How did you first find Plakias?

[Barny]

Hi all,
I don't know if this is interesting but how did you all find out about Plakias?
Did you just stumble across it in a travel agent or what?

My story starts when myself and a friend and our partners decided we wanted to go away for a break the four of us so we sent the girls off to find a holiday while we syayed in the pub!
Some time later they returned and said they had booked two weeks in a place called plakias on an island called Crete through the co op travel agency and sunmed, they even threw in a free taxi to bhx and back! We stayed in a place called pension paligremnos which was opposite where santa maria is now.
That was about late eightys i think and have been ther ever since!!

Whose story is next?

                         Barny.

[Graham_and_Karen]

In our case, we were holidaying near Rethymnon and had never heard of Plakias. One chap at the hotel was only there by chance - he had been at the Alianthos but his wife was taken ill and admitted to the hospital at Rethymnon. While chatting he suggested we visit Plakias. We had a hire car for just one day (money was tight) so after driving to several places first, it was around 3pm by the time we reached Plakias's Far End. It was just about our first time on a naturist beach but we instantly fell in love with the beach and, later in the day with Plakias as a resort. By the end of the day we knew where we would be staying the following year! So glad to be returning this year after missing out last year.

[Alex&fran G]

Fran and I were looking for somewher quiet we asked a friend who recomended Plakias ,Margaret and Ian have been going for about 18 years so we decided to go with them at the end of the fortnight I said to Fran Well I really enjoyed it but I dont think I could come here every year, since then we have never been anywhere else. Regards  Alex

[Butties]

In 2000 from the roadside viewing point above town just outside of Sellia, thought "have to go there, it looks bloody marvalous".
It was our first foreign holiday as a family, my wife had practically told me she was going to go it alone if I did not pull my finger out and book a holiday in the sun. We ended up doing a week in Ayia Galini, total greek island virgins with a 15 and 12 year old in tow.
We hired a car for three days in the middle of the week and just drove, luck took us towards Plakias, total fluke. The week we got back to blighty I went into a travel agent and said "I want to go here, Plakias, how can I do it?" Ended up going with First Choice to CC's. Been three times now, with Corfu, Cyprus and Samos in between.

Butties

[George]

I've always been one to avoid the crowds and the obvious resorts, ie mention Crete and people will say Ag Nic or Malia, or Rhodes and its Faliraki etc etc... Sorry guys these places are not for me. I go abroad to see and feel a foreign country.
I've tried a lot of the, as they were then, remoter islands, just to find some authenticity, then good old SunMed, bless 'em, included Plakias. This looked good to me! A bit mor




sorry about that... I had an error message come up when I hit the preview button, maybe that had something to do with it  g g...

[George]

I've always been one to avoid the crowds and the obvious resorts, ie mention Crete and people will say Ag Nic or Malia, or Rhodes and its Faliraki etc etc... Sorry guys these places are not for me. I go abroad to see and feel a foreign country.
I've tried a lot of the, as they were then, remoter islands, just to find some authenticity, then good old SunMed, bless 'em, included Plakias. This looked good to me! A bit more remote from some of the more popular resorts, so I went for it.
Stayed at the Erato for two weeks and really liked it and the resort and the far end, that was in 1992.
Went back with Tina the following year, and remember sitting in Antonis, which had by then been adopted by me as my afternoon bar, and looking out to sea I turned to her and said 'perhaps just one more year'.
We tried other islands just to find somewhere comparative and went to some great places, but always decided to go back to Plakias for the big two weeks and we never looked back.
Done seaching... Found Plakias!!  

george g...

[Chas]

We are addicted to Greece and are cheapskates, too.

So, for the past five years (since the kids were forced into independence!) we've trawled the internet for "late deals" in quieter/smaller resorts.

We came unstuck (sort of) a couple of years back and ended up in Stalis .... however, on a trip to Gortys and Phaeston, we discovered the south coast (Miritos, to be precise) and noticed the only UK company having accommodation there was Kosmar.

Miritos has disappeared from the brochures but Paleohora and Plakias seemed to tick the right boxes, so we kept on checking the website.

Finally, this May, we got the deal we wanted .... to Plakias ... and the rest is you know what  


Historical note:
We first discovered Greece back in the 70's - thanks to Sunmed, Grecian and (shock horror) Club 18-30 (the first package to Rhodes, when Faliraki was a lay-by on the coast road with about five buildings!).

[Regulars since 1992]

Our best man and his girlfriend first introduced us to Plakias back in the late '80s and we've been back most years since. Apart from motorsport, which is a job for me as well as a passion, foreign travel is one of our great loves and we tend to head elsewhere whenever we can each year, but an autumn return visit to Plakias is always one of our annual priorities. As we fell in love with staying at Stella's many years ago, we still do now and make our own travel arrangements as a result. Roll on mid-September when we're back again for a couple of weeks.

[Greecemad]

Great idea Barny.

Like many others, I was introduced to Plakias by SunMed. As I had no-one to travel with I looked for holidays where I could join a group of people. After doing 4 coach tours (one to the Greek mainland), I discovered the rambling holidays that SunMed did in and around a place called Plakias in Crete and on Lesbos (Plakias also appealed because of the nudist beaches in the vicinity). So in 1990 I spent a fortnight in Plakias (at the Oasis Pension) and enjoyed the rambling led by Bill and Joan. The year after I did another SunMed rambling holiday on Lesbos - this was not so enjoyable as Molyvos isn't such a good walking area, it's doesn't have the same good beaches, and the rambling leaders weren't as good either. However, on both these holidays, I discovered various people, including some on their own, who were travelling independently. So I then set off on my own and did a 3-week island hopping trip around the Dodecanese and Cyclades. I have travelled independently to various Greek islands ever since and have been to Plakias a total of 9 times in 18 years.  

Greecemad

[John R]

After my retirement in October 1996 we went via 1st Choice to Malia (their choice not ours !!). We actually did ok there - good rooms, quiet location and we found a super authentic place to eat in the old town (have never found better !!). Hired a car, saw a lot of Crete and liked the island enough to return. However we thought the following year we would try Rethymnon. Ended up a bit too far East of town - 0K but really Malia was preferable to that (better eating facilities). When booking for that year, 1st Choice brochure were mentioning Bali and Plakias as remote places for those with more sense of adventure - or something like that. We had already see Bali and didn't fancy it but we hired a car and investigated Plakias. Our jaws dropped when we saw Plakias (and the immediate surrounding area - and what a drive through the gorges). So the following year (1998) onwards we booked 1st choice to Plakias and Stella Pension. When 1st Choice dropped out of Plakias we came independently - still to Stella.

John R

[Ploppy]

We came across it by chance. We knew we wanted to go to a Greek island and Margherita said 'Why not Crete?'.
Checked out First Choice and Plakias came up, like the look of it and a quick Google later we found this website.

I thought if John put all the effort into setting up the website then there must be something about the place. That was seven years ago and we have had a wonderful time there each year.

[Stuart & Hilary]

We arrived in Iraklion some 11 years ago with no idea of where we were going. So having ordered Greek salads in a taverna, we spread the map out and were checking out a few places in the Rough Guide when the waiter asked us where we were going. Having said we had no idea; he then looked at the map, recommended Plakias and later that day via a couple of bus journeys we duly arrived. The first couple of years it was for two weeks at a time but now we tend to dip in for 4/5 days at the end of the holiday.
Mind you we were slightly distracted while the waiter was talking to us because, presumably the owner’s elderly father, sitting at a table facing us proceeded to remove his false teeth and clean them in the jug of water, before popping them back in. We did finish the Greek salads!!

Stuart

[harribobs]

we had already discovered the joys of the south coast in previous holidays, having visited paleohora and sougia while being based on the north west coast and matala when being more centrally located. we had a full couple of weeks holiday based in paleohora and then i was looking for base to do some walking on the E4

i am pretty sure i first heard of the place from captain barefoot's site and from there to the www.plakias.co.uk site and booked our first holiday. i enjoyed our stay but surprisingly, didn't immediately warm to the place, we made a few short visits while being elsewhere but have found being drawn back now twice a year for the last couple of years  

[shinaria]

Think it is 15 years ago when we first met Plakias. A friend told us about and as we had the chance for a last minute trip we booked our first two weeks in Hotel Sofia which is one of the oldest hotels in town. After the flight we were put into the bus and carried across the island to the south. Happy not to be one of those thrown off the bus at the various stops during the ride, especially at the north coast hotels. Remember the first crossing of the Kourtaliotiko Gorge ... and then the sight of the sea.  ["Cor magis tibi Kriti pandit"   ] Phantastic! You know the rest.
We returned, with breaks, over the years [with our growing number of children] and as we change, the town does, but the island stays the same.

See you next year
Shinaria

[Peter&Dawn]

George and Tina had been showing us their photographs and diaries from Plakias for years.

Three years ago we were looking for a completely relaxing holiday, as far away from the stresses of work as possible, and we came to the conclusion that there must be something that keeps drawing them back, so we decided to have a look for ourselves - and thankfuly we have now discovered the secret.
This year our daughter hopes to discover the magic that is Plakias.

Thanks George & Tina.