We’ve just returned from a 12-day Ionian island-hopping trip. Comfy villas & apartments on 4 islands. An intriguing alternative to staying in one place.

Sky Express make it all possible. Difficult to arrange if you’re booking a more rigid

package holiday (1 or 2 week durations) but no problem with a more flexible Ionian Villas holiday.

We stayed 3 nights on Paxos at Eliana Cottage, 3 nights on Lefkas at Villa Fotini, 5 nights in Fiscardo, Kefalonia at Katy’s Apartment and the final night on Corfu at the Cavalieri Hotel.

All Sky Express flight departure times made for a comfortable trip – the 8am hydrofoil from Paxos to Corfu gave us time for an airport coffee before the 10am flight to Preveza (Lefkas).

The flight time between islands is just 15 minutes. The cost is around £45 per person for each island hop flight.

Understandably the Greeks are finding it hard to accept punitive austerity measures and their future still remains uncertain.

It might appear flippant to talk up tourism to Greece but visitors to Greece are needed this time more than any other. The opportunities to forgo our busy lifestyles for a relaxed escape on a beautiful Greek island are still there.

Athens no doubt will continue to be the central stage for Greeks to protest against these measures but on the islands, where there tends to be more self sufficiency in lifestyles, people are more philosophical. Here you will hear Greeks complain about price and taxation increases but most are self employed or dependent on tourism for income and they are therefore not all affected as seriously as the employed or unemployed on the mainland.

It would appear that most tour operators (companies selling package holidays) are suffering from a very slow start to the holiday booking season for Greece. For Ionian Villas , a new business, we have been busy with enquiries for all Ionian islands.

If you are thinking about a holiday on a Greek island this year but you reckon that it’s best to wait a while before booking – you might benefit from panic offers but you might also be faced with a limited supply and therefore increased cost of flights (caused by tour operators “consolidating” their programmes and charter flights being cancelled). Scheduled carriers like Easyjet watch the supply and demand of charter flights very carefully when pricing their own flights.

Naturally we would advise to book early to secure what is best for you and to take your money now rather than later! At Ionian Villas (we are booking agents for individual property owners and not a package holiday company), we are happy to help if a price is outside your budget. If a particular property appeals but the price is too high, let us know and we can speak to the owner to see if a reduction can be made. No guarantees but it’s always worth asking – and it might help you secure your flights before a possible price increase.