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Low stress Greece with Boys 11 and 13, Where to go?

Posted by on

I have never been to Greece and know very little about the country besides the basics.
Last year we went to Paris and London and found ourselves dragging our boys to every historical/cultural site known to man and it all becoming an exhausting blur. This year, we would like a little more of a relaxing vacation in a beautiful place, seeing 2-3 days of historical sites and the rest on and island or two, relaxing, living like a local in a beautiful location or two maybe boating, fishing...eating and drinking...etc.

Any suggestions are helpful! Also we are going the last week in March for 9 days or so. I know it won't be hot, but it should be warmer, right?? Also, I assume we will fly to Athens but any recommendation is welcome...

Posted by
6113 posts

Greece wouldn’t be an obvious choice for a March holiday, as the season doesn’t really start in many places until the first week of May. There are plenty of holiday weather websites that you can Google to show typical weather, but it is likely to be 15-17 degrees daytime and colder nights c 6-8 degrees plus some rain.

Crete or Corfu would be my choices where there are things to do off season as the islands are a reasonable size and have historical sights. The sea can be very choppy at that time of year, so I would pick one of the larger islands and spend all 9 days there.

Posted by
3951 posts

Are your boys Dick Riordan fans? If so they may be more enthusiastic about Greece, mythology and lots of ruins.

Posted by
7357 posts

We visited the first 2 weeks of April this year, arriving on Western Easter and experiencing Greek Orthodox Easter a week later. I see that Orthodox Easter isn’t until late April in 2019, so that won’t factor into your visit, but we had a couple of nights on Hydra, a car-free island near Athens, and then spent the rest of the trip driving around the Peloponnese peninsula, and finishing in Athens for several nights. On the Peloponnese, highlights included ancient Olympia, site of the original Olympic Games, on the western end, and Epidavros (ancient theater with amazing acoustics) and Monemvasia, a walled town/mountain connected to the mainland via a causeway, where we stayed one night, on the eastern side. Also, not technically on the Peloponnese but accessible between Olympia and Athens, or a couple hours from Athens if you don’t go to Olympia, is the ancient site of Delphi, well worth a visit. The town of Delphi is a mile away, but an even nicer place to stay is the seaside town of Galaxidi, just west of Delphi. We spent just a night there but could’ve stayed longer.
We got rain a couple of days, and rough seas delayed us getting to Hydra a bit, but weather and temps were generally mild and warm in early April.

Posted by
2498 posts

There is a posting by mom of 13 year old twins posted under trip reports. The family traveled on mainland Greece for 10 days in April. You might find it informative to read what their children enjoyed. I used the same guide as they did in Athens for a private tour for our group of 7.

You can find it by using search function-I put in 13 and Greece and it came up.

Beth

Posted by
11507 posts

March is not ideal.. it really wont be that great weather wise.. late April it warms up.. not really late March. We went in mid May and being hardy Canadians found it lovely.. but we were like the only ones in the water.. lol.. the highs were 24-25 .. and the ocean was still fresh.. but I would go again in May for sure.. but not March ..

Posted by
20 posts

I have to agree with Cyn above, her suggestions sound ideal. Don't worry too much about your boys, they will love it. I went to Greece with my parents when I was 11 and now over 50 years later it's still a place I remember in detail and one of the highlights of my childhood. Don't try to see too much too quickly is my only advice, make sure to plan in a down day or two where you can do things that the boys want or just relax.

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