My first ever holiday that involved a plane was to Kavos, I loved flying and when I got there I loved the place. It is a fairly small resort, basically just one long road full of pubs, restaurants and hotels. The beach runs parallel to this road and is very clean and dotted with yet more bars. The natives are very friendly, they welcome you into their restaurants and bars and ply you with cheap alcohol, If you are ever up early enough, there are street cleaners out every day ensuring the resort is clean and I never felt unsafe throughout the duration of my stay.
One year later and I would have happily gone back to Corfu but that seemed a bit unadventurous, so I went to Malia. Malia is very different to Kavos, it is much bigger and the natives just don't seem quite as friendly. Again it is based around one road, this time it is a hill down to the beach. Not far from the beach there is a small island you can swim out to. Things are a little bit more pricey but still very cheap compared to Britain. There are a lot of touts everywhere you go, these people can get very irritating when you just want to go for a walk along the beach, for some reason they all think that you want to hire a sun lounger from them. If you do be careful, the prices vary considerably!
The main difference I found between the 2 resorts was that I didn't ever really feel safe in Malia and my worries were not unfounded. One evening our room was broken into, they got into our safety deposit box and took everything except our passports. I know this can happen anywhere and we were unlucky but what upset me most was the attitude of the hotel staff and the police. The hotel was located on a busy main road and we believe they climbed in via the balcony. It's hard to believe no one saw them - maybe the owners of the cafe across the road? The hotel staff were not interested, they tried to say it was our own fault or that it must have been our neighbours. That is reasonable because they shared our balcony, the problem is they were out with us that evening! We phoned the police and they told us we had to make our way to the station - in the neighbouring town. The police couldn't care less! They wrote the report we needed for our insurance and that was it! I couldn't believe it. They didn't even look at the scene of the crime. I know it's unlikely the people will be caught but maybe if the police actually tried to find them it may provide a deterrent.
I know some people say our police are rubbish, but they do a lot more than just write a report. They speak to you like you are a normal person, not just a hindrance to their day. All I can if you choose to visit Greece, be careful. And if anything goes wrong don't expect the police to help! Unfortunately I am now extremely wary of Greece now.
How helpful would this review be to a person making a buying decision? Rating guidelines
I've been to Malia twice now, the first was staying with a friend working out there for the season... it seemed everyone was very friendly and all the locals would say hello as we passed... this was quite a quiet holiday and didn't go out to the main strip very often... the second time was with a friend from school as I enjoyed the first one so much... security was good at our hotel but there was one incident in the main strip where the police were laying into an English lad for no apparent reason (was warned about the police on my first trip)... would you ever go back?
tom_knowles 09.06.2001 19:30
Foreign police don't give a flying monkeys about tourists as i have also found out! But....then again if i was a law inforcement officer here (which i will NEVER EVER be), i probably would not give a damn about foreigners either...not that it makes it ok in the slightest to be a victim of crime.
moose 09.06.2001 19:19
Interesting op! I think you must have just been unlucky. I've been to both Kavos and Malia and I didn't have any trouble. I went to Malia earlier this year and had an excellent time. I think the main problem is that a few English go over there and are totally disrespectful - which gives us all a bad name. I was talking to a few locals over there and they talk about the trouble they always have with the English. Its really sad that a few spoil it for the rest of us.
NH Hotels, the hotel chain leader in Europe, with more than 300 hotels in 20 countries in Europe, Latin America and Africa. Enter into our web site and find the best available tariff at all times
Jun 9th, 2001
very helpful by (94%):
helpful by (6%):
