Parga - a charming Greek town with an island ambience

Our colleague Zoe and her family took a long overdue holiday to the pretty harbour town of Parga in September. A picture-postcard resort on the mainland of Greece’s north-western Preveza region, it nestles in a small, sweeping bay between the hillsides of green olive groves and azure-blue sea. Here she tells us why taking this much needed holiday settled her nerves about travelling post-lockdown.

Parga was recommended to us by several of my colleagues at Sunvil as a place to go that was beautiful, interesting, and not too quiet – my daughter and her husband are 30 years old and didn’t want the sleepy holiday we would normally pick for ourselves. Even though I work in the travel industry, we cautiously booked a week in Parga with our daughter and son-in-law who were visiting us from the US. The first hurdle was making sure the US Covid vaccine cards would be acceptable to get my daughter and her husband onto the plane and to Greece – there is no vaccine certificate in America – but the check in staff on our Enter Air flight from Gatwick were well versed in all requirements and they checked our vaccine documents and Greek PLF forms and we were on our way. On arrival in Greece, the passport control was simple, with a quick glance at all the paperwork, and a police check of the PLF form, we were waved through to be greeted by our wonderful representative Julie. She checked we were happy to complete our return UK PLF forms (she offered to do them if we weren’t confident) and that we had all our return tests booked, and off we set. Much less stressful than I had imagined and no real hardship.

Parga Beach Resort is set right on a beautiful beach with views across the sea to Paxos and Antipaxos – day trips to the islands are available but as we only had a week, we didn’t do that trip. The resort is set in beautiful well kept gardens, with many fruit trees (pomegranate, lime, lemon, blackberries and even tomato and strawberry plants are dotted around the beautiful flower beds). There are 4 small swimming pools in the resort, 3 dotted around the gardens and more peaceful for relaxing, plus one right on the beach near the restaurant. There is also a fully equipped gym and a spa offering beauty treatments and massage. For any last-minute essentials there are a few mini-markets within a short walk of the resort.

We stayed in a partial sea view garden room which was well equipped with a balcony with chairs and a table, a large sofa, safe deposit box, and mini fridge stocked with soft drinks and water. The shower was large and powerful and there was a good choice of different pillows too. Breakfast was served buffet style, and masks and plastic gloves (provided on site) were needed while you handled the food. There was a fantastic choice from continental style meats and fruit, to cereals, pastries and a good old English fry up. The coffee was amazing too! There were 2 restaurants at the resort, one more up market and very tasty, plus the buffet style restaurant. The main restaurant served light lunches and drinks, and you could order your sunbed in front of the hotel from the very attentive waiters and waitresses that walked up and down the beach all day. There was a good selection of watersports about 200 metres from the hotel at a reasonable price – (single kayaks were €5 for an hour!) as well as paddle boards and jet skis, with paragliding available too. Further along the beach was a beach bar with a fresh water swimming pool that diners could use – again beautiful views of the beach, and a good selection of lunch and dinner menus, many with a Greek theme, but also more European if you fancied a change.

At the end of the beach is a steep path up the hill to the main town – (take walking shoes or trainers as it is very steep) the amazing views from the top were worth the climb!. The ruins of the castle overlook the resort, and the town on the other side of the hill, and we had a good roam around the ruins (again the terrain is a little treacherous so take good shoes!) The town begins at the top and runs all the way down to the harbour on the other side where there are a great choice of bars and restaurants. We stopped in the restaurant at the foot of the castle walls where we had the most amazing waffles (apparently the Greeks invented the waffle hundreds of years ago!) 

You can also get the water taxi for €2.50 per person to take you round the corner to the harbour (approx. 5/6 minute boat ride) which runs every 20 minutes both ways from morning until 11pm. This was a great way to get a different view of the resort and the harbour, but it also saved your legs from the long climb up the hill! The harbour is a bustling place with plenty of tourists, and full restaurants and tavernas – but not unpleasantly so – tables are a little further apart, and all are open to the air. A little mask wearing is expected in some shops (not all if you don’t want to) and all staff wear masks, but apart from that you would never have known there was a pandemic at all. We visited the olive oil factory at the top of the hill on a cloudy morning which was a good trip and very interesting. The owner was clearly passionate about the whole process. We got to taste the products, and there is a shop where you can buy the oil, and also soaps and lotions made with the olives.

The trip home was equally as uneventful. The Medicspot tests we purchased from Sunvil were easy to use, and the travel certificate was emailed to us in about 20 minutes. The UK PLF form was also easy to complete and once filled in, was instantly available – we sent both certificates to the rep and she printed them out for us so we had a paper copy to give to the check in staff at the airport. Arriving back at Gatwick, it took approximately 30 minutes from landing to getting through passport control to the luggage belt and out – no crowds, no queues and a really hassle-free journey. We took our Randox Day 2 test as soon as we got home and dropped them into the collection box the next day. We got the result within 36 hours.

To anyone thinking that travel right now is too much hassle, I would urge you to think again – going on this much needed break was the best decision we have made all year and our batteries are fully charged and we are ready to go again!