Europa

Zante in October – weather, prices and other tips

13 października 2017
Autumn in Zante

Zante in October sounds like a challenge. After all, this is the south of Europe, so it should be still warm, but the weather already in September likes to play tricks! On the other hand, prices are so low and it’s hard to resist. We heard that the island is dying after the season. Shoppingmalls, restaurants, travel agencies, car rentals and even hotels are already closed in October in small tourist destinations. It doesn’t sound scary to me, but when in Zante, it’s good to rent a car or buy a trip to Blue Caves or to Shipwreck Beach. Weather at this time can be also tricky. Despite that, on 30.09.2017 we flew to Zante. Was the October weather good for us? Where did we sleep? How much money have we spent? Was it worth it? 🙂

See also our video from Zante and Cephalonia

Greece – holiday hit of 2017!

It’s not a secret that this year Greece was very fashionable and top destination among tourists. Zante is particularly noteworthy here. Even on the profiles of my friends on facebook I saw several times this year a Wreck Bay. Zante was also visited by my parents in June. I also wanted to go to Zante so badly!! If I hadn’t had friends temporarily in Spain, I would probably go to Zante this year first. Fortunately, I managed to visit both destinations, but all of this was due to incredibly low prices. So how much did it cost us? 🙂

Greece!

Greece!

Zante in October only for 950 PLN !!

Two weeks before the trip, the offer cost PLN 2,000. Meanwhile, the first cuts appeared a week before the departure. The lowest price appeared on 27.09, which was 3 days before departure. It cost exactly 950 PLN for a one week all inclusive in a 3 star hotel with flights. MAGIC! So far I only heard of such offers, now I have seen it for the first time! Unfortunately, due to our laziness, we didn’t get the lowest price. The same day the price jumped to 1150 PLN. We scared that the offer is still going up, so we bought our Zante in October for 1150 PLN. On Thursday evening, three-digit price showed again. It was a TUI offer. At the beginning we were planning to buy a charter flight, which at the very best cost 250 PLN, but since the whole offer with all inclusive cost 1000 PLN then why should we skip it?

Remember, when you decide to buy only a charter flight you have to add a taxi to your spendings. I didn’t see any public transport vehicles on the airport. Second thing is food. Greece is not that cheap and on the island is always more expensive!

Landing!

Hotel Commodore
  • Room

The cheap offer was dedicated to only one village (Argassi). We could choose from 3 Hotels. Hotel Admiral, Commodore and Capitans. All three formed the Xenos complex. All of them have 3 stars, so don’t expect too much of them. 🙂 Our Commodore was still unmanned so it looks a lil bit old. Capitans was the best one, because 2 years ago it was renovated. It was fine, I can’t complain for this price. The only irritable thing was bathroom.  I miss the fact that it was very small, but a shower with a curtain that bumps into the body is the thing I hate. 😛 Besides, the curtain was way too short and it always flooded our bathroom. Well, but at least we had a beautiful view from the balcony on the town of Zante. 🙂

  • Food

Food was okay. We usually went to Capitans because of its terrace with a beautiful view  (the hotel is on a hill so you will enjoy beautiful views). Besides, the meals in hotels were quite the same. The breakfast was usually English Breakfest (which suited us very well) but also classic cheeses or hams were available. Only Coffee was tasteless. 😛 Lunch and dinner were very similar, always served warm. Tzatziki was my favorite dish – they were well spiced. Big disappointment of fruits. Or rather lack of them. Usually were pears or apples. They also served watermelons and grapes. Once they served pineapple and it disappeared in 10 minutes. 🙂 🙂

I also have bad information. Unfortunately, one day I spent in the hotel’s toilet. I don’t know if I ate something bad in the hotel or outside of it. Darek felt good. Maybe I just messed up too much?

Our Hotel

Our Hotel

The view from our room!

The view from our room!

English Breakfest! 🙂

View from the Capitans Hotel

Beach in Argassi

Such a low price, even last minute in October must have some „hooks”. Of course it was said in the offer, but who would notice that. 😀 Well, the problem was the beach, or rather the lack of it. It was like a Croatian-style beach. To the extent that sunbeds were not on the beach just on the grass. All in all, it wouldn’t be a problem if it was only clean… Instead, the beach was full of algae, flies and bad smell. It didn’t look too interesting. As we have said, Argassi’s glory was gone forever.

So, if you want your hotel to be on a good beach, then you should go to Laganas, Kalamaki or Tsivili.

Remember, Laganas is a local Las Vegas! A quirky city, full of loudspeakers, pubs and other strange things. We went through it twice and I admit it looked pretty original. 😀

Beach in Argassi

Beach in Argassi

Beach in Argassi

Beach in Argassi

Let’s take a bus to the nearby beach!

If the bus arrives. 😀

If you live in Xenos hotels, it is enough that you go down the street and on the left will be a bus stop. Ticket cost 1.8 euro. Schedule is printed at the bus stop. But, who cares for the schedule? Not Bus drivers… I know it sounds silly, but they come when they want 😀 Once, wee waited 1.5 hours. In addition there are „free” coaches that will take you … well. They have written Banana Beach but they will really drive you on St. Nicholas Beach. They are free, if you pay 8 euro for umbrella and sunbeds on the beach. Apparently buses run every 30-40 minutes, but that’s not true either…

Actually, buses run around the island. There are bus stops and marked hours, but as I said – nobody knows when they exactly come 😀

A piece of a bus schedule

What about other beaches? Was the water warm?

Definitely a great plus for the beaches and crystal clear waters in Zante. Not counting this in Argassi. 😀 Our favorite beach was St. Nicholas. Great sand and perfect clean water. Gentle descent, ideal for children and non-swimmers. 🙂 And can you imagine that, despite the October water was still warm!? It was a pleasure to swim in Zante!! 🙂

St. Nicholas Beach

St. Nicholas Beach

Tired of buses? Rent a car!

Although the island is quite small (area of 405 km2), without car will you won’t see all spots. But I must warn you. Despite its small size, the distances between the attractions is larger than you may think. Zante is full or turn. Turns are really sharp and sometimes we had to stop a car, go back and then turn. In addition, the roads are narrow, hence the island is dominated by small cars. Besides, the island is not lit (not counting major towns). Hence, when we came back from sunset view point on Kampi and drove through the middle of the island, we found terrible darkness. I don’t hide that I was a little scared. 😀 I would definitely not recommend Zante roads to beginner drivers.

When it comes to renting a car, the prices (at least in October 2017) were very good. In Argassi we had several rentals, but all of them kept a bargain and had the same price. 😛 We decided to rent a car for 1 day with full insurance for 35 euros. (without insurance 30 euros). Two days cost 60 euros. At this time it was no longer necessary to book a car. We arrived in the morning, just after opening the rental and without any problem we got a car.

We drove about 100 km, so gasoline cost us 15 euros. One liter at BP station cost 1.5 euros. There are lots of gas station on the south, but in the middle and on the north of the island much less.

We got ugly Suzuki 😛

Zante in October has still good weather!

At the beginning, the forecasts were terrible! Just a week before the departure it showed me the rain 24/7 for a whole week. I frightened and started to check the other Greek islands further east. Unfortunately, the departure on Saturday (the only time we fit in) was only to Zante or Corfu, so that didn’t matter anymore. Fortunately, none of these predictions worked out! Only on the first day in the evening, for 30 minutes it was raining and a small storm appeared. The whole week was sunshine and 26 degrees! Perfect weather, even on the beach. Sometimes it was even too hot! Yes, the evenings were a little cool and sometimes (but not always) 🙂 you had to wear a sweater. Warning!!! This is not the rule! Weather at this time may be much worse. Don’t take it for granted that you will get same conditions! Check here average temperatures.

Sunset at Kampi!

What to buy on Zante? 🙂
  • Olive oil! It is delicious and you can eat only with bread. Prices start at 5 euros.
  • Honey with oranges or thyme honey. I bought the first one. For such a jar I paid 4 euros.
  • Jellies sprinkled with powder – but not everyone likes them. My mom says it’s just chemistry. Well – the question of taste. For two boxes I paid 5 euros.
  • Halwa – is not on the photo, because I don’t like it. But people say it’s a good treat there!
  • Wines – they have all kinds and they are really tasty! We bought sweet red and semi-sweet white!
  • Greek beer Myrthos! I’m not a beer fan, but this one is quite tasty. Approx. € 0.8 for a small tin.
  • Magnets xD xD Usually 1,5 – 2 euros. 😀

Our treasure!

Earthquakes!!

During our stay didn’t shake (probably cool experience if such a small of course) 😀 but be prepared that it can happen. It’s quite normal and the most desirable phenomenon !! Zante lies at the junction of two tectonic plates, which in turn cause earthquakes. Frequent and small earthquakes calms the locals, because they know that there is no greater danger. If nothing happened too long, they might be frightened. The last major shakes occurred in 1953, where 800 people died.

Thanks for your attention!!

That’s all. Now plan your own trip with our content – Best places to see and visit on Zante! 🙂

Cephalonia is coming soon!

See also our video from Zante and Cephalonia

Wanna say thank you to us for the content? Simply leave us a heart below or like our Facebook page or follow us on Instagram. 🙂 Thank you!

Brak komentarzy

Zostaw komentarz