Active Family Week in Messinia

Our team meets you at Athens Airport or Kalamata Airport. Morning flights suit the day best. Anything landing before 17:00 works, and we are flexible around later arrivals. The transfer runs straight to the hotel in Kalamata.

The rest of the afternoon is free. The hotel sits on the seafront or close to the city beaches, so the first swim of the week can be in the Messinian Gulf before dark. Tonight is the welcome dinner in Kalamata with your guides, who walk through the week ahead. Pack swim kit in your hand luggage, so the water does not wait on a suitcase.

From Kalamata the vehicle drives north-west to Ancient Messene, the walled city founded in 369 BC. A licensed guide leads about three hours and 2 km on foot through the theatre, the sanctuary of Asclepius and down to the stadium. A treasure hunt turns the ruins into clues for the younger members of the group. Lunch is a picnic under the olive trees. The afternoon workshop is pottery or an ancient Greek game, and the evening is free back in Kalamata. Bring a hat and a full water bottle for the walk between the stones.

A guided walk of about 3 km circles the Gialova lagoon, binoculars in hand: kingfisher and heron are likely sightings, though never certain. The vehicle brings you west from Kalamata, and the walk stays at the trip’s easy level throughout. It ends at Voidokilia, the sand beach curved like an omega, where the swim comes first and the picnic follows by the water. Altogether it is about three hours on foot and in the sea. The afternoon and evening are free back in Kalamata. Keep a dry layer in the vehicle for the drive home.

Morning is the time for Kalamata’s Central Market, with its fruit, olives and cheese counters. The rest of the day is yours. The Municipal Railway Park keeps old locomotives in the open, the historic centre and the city beaches are close, and the marina walk at sunset is the city’s evening volta, the walk along the front. Lunch and dinner are your own, and your guide has restaurant suggestions for every taste. After three days of walking and swimming, sleep late if the week has asked for it.

A kitchen garden is the classroom today. Our vehicle takes you from Kalamata to the family cookery class and brings you back. The chef is experienced at teaching children, and parents and children work at the same table. The class starts with pita bread made from the dough up, then moves on to spinach pies, spanakopita, folded by hand. Nothing else is planned, and the rest of the day and the evening are free in Kalamata. Tell us about vegetarian, vegan or other dietary needs before you travel, so the class is set up for them.

Giorgos Kontargiris, our head of water operations and a British Canoeing Advanced Water Sea Kayak Coach, runs today’s paddle on the Kardamyli shore, south of Kalamata. A technique and safety briefing comes first. The route then covers about 4 km past cliffs and sea caves to the Blue Cave, where you swim inside. A swim stop and a picnic break the outing halfway, and the whole thing takes about four hours. The drive back reaches Kalamata for a free evening. Wear a hat with a strap and sun cream that holds in salt water.

Waterfall spray marks the 2 km canyon at Polylimnio, about three hours with the guides. Wetsuits, helmets and harnesses are provided for the jumps into pools, the abseils down the falls and the 30 m zipline over the lake. Every jump and abseil has a footpath around it, so anyone can step out of any section without holding the group up. A picnic follows the canyon. The farewell dinner is tonight at a seaside restaurant in Kalamata. Pack shoes that can get wet and a full change of clothes for the vehicle.

After breakfast the transfer leaves the hotel for Kalamata Airport or Athens Airport, timed to your flight. There is no activity today, so the morning sets its own pace. A last swim on the seafront fits before breakfast for anyone who wants one. Tell us your flight time when you book, and we set the departure from Kalamata around it. For Athens, a later flight leaves the most room in the day. Keep a dry bag for the wet swim kit, so it stays out of the suitcase.