Family activity holidays in Greece
| country: | Greece |
| departures: | Departs every Sunday from early May to late September |
| price: | From £419 - £795 (7 nights) to £589 - £1059 (14 nights) inc flights from the UK, depending on accommodation. 20% discount for children. Bookable without flights |
| offers: | 21st September departures from £395 for 7 nights - save £200. Book before 28th August |
the amazing things you'll be doing
Bordering the shores of an impressive bay to the south of Lefkas island, Vassiliki is one of Europe’s most famous windsurfing destinations, and a well known Mecca for windsurfers who want to blast on flat water in the afternoons. The awe-inspiring mountains of Lefkas Island ensure that the action doesn’t stop at the beach, with great terrain for all mountain bikers. The picturesque harbour becomes the social focus by night. The harbour lights attracting the island’s visitors, many of whom arrive by yacht. The surrounding busy bars and tavernas offer a choice of Greek as well as European menus and as “Vass” is so popular with windsurfers from across Europe, there is always a party going on somewhere!
As the first windsurf centre in Vassiliki, we have, indisputably, the best spot on the bay. We are based a mile away from Vassiliki village at the windward end of the bay, giving the longest sailing hours, clean winds and flat water, whilst the beach's gently shelving, sandy bottom provides the best launching conditions.
If you want to learn to windsurf then don't let Vassiliki's reputation put you off, as the morning breeze is always gentle. However, when 'Eric', Vassiliki's famous thermal wind, kicks in for the afternoon, experts can choose from the impressive array of high-performance kit.
PLEASE NOTE: This holiday can be booked with or without flights. Flights are available from the following UK airports: Gatwick and Manchester
When enquiring for further details it would be very helpful if you could let us no how many people in your party.
Children are more than welcome on this holiday. Although children should be 15 before joining the adult windsurf sessions, most of our centres have a range of children's clubs to suit all ages and all abilities, from playing on the beach or our allocated children's areas to full on RYA tuition. Some bike rides may be suitable for children under 13 and we have mountain bikes suitable for children over 4'10. Your mountain bike guide will be able to advise.
We have been running these programmes for many years and over time have fine-tuned and expanded the options and activities available to create the perfect recipe to suit children, parents and other guests.
A great holiday for:
Cosmos Beach Club - Our centre boasts an ideal position, overlooking a pool, a large shaded terrace area, volleyball court, our board racks and the pebble beach. Stelios, the owner of the Cosmos Club, has been welcoming our guests for years and is himself an expert windsurfer and so understands our needs perfectly.
Mikalis' House - Mikalis and his wife have a beautifully kept house, set in lovely gardens. The accomodation is bright and simple and is perfect if your prefer a more relaxed atmosphere. Guests staying in Mikalis' House can use the bar and restaurant facilities at the Cosmos Beach Club.
Sailing - We have a small selection of dinghies, which are used primarily by the children’s clubs. These dinghies are available for general use when not being used by the children. Please note we are unable to provide dinghy sailing tuition.
Mountain biking - 'Vass' has long been respected as one of the world's premier locations for windsurfing and is now regarded as an incredible base for mountain biking too. A network of off-road tracks and winding roads leads from our beach centre up towards the colossal peaks which tower above the island. Those seeking off-road challenges will love the epic rides up to the White Church and around the rocky headlands, while pleasant villages and beautiful beaches offer perfect destinations for more laid-back off-road rides. The tracks are among the best in the Mediterranean and can sometimes be challenging, but our bike guides can offer helpful advice on off-road technique to ensure you get the most out of your mountain biking and your stay in Vassiliki. This is one of our recommended resorts for biking, where there would be more than enough to occupy you if you wished to do nothing else but mountain biking. As such, we offer two or three guided rides most days and have a superb fleet of bikes for your use. Our 'Watersports Waiver' discount is suitable for those please see the price panel.
As the first windsurf centre in Vassiliki, we have, indisputably, the best spot on the bay. We are based a mile away from Vassiliki village at the windward end of the bay, giving the longest sailing hours, clean winds and flat water, whilst the beach's gently shelving, sandy bottom provides the best launching conditions.
If you want to learn to windsurf then don't let Vassiliki's reputation put you off, as the morning breeze is always gentle. However, when 'Eric', Vassiliki's famous thermal wind, kicks in for the afternoon, experts can choose from the impressive array of high-performance kit.
PLEASE NOTE: This holiday can be booked with or without flights. Flights are available from the following UK airports: Gatwick and Manchester
When enquiring for further details it would be very helpful if you could let us no how many people in your party.
Children are more than welcome on this holiday. Although children should be 15 before joining the adult windsurf sessions, most of our centres have a range of children's clubs to suit all ages and all abilities, from playing on the beach or our allocated children's areas to full on RYA tuition. Some bike rides may be suitable for children under 13 and we have mountain bikes suitable for children over 4'10. Your mountain bike guide will be able to advise.
We have been running these programmes for many years and over time have fine-tuned and expanded the options and activities available to create the perfect recipe to suit children, parents and other guests.
A great holiday for:
- Beginner and expert windsurfers.
- Windsurf test centre
- Excellent mountain biking
- Singles, couples, families and groups
- Four children's clubs available
Cosmos Beach Club - Our centre boasts an ideal position, overlooking a pool, a large shaded terrace area, volleyball court, our board racks and the pebble beach. Stelios, the owner of the Cosmos Club, has been welcoming our guests for years and is himself an expert windsurfer and so understands our needs perfectly.
Mikalis' House - Mikalis and his wife have a beautifully kept house, set in lovely gardens. The accomodation is bright and simple and is perfect if your prefer a more relaxed atmosphere. Guests staying in Mikalis' House can use the bar and restaurant facilities at the Cosmos Beach Club.
activities
Windsurfing - The mornings are perfect for beginners and intermediates with light onshore winds. By mid afternoon most days, the wind shift arrives and it all starts to happen. Expert windsurfers leap onto short boards to make the most of the fantastic conditions. There is rarely anything in between so we only recommend Vassiliki for improver (level 2-3) windsurfers if they have a 'go for it' attitude, are looking to make fast progress and get very wet indeed.Sailing - We have a small selection of dinghies, which are used primarily by the children’s clubs. These dinghies are available for general use when not being used by the children. Please note we are unable to provide dinghy sailing tuition.
Mountain biking - 'Vass' has long been respected as one of the world's premier locations for windsurfing and is now regarded as an incredible base for mountain biking too. A network of off-road tracks and winding roads leads from our beach centre up towards the colossal peaks which tower above the island. Those seeking off-road challenges will love the epic rides up to the White Church and around the rocky headlands, while pleasant villages and beautiful beaches offer perfect destinations for more laid-back off-road rides. The tracks are among the best in the Mediterranean and can sometimes be challenging, but our bike guides can offer helpful advice on off-road technique to ensure you get the most out of your mountain biking and your stay in Vassiliki. This is one of our recommended resorts for biking, where there would be more than enough to occupy you if you wished to do nothing else but mountain biking. As such, we offer two or three guided rides most days and have a superb fleet of bikes for your use. Our 'Watersports Waiver' discount is suitable for those please see the price panel.
how this holiday makes a difference
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90% of our shore-based accommodation is based in small locally owned hotels, or small managed hotels, in preference to the larger chains. In both our locally owned and our own-managed properties local people are employed and training and promotion opportunities are provided where appropriate.
By avoiding fully-inclusive board arrangements and by recommendations in our literature and in briefings, we encourage our guests to eat out where possible to enhance their holiday experience and boost the local economies. Where we manage accommodation units all food and drink is sourced locally where possible. On our shore-based activities programmes we have been employing and training local people as assistant instructors with the long term goal of their achieving professional Royal Yachting Association Instructor Qualifications. The majority of our activities programmes are based on wind, pedal or muscle power, providing enough energy to satisfy most thrill-seeking speed-freaks in the most environmentally benign way we know how. We can also cater for our more sedate guests, however! We no longer use anti-fouling on our day boats and where possible we use 4-stroke outboard engines on our powerboats to reduce noise, fuel consumption and emissions.  We have tasked our overseas staff to identify 3 long-term initiatives that will bring positive benefits to the economies, communities and environments in which they live and work.We are working with The Travel Foundation to seek ways to develop practical, sustainable tourism solutions to help protect and enhance holiday destinations. And we are also working with the Federation of Tour Operators to develop responsible travel codes of practice. |
Tourism can be good and bad for destinations & local people. We carefully screen every holiday against our criteria for responsible travel. 'Look behind the brochure' to find how each holiday makes a difference (see left). We don't claim to be perfect - there is no global accreditation - but we've led the way since 2001 and screened 1000's of holidays. We invite every traveller to write a review about their experiences and responsible tourism. This valuable feedback is sent to the people who run the holidays. We keep a very close eye on it and take off holidays that don't live up to our standards. |