Holiday retreat in Greece, Saronic Islands
| country: | Greece |
| location: | Agistri Island, Saronic Islands |
| price: | From €35 - €92 per room per night. Price depends on room type and season. We are closed in the winter |
| vouchers: | Gift vouchers can be used with this holiday |
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introduction to Holiday retreat in Greece, Saronic Islands
The accommodation is a simple attractive retreat, located on Agistri, the smallest of the Saronic islands, and also the greenest, the most picturesque and the least developed. It's an ideal spot for enjoying great nature, solitude, relaxation, and greenery. Agistri is still unspoiled; it has lovely beaches and many secluded coves. The accommodation offers the perfect antidote to the stress of city life. The 14 double rooms and 2 family rooms have been built like a traditional Greek village, only 30 metres away from a beautiful rocky beach where you have easy access to shallow and deep clear water, with sand and pebbles sea bed.
It is our continuous aim to make people feel at home, relaxed, close to family, at ease, and to mix all nationalities. A big help in this is our petite restaurant which is the meeting point all day to bring people close.
Sunbathing & swimming: You can sunbathe on the sunbeds on the different terraces, or you can visit the beautiful pebbly Chalikiada beach which is within walking distance, or the Golden Sandy Beach in the tourist village of Skala. We have 20 sunbeds, shaded, on the lower plateau of the rocky beach and 5 on the upper plateau. All 25 of them are for the use of our guests free of charge.
Canoeing: Our facilities include 2 simple but very efficient canoes which our guests can use free of charge.
Speed-boat: Our speedboat is a 5 meter long fibre glass boat with a 100 hp yamaha petrol outboard engine. We offer trips around the island plus swimming in a beautiful little bay and to the little uninhabited islet of Metopi for swimming and snorkelling.
Agistri Island: Agistri is the ideal place from where you can visit most of the important Greek historical sites, without losing your sea and sun holidays. You can make daytrips to Athens, Aegina, Epidavros, Poros and Hydra, coming back early enough for a late swim.
Walking: The Agistri forest (90% of the island) with its many trails, allows you to spend a few memorable hours wandering around.
Cycling: A 7.5 km good tarmac road connects all the villages passing through the forest, ideal for push bikers. Bikes are free for hire.
It is our continuous aim to make people feel at home, relaxed, close to family, at ease, and to mix all nationalities. A big help in this is our petite restaurant which is the meeting point all day to bring people close.
special things to do and see here
There are many spots where people can withdraw, either to read, to exercise, for yoga classes, for sailing instruction, to sunbath at the many free sunchairs, or to dance. Take trips to ancient sites like the ancient theatre of epidaurus, korinth channel. Go island hopping to Aegina, Poros, Hydra. Sunbathing & swimming: You can sunbathe on the sunbeds on the different terraces, or you can visit the beautiful pebbly Chalikiada beach which is within walking distance, or the Golden Sandy Beach in the tourist village of Skala. We have 20 sunbeds, shaded, on the lower plateau of the rocky beach and 5 on the upper plateau. All 25 of them are for the use of our guests free of charge.
Canoeing: Our facilities include 2 simple but very efficient canoes which our guests can use free of charge.
Speed-boat: Our speedboat is a 5 meter long fibre glass boat with a 100 hp yamaha petrol outboard engine. We offer trips around the island plus swimming in a beautiful little bay and to the little uninhabited islet of Metopi for swimming and snorkelling.
Agistri Island: Agistri is the ideal place from where you can visit most of the important Greek historical sites, without losing your sea and sun holidays. You can make daytrips to Athens, Aegina, Epidavros, Poros and Hydra, coming back early enough for a late swim.
Walking: The Agistri forest (90% of the island) with its many trails, allows you to spend a few memorable hours wandering around.
Cycling: A 7.5 km good tarmac road connects all the villages passing through the forest, ideal for push bikers. Bikes are free for hire.
traveller reviews for Holiday retreat in Greece, Saronic Islands
For our family it was perfect - enough variety so nobody got bored, no long treks to beaches, a beautiful environment to just sit around and do nothing, great food. (more)
rooms, food and facilities
The accommodation has 14 double rooms and 2 family rooms. The rooms have been built like a traditional Greek village and are at only 30 metres distance from the sea. It's a small paradise full of pine trees and flowers. All the rooms have sea view and have recently been renovated to a very comfortable standard. They offer full air-conditioning, a small fridge, ensuite bathrooms (shower only), TV and balcony. We also have an on spot restaurant which operates all day, which aims to serve as much organic food as possible. Our sources are local products, from Agistri, Aegina, and the Peleponnese.Pet friendly: Pets are allowed.
how to find us
The accommodation is located on Agistri island, at a 2 minute distance (800 m) from the port of Skala, and about 20 miles south of Athens and 5 miles west of Aegina island. Agistri island has direct boat connections with the port of Piraeus as well as the port of Aegina. The nearest airport is Athens Elefterios Venizelos, from there you have a shuttlebus to Piraeus harbour and than either flying dolphin, ferry or catamaran to the island.how this holiday makes a difference
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Since we live on a very small island with 800 inhabitants and a community that just changed hands to a very open-minded mayor, the whole population including us raised money to buy a little boat that connects Agistri to Aegina [18000 inhabitants]. This boat is essential for all inhabitants of Agistri, serving as transport for the high-school, shopping and tourism. We encourage guests to travel with this boat. People staying here visit different restaurants and also buy goods from the island, like oregano (which grows wild in abundance), figs, oil, mushrooms, retsina wine, vinegar and fish.
Our rooms use energy efficient lightbulbs, and rainwater from the ceramic roof goes in a deposit which we use for watering. We inform our guests to be careful with water, because, although the island is covered 90% with pines, we do not have any water resources. We change towels every 3 days and bedsheets once a week. The local laundry service uses rainwater, wellwater and water delivered by watertank. We only use showers in our rooms, and toilets that can be adjusted to half flush. The garden around the complex is natural. All the organic waste from the kitchen we compost, while food waste is consumed by local wildlife. We have dogs and cats and some donkeys in the village that get watermelon waste, and we make trips to a deserted island with peacocks and goats where we send the stale bread. Clothes, books etc are donated to the 'Animal Respect Shop' on Aegina island, who then sell in order to purchase medication, vaccinations and pay doctor's fees for the big shelter they have on the island. We employ people that live on the island and train staff to work in the kitchen of the restaurant. Our kitchen products come mainly from the island, while our fishermen provide the restaurant specialities in smoked, grilled and cooked fish. We serve a variety of vegetarian dishes, and all our dishes are homemade (we use no frozen or prefabricated food). We started our own garden last year with tomatoes, paprika, aubergine, and spices...and people enjoy that immensely. We also use the local butcher, who operates a small stable with cows, chicken and turkey. We use the market on Aegina island for things we cannot find here. For maintenance, electrical work, plumbing, and mechanics we employ a young talented guy from the island who left Athens to have a more tranquil life on Agistri, living just 1 km away. |
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. |
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