Me and the wife are planning a kitesurfing holiday to Greece in a couple of months time. We are looking to stay at the island of Naxos.
I'm currently weighing up the pros and cons of renting kite gear vs taking my own stuff. I think taking my kite gear in a golf travel bag may be the way to go. Does anyone know what charges I may be looking at with Airlines if I take my own gear? Also has anyone been to Greece kiteboarding and recommend any great spots?

On normal airlines the board and kite travels free so long as it's inside your weight allowance.
On budget airlines they might charge you more for your board than you paid for your ticket.
Let me know how you go, coz I'm thinking of flying to Greece with Scoot next year.

Thanks psychojoe. I'll tell you how we go. Fingers crossed for good winds.

I hired a kite in Mykonos a few year back. Was quite expensive for half a day. Went in early August and it was 30 knots+ everyday.

Email Dimitr at Epic kites - half his videos are in greece, thats where hes from.. he'll know all the good spots and airline stuff..

You are one island away from great kiteboarding on Paros - change if you can. Naxos is not so great and more fickle and with alot more chop . There are 2 schools/ clubs at Pounda in the paros / anti paros channel where you can rent but it isnt cheap and the crowd factor will blow you away. Season starts around mid june depending on the meltemi and will give you 5 days in 7 of wind in the 15 to 25 knot range. I took my own gear in a kite travel bag plus one other bag and didnt pay any extra luggage fees including on domestic flights.

This year Ill be in Leros on the Ionion side where its not nearly so windy (mainly a 12m)

Yes Dimitri is the man and he has his summer place on Paros - nuff said. You might be able to score his excellent kites on a demo day if your lucky.

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billykiter said..
Me and the wife are planning a kitesurfing holiday to Greece in a couple of months time. We are looking to stay at the island of Naxos.
I'm currently weighing up the pros and cons of renting kite gear vs taking my own stuff. I think taking my kite gear in a golf travel bag may be the way to go. Does anyone know what charges I may be looking at with Airlines if I take my own gear? Also has anyone been to Greece kiteboarding and recommend any great spots?

Look up epic kites and email Demitri
He is the king in Greece for kiting and could give you some advice

On Naxos head south to Mirkli Vigla. If you go before end of July you will avoid crowds. I've been there 3 times for total of 60 days in June-july months. Had 2 days without wind. Mostly blows 10-15ms 24/7 during Meltoni wind season. 5 min walk from North side of peninsula at kite beach to South side of peninsula and calm beach in the Lee. Both sides have restaurants on the beach. Take a 7 and 9. Yes it can be choppy, but it's fairly organized chop.

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TomW059 said..
On Naxos head south to Mirkli Vigla. If you go before end of July you will avoid crowds. I've been there 3 times for total of 60 days in June-july months. Had 2 days without wind. Mostly blows 10-15ms 24/7 during Meltoni wind season. 5 min walk from North side of peninsula at kite beach to South side of peninsula and calm beach in the Lee. Both sides have restaurants on the beach. Take a 7 and 9. Yes it can be choppy, but it's fairly organized chop.

2 days in 60 without wind? I reckon you have your rose coloured glasses on there mate!

You might get lucky and score the meltemi for 2 weeks straight but a 5 day blast followed by a few days to reload is the norm - driven by the asian monsoon apparently.

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Bara said..

Yes Dimitri is the man and he has his summer place on Paros - nuff said. You might be able to score his excellent kites on a demo day if your lucky.

I thought Dim was a Greek patriot living in Russia

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Bara said..

TomW059 said..
On Naxos head south to Mirkli Vigla. If you go before end of July you will avoid crowds. I've been there 3 times for total of 60 days in June-july months. Had 2 days without wind. Mostly blows 10-15ms 24/7 during Meltoni wind season. 5 min walk from North side of peninsula at kite beach to South side of peninsula and calm beach in the Lee. Both sides have restaurants on the beach. Take a 7 and 9. Yes it can be choppy, but it's fairly organized chop.

2 days in 60 without wind? I reckon you have your rose coloured glasses on there mate!

You might get lucky and score the meltemi for 2 weeks straight but a 5 day blast followed by a few days to reload is the norm - driven by the asian monsoon apparently.

I was there 2 weeks the first year 25-30 knots every day. 2 weeks the next year, 25-30 knots every day. 3Rd year I was there for 30 days and had 2 separate days with light / no wind. No rosy glasses, I was there

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TomW059 said..

Bara said..

TomW059 said..
On Naxos head south to Mirkli Vigla. If you go before end of July you will avoid crowds. I've been there 3 times for total of 60 days in June-july months. Had 2 days without wind. Mostly blows 10-15ms 24/7 during Meltoni wind season. 5 min walk from North side of peninsula at kite beach to South side of peninsula and calm beach in the Lee. Both sides have restaurants on the beach. Take a 7 and 9. Yes it can be choppy, but it's fairly organized chop.

2 days in 60 without wind? I reckon you have your rose coloured glasses on there mate!

You might get lucky and score the meltemi for 2 weeks straight but a 5 day blast followed by a few days to reload is the norm - driven by the asian monsoon apparently.

I was there 2 weeks the first year 25-30 knots every day. 2 weeks the next year, 25-30 knots every day. 3Rd year I was there for 30 days and had 2 separate days with light / no wind. No rosy glasses, I was there

Well then you got very lucky mate! You scored the once a season 2 week blast every year it seems. Trust me if you had stayed longer you would have had some down time. The 30 days makes no sense to me though. Ive been there every summer for the last 4 years and never seen 28 days in 30 of meltemi so maybe you were smoking some crack? (kidding)

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NorthernKitesAUS said..

Bara said..

Yes Dimitri is the man and he has his summer place on Paros - nuff said. You might be able to score his excellent kites on a demo day if your lucky.

I thought Dim was a Greek patriot living in Russia

Hes defo a greek and ill not comment on his tax status

Thanks for all the info guys, was anyone charged axtra at the airport for carrying kite gear?

Generally have not had to pay for oversize (just checked in luggage that is additional).

HAd to pay 50 euros on TAP Portugal to fly from Denmark to Morocco and had to pay another 50 euros to fly from barcelona to frankfurt. On the good airlines going to europe i think you can get it for free (i flew thai), similar policy on the airlines in this price range. I had a wheely "golf" bag that weighed about 23kg (i twintip, 2 kites, 2 bars, wetsuit and harness).

Generally you can avoid these airport fees if you nominate in advance that you will be bringing your gear through the manage booking options. Some airlines are harder than others (ie TAP Portugal), and this can be hard to do over dodgy hostel wifi through the cracked screen on an iphone.

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billykiter said..
Thanks for all the info guys, was anyone charged axtra at the airport for carrying kite gear?

No issues into Athens but if you fly to the islands from athens weight will be an issue on that leg as we are talking prop planes. Costs about the same as the ferry and saves you a day but I think i was hit with 40 USD for being 5 kgs over. Even though i paid they still left my gear on the tarmac till the next day though
Ferry will add a day but no luggage issues

The 'golf kit' thing isn't normally a saving in europe. Generally you pay for all additional luggage (suitcase/kite kit/ whatever) so the general thing is to skip buying luggage and buy 'Sports Equipment' hold luggage instead. My experience is that Windsurf kit gets allocated more weight allowance than identically priced golf or kite equipment.

A typical hold luggage bag costs 15-20 euros depending on airline and 'Sports Equipment' is about 20-25 euros. Total weight allowance is generally shared amongst all checked luggage so you don't need to pack wet kit in with the Mrs' shoes to make sure you are under on each individual bag.

Kite gear is free on Virgin airlines though.

Thanks for all the info guys. We have booked accomodation in Naxos but are also going to Italy afterwards. The Italy trip is not so much to kite however I'll see when we get there.
Just a question for all kiteboarding travellers. How do you go with train rides and kite gear? We are a bit worried that if the luggage goes in a separate carriage someone has a good chance of nicking it. Is there travel insurance to cover for someone nicking my kites?