Bare Brilliance
We love the tagline EasyJet, think this sums up all our guests feelings ” I Just Need Something To Look Forward to Sale”!
Don’t forget Vassaliki have a free date change policy if things beyond our/your control affect your dates and airlines are also being flexible with date changes and refunds.
or call +44 (0)2081442166
other airlines available Jet2, BA, TUI, Ryanair, Transavia.
#vassaliki #naturist #nudist #nudetravel #kefalonia #easyjet
At present the main airlines are offering over 1000 direct flights to Kefalonia for Summer 2021.
Clearly we don’t know how the season will eventually turn out primarily regarding impact from covid restrictions, here on the island the cases figures are very low at present, primarily because we have been in lockdown since 7 November which will not be reviewed until 7th January 2021.
In Greece the vaccination program has just started with the majority of the population scheduled for vaccination by mid to late Summer, the most vulnerable will have been done before the tourist season commences. There will clearly be an update from Greece and UK regarding any covid related travel requirements before the first flights are due at the end of March.
Brexit changes are already clear, ensure you have 6 months validity on your passport, UK driving licence are OK for hiring cars, EHIC can still be used but additional health insurance is strongly recommended.
You will not need a visa for entry in 2021 but there will be changes to duty free arrangements.
Easyjet are starting flights late March & April with the main tourism season commences in the first week of May when all the other airlines commence direct flights to the island.
Most airlines are offering flexibility to transfer dates for free at present giving you piece of mind when booking. British Airways will start there scheduled flights (Saturdays) direct to Kefalonia from London Heathrow on 29th May and there last flight at the moment is 25th September.
Nick and Lins from Naked Wanderings have invited Samantha and I (Mark) to join them to talk about naturist resorts from the view of the owner(s).
Nick and Lins have been traveling around the world visiting naturist resorts, beaches and events and have become one of the most regarded naturist bloggers. They visited Vassaliki resort back in 2017 Nakedwanderings at Vassaliki
In this first live session we will be talking to Nick and Lins about why we decided to make the move from the UK to Greece to open a naturist resort, how it feels to be among naked people all the time, what it takes to run a naturist resort, and of course, what our visions and dreams are about naturism and the future of naturist vacations.
At the end of the session, there will be a Q&A part in which you can ask Sam, Mark, Nick or Lins anything we didn’t cover.
JET2 is launching new flights to Greece next year, in time for summer 2021 holidays.
Even better, you can book them now to get in a summer holiday to look forward to.
The new routes will operate from Newcastle Airport and East Midlands Airport from May 2021.
Kefalonia and Skiathos will fly from Newcastle, while Skiathos will also have flights to and from East Midlands Airport.
The new routes add an additional 300,000 seats to Jet2’s schedule next year.
The new routes also take Jet2 Greek destinations to 14, with Corfu, Kos, Zante and Crete just some of the options for a summer holiday next year.
The new flights will operate as following:
Newcastle Airport
East Midlands Airport
Steve Heapy, CEO of Jet2.com and Jet2holidays said the new flights were added due to the demand to Greece for summer 2021.
Flights abroad can have a lower risk of covid than shopping or eating out!
Flying abroad at the moment is a scary prospect, even for the most seasoned travellers. Hours in an aircraft flying across countries and oceans can be unappealing for some, especially with concerns now regarding hygiene. However, a recent study may put fliers at ease after it revealed that flying actually presents a relatively low risk of catching coronavirus.
A new study from Harvard University found that air travel actually poses a lower risk of catching COVID-19 than shopping because the air in the aircraft goes through high-quality air filters which removes 99% of virus droplets. Because of the “downward direction” of airflow passengers are unlikely to infect other people.
The study also suggests that masks are also a critical part of passengers remaining safe, along with disinfection and self-screening for coronavirus symptoms. A study said that just 44 coronavirus cases had been traced back to flights since the start of 2020 out of 1.2 billion travellers. Of those cases, most of them were reported before face masks were mandatory.
Therefore the risk of contracting the virus on board appears to be in the same level as being struck by lightning!
With many airlines offering flexibility as standard when it comes to cancelling or re-arranging your flight, now is a good time to book flights for your 2021 summer holiday.
I am an owner of a small naturist resort in Greece, My wife and I have been running the resort now for nearly 15 years and one thing we hear from people in conversation, from reading blogs and magazine articles is the need to encourage more people to try naturism.
Now don’t get me wrong the more people who try naturism, the more potential new customers for our resort, so my business head says that all the work the federation’s and it’s members along with the magazine editors do to promote naturism is well worth it and is just what we need to improve the naturist movement.
Now myself I don’t necessarily agree with this idea. It is a selfish reason and that’s the people. I am a lover of peaceful and tranquil environments where I can relax read my book and enjoy the natural sounds of my surroundings. Naturism is quoted to be “a way of life in harmony with nature”
So where am I going with this, well many people together in my opinion do not create this quiet and relaxing environment, my personal choice is to visit beaches to enjoy my naturist time. I love the beach and I can think of nothing better than finding a small sandy bay to myself and stripping off and spending the day reading, swimming and enjoying the warm sun.
Mounda
I am very lucky I spend my summers on a small Greek island which is surrounded by beaches, bays, coves and crystal clear turquoise warm water. My local naturist beach is only 10 minutes away from where I live and is at the far end of a busy beach full of tourists and locals.
Its a beautiful beach and on many occasions I enjoy the beach bar and tavernas that are situated there, but do I want to join the hundreds of people laying on sun-loungers with music coming from the beach bar for the day in my swim suit? NO WAY!
So I walk the 5 minutes that’s needed along the beach and I find this – an empty beach with a few fellow naturists quietly enjoying the beach. So if we encourage more people to become naturists won’t our secluded beaches soon become covered in sun-chairs, have music blaring out from a beach bar and hundreds of noisy naked people?
It’s with a heavy heart that we have decided not to open Vassaliki for summer 2020.
We have had many sleepless nights and long conversations over the last few weeks trying to find a way to open up this summer but we have now come to the conclusion that it is not going to be possible.
With the continuing issues the travel trade is experiencing worldwide with the Covid 19 virus and advice from all European governments against non-essential travel, we feel it is not an appropriate time to try and encourage people to take unnecessary trips abroad. People are obviously concerned about travelling and the occupancy of our resort this summer has now dropped below a feasible level to warrant opening.
Airlines are struggling to reopen their schedules with many airlines now offering a reduced service to Kefalonia with some airlines cancelling flights now until August. This issue creates further uncertainty for both us and our guests.
Greece in the last week has taken some extreme lockdown and quarantine measures to combat the virus entering the country, this may continue throughout the summer. We are aware that many of our guests are concerned that travel insurance will not cover any disruptions caused to holidays as a result of the virus.
Our goal is to make sure Vassaliki can continue to offer our guests amazing holidays for many more years to come. With the new restrictions and regulations in place, this would mean we would only be able to offer a limited service, making it nearly impossible to keep the social atmosphere many of our guest come for.
We also have to make sure we keep all our staff, suppliers and guests safe and we feel to open the resort would contradict all these elements of our goal.
All guests with bookings with us for 2020 now have the following options:
1 – Change you booking with us to a future year and we will move your deposit onto your new booking. Contact your flight company to discuss moving your flight (some airlines are being very good and are happy to move bookings free of charge at the moment.)
2 – Continue with your planned flight and find alternative accommodation. We are happy to recommend some hotels that may suit your requirements.
We understand things will hopefully get better over the next few months and lockdown will be something in the past. With the governments trying to find the safest and best way to remove lockdown, circumstances will change day by day.
We are so sorry for all the disruptions this will cause, this decision was not taken lightly.
All the team are behind us and motivated to ensure 2021 will be the best summer Vassaliki has ever seen, so we hope you can all join us.
This blog is part of an blog from Nick and Lins at Naked Wanderings titled “Can naturist resorts be successful while maintaining its values”
They have some interesting ideas about keeping youngsters involved in naturism and at the bottom of the article is part of a comment from Simon T and his experience at Vassaliki with his young daughter.
Will creating a safe environment and a decent online marketing strategy bring more youth? It will certainly help but again it’s not the one and only key to success. Teenagers and early twenty-somethings are the most difficult group to attract to naturism.
Then how did Bare Oaks manage to attract them?
We couldn’t find the answer. During one of our late night discussions about the topic which again seemed to lead nowhere we decided that we would have ask them.
Who can we ask?
Well… there are the three nice girls at the reception, how young were they? 21, 22?
Oh and there’s that girl who drives around picking up the garbage!
Oh and the guy who’s delivering the firewood!
Oh and oooooooooooooh.
The answer was brilliant in its simplicity. If you want more youth in your naturist resort, you give them a job.
The fact that teenagers turn away from naturism is something we can barely avoid. Not only is puberty a very confusing phase in life, it’s also the time when kids want to start building their personality. A personality which they often prefer to be different than the one of their parents.
The big question is how to get them back into naturism after this phase. Some of the kids who were raised at Bare Oaks got away from naturism and some didn’t. That’s how it goes, but several who went their own way decided to come back. Instead of just having to hang around all summer they could actually earn some money while being reunited with their old friends.
Generations attract those of the same generation. The more you can keep, the more others will return and eventually, the word will spread and there will be more newcomers as well.
Giving youth a job is a great way to keep them in the resort but a more important factor is to listen to them as well. Stop thinking that you know what young people want. We, although only in our thirties, often have no clue about how the younger generation thinks. When you have them available right there at your reception desk, talk to them. Give them responsibilities. Have them involved when choices have to be made. Ask them how they would make the place more attractive. Ask them to help organising new events. Ask their opinion.
It’s an easy thing to say that youth is not interested in naturism anymore or that they lost believe in the traditional values and naturist ethics. During the “volleyball weekend” at Bare Oaks we saw the opposite. There was plenty of youth who had all come down to play volleyball, enjoy themselves at the waterpark that was taken over for the occasion or just to meet old and new friends.
Attracting more new and younger members doesn’t go from one day on the other. An online appearance, a marketing strategy, modern technologies and a young influence, it all takes time and effort. But it works.
Simon T
I took my family to Vassiliki in Kefalonia this summer and my despite the resort not really catering for children specifically the owners solution was to give her a staff polo-neck top and put her to work! Back at home she said it was the best holiday ever! So maybe too little trust and responsibility is another reason as to why the younger generations and families continue to only trickle in to venues.
You can read the whole article at https://www.nakedwanderings.com/2018/09/06/can-naturist-resort-be-successful-while-maintaining-its-values/
Samantha and I want to thank all of you who have called, emailed or messaged us asking about our welfare. We feel very loved by our amazing guests and suppliers at Vassaliki.
We are both still in the UK. We decided we wanted to be close to our families during this difficult time for all.
We of course have no idea when or if we will be able to open Vassaliki this coming summer. We are waiting to see what happens and in the meantime are staying safe by isolating at home.
We are already packed with all the equipment we take with us each year for the resort and are ready to instantly leave for the long drive and ferry trip to Kefalonia, as soon as we are allowed to leave.
We will then need approximately two weeks to get the resort cleaned up and ready for whatever season remains (depending what surprises the winter may have left us.)
All our staff and suppliers in Kefalonia are safe, but at the time of writing this, they are on complete lockdown with very limited movement allowed. They must obtain permission from the authorities to leave their houses! We have been in contact with all our team and they report that they are well but struggling with the strict rules placed on them.
So what about your holiday? I am sure we will all need a bit of Kefalonian sun and Vassaliki magic after all this!
As soon as we are open we will let you know and will keep you updated on our progress. Anyone who cannot take their holiday with us this summer, either because we are still locked down or you feel uncomfortable to travel this year, we will move your booking and deposit to next year for you.
When you are notified by the airline that your flight has been cancelled, then please get in touch with us.
In the meantime, please stay safe and keep on dreaming. It won’t be long before we are back in the Greek sun with a cold glass of Mythos Beer!
