Thank you, Chris, for helping us put together such an amazing trip to Greece!
Greece
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Jun 20 - Jul 6, 2023
Chris was fabulous. We had a couple of hiccups on our trip that were unrelated to the planning and it was so great having someone in country and who knew our family and our needs to help us navigate them. And as for the planning--we stayed in hotels and had experiences that we never would have been able to figure out on our own. Every business and person that he connected us with was delightful and our kids really enjoyed all of the activities--even towards the end when they were getting homesick.
Hotel Reviews
This hotel was so cute. And our "room" (it was actually an apartment) was huge with two couch/beds for our kids, a bedroom for the adults, and a kitchen. It was a little weird driving into the town because it is pretty deserted, but the hotel was more than cute enough to make up for that.
This place is out of this world. Because it is in a pedestrian area, you'll likely need a driver and/or hotel staff to help you with your things, but the location cannot be beat (so much in walking distance!), our room was amazing, and the staff was phenomenal. Two people in our group feel ill and they were extremely helpful and accommodating in helping us access medical care, get food when we couldn't leave because of a sick kid, and ultimately getting.a slightly late check-out as we recovered. Our room was easiest the largest hotel room that I have ever seen in Europe with a beautiful balcony and view. We hope to return to Chania and will definitely be staying here.
That this hotel is close to the airport is great. But other than that, it is nothing special. One member of our group commented that it was too bad that that was going to be our last breakfast in Greece as all the other ones had been very good. And unfortunately, the noise is so bad that one of the members of our group only got a couple of hours of sleep.
Excellent place to relax towards the end of a busy trip that has a swimming pool. The on-site restaurant has good food and a beautiful view.
Love Nafplio and loved this hotel. Although admittedly, I was a little worried when we got there and saw all the stairs leading up to our room (which fortunately was on the first floor and not the second floor). The restaurant and the people who work at the hotel and restaurant were both great. There is a free public parking lot across the street and if it is full, there is a much larger parking lot (I think t is actually two parts of the same one) down the street. So you will need to walk a short way with your stuff, but it isn't too bad.
"Sweet Home" is a really perfect name for this hotel. The breakfast area decor is adorable (and the food is great), the rooms are comfortable, and the staff are very nice and helpful. The hotel is located on a very narrow street which can be a little nerve-wracking when you have a car and/or your car for hire is trying to get out, but it is also very central and it is easy to walk to things.
This is a very standard business hotel. The rooms are nice and clean but nothing special. But we had two bedrooms, which was fabulous for giving us some space. Although it isn't right in the middle of the action, the pedestrian area is only about a five minute walk away and the harbor slightly further.
Activity Reviews
This beach should be on everybody's list of things to do in Chania. The only thing I wish is that we'd had more time there.
The drive was nice and relaxing and it was nice to have someone else drive us! Plus, since we had had the driver a couple days earlier, we already knew her and liked her.
Of all of the ruins we saw, these were the best. And the view from the Taverna where we ate dinner before going to the temple was incredible.
You can't go to Athens and not go to the Acropolis. While it wasn't the highlight of our trip, we enjoyed it and we enjoyed our guide.
We ended up not doing this activity because half of our group was sick.
This was a lot of fun. We had already spent a couple days in Athens by the time we did it so I was a little worried that there would be too much overlap, but there was hardly any. It was nice that most of it was focused on the modern Athens, but there was still some historical and/or Ancient Greek stuff mixed in.
Lots of cool stuff to see. The theater is amazing, but there is more to the site than just that and we enjoyed learning about how medicine, sport, and the arts all fit together.
We enjoyed this. Standing inside the tomb mound, in particular, was awe-inspiring. But while the adults would have appreciated the larger ruins if it was just us, with kids who are easily distracted and prone to falling, we were very much on edge and paying more attention to them than the guide.
This was our reason for going to Crete and although it wasn't anyone's top memory at the end of the trip, it was one of the things that we were most excited about in the ~12 months since we started planning the trip. Our guide was very knowledgeable and helpful and it was a good tour.
How had I never heard of Nafplio before? This place is posh without being snobby and a place we absolutely can't wait to return to. Which is sort of funny considering that it was not on our radar at all before we got there and we assumed it was just a necessary stopping place because of where we wanted to go and the amount of driving we wanted to do in a day. The town is beautiful and very walkable. I don't love the public parking situation because it can be hard to find a spot, but at the end of the day, it was worth it.
This was.a very cool sight to see. I had slightly mixed feelings because Olympia is pretty remote and there isn't anything else in the area, but I'm glad we went.
This is a gorgeous site and our guide was great.