Travelling with children

Norsk utgave (Norwegian edition)

Greece is a wonderful country travelling with children. The children love Greece and Greece loves children. Or to put it more correct, the Greeks love children, especially the blond ones that are not very common in Greece. But all children get a lot of attention and some of them even get at little bit tired from all this attention. For many circumstances bringing along the children give you many benefits because this help you getting in contact with the local people.

Beach ball (or what we call is "fartplay") is a nice way of relaxing at the beach for both children and grown ups.

You don’t need much extras to travel with children. When it comes to small children that need diapers and food on glass bottles you do not need to bring it with you. You will find everything you need in Greece. They off course have their own children and the international brand names are all there. What you should bring, however, are their favourite toys. These are needed for the long ferry trips which are the worst parts for the children. Toys that do not take to much space are excellent like for instance drawing kits, their favourite stuffed animal and walkman/disk man with story or music cassettes. It is amazing how long these cassettes can entertain a child. Handheld videogames are often nice if the child is a little bit older.

A walkman with a fairytale and a favourite stuffed animal ("Chukky") are always nice to bring along.

Always remember the sun screen and also to give the children plenty to drink. This is very important during the ferry trips when the heat and the wind is a very effect source for dehydration. A child very soon gets into a bad mood in he or she does not get enough to eat and drink. But don’t give the children too much either because of the bad sanitary conditions onboard the ferries.

Rune, Anne Grete and Tore are building a sand castle

When it comes to the question of which islands that are best suited for children there is a basic recommendation that you choose the more quite area of the island that you are staying at or travel to one of the smaller islands with little or no traffic. Also choose an accommodation close to the beach because that is where the children want to play and bath all day. If you go to one of the popular Islands and also one of the bigger cities, this is very stressful both for children and parents. As parents we have to look for our children all the time in conditions with lots of people and lots of traffic and that is not vacation. The children also want their freedom without man and dad looking after them every moment of the day.

We should not write this (because then more people will get to our favourite island) but Antiparos is a wonderful place to stay with children. At this island the distance to the beach is short with only small waves and relatively small beaches where the children can run around on their own without getting lost. Despite the small island, the alternatives are plenty also for the grownups and that’s the reason why we enjoy the place so much.

Snorkelling gear is nice to bring along. Karoline (6) learned to swim this way because there were so much to see under water that she forgot to be afraid.

The beaches in Greece are usually not pure sand beaches. Often its a mixture of sand and rounded stones. The sand and stones get very hot so bring a long some beach shoes. Many beaches are also quite vulnerable in terms of higher waves as soon it gets windy but both at Paros and Antiparos you will find well hidden beaches in lay of the wind. Remember to be extra careful watching your children if the wind is blowing away from the beach. Then the waves are small and it is tempting to use air mattresses and other inflatable which can easily be blown off shore. The ocean is in general very clean unless you place yourselves close to or in a larger city. There are not too many sewer cleaning facilities in Greece. Choose therefore a beach a bit away from the city centres.

This inflatable was heading for the ocean, luckily without Tore.

Back to the use of sunscreen and children. Use sunscreen with at least factor 20. Apply it often because the children are bathing and therefore washing it off. Don’t worry with the tan. At the end of the summer they will be the most tanned anyway.

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If you have any tips, advice or memories from island strolling, or if there is a question you haven’t found the answer to, use the discussions group.
Thanks to Kjell Inge Gjesdal, Oslo, Norway for his translation into English!
© Jan Bergtun, 10. January 1999	Updated, 02.07.2007
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