Greece
Family Holidays

What you can find on Greece family holidays that you won't find anywhere else?

Located on the Greek mainland in the northern Aegean, Halkidiki is instantly recognisable on a map by the trident-like peninsulas that jut into the sea. The westernmost of these is called the Kassandra Peninsula, and it's here that families will find a self-contained world that has everything they could possibly require from a family beach holiday and plenty more besides.

There are a couple of hotels here that have elevated the family-friendly hotel stakes to unparalleled heights, with private marinas, three miles of shallow-watered sandy beaches, spas, swimming pools, watersports centres, diving centres with PADI instructors, mountain-biking centres, endless tennis courts (some floodlit and with professional coaching available) and restaurants from tavernas to cafes and an open-air cinema.

Each hotel can offer activities from archery and beach volleyball to waterskiing, windsurfing, sailing and pedaloes. Parents need not feel neglected - they can enjoy spa treatments or relax on the beach and enjoy the beach bar service while kids gaze across the Gulf of Salonica to distant Mount Olympus for inspiration before attempting that most traditional of Olympic events - the banana boat. Excursions to Mount Athos or traditional markets and villages can also be arranged.

Pretty impressive, no? But now Halkidiki has serious competition for the Greece family holiday crown from another part of Greece. Enter the Peloponnese, the mystical and completely beautiful peninsula to the west of Athens.

Until recently this was somewhere best suited to intrepid couples willing to put up with long drives, but two recent developments mean that this is now a complete winner for family holidays too.

The first development - quite literally - was that of the Costa Navarino dunes area in the southern corner of the Peloponnese, comprising a mere 1,340 hectares of staggeringly beautiful coastline and olive grove covered hills overlooking a vast white sand beach and glittering Ionian Sea.

The superb and family-friendly hotels here have rooms and suites designed to resemble the mansions of wealthy Messinian merchants has all the makings of a fledgling family holiday classic. Then throw in everything a family could wish for in a hotel, from kids clubs and nursery to a sports centre, an aquapark and restaurants specialising in kids favourites. It's all right here. So far so good, but this being Greece the Peloponnese is also ripe for exploration beyond the hotel, with exceptional classical ruins, nature reserves where turtles nest, and more for you to explore.