During our late winter visit to the Pelion Peninsula, located in Northern Greece, it became very clear to us that we are coming back in the summer as well. The beaches with turquoise seawater and the small towns along the beaches, which were empty in the winter, simply left us no other option than to want to enjoy them in the warm season. Suddenly we realized that you don’t have to fly to distant Thailand, you can make a Thailand-style vacation just two hours away from home. 

This time, because we had a little over two weeks, we decided to include also the Halkidiki peninsula, about which I read quite a bit, the amazing Meteora, and also to spend some time in a city.

In this post, we will talk about the preparations and bookings you should make after deciding on a summer vacation in Northern Greece plus I will share important tips for each topic. And of course, some pictures to open the appetite.

Let’s get started!

Booking The Airline Tickets To Northern Greece

Immediately after returning from our winter vacation in Pelion, we checked the dates for our summer vacation and booked the airline tickets for mid-July. When traveling to Northern Greece you can fly to Athens or to Thessaloniki. Because we also wanted to visit Halkidiki, it made more sense to fly to Thessaloniki rather than Athens. We bought tickets at different companies, to Thessaloniki with the Greek Eagean Airlines and the return with the Irish Ryanair, because of the availability of flights on the requested dates (and because I thought I was saving costs. In a minute on how I got it wrong).

The flight with Eagean went smoothly. On the way back we had quite a few “bumps”. Here are some things I learned from our bitter experience that you should pay attention to: 

Tip 1: When booking airline tickets at some Low Coast companies, such as Ryanair, you should note that the price shown in the search results does not include extras and is certainly not the amount you will pay if you book this flight, which doesn’t happen in companies like Eagean Airlines. The extras we had to pay:

Seats – When traveling with a child and want to make sure that you sit together, seats must be reserved – one adult seat is free and €6 per each additional adult seat, on which one child seat is free. For us, two adults and one child, an extra of €6.

Baggage – The ticket price includes only a small handbag, not a trolley up to 8 kg, as is the case with most companies, so every trolley suitcase (or regular suitcase) is an extra charge – in the case of Rainier €12 per trolley. Also, note that if you bring a musical instrument like a guitar with you, you will also have to pay for it and it is not considered a handbag, which is not the case in other companies. I did not pay for the guitar at the time of booking the tickets and we had to pay €25 for it before boarding. Please note the following: Even after we paid for the guitar, the stewards asked us to send it to the baggage compartment of the plane. Needless to say that we would collect the guitar at the destination in two parts. We had to argue with them for some time so that we could take it with us to the passenger compartment, explaining that it was a very delicate instrument and would not survive such transport and that this was the first time we encountered such a request out of all the flights Yonatan took with the guitar.
Baggage Summary: 2 trolleys and a guitar cost €49.

Total one-way add-ons of €55. When the starting price of the ticket is under €100 this addition is very significant. So before choosing a flight, you should try to complete the booking process to see if there are any surprises in the booking process and you may find that you should look for other, more affordable tickets at other airlines.

Tip 2: If you order tickets to a destination and return at different companies before you pay for the order, you should finish filling out all the details in both companies in parallel before you pay to avoid surprises of additional costs (as I described above). Sometimes a flight in the search results that seems more expensive than another flight will come out cheaper after all the extras.

Tip 3: Generally a night flight on such a short flight is quite a mistake, especially when flying with a child. The kid sleeps on the flight (actually fell asleep from the second we got into a taxi to Ben Gurion Airport), sleeps all the way to the hotel in the car, and then the morning arrives and he is awake after a full night’s sleep. And we, after running around all night, have to keep an eye open (literally) on the child as we are crushed from fatigue to the level of hallucinations. The only thing that came out well was that we got to see the sunrise on the way to the hotel and at the hotel itself – was a spectacular sight.
But, sometimes the price gap is very large between uncomfortable hours and convenient hours and if you have enough time at the destination it might be worth sacrificing a few hours of sleep. Of course, you should pay attention that you are not choosing a flight because it is cheaper but on the other hand paying for an unnecessary night at a hotel.

BOOK YOUR FLIGHT NOW

Booking Hotels in Northern Greece

As soon as the flights are reserved, book the hotels. Hotels in the summer are getting full very quickly and the logistics are getting tricky. A month before our vacation, in mid-July, it was already hard to find a room in the hotels I wanted. I had to maneuver between the dates and change plans to get rooms in the hotels I wanted. Because we traveled with Itay, it was important for me to book hotels with a pool – his main summer vacation activity. It took me two whole days of planning and logistic manipulations for a two-week trip. So you should order the hotels as soon as possible when the cheap options are still available.

Northern Greece has some luxury resorts but they are usually very expensive during the summer season. It’s nice to combine a few nights at a resort but keep in mind that some hotels ask for a minimum reservation of 4-5 nights, which can significantly raise the budget.

I did a price comparison between different hotel sites and I eventually stuck to Booking.com because Booking.com compares prices – so if you found your hotel at a cheaper price on another site, Booking.com will compare and refund you the difference. It is also nice that the whole trip is organized on one site.

Tip 4: I noticed that if you search on other sites before you place a reservation on Booking.com and find a cheaper price, the price on Booking.com is updated to the cheaper price (make sure that you are not in the Incognito browser). So check the prices on different sites before completing the order.

Tip 5: Because Booking.com guarantees for the cheapest price from the moment you booked till your arrival at the hotel, after completing the hotel reservations, you can use the website Pruvo to follow-up the hotel prices change. Enter the order details and the site will send you an alert if it finds cheaper prices than you paid.

BOOK YOUR HOTEL NOW

Car Booking in Northern Greece and Pickup

As usual, I like to start the car search on the Skyscanner search engine. This time I found the bargain at an agent called Vehicle Rent with Europcar company. I ordered a mini type car (Fiat Panda) and only added a child-sit for the kid. 

Tip 6: When I fly to Northern Greece, I like to do the car upgrade at the car office after the landing (a tip I received from a friend who flys a lot to Greece), it is significantly cheaper than pre-ordering the upgraded car. True, it could be a bit of a gamble in the summer in case there were no vehicles available at a higher level but even if we remained with our original booking it would have been enough for us. It is important to upgrade to a vehicle with a good road grip, there are quite a few sharp ups that can be slippery. Be careful not to upgrade to too long a vehicle, in the countryside the roads can be narrow with many turns, and so you can park perpendicular to the road and not protrude into the road itself.

Tip 7: In northern Greece, because of the multiple driving and to reduce the car expenses, it is worth to choose a diesel car.

* Note for this specific trip: About a week before the flight Europcar contacted me to make sure we arrive because the car pickup was planned for the middle of the night. On that occasion I asked if I could upgrade the car to a diesel car and for an extra of €5 per day, I got an upgrade to the Nissan Juke diesel. If I had booked this vehicle in advance I would have paid at least double the price of the whole deal. So maybe in the summer you can initiate the call yourself one or two weeks before arrival and check out an upgrade option. 

Tip 8: Notice that you place the car reservation on the driver’s name and you use a payment method holding the driver’s name. I fall for it every time, place the reservation in my name and then have to add extra cost for an additional driver so Yonatan can drive. (This particular vacation was long so it was good that both of us could drive. We could switch in long drives or I could just take the car and jump to the store or the hotel to get things. But on short breaks usually Yonatan is the only driver and the extra cost is unnecessary for us). 

The branch of Europcar in Thessaloniki is outside the airport. There is a shuttle service from the airport to their office by a representative who waited for us at the exit from the baggage claim area. Within minutes we were at the company’s office, filled out forms (and adding the extra driver so Yonatan could drive), loaded up the car and the sleeping boy and set off, to our first destination – the Halkidiki Peninsula. The upgrade was really worthful – the car was very comfortable, spacious inside and contained our luggage freely (including the inflated sea mattresses added later) but at the same time, short enough for comfortable mobility – in my opinion, a perfect type of vehicle for a trip in northern Greece.

I have to say that the representative in the office realized the mistake I made placing the reservation under my name instead of the name of Yonatan and gave me a direct phone number to the branch manager in Thessaloniki to ask for a refund for the additional driver. In the end, I did not call him because very quickly I found myself also driving.

BOOK YOUR CAR NOW

When it comes to summer vacation in northern Greece, I can’t stress it enough to order all of the above as soon as possible. Greeks are simple people and settle for what is enough for a living, so if working only for two months a year will earn the hotel owner’s annual expenses that is what he will do and will not be interested in opening for even another week for extra cash. But, Greece is in financial difficulties and to get out of it the government has raised the taxes, causing a greater share of revenue to go to the government. And so the two months have become three and the prices are no longer as low as they used to be. That is why Greece is no longer as cheap as we remember it, especially in the summer.

So I urge you, once you decide on a vacation in Greece in the summer (winter or other seasons is a different story), book your tickets, hotels and car. In my experience, the prices of flights and vehicles are only rising as the summer approaches, hotel occupancy is filling up very quickly and the resorts and the good rooms are occupied for a long time in advance. 

*** Covid-19 times note – True, today we all are in uncertainty and do not fully understand when we can go on our next vacation abroad, but if you do not intend to give up vacation this summer, I recommend finding flights, hotels and vehicles that can be fully refunded if the vacation will be canceled and not wait for the moment the government will announce the opening of the gates because then the prices will be high in the sky. There are quite a few such deals to be found. Everyone wants to sell and understands that not everyone is willing to take a risk. 

What to Pack?

• Warm clothes. In the evenings it can be cool, especially near the sea. We brought thin tops and there were evenings when it was not warming enough. In country areas, it is not always possible to find clothing stores, so it is best to be prepared from home.
• Mosquito repellent – a remedy that suits tropical areas and also is against sand flies. 
• Snorkel and mask. During the first days, Itay (3.5) asked us to buy him a snorkel. It seemed strange and early for his age but we went along with the boy. That evening we bought him the snorkel and wandered around the town and he asked to put on the mask and the snorkel and continued walking the streets of the town wearing the gear. Needless to say, everyone who passed by did not remain indifferent to the sight of a child that got confused between sea and land ?. But this dry practice helped him understand the technique and the next day in the pool the boy was like a fish born in the water. So it is definitely possible to buy a mask and snorkel in the coastal areas and there is a choice for all ages and several quality levels, but if your child has a snorkel that fits him well and is comfortable it can be good to bring it with you.

So far for the preparations. In the next post, we set off.

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