Has anyone toured Greece and the Islands with their caravan? If so, how did you find the roads (in my experience they tend not to be good on the Islands) ease of finding sites, ease of use of ferries?
Do you have any tips/recommendations?
What route did you take to Greece?
Thinking of a long Autumn or Spring tour.
Thanks
Don't forget to leave a review of the French and other European campsites you have visited!
Some previous posts here which may be of some use.
------------- XVI yes?
As well is two words!
How does a sage know everything about everything? or does he? or does he just think he does?
Remember, if you buy something you bought it, not brought it.
We were in Rhodes last week - went by plane, not in the MH. Whilst walking along the beach we spotted an UK registered MH parked up. Went to have a chat, and the couple told us they'd been to Greece and the islands in their MH for about the last 25 years, ever since they retired at 50. On Rhodes they told us, there were no campsites, so they wild camp there. But the cost of the ferry was really expensive: from Piraeus to Rhodes cost them €900!! Crete, where they're going in September, was a lot cheaper (already booked) at €400. Seemed quite laid back about the roads, take 'em as you find 'em was their motto. They obviously enjoy it, they came over mid-April and are there until early July.
I'd agree that the main stumbling block to going again would be the inter island ferry costs. They may not be too much separately but add up if hopping from island to island and they really go out of the roof for the more far flung islands like Crete. Try to work out a route that avoids doubling back on yourself as the ferries tend to work better between the various groups of islands. e.g travelling around the Cyclades is relatively straight forward.
The more touristically developed islands do have campsites The URL=http://www.greececamping.gr/destinations.asp]Panhellenic Camping Association [/URL] has lists of them. Many islands that are not tourist orientated (and even some that are) don't have campsites at all so wild camping, often on the beach, is your only choice.
The roads vary from island to island. Some have great roads for such small places thanks to EU investment, others are still as rough as they were 40 years ago, especially in more remote places.
It's a wonderful way of seeing Greece - go if you can. We loved it so much we ended up living there for 4 years. :-)
We've camped in mainland Greece with a caravan, and found the roads and campsites fine, but not done the islands. We're in Croatia at the moment and last week we encountered a group of Dutch campers who are on the way to Corfu via Albania with an ACSI-organised group, so presumably that is one of the islands which is reasonably easy for camping.
------------- Il vaut mieux vivre ses reves que rever sa vie
Don't forget to leave a review of the French and other European campsites you have visited!
Hi Liindilou2013, have read these posts with interest as it's something we would really like to do too at some point in the next couple of years with our caravan. Not sure if we would be brave enough to do the islands as like you said, some of the roads aren't great!
I wonder which ferry crossing iwalani took and where they stayed on Mainland Greece? As I've had a look at some of the mainland sites and they are in some really beautiful locations.
Hope you do finally decide to go and have a fab time - it would be lovely to hear about your experience in the 'trips and pics' section...perhaps I may be able to ask you for any tips and suggestions when we finally go!
Hi DawnAnnMason - we didn't get a ferry, we drove overland to Greece through Romania and Bulgaria. There's a ferry from Ancona in Italy to Patras - we used it, but in the reverse direction, going back to Italy from Patras. In the summer months you can "camp on board", i.e. sleep in your caravan instead of paying for a cabin.
We stayed in campsites in Alexandroupoli (Thrace), Kato Gatsea in Pelion, and Sounion, south of Athens. There's a useful website at www.magbaztravels.com, with info about camping in Greece.
------------- Il vaut mieux vivre ses reves que rever sa vie
Just want to say thank you to everyone for their replies and the links. Dawn, I will no doubt blog about it all when we finally get to do it but we will do it, no doubt. I think whilst we are so close by we may do Turkey too. Have loved both countries since I first visited both in my 20s (a long time ago!) and the thought of taking our Love Van (as we call her) to such beautiful places keeps me going through the hard times. Thanks again
Lindylou2013 we love Greece too, especially the islands and are always torn between flying to a Greek destination or driving to the South of France. Have fun in your 'love van' this year (love the name btw lol) 🙂
iwalani, thank you for the useful info and the website address, I shall take a look. Oh wow! Kato Gatsea looks right up our street, I have heard many people say how beautiful The Pelion is.
Don't forget to leave a review of the French and other European campsites you have visited!
we love Corfu and have talked about taking the caravan there. However the roads are narrow and winding and the Corfiot drivers are completely mad. We have seen a few MH's there but never a caravan being towed. There are a couple of really good campsites. We have chickened out this year again as the cost of the Bari to Igoumenitsa ferry was €760. that on top of the euro tunnel and our irish sea ferry crossing makes it a v expensive holiday.
------------- Sometimes You're the windscreen; sometimes the fly
We've travelled the whole of Corfu from top to bottom so I know how the roads are there. I would say a lot of Greek and Turkish drivers are, well let's be polite and say enthusiatic!
We spent 3 months in Greece last year, in a motorhome and mainly on the Peloponnese. We did meet several caravanners, a couple of British and several Germans.
We too met the couple Ina mentions, they were the only people we met who went to the islands, everyone else found ferries priced them out. We looked at the Corfu ferry but nearly €400 round trip which was nearly double what we paid from Anconna to Patras.
The Peloponnese is really worth considering, there are stacks of good campsites, a very friendly atmosphere everywhere we went and both caravans and motorhomes are really welcomed.
Several sites told us they are booked solid in the summer months with Greek campers, rest of the year they have plenty of space.
The roads on the Peloponnese were a little shabby in places, but to be honest nothing to worry about. There were a few occasions of mad drivers, but again nothing we haven't encountered in other countries.
We added reviews on here for several sites we used, but there are plenty of others most we saw were of a good standard and very reasonably priced.
We drove up to the Bulgarian border over a couple of weeks, again lots of campsites everywhere but for us the scenery was nowhere near as nice as in the South.
A day of all things motorhome and campervan. The show is held both in the main indoor arena and across the grounds. Catering, hot drinks and food options are available. Easy access to the site and free parking included. Win one of five pairs of day tickets
Topic: Caravanning in Greece and the Islands
