We went to Agia Efimia last year and it was a a lovely little traditional village around a harbour. We found it to be a great base to explore the island, there's a dive centre, the food quality was very good, plus there are ferries running from the harbour most days.
One thing though - if you like a sandy beach then this one isn't for you as the little coves around Agia Efimia are pebbly. (not a problem for me as I'm not really into sunbathing)
We priced up both DIY and package deal and, for us, it was considerably cheaper to do a package deal. We used Olympic.
If you do go on a package and, like us are a bit more independant, then arrange all your trips/hire car etc yourselves - we found it much cheaper that booking via a rep (especially the ferry trips)

Dawn

thank you numberplease
it sounds lovely, still quite good at walking so getting about should'nt be too much of a problem. the boat trip sounds good. vivien

ps my daughter lives in woodhall spa

If anyone is worried about whether any accommodation in the Greek islands being suitable because of any infirmity, the Kosmar brochure tells you about steep paths and roads to it`s accommodations, and also about accessibility to the beach. To Vivien, your daughter must be awfully posh, living at Woodhall Spa! Cheers!

Agia Efimia is a nice quiet resort but you would need a car for a few days to get around the island.The beach at Xi is particularly nice and it is worth nipping up to Fiskardo despite it being over-priced.

My girlfriend and I are looking to go to a Greek island towards the end of August but we're unsure of which one we should go to. We'd like somewhere with good night life but isn't too crowded and with nice beaches to relax as well.
I hear Zante is well known for it's night life but is also crowded. We'll want to chill out at times and get away from the crowds. What is the night life on Kefalonia like, are there many clubs and what are they like? It seems as if Kefalonia is a really nice island but I'm worried it might be a little too quiet.

Something I like the sound about Kefalonia are the beaches that can only be accessed by boat. We were thinking of hiring a boat for a few days and checking out some of the secluded beaches. Are there many other islands with the same kind of thing? Roughly how much would it be to rent a boat? for a day and are there many places to hire them from?

Are there many places in Kefalonia for water sports and scuba diving?

If Kefalonia and Zante aren't what we're looking for, can anyone recommend an island that mught be?

Any advice would be much appreciated.
Thanks!

As far as Kefalonia is concerned if you are after nightlife Nea Skala is the place to go, although there is only a couple of basic nightclubs and music bars in an essentially 'British resort'.

Going up the main street from the beach end on the left there is a taverna/rooms place that turns into a music bar/disco after 24:00, further along there used to be a disco on the first floor of a building call the loft or pigeon house or something like that, a block or so to the left was a small music bar, some accomodation was quite close. I patronised them so they were there... Of course these may well have closed, but Skala does have a lot of punters.

Argostoli used to have a greek night club up the road north from the Lixouri ferry quay.

Fiskardo has a late night pub/music bar on the harbour well patronised by yachty types.

For watersports from what I recall Plati Yialos is the place to go (over the hill from Argostoli). Secluded beaches are on just about any island (e.g. just keep walking south of the beach in Nea Skala, Kefalonia...).

A good nightlife and not too crowded is contradictory to a large extent, (so is going in August), but... maybe you should try islands such as Paros (Paroikia), Naxos (Chora), Santorini (Thera), Kos (Kos town), Samos (Pythagorio), Rhodes (Lindos, Rodos).

Don't book a package, just buy a return flight to an appropriate airport near to where you wish to go, and find accomodation when you get there.

Are there nightclubs in Skala? I didn't see any at all but we did go early in the season (may). I found Skala very quiet, I've been to Zante and we loved it there and would go back again for sure. We like Argassi as its busy enough.

Sarah

we were in lassi in 1999,which is one of the main resorts, and the night life was very low key, same as the capital agistoli, lovely beach,beautiful island,but lacks at night, in my opinion
jeppo

Let's hope Kefalonia stays clear of nightclubs and discos. There are other island which have those attractions. Some of the reasons people go to Kefalonia is because it is fairly quiet and peaceful - most nightlife revolves around the tavernas.

Pippa

Kefalonia Night life?????????????
Kefalonia is unspoilt greece lovely island was there last year great for relaxing and driving about night life No!!!!!!!!!!

Have been to Kefalonia twice before staying at the White Rocks near Lassi. We are considering going to the Boulevard Pyllaros Hotel in Ag. Efimia next year. Anybody have any views on this hotel or resort?

Pippa

Hi Pippa. We have stayed in Lassi and Sami but visited Ag Efimia several times and it is beautiful, some great restaurants and bars. If we ever go back to Kefalonia we would like to stay there but we have a 10 year old and it might be a little quiet for him.

Hi,
We stayed at Agia Efimia about three years ago and found that it was an excellent place for a quiet holiday.
Though it is quite a small resort, there are plenty of good restaurants to choose from.We used to enjoy eating at the restaurant that had tables on the little pier. It was a nice setting, the service was a bit comical at times and quite slow as they had a long walk back to the kitchens but we had some excellent meals there.There was also a nice restaurant at the far end of the village that the cast and film crew of Captain Corelli use to use a lot, or so they say.
We did find that we had to hire a car out for about half of the holiday as there was not much there during the day, and no real beach to speak of, but there was plenty to go and see on the island. Our favourite beach was Xi and the worst was Myrtos where it is mainly big pebbles and dangerous undercurrents.
Worth taking a car over to Ithica for the day while you are there as well.

Have added the White Rocks Hotel to our review site.

If anyone has stayed here please assist your fellow holidaymakers by writing your review HERE

Hi Pippa, we stayed in Agia Efimia last September and throughly enjoyed it.

The hotel you are considering is the one that valtosmythos is referring to with the pier! It's right on the front and the rooms at the front have lovely little balconies that will be lovely to sit out on an evening.

There's a ATM, dive centre, hire car facilities and boat hire. There's plenty of places to eat in the village. I've forgotten the name but head out of the hotel, and follow the line of tavernas to the end and the last place you come to (you need to go upstairs) is where we had a fabulous lobster spagetti special. It was one of the best meals we had there. Lots of the tavernas also have live music some evenings a week. The harbour is very popular with people on boating holidays and you'll often find some spectacular boats moored there. There is also a ferry company based in the village and you can get to visit Ithica to go around the island for quite a reasonable price.

If it's sand you're after then Ag Ef isn't for you as the beaches & coves around Ag Ef are all pebbly but you can buy the cheap foam roll pads to sit on. On the plus side though - the water is lovely and clean and the fish very friendly! We did hire a boat for the day and found our own little cove which was very romantic.

I thought Ag Ef was a lovely place to explore the island from. We hired a car in the village from the dive centre (which doubles as car hire)and got out and about. If you've not already been to Sami - it's worth driving over there for lunch or dinner. We also went to Melassani Lake (early before the tour buses get there) and Assos - which was really pretty.
I really like Kefalonia as it was the type of place that you drive along and just find something interesting.

Hope that's helped
Dawn

Puddleduck,

What accommodation did you stay in? Was it a package or a diy holiday?

Thanks for all your comments - very useful.

Pippa

The best thing about Kefalonia was the lack of nightlife, to change this would be to change the whole character of the island, which is why people go there. Keep the nightclubs out!

going to kefelonia for the first time nxt week just wanted to know the kind of prices we can expect to pay for eating out and drinking f any one knows thanks

Santorini is very pretty with lots to see. I'm not a clubber but when I went in 2002 a woman in our apartments had taken her 18 daughter and friend and she told me that they had been clubbing in Thira the capital. It's acccessable by bus from the main resorts and they run until about 1 in the morning. If you fancy it go soon because it seems to have got more popular since the opening sequences of tomb raider 2 was filmed their. Incidently they were filming when we went their in 2002 and part of the caldera was cordend off. Didn't see angelina though!