MacMyDay

That one should work, but try this too: [email protected]

We've arrived via helicopter, Aman car and rented a car. As it's your first visit I'd recommend taking a helicopter out and the Aman car back to enjoy the scenery. If you just want the convenience go with the Aman helicopter, but you can save yourself a lot if you wanted to use another company - they all fly out of the same place anyway. I can ask my partner if she has the details, if you want them.

Ericka

Great details everyone. Thanks!

Ericka

Musken, how did you get to Spetses Island?

vuittonsofstyle

You can get a boat from the harbour to Spetses - just a short drive away from Amanzo'e. Aman will organise it. Or, at least, they used to.

Musken

We had aman to pick us up at Athens airport and take us to kosta port. From there we took a quick taxi boat to spetses. Just 10 minutes. A porter from poseidonion met us where the taxi boat arrived to assist with luggage and we walked to the hotel, just a few minutes. After the spetses stay, we took taxi boat again to kosta port where aman picked us up. Very easy. We found this a great combination and loved to see a bit more of Greece, not just the aman. Will be back to see more. Poseidonion is a very good hotel. 100 years old, beautifully renovated. Very friendly and helpful employees and a fantastic restaurant. Not aman service obviously but still very good and recommend. And spetses is really very charm with some good restaurants, charming shopping streets (few shops but nice) and beaches that you can reach by taxi boat. Or hire a boat for the day like we did.

quitecontrary

So pleased you enjoyed the Hotel Poseidonion - Musken. We love it there - we used to go to Spetses a lot when our children were younger and stayed in small apartments - walking across the island to other beaches and the harbour for dinner - then the Poseidonion was a closed up and shuttered but we always loved the building and just had to try it when it was reopened - I love the way they've kept so much of the original.

I think combining Spetes with a stay at Amanzoe is a great way to see the real Greece. If you want to save your Euros ( or Drachmas!) you can also reach Spetses by Flying Dolphin from Pireaus which would be a bit of an adventure for a child in itself - you can then take a taxi across to Kosta to get to the Aman - you can see them from your window at the Poseidonion.

Ericka

Interesting. So how long is the drive from central Athens (Grand Bretagne area) to Kosta port?

quitecontrary

I would imagine nearly as long as to Amanzoe as Kosta is nearby.

justforfun

I would be interested in this info. Thanks in advance!

cjthekid

We loved our stay at Amanzoe this summer. It is incredibly family friendly. There is a kid's activity director that floats between the beach club and the main pool everyday... she is terrific. The greek food was just okay... I was hoping for a killer peasant/greek salad but it was fair. Service was terrific as usual and I have to agree it's the best aman entry level room we've stayed in. It's a little tricky to share with kids since it's all one open space... we ended up stashing a crib in the corner by the desk where it was the darkest.

Definitely go to spetses even if for a day trip... changed my mind about the greek islands, lovely and relatively quiet even in the middle of the summer.

There was not one noticeable difference in Greece due to the financial crisis.

MacMyDay

www.superior-air.gr - I thought we used 2 different companies, but we actually used the same company both times, but took different sized helicopters; the 3rd time we visited, my father came along too, so needed a bigger helicopter.

justforfun

Awesome. Thanks. Have been looking for a reliable Greek helicopter company for domestic transfers.

MacMyDay

Pleasure. The service we received was simply phenomenal. As the plane landed someone was waiting for us by the cabin door - all of our names were spelt wrong, but it made for a nice picture. They then carried all our bags and took us down the VIP/Ambassador passport line to go through security (admittedly, I've never once found the passport line at Athens takes more than a few minutes, but it did make us feel special). Then someone else was there to take our bags into the car. There's a 3ish minute drive to the waiting area and after about 5-10 minutes we're in the helicopter and taking off. The whole trip was a surprise to my dad, so he was in dream land. I looked at some email quotes and saw they were around 40% cheaper than using Aman's own helicopter.

As a quirk, Aman charge €300 if you want to land at Amanzoe, yet there's a place about 10 minutes away where they'll come pick you up for free and it costs nothing to land there.

Musken

Around 2,5 hours. Just the same as the drive to Zoe. The port is close by.

Musken

Thanks for the tip to stay there back when we planned. Did not remember who mentioned it.

Totally agree about the combination of Spetses and Amazoe. While Zoe is a wonderful beach resort, with very Greek architectural details, it does not have the typical authentic Greek charme which we definitely found at Spetses. Of all Greek island that I have visited, I must also say that Spetses was very upmarket and quiet with more local than foreign tourists which made the whole atmosphere very relaxing compared to some typical tourist islands. Have heard a lot of nice things about Hydra island as well, but not sure that Hydra has any luxury hotels.