As well as the closure of all museums, sites, cafes and restaurants Greece has just announced the closure of all ‘seasonal’ hotels until 30th April. These are hotels that normally open around Easter and close in October, many of them on the islands. Effectively they are delaying the start of the holiday season in Greece.
Alan
Good to know - thanks! We had a corporate trip in late May that has been rescheduled until September.
I think that the holiday season in Greece will start sometime in 2021!
Jennifer I really hope it won't take so long! We have a trip booked in July, and actually all summer, but the way things are at the moment, we might wait a little longer to go back to travel as we like it.
I’m waiting it out... just before all hell broke loose I planed a September trip to Rhodes/Crete/Santorini and Athens for my mom’s 70th birthday. If I need to cancel, the only non-refundable hotels are the ones in Santorini and Athens, but then again, I’m hoping if that does happen they will be the ones cancelling, so I’ll be able to get my money back! Best of luck for everybody who have trips planned for the summer, let’s keep our hopes up!!!
Cellamonico, since you mentioned your mother's age: I traveled to Greece back in the mid-1990s with my mom, who was about your mother's age at that time. My mother had impaired pulmonary function and developed a bad case of bronchitis (and subsequently life-threatening pneumonia) after we visited Santorini. The doctor on Santorini told us the volcanic soil there caused problems for some visitors. I have never read anything about that in a guidebook but haven't searched medical publications.
I don't know what the medical facilities are like on the islands you plan to visit. We were on Chios (population about 50,000 currently) when my mother crashed. The clinic there had no ventilator, and she ultimately had to be airlifted (a big 'thank you' to the Greek air force) after I had to keep her awake all through one night, having been told that if she fell asleep, she might not wake up. It was a terrifying experience, and I'd want to be sure medical facilities were not already fully committed to treating existing patients before traveling with an elderly person to a destination that may not have a lot of medical infrastructure.
I'm booked for another trip to Greece early October and as of now everything is still on including flight, accommodations and car rental. I'm staying in touch with accommodations and car rental people and they have been great and said there will be no problem if I cancel but I'm not doing so unless there is something definite the Greek government does to cancel or extends quarantine into the fall.
As far as hospitals on Greek Islands go most of them have only a clinic with some larger islands having a small hospital. Many of them will not to be able to handle any major virus outbreak and that is why the Greek government has canceled all boats/flights to islands except for locals.
We all have to sit tight for future trips anywhere and hope people follow orders and the virus plays it self out.
I'm staying optimistic and hopeful about my trip and hope the Greek people get over this just like everyone else!
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Thanks for the info, acraven, that is really good to know and I am definitely doing some research on that before I go. My mom is very active and is in very good health and shape (5 years ago we climbed all the way to the top of Mt Vesuvius without a problem), but you never know what could happen!!! And of course we’ll be packing our face masks and purell as well! Thanks again for the info, I really appreciate that!
