Hi Princessgem and welcome to HT.

The Greek islands are my favourite destination but there are such a variety of islands never mind the resorts within them. It may be of help if we could narrow down your choice to a few of the islands before beginning to suggest suitable resorts within them.

Maybe a starting point for you would be to research (or we could do it for you) which of the islands your local airports fly to, unless you don't mind where you fly from. Having done this we can help you out with some suggestions and recommendations for your family.

Also, what time of year are you hoping for?

I look forward to hearing from you with some more info. happy hunting

Shirley has covered most of what I would have said too.
If you are looking for a package & flying from a local airport that will automatically reduce your choices, so yes, that would be really useful information. If you are travelling independently you have hundreds of places to choose from, or on a package from Gatwick the choices are much wider than regional airports.
Great country to choose though, I've lived here for over 4 years now & wouldn't go back to the UK!

Hi Shirley & Athensfan thanks for the welcome & replies, much appreciated
We are in South Wales about 30mins from Bristol, however we are pretty flexible with which airport we would fly from. We would like to go last week of May - 1st week of June 2012 (2wks in total) Ideally we want a package holiday in family friendly resort (all inclusive) but away from nightlife, clubs etc. We would love somewhere which isnt too touristy but has plenty to do to entertain the children, clean safe beach, places to visit, few local bars,resturants etc

Somewhere relaxing & quiet but not too quiet the children will be bored.
Any ideas??

Cheers :¬)

Kalimera

we had a family holiday last year all inclusive to plygos beach hotel on Zakynthos, there is a small sandy beach just down a short hill from the hotel, you can get a flight [currently] from Bristol [probably easy jet or another budget carrier] you could also try Kalamaki on zakynthos or even Laganas that early in the season there wont be many party animals around, i can recommend the mediteranian hotel but it is only half board but on the wide sandy Laganas bay.
Yasus
Wizard

First of all, does it absolutely have to be All Inclusive? Not the best choice for Greece as eating out is half of the experience & AI & not too touristy just don't go together well! Also, although there are a few good AIs in Greece, on the whole the reviews for them talk about mediocre & boring food choices. Greece is probably one of the most child friendly places for eating out with little ones, the Greeks eat out as a family (often 3 generations together) & children are made a fuss of.
So, where to look? As you are going at the end of May I would look to a southern island, maybe Crete or Rhodes, both have some smaller resorts. There should be a wide selection for both islands with most tour operators, take a look & ask for details on here of anywhere that you like the look of.
Also consider the Peloponnese with Manos (part of Thomas Cook), Stoupa is a family resort, several beaches, including sandy Kalogria which is ideal for children as it is shallow for quite a way out. Also Finikounda (through Manos again), a pretty village, selection of beachside tavernas & bars. Neither of these places have anything like a waterpark etc, but nowhere that's not really touristy would have. If the idea of having everything within the hotel/resort is a must, then try Mark Warner family resort at San Agostino, it's one I can think of immediately that is nowhere near any heavy tourist resorts, I live 15 mins down the road!

Although I'd agree with Athensfan about Crete, and Rhodes, I'd probably not have suggested Stoupa for a holiday with a 1 and 7 year old. Don't get me wrong I loved our holday there but I think the transfer to and from Kalamata may be a bit long and also if you're not based in Kalogria the walk from Stoupa to the beach up and down those hills with a pushchair is a killer. We also experienced a few days of rain during May.

Zante (alykanas or tsilivi) may be worth looking at or our current favourite Kos. There some AI's in/around Kos Town and a new one opening this year off the road between the airport and Kefalos.

Your from the same neck of the woods as me, Princessgem. Islands i can recommend to travel to from Bristol and Cardiff are Zante (otherwise known as Zakynthos), Crete and Kos. We're flying to kalamaki on Zante in August and will be staying b&b at the Venus hotel. My nephew is staying AI at the Carretta Beach which seems great for kids.

Zante is a lovely green island as is Corfu. corfu has some stunning scenery and lovely beaches.

Take a look at some of the resort reports and see what you think.

Here's another with a vote for Zante or the outskirts of Kos town.

Hi everyone :¬)

Thankyou very much for the replies and info on several recomended resorts / hotels etc.

With regards to Zante, are their any resorts to stay clear from?? (we want to keep away from nightclubs and noisey bars,clubs etc)

@ Shirley, thanks for the link, the Carretta Beach hotel looks great, just a feeling it maybe a tad more than we can afford to spend

Having spent a good few hours searching online yesterday, i feel we may have to go half board (although the thought of most things being included in AI appeals hugley) im not sure our budget will stretch as far as what we've seen so far.

One thing garin_3 picked up on was the transfer, the resort we would need to be at would need to be a duable transfer time, with having a small child who's 1st hoilday abroad this would be. The thought of over an hours transfer petfrifies me on top of a 3+ hours flight

kalimera

if we look at Zakynthos first... Lagas is the party capital BUT the time you are looking at it wont be in full swing and add to that the better family hotels are 10 mins from the action

Argassi has some reasonably priced hotels but not much in the way of a beach

transfers... the island is not big.... our taxi cost from airport to Plagos beach last year was 10 euro each way , most of the resorts were within 15 euro from the airport

now Kos Kahdamena is the party capital, having said that it is the village we go to BUT either early or late in the season plus the hotel we use is about 2km from the village again some excellent family hotels but be aware some are a taxi or bus ride from the village

Depending on your departure airport the flight time to the Ionian islands is between 21/4 to 3 hrs [Kirkira {Corfu} the shortest and Zakynthos {zante} the furthest]
Kos is between 4 and 41/2 hrs but from here you can do a day trip to Bodram in turkey by fast ferry if you fancy it

there are dedicated threads for both Zakynthos and Kos in the Agean islands, [on this forum board]
and dedicated forums for Kritty [Crete] Rhodos [Rhodes] and Kirkira [Corfu]

Yasus
wizard

HI again, as Wizard said Laganas is the 18-30 capital but should be pretty quiet durning may. Kalamaki, where we're going is a family orientated resort but is also only 10 mins away from Laganas, should you want a bit of a change. The added bonus with Kalamaki is that it's only a 15 mins or so transfer. I've been told that as it's so close to the airport, planes can frequently be heard coming and going but apparently they don't fly between the hours of 10pm- 6.30am or thereabouts, so noise shouldn't be a problem during the night.

As for Kos, I can also recommend Kos town and kardamena and I've just remembered that we stayed in Tingaki when our son was 15. That's another great little resort that's quiet but with enough bars/restaurants and shops to keep you going. It has a nice long narrow stretch of sand/shingle beach too.

Thanks Wizard & Shirley
Having spent most of yesterday online looking at resorts i think we're steering towards resorts: Rhodes, Kos, Crete & Kefalonia.

@ Shirley, Really like the look / sound of Tingaki, just trying to find some AI hotels in the area.

I can't seem to find AIs in Tingaki but Thomas Cook are coming up with a good selection in Crete at very reasonable prices. You'll probably need to have a look at the resort reports and hotel reviews should you find any you fancy.

I've also looked at the First Choice website for you and entered Greece (all) AI from Cardiff in the holiday search for the end of May and it hardly comes up with anything suitable. The tip is, to go through the search a few times entering each island separately, then it comes up with a good choice.

Have fun researching. I'd love to hear if you sort something out to your liking

Have a look at Pefkos on Rhodes. I stayed there a few years ago and thought it was great with a good beach.
Most of the islands mentioned are very good, I've been to nearly all the ones with airports! This year we have booked Naxos, I would not recommend it for children because there is a ferry trip involved.
You and your children will love Greece.

Faliraki is a 'party' resort but as ive banged on about countless times unless you're right on one particular street you'd never really know it,infact it's geared for families as much as for clubbers,and has literally everything you could want from a holiday.

I really wish people would look beyond overhyped TV/newspaper sensationalism and silly reputations and give places like Faliraki,Malia etc more thought,a lot of people are missing out on the holiday of a lifetime!

Tsilivi is nice that said,awful beach though. Pefkos is probably the most recommended on here for families,lovely place,amazing beach and good for all ages.

Faliraki has improved a great deal since the days when it got the reputation that still haunts it but Malia is certainly not my idea of a family resort unless the kids are 15+ and want to get off their faces as cheaply as possible every night.

exactly the stereotypical attitude i was referring to in a nutshell, i'll assume from your post that you've been to malia,in which case you'll know all about the 'family end' of the newer town and of course the majority of old malia,both of which are ideal for all ages and backgrounds.Again as with other resorts the 'lairy' bars etc are mostly concentrated on one street.

As for Faliraki improving from the past,well it's not actually changed much at all to be honest,and never deserved the reputation it got itself in 2002,most of which was made up to sell papers and gain ratings for SMG-TV's 'clubreps' projects.
(i'm posting as a worker and resident of 9 years now)

What amazes me is how many muggings,stabbings,drug dealers,rapes,thefts,drunken fights,rip offs and scams there are in places like Magaluf,Benidorm,Tenerife and Ibiza every summer yet no one comes on here and warns people to stay away from 'those places'

To the original poster,i think it depends how active you want your holiday to be,if you genuinely want to just relax and escape hustle and bustle then a quieter island like kefalonia would be fine but if you want the choice of activities,sights,commercialism mixed with the traditional and a bit of 'british based' entertainment like you'd find in spain then i'd recommend a bigger island like Rhodes,Crete,Corfu etc

There is nothing stereotypical about my 'attitude' and I do not write about places that I do not have personal experience of.

i was correct in my assumption then that you've been there and i didnt call your attitude stereotypical as such,i mean the attitude that somewhere like malia is one dimensional,which in reality most places are not,as you'll know already.