We returned on 18th June after a wonderful 2 week holiday in Thassos Town.

We stayed at the Villa Lina (Thomas Cook) and although the room was small, basic and kitchen poorly equipped, the lovely well-kept gardens, pool and bar area made up for this. We hired a Suzuki Jimny for 10 days for 250 Euro (about £190) from Potos Car hire - definitely the cheapest - Avis wanted 400 Euro! We would definitely recommend at least a few days car/jeep hire to get out and about seeing the islands lovely beaches and villages

Best restaurants for us were:- Syrtaki in Thassos Town - complimentary starters & desserts on each visit, very friendly service, excellent Stifado, kleftiko, mezes for 2 Mouses in Thassos Town Simi in Thassos Town - good fried mussels and pork in mustard sauce Pigi in Thassos Town - good lamb kleftiko Zooom in Potos - best meal we had on the island - chicken in honey and mustard was excellent - just wish we had asked for the recipe! Vigli on Golden Beach Fedra on Golden Beach Krambousa at Scala Potamia - Thassian chicken recommended Good meals also in the main square at Panagia, Aliki and in Theologos (can't remember the names) Only bad meal was at The Old Port restaurant in Thassos Town - looks nice but food was awful and many others we spoke to agreed or had been advised not to go there!

Best bars in Thassos Town:- Platea - played very good rock & reggae music (even some Red Hot Chili Peppers!) and we were given drinks on the house each night from our second visit onwards Remezzo - lovely place to sit and watch the sun go down - situated by the old harbour. Good baked potatoes at lunchtime as well if you fancy a break from Greek food. Cheers & Harbour Lights (next to each other) - English bars, very friendly, Sky TV, the latter even serves real Cumberland sausage! Full Moon on main street - great for watching people go by and serves bottled 8% Guinness Export Central Bar has a great balcony for people watching and reasonable cocktails in happy hour Island Bar near town beach - has a huge and reasonably priced cocktail list Eric's Bar at Scala Potamia also deserves a mention - he really does look like Eric Cantona and gave us a very warm welcome. We drove past the next day and he waved furiously at us - either he recognised us or was trying to attract custom!

Best beaches (in order of our preference!):- Paradise, Tripiti, Aliki, Psili Ammos, Golden Beach and Makryammos. Paradise definitely best as it was sandy and there were no jellyfish or sea urchins

Places to visit:- Panagia - sit on the terrace at hotel Thassos Inn before having a meal in the square - the owner is a great guy and will introduce you to his parrot, dog and guinea pig if you're lucky! My first glass of wine was free because the one I asked for off the menu was finished and he wouldn't charge me for the alternative in case I didn't like it. Theologos - pretty village and once the islands capital Kazaviti - nice village with picturesque tavernas Kastro - mountain village with 1 taverna Mount Ypsario - get to it from Maries, it is well signposted - we tried first via Kazaviti and got hopelessly lost and gave up.

Pine Tree Paddock at Rachoni is recommended if you like horseriding. We had never been on a horse before and had 1 hour round the olive groves and really enjoyed it. It was made extra special by Pete who took us past a house in the village to show us a Siberian Husky called Ivan (we were missing our 2 boys back at home!) Our best day was the one when we went to Pine Tree Paddock, then to Tripiti beach for the rest of the day, on to Zooom at Potos for an early evening meal, back to Thassos Town (40 minute drive) then out to a few bars, ending up at Platea.

We have previously been to Rhodes, Parga, Kefalonia, Corfu and Zakynthos and although Rhodes is still our favourite Greek Island, Thassos comes a close second and we will definitely be going back. We found it was more expensive than our Drachma holidays, particularly drinking in bars - cocktails in some bars were 7 Euro (about £5.20!) and spirits were generally about 4 or 5 Euro which we thought quite expensive. wine in bars and restaurants is still cheap -about £2.30 per 1/2 litre jug, although bottled wine is expensive. The local wine from the barrel was very good -we always drink red at home but the local white is extremely clear and crisp and perfect at lunchtime in a beach taverna! Eating out was still reasonable - most of our meals were around £16 for 2 starters, 2 main courses, beer and wine.

We found this website very useful before we went and tried many of the recommendations, all of which we found to be good and many of which we have recommended above.

I hope this report is of some use to others travelling to Thassos!