Greece sailing holiday in Ionian Sea
Highlights
Lefkas | Kastos | Atokos | Kioni | Ithaca | Filiatro | Kefalonia | Assos | Melissani and Papanikolis caves | Optional activities include freediving, snorkelling, hiking and fishing |Description of Greece sailing holiday in Ionian Sea
This wonderful week on the Ionian is one of those longed for luxuries that’s actually much more affordable than you may at first think. Time spent on board is always interactive and you’ll have just as many opportunities to relax and enjoy activities as you will to learn the ropes.Island hopping by yacht allows you to sail to secluded coves and beaches where larger vessels fail to fit. Not only will you be causing minimal impact on the environment but you’ll also be able to anchor and spend time in coastal towns and villages, blissfully unaffected by mass tourism.
Understanding Greek island culture is just as important as learning a few basic yachting manoeuvres and your experienced skipper and crew will be more than happy to expand on both. From the freshest of fresh seafood and secret snorkelling spots to dusty donkey tracks and stunning hilltop views, this holiday opens up the best of Greece both on land and at sea.
Travel Team
If you'd like to chat about this holiday or need help finding one we're very happy to help. The Travel Team.
01273 823 700 Calling from outside the UK? rosy@responsibletravel.comResponsible tourism
As the pioneers of responsible tourism, we screen every trip so you can travel knowing your holiday will help support conservation and local people.

During our trips, we introduce our guests to this philosophy by providing the skills and equipment to explore the same ecosystem and therefore see in first hand both the beauty and the threats to our environment. We encourage them to act when we see any plastic floating or lying on the seabed, and to collect it. We alert our guests not to disturb the marine life and ecosystems while diving.
Some of the skills that are introduced to our guests are relaxation and breathing techniques, finning, immersion and equalization techniques. The gear provided are wetsuits so they can be more warm and comfortable in the water, quality masks for best fit and vision, weights for buoyancy adjustment and fins. Compared to scuba, freediving needs much more less gear and is focused on the mind and relaxation.
We have witnessed that people, through underwater involvement and exploration, gain a greater understanding and appreciation of the marine life and ecosystem. This itself only raises awareness and helps the protection of it. You are more likely to support and care for something that feels familiar!
Land is also a highlight in the trip.
We will go for a walk or hike either by the sea or through the paths in the hills to get to know the flora and fauna of the islands. Always taking care not to leave litter, be gentle in the way that we collect herbs (e.g. we hand-pick sage or oregan but with care not to hurt the plant so it can continue its cycle).
So far we have allowed our guests to get to know a way of living that is closer to the sea and the environment and far away from consumerism.
- We eat local . Almost everything comes from local producers and farms. We use and strongly suggest season products.
- Our menu onboard is mainly vegan/vegetarian.
- We sail as much as possible and plan trip always to be wind favoured.
- The boat doesnt use shore power. We use solar power from our P/V system.
- We encourage minimal fresh water use for showers and washing. All the loads on board are designed efficintly for low power consumption ( eg. LED bulbs).
- We have a special drinkable water tank (BISPHENOL A FREE / PHTHALATE - FREE ) , carbon filter, and hand pump so we don't use plastic bottles onboard for drinking ( a huge issue on yachting) .
In general sailing life itself consists in low energy consumption way of living . That's the spirit that we want to commune with our guests.
The Impacts of this Trip
We suggest to our guests specific local and family-run restaurants where we have been interacting with the owners and personnel for a long time. Local guides are employed for excursions to visit an archaeological site or for a guided hike or for other aquatic activities or even wine tasting.
There is also a specific issue that we highlight to all our guests, which is the sea farms. In our opinion they are extremely difficult to be really sustainable as they use both drugs and fish food with questionable origin. Instead, we suggest eating fresh fish brought in daily by fishermen (we can tell you which types of fish are likely to have been farmed).
We are sponsors of the Sailing Club of Patras in Greece who organise local sailing races and educate young sailors because we believe the more we get involved in the sea, the more we love it.
The trip is custom and personalised and, therefore, is against a major problem of Greece which is mass tourism. We don’t promote “all-inclusive” packages and do not organise massive flotillas (like many companies that work on the sailing holidays sector).


During our trips, we introduce our guests to this philosophy by providing the skills and equipment to explore the same ecosystem and therefore see in first hand both the beauty and the threats to our environment. We encourage them to act when we see any plastic floating or lying on the seabed, and to collect it. We alert our guests not to disturb the marine life and ecosystems while diving.
Some of the skills that are introduced to our guests are relaxation and breathing techniques, finning, immersion and equalization techniques. The gear provided are wetsuits so they can be more warm and comfortable in the water, quality masks for best fit and vision, weights for buoyancy adjustment and fins. Compared to scuba, freediving needs much more less gear and is focused on the mind and relaxation.
We have witnessed that people, through underwater involvement and exploration, gain a greater understanding and appreciation of the marine life and ecosystem. This itself only raises awareness and helps the protection of it. You are more likely to support and care for something that feels familiar!
Land is also a highlight in the trip.
We will go for a walk or hike either by the sea or through the paths in the hills to get to know the flora and fauna of the islands. Always taking care not to leave litter, be gentle in the way that we collect herbs (e.g. we hand-pick sage or oregan but with care not to hurt the plant so it can continue its cycle).
So far we have allowed our guests to get to know a way of living that is closer to the sea and the environment and far away from consumerism.
- We eat local . Almost everything comes from local producers and farms. We use and strongly suggest season products.
- Our menu onboard is mainly vegan/vegetarian.
- We sail as much as possible and plan trip always to be wind favoured.
- The boat doesnt use shore power. We use solar power from our P/V system.
- We encourage minimal fresh water use for showers and washing. All the loads on board are designed efficintly for low power consumption ( eg. LED bulbs).
- We have a special drinkable water tank (BISPHENOL A FREE / PHTHALATE - FREE ) , carbon filter, and hand pump so we don't use plastic bottles onboard for drinking ( a huge issue on yachting) .
In general sailing life itself consists in low energy consumption way of living . That's the spirit that we want to commune with our guests.

The Impacts of this Trip
We suggest to our guests specific local and family-run restaurants where we have been interacting with the owners and personnel for a long time. Local guides are employed for excursions to visit an archaeological site or for a guided hike or for other aquatic activities or even wine tasting.
There is also a specific issue that we highlight to all our guests, which is the sea farms. In our opinion they are extremely difficult to be really sustainable as they use both drugs and fish food with questionable origin. Instead, we suggest eating fresh fish brought in daily by fishermen (we can tell you which types of fish are likely to have been farmed).
We are sponsors of the Sailing Club of Patras in Greece who organise local sailing races and educate young sailors because we believe the more we get involved in the sea, the more we love it.
The trip is custom and personalised and, therefore, is against a major problem of Greece which is mass tourism. We don’t promote “all-inclusive” packages and do not organise massive flotillas (like many companies that work on the sailing holidays sector).

1 Reviews of Greece sailing holiday in Ionian Sea
Reviewed on 21 May 2019 by Scott and Santosh
1. What was the most memorable or exciting part of your holiday?
Our hikes, great conversations over meals and getting a real feel for the diversity and rich history of the Ionian islands.
2. What tips would you give other travellers booking this holiday?
Panos and Elias from the operator are amazing skippers and people. They always do their best to provide interesting and exciting adventures for your trip. Let them know what you want to get out of your time, what you want to see and do and they will make it happen if they can!
3. Did you feel that your holiday benefited local people, reduced environmental impacts or supported conservation?
Definitely. The guys know everyone on the islands and have lots of contacts, we shop and eat locally, we buy local wine. We appreciated their shift off dependency on disposable plastic water bottles, our clean up walk and use of reusable bags, they are caring for the local environment and taking time to think about new ways to reduce waste!
4. Finally, how would you rate your holiday overall?
We had an amazing week. The guys are really like friends, easygoing and fun. The boat is comfortable for a small group, they are good cooks! We sailed to different islands every day and really got an in depth insight into the area and people. They also run theme based trips which is a great idea. We felt lucky to have found them for our Ionian sailing, and we hope to do it again soon. Thanks guys!
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