Perfection start to finish!
Greece
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Jul 16 - Jul 25, 2022
We had the most amazing trip in Greece! Rebecca Skevakis was our travel specialist and she could not have set up a more seamless or thoughtful trip for us. We are a family of four, two teenage kids (daughter 16 and son 14) from Boulder, Colorado. We have traveled a lot and typically arrange our own itinerary. For Greece, since we only had ten days and I wanted to make the most of our time there, I used KimKim and Rebecca to assist with all the details. As the title of the review said....perfection start to finish.
We spent two nights in Athens to start the trip. We had a free day to get acclimated to the time change and explore a bit on our own. The hotel, Coco Mat Athens, was fantastically located near the Acropolis with views. Walkable to everything we wanted to see. We had a tour of the Acropolis with our tour guide, Angela, who was so knowledgeable and took us to some areas of the Plaka that we would never have seen. We then transferred by plane to Chania, Crete. Another fantastic hotel, Chania Flair Boutique. Again, perfect location with beach access in the City. We went to Balos Beach, did an olive oil farm and press and cooking class. Had dinner at the most beautiful farm to table restaurant, and had time to explore the harbor district and spend some good quality time just relaxing at the beach. After three days on Chania, we went to Santorini and stayed just outside of Fira. We had the most unbelievable view of the caldera and the quintessential view of the white cliffside accomodations in Santorini. We were able to go cliff jumping in Atouni Bay, spent at day at a beach club at Theros Beach and did a sunset catamaran cruise of the island. All beyond perfect. We did one final transfer back to Athens but instead of it being a night of just wandering, we scheduled a food and wine tour of the Psyri neighborhood, and our guide, Theo, took us to places we would never have found on our own. Theo was fantastic and given that we had a 100 degree day, tailored our time to accommodate the oppressive heat.
Overall, I can't rave enough about Rebecca, GrecianLux, KimKim. Her attention to detail, from really listening to what my family wanted out of the trip, to the accommodations that she arranged, to the tours, to the transfers each step of the trip....every detail went off without a hitch. For example, we had one day when we were to take a boat tour to a beach but the wind was up and the harbor shut down, so she arranged for alternate transportation (her husband, Michael drove us! Michael was also amazing and so knowledgeable!) We could still go to the beach and then added on a dinner at the best restaurant. She also arranged for transportation and a reservation at a beach club in Santorini on a day when my kids rejected a six mile hike (walking uphill, even with views, was not appealing to teenagers !). The app that we used was also incredibly user friendly. It had all of our trip information organized by day and also important documents. We had the opportunity to meet Rebecca and she and her family were just so warm and welcoming in person.
If you are planning a trip to Greece, I am happy to provide the highest recommendation for Rebecca and KimKim. Perfect trip with memories that will last a lifetime.
Hotel Reviews
Great location, lovely room, great service. Rooftop pool that was fantastic given the heat in Athens. Epic breakfast included every morning. Highly recommend.
Beautiful boutique hotel! Fantastic location with beach access, roof deck with small pool, and easy walking district to the more touristy area of the Chania harbor. Staff was very accomodating and breakfast was incredible. Every detail was very well thought out.
Fantastic location with plenty of space. Heated plungepool. Epic views of the caldera. Cave like space which was unique and fascinating. Breakfast was provided every morning and delivered to the villa.
High end tourist hotel in the heart of the city. Was our last night in Athens and for our trip and having such a fancy accommodating space was great. Fantastic views of the Acropolis and easy walking to the Psyris neighborhood.
Activity Reviews
Theo was so knowledgeable and took us to places we would never have seen without a guide. The day was also 100 degrees so he was very thoughtful about keeping us in the shade and taking us to places for cool drinks and desserts. My family loved the graffiti/public art component of the tour. Was such a great way to storytell for Athens.
Great tour with Angela. She was very knowledgeable and provided us with lots of interesting facts while we walked. She also showed us really cool secrets spots in the Plaka that were not filled with other tourists!
Unbelievable experience! We were picked up by Yannis who was our tour guide for the day. He was funny, engaged with our children, and also very knowledgeable about everything related to our tour, Greece and Crete. We toured an olive oil refinery and farm, and then took a cooking class at a private farm in the Kissamos district. So beautiful and away from tourists. We cooked stuffed tomatoes and peppers and stuffed grape leaves. And we were served a traditional Cretan meal with different types of cheeses, honey, Greek salad, roasted vegetables, roasted goat, and dessert of yogurt and different types of local honey. One of the best experiences of our trip. We highly recommend.
We didn't actually get to take a boat to Balos Beach because the ocean was too high and the Harbor Master closed the marina. However, our travel specialist Rebecca arranged for a driver to take us to and from the same beach which was so thoughtful. The wind was high that day but that kept the crowds down and we were able to be comfortable behind some of the big rocks on the beach. We then were able to go for dinner at a local farm to table restaurant near Balos. Again, Rebecca took care of the cost of the meal because we had paid for dinner on the boat trip that got cancelled. Really, she went over and above and we had the best alternate experience!
Beautiful experience on a catamaran! Well organized and not too crowded on the boat. We got to see the island from the water and experience sunset out in the ocean. Highly recommend!
Laura, thank you so much for your kind words! We really appreciate you taking the time to share your experience with us. We count ourselves lucky for customers like you!
We look forward to working with you again in the future!
Rebecca and the GrecianLux Team