May 2010 price rises ?

[Daniel]

Ruth and I are due back in Plakias again on Tuesday the 11th May for 2 weeks (and it can not come quickly enough)

But I wonder what effect the financial problems which Greece is having will have on the prices we will pay this year.

The Monarch flight from Manchester to Chania and 2 weeks hire car are already paid for (in England) but has anyone any idea what other costs may/may not have risen or are due to rise ?
These will be mainly eating out costs, accomodation costs and supermarket prices.

It may be to early to know what will happen and we may well have to wait and see for ourselves when we finaly get there.

[Ger]

Ruth and I are due back in Plakias again on Tuesday the 11th May for 2 weeks (and it can not come quickly enough)

But I wonder what effect the financial problems which Greece is having will have on the prices we will pay this year.

The Monarch flight from Manchester to Chania and 2 weeks hire car are already paid for (in England) but has anyone any idea what other costs may/may not have risen or are due to rise ?
These will be mainly eating out costs, accomodation costs and supermarket prices.

It may be to early to know what will happen and we may well have to wait and see for ourselves when we finaly get there.

I've been wondering about this myself as im landing in Crete next week. I think its way to early to know whats going to happen as the whole deal with the EU and IMF has only been cleared today.

Prices will go up but I don't think they will be too bad and it would be a major cock up to do anything that keeps the tourists away.

They main way they are going to save on money is in the public sector with major redundancies. I read today that over a million people work in the public sector from a population of 11 million compared to less than a million in France with a population of 70 million. I'm not surprised there's riots in the streets.

[John R]

But I wonder what effect the financial problems which Greece is having will have on the prices we will pay this year.

It may be to early to know what will happen and we may well have to wait and see for ourselves when we finaly get there.

I think it will be wise for all of us travelling there to look out for other side effects such as strikes by public servants. In particular say air traffic control and airport staff. I think if these sort of things  do happen it may be fairly early on in the crisis until things have settled down.

John R

[jann]

Ruth and I are due back in Plakias again on Tuesday the 11th May for 2 weeks (and it can not come quickly enough)

But I wonder what effect the financial problems which Greece is having will have on the prices we will pay this year.

The Monarch flight from Manchester to Chania and 2 weeks hire car are already paid for (in England) but has anyone any idea what other costs may/may not have risen or are due to rise ?
These will be mainly eating out costs, accomodation costs and supermarket prices.

It may be to early to know what will happen and we may well have to wait and see for ourselves when we finaly get there.

I am flying out tomorrow morning Daniel at 10.30 am  from Manchester! I return on the 11th. I've been wondering the same  
I will have my laptop with me so will try to send some info  from Plakias if I can, on eating out costs etc,  
Jann

[Mike G]

I think it will be wise for all of us travelling there to look out for other side effects such as strikes by public servants. In particular say air traffic control and airport staff. I think if these sort of things  do happen it may be fairly early on in the crisis until things have settled down.

John R

Totally agree John. A previous posting said:

"it would be a major cock up to do anything that keeps the tourists away"

but delayed or even cancelled flights will put many tourists off ever visiting Greece again, which is just what the Greek economy doesn't need. If the planned general strike happens tomorrow then that is exactly what will happen.

Perhaps Ali can update us on the subject of this thread.

Mike

[Daniel]

We are just back from Plakias after a 2 week stay and I can now answer my own question.

Firstly, the weather was good for early May with just one afternoons rain and that on the last Saturday of our stay.
But early sping in that area has been very dry and much of the wild flowers we went to see were past their best.

The sea was cold (ish) and fairly rough for much of the time but not too rough to prevent swimming and the wind was never strong enough to drive the sand along the beaches to make it uncomfortable for sun bathing.
For the fist week, the beaches towards the far end were very quiet, with few takers for the sun beds.

It may have been us, but there did seem to be fewer English visitors there this time with more German and others but this may just have been our take on things.

As for prices, then we were very pleasantly surprised by what we found.

The main increase was on petrol and the cost of a litre now at about 1.55/1.60 euro which is a very big increase from last September.

The other big rise was on alcohol (metaxa) and wine.
The new tax rises have increased the prices but not by the same amount in all places, so shop about.
But as an example, we paid at Chania Airport 20 euro for a litre bottle of 5 star Metaxa to drink on the cold, wet winter evenings in Yorkshire.

And that was just about all the bad news we found.

Cost of meals in Tavernas was very much as we remembered and Supermarket prices to not seem to have changed very much.

Two very good weeks holiday with no problems or complaints.

We will just now have to wait for the 14th September for our next visit, and it can not come quickly enough !!

[Dave&Les]

We are just back from Plakias after a 2 week stay and I can now answer my own question.

Firstly, the weather was good for early May with just one afternoons rain and that on the last Saturday of our stay.
But early sping in that area has been very dry and much of the wild flowers we went to see were past their best.

The sea was cold (ish) and fairly rough for much of the time but not too rough to prevent swimming and the wind was never strong enough to drive the sand along the beaches to make it uncomfortable for sun bathing.
For the fist week, the beaches towards the far end were very quiet, with few takers for the sun beds.

It may have been us, but there did seem to be fewer English visitors there this time with more German and others but this may just have been our take on things.

As for prices, then we were very pleasantly surprised by what we found.

The main increase was on petrol and the cost of a litre now at about 1.55/1.60 euro which is a very big increase from last September.

The other big rise was on alcohol (metaxa) and wine.
The new tax rises have increased the prices but not by the same amount in all places, so shop about.
But as an example, we paid at Chania Airport 20 euro for a litre bottle of 5 star Metaxa to drink on the cold, wet winter evenings in Yorkshire.

And that was just about all the bad news we found.

Cost of meals in Tavernas was very much as we remembered and Supermarket prices to not seem to have changed very much.

Two very good weeks holiday with no problems or complaints.

We will just now have to wait for the 14th September for our next visit, and it can not come quickly enough !!

Hi Daniel

glad you enjoyed spring in Plakias.

We will be there 22nd August until 19th September and we have been thinking the prices would be sky high, but from your comments it doesn't sound too bad.

Do you happen to know what the Pound/Euro exchange rate was in the village? We normally take sterling and get a better deal locally.

Maybe we'll bump into you in Sept.!!

Dave&Les

[jann]

We are just back from Plakias after a 2 week stay and I can now answer my own question.

Firstly, the weather was good for early May with just one afternoons rain and that on the last Saturday of our stay.
But early sping in that area has been very dry and much of the wild flowers we went to see were past their best.

The sea was cold (ish) and fairly rough for much of the time but not too rough to prevent swimming and the wind was never strong enough to drive the sand along the beaches to make it uncomfortable for sun bathing.
For the fist week, the beaches towards the far end were very quiet, with few takers for the sun beds.

It may have been us, but there did seem to be fewer English visitors there this time with more German and others but this may just have been our take on things.

As for prices, then we were very pleasantly surprised by what we found.

The main increase was on petrol and the cost of a litre now at about 1.55/1.60 euro which is a very big increase from last September.

The other big rise was on alcohol (metaxa) and wine.
The new tax rises have increased the prices but not by the same amount in all places, so shop about.
But as an example, we paid at Chania Airport 20 euro for a litre bottle of 5 star Metaxa to drink on the cold, wet winter evenings in Yorkshire.

And that was just about all the bad news we found.

Cost of meals in Tavernas was very much as we remembered and Supermarket prices to not seem to have changed very much.

Two very good weeks holiday with no problems or complaints.

We will just now have to wait for the 14th September for our next visit, and it can not come quickly enough !!

Hi Daniel

glad you enjoyed spring in Plakias.

We will be there 22nd August until 19th September and we have been thinking the prices would be sky high, but from your comments it doesn't sound too bad.

Do you happen to know what the Pound/Euro exchange rate was in the village? We normally take sterling and get a better deal locally.

Maybe we'll bump into you in Sept.!!

Dave&Les

I was also pleasantly surprised, I only spent roughly half what I estimated I needed. ! I took my euros with me,    

Am doing my best to get back September too  

[mickc1962]

We are just back from Plakias after a 2 week stay and I can now answer my own question.

Firstly, the weather was good for early May with just one afternoons rain and that on the last Saturday of our stay.
But early sping in that area has been very dry and much of the wild flowers we went to see were past their best.

The sea was cold (ish) and fairly rough for much of the time but not too rough to prevent swimming and the wind was never strong enough to drive the sand along the beaches to make it uncomfortable for sun bathing.
For the fist week, the beaches towards the far end were very quiet, with few takers for the sun beds.

It may have been us, but there did seem to be fewer English visitors there this time with more German and others but this may just have been our take on things.

As for prices, then we were very pleasantly surprised by what we found.

The main increase was on petrol and the cost of a litre now at about 1.55/1.60 euro which is a very big increase from last September.

The other big rise was on alcohol (metaxa) and wine.
The new tax rises have increased the prices but not by the same amount in all places, so shop about.
But as an example, we paid at Chania Airport 20 euro for a litre bottle of 5 star Metaxa to drink on the cold, wet winter evenings in Yorkshire.

And that was just about all the bad news we found.

Cost of meals in Tavernas was very much as we remembered and Supermarket prices to not seem to have changed very much.

Two very good weeks holiday with no problems or complaints.

We will just now have to wait for the 14th September for our next visit, and it can not come quickly enough !!

Hi Daniel

glad you enjoyed spring in Plakias.

We will be there 22nd August until 19th September and we have been thinking the prices would be sky high, but from your comments it doesn't sound too bad.

Do you happen to know what the Pound/Euro exchange rate was in the village? We normally take sterling and get a better deal locally.

Maybe we'll bump into you in Sept.!!

Dave&Les

I was also pleasantly surprised, I only spent roughly half what I estimated I needed. ! I took my euros with me,    

Am doing my best to get back September too  

[Mike G]

Ruth and I are due back in Plakias again on Tuesday the 11th May for 2 weeks (and it can not come quickly enough)

But I wonder what effect the financial problems which Greece is having will have on the prices we will pay this year.

The Monarch flight from Manchester to Chania and 2 weeks hire car are already paid for (in England) but has anyone any idea what other costs may/may not have risen or are due to rise ?
These will be mainly eating out costs, accomodation costs and supermarket prices.

It may be to early to know what will happen and we may well have to wait and see for ourselves when we finaly get there.

I've just returned from Tingaki, Kos (Plakias in the autumn for a change this year) and was pleasantly surprised to find things like taverna prices haven't changed now for the last couple of years. One owner told us that their costs had increased markedly but they didn't feel they could up prices and had absorbed the increases. Alcohol had gone up a lot in the supermarkets. I didn't see ouzo for less than €10 for a litre and it wasn't any less at the airport. Re. the latter, Kos airport now has duty free and duty paid prices (EU travellers pay the higher price). Things like whisky, gin etc are now no cheaper airside that at Tesco. They were doing very little trade in alcohol. I was told perfume is still cheaper though.  You could still buy decent gin in Tingaki for €6.50, but this was €4.50 18 months ago.

As someone else has said unleaded petrol is nearing €1.60.

The other change was how quiet the resort was compared to other years at this time. Some properties were yet to open. I would be interested to hear if Plakias is quieter than usual.

Mike

[Daniel]

The exchange rate we were getting in Plakias was in the region of 1.15/1.17 euro to the pound which we thought to be quite good.

I wait to see what rate we did get when the bill for items which were bought on cards come thru but it should not be any worse than that.

[Regulars since 1992]

Thanks for the update on pricing, Daniel, as I was concerned about the impact of the Greek financial situation on costs for our regular return visit this year (not that we're any better here in the UK in terms of public debt). We too are looking forward to heading back to Plakias in September and seemingly on the same day as you.

Our Jet2 flights from LBA for this year weren't cheap even though we booked them before our visit last September, but having looked at comparable Monarch prices today for the same period they're not too bad and are very convenient for us as fellow Yorkshire folk.