so I assume that they are among the top beaches even for others too. I did choose them because it’s the beaches I have or have wanted to visit (some of them are high up on our travel wishlist to go).

1. Elafonisi Beach, Crete Island

Photo by Fiore S. Barbato of Elafonisi Beach, June 2006

No wonder that our own absolute favorite beach abroad (so far!) is at the Greek island Crete. In the southwest corner lays Crete’s best beach without doubt: Elafonisi beach. There isn’t much in the neighborhood though, so I suggest to take your own picnic basket with you. The Elafonisi beach area are actually several beaches with pink colored sand from the corals and crystal clear, shallow glimmering turquoise waters making it truly understandable why it’s called both the pink beach and sometimes the Caribbean of Crete.

That water is the most crystal clear we have seen so far and together with the absolutely perfect sand floor, it’s the most gorgeous bathing place we have ever visited! It can’t be more perfect, so clear that you can see the whole bottom all the time – and it takes time walking out to be able to swim. You can actually walk out to the island when the water is low.

Satellite view of the unique Elafonisi Beach, Crete

Many loves Elafonisi beach as much as we do, so my guess is that it might be over crowded in the summer – we were there in the beginning of September and it were just a perfect amount of people at the beaches. We spent our honeymoon at Crete island in 2004, but at another beach: Almyrida beach (in the Chania direction), which is a blue flag beach, but we still did prefer Elafonisi. Next time we will go there we will check if it’s still the same!

2. Navagio Beach, Zante (Zakynthos) island

Photo by jP of Navagio Beach, Holiday 2009

The beach of Navagio in the eastern part of the island, must be the most photographed beach ever. I have seen numerous amazing pictures of this famous white sand beach surrounded by big rocks and cliffs with it’s history: there was a shipwreck there in 1983 that transported illegal cigarettes which gave it’s name to the beach, you can see the remaining of it on the beach. Perhaps it’s because you arrive there by boat from the port of Porto Vromi that many find it so enchanting – you get to see the beach from the waterside first and we all know how important that the first impression is!

3. Gerakas Beach, Zante (Zakynthos)

Photo by Live Zakynthos of Gerakas Beach, Zante (Zakynthos) in 2009

A more natural and perhaps not so very crowded choice would be the long sandy beach of Gerakas (near Vassilikos), with equally crystal clear turquoise waters. There are sunbeds, but no watersport, bars, restaurant or hotels in sight in the bay, only a rocky formation which protects you from the wind.

Photo by Live Zakynthos of Caretta Caretta Sea Turtle, Gerakas in 2009

Gerekas beach is part of a national park and is protected because of the endangered sea turtle Caretta-Caretta. Maybe you’ll get lucky to see the Sea turtles even if they’re mostly there in the nights and that’s why no humans are allowed in the nights at the beach.

4. Porto Katsiki beach, Lefkada

Photo by june_godiva in July 2007

Translation of the Porto Katsiki to English means "Port of the Goat", because earlier only goats could reach this beach area, near the Athani village. I did choose this beach because it has been voted as a Top European Beach of the Year several times and is a major tourist attraction in itself. The color of the water against the cliffs and the sandy beach, even though it’s a narrow beach strip, is a marvelous view.

It’s not that easy to reach, it’s a narrow, poor road to get there and if you are there in the high season I recommend you to not go there by car at all since the road are crowded, unless you go at very unusual hours. There is a long walk or rather like a climb to reach the beach too. Instead, take one of the daily cruises from Nydri or Vasiliki, but only if you go there to take photographs or simply just see the place. Don’t go there to sunbath at the beach, it’s too crowded in the high season.

5. Kastani beach, Skopelos island

Photo by june_godiva in August 2008

Kastani beach is on the south west coast of the island, situated in the Aegean Sea. Perhaps most famous for being the main location in the popular film Mamma Mia from 2008, but that’s not my main reason for choosing this beach, no, it’s because this island seem to be more green, surrounded by pine trees (reminds me of the pine trees at Gaou, Provence) and more flowers, than many other islands. The Skopelos town also has been awarded as a Traditional Settlement of Outstanding Beauty in 1978. I do hope that is preserved since the fame from the movie have made the island invaded with too many tourists and we all know what happens then…

If you want the cheapest prices I recommend that you search for your Greek island holiday around either April, May or October – the best time to go if you’re not looking for only laying at the beach and swimming.

If you need a bit warmer water temperatures like we do, I recommend that you travel there in June or September. From July-August you get hot summer weather and water, but also the holiday crowds unfortunately….

©Lifecruiser Love Greek Beaches

Other Greece travel related posts at Lifecruiser:

Mediterranean Dream Cruises
Travel Sales Trend: Increased in Sweden
Driving in the mountains – scary experiences
Luxury Dream Cruises
5 Tip Top Beaches of Lifecruiser
Monday Memories Honeymoon
When hubby was rally Harry
Love Trips Snips
 

Photo by Tambako

Feeling the freedom in the picture above? Me too – and the salty sea breeze that always make me feel more alive. The Mediterranean Sea might be my favorite sea so far. So wonderfully bright and clear.

There are so many interesting and beautiful countries around Europe to be explored. Sure, we have been to many of them, but you have to stay for a long time to really get to explore a place so that you feel done with it.

There are Med cruises to many countries, as Croatia, France, Gibraltar, Greece, Israel, Italy, Malta, Montenegro, Morocco, Portugal, Spain, Tunisia and Turkey.

What would be your choices of them?

My choices would be:

• Greek islands (unbeatable beauty!)
• Croatia (never been there and it look fab!)
• French Riviera (have been there but not on a cruise)

Greek islands Crete, Mykonos, Kos, Santorini (yes, me too want to experience the whitewashed houses on the cliffs!) and many more. Croatia with Split and Dubrovnik (world heritage site by UNESCO). The Adriatic coast look gorgeous if you look up images on the internet. Say no more.

The French Riviera is really not my option for a cruise in the high season because it so crowded, but in low season I highly recommend it. There is so much to explore that one could go on for ages. So many French medieval villages and Provence markets to enjoy.

Why not the other cruise destinations? Because some of them we’ve already explored enough and the other ones we want to explore more by ourselves and take our time doing it. That is not always possible when on a cruise.

I sometimes feel like cruises not fit us explorer to the fullest. On the other hand, as a very nice change, some days out at the sea could be so very relaxing and re-charging the travel batteries. Yes, it can be pretty exhausting to travel – I’m talking about getting to airports and new hotels on schedule.

Photo by Kevin

Or the opposite to relaxing: getting aboard to party and have a really great time socializing with all the other cruisers with the convenience of not having to use any transportation’s to get home after the party is over.

Be sure to choose a cruise ship with yummy menu’s, since you don’t have the opportunity to choose another restaurant when out at the Med Sea. (Remember our problems to find restaurants abroad?)

Last but not less important: Is it safe to cruise? In my opinion it’s as safe as anything else nowadays, you never know when the accident will happen – and it could as well be when you’re crossing the street. Pay attention to all safety precautions. Be alert. As always.

Yes, we have to be careful, but not overdo it and stop to live!

©Lifecruiser Love Med Cruises

The jeep we hired were a smaller one with just an open canvas top, not much to protect you from anything if needed, but at the time we hired the car we only thought about of how cool it was and how nice it would be with the wind blowing in my hair.

And it was cool. In the beginning. Soon we should become aware of that it is not only cool advantages with an open jeep…

One of the occasions when we got to experience the disadvantages with an open jeep was when we were driving high up in the (very!) narrow mountain roads at Crete island in the very dark night alone with the stars – and occasionally some kri-kri goats passing your way or laying in the middle of the road.

To not run them over – or to not run over the edge of the mountain roads – we had to drive verrrry slowly… I actually had nightmares every night about falling from the often very loose edges of the Cretan roads…

This also meant that it was taking forever and ever to reach our end destination. We thought we never would reach our end destination – our honeymoon hotel. It really felt like we never would see any civilization again or any houses or humans at all.

It was then the disturbing thoughts came: what if the old open jeep we had hired would break down…? We were definitely not dressed for chilly nights in the mountain.

Which is the reason why it is great with a car hire company that offer you road assistance too with an emergency number to call just in case those kind of things should happen!

If the jeep should break down and stop, we would not have had any lights either. Total darkness high up with sharp road edges so close is not what I want. Ever.

When finally seeing some lights and coming closer to more inhabited areas there were suddenly a big roar right into our ears very close to us – like wild tigers, but it was extremely angry and guarding dogs, jumping to attack us – and they were almost up in the jeep with us!

Phew! What a fright! Normally we really love dogs, but those ones were vicious ones I tell you!

We had another frightening moment once when we came around a mountain at the height of 1600 m (5250 ft) and the wind grabbed the roof (made of of canvas) of the jeep and almost swept us away down the mountain side!

A fast, firm step on the accelerator did avoid it, but we was a little bit too close of being blown away for me to like it! I had no intention to start a new trend of Jeep surfing…

Not to mention all the numerous occasions when you came close to a curve at a narrow mountain road and you could hear an eager honking from the cliff you were on the way to round – and there comes a Cretan driver in a very high speed around the corner!

They used to do that: just honk and drive, totally fearless of the heights they were up at and how bad the roads were – with no fences and very damaged edges.

Next time we will not choose an open car to hire if driving in the mountains or even the countryside, I want to be able to close the car doors around me – and I will definitely take some extra clothes with me, just in case of any road incidents.

Probably we will even take a flashlight with us – even though it is very romantic to be alone in the darkness with only the star brighten up your way…

Lifecruiser ♥ Crete

Some other car hire experiences by Lifecruiser:

Car rentals experience and tips
Cool routes for a driving holiday in Florida
Start Fart of France Trip