BusAbout Greek Islands – Review

BusAbout Greek Islands started the second chapter of my travels around the world. After spending the first 5 weeks or so in Asia, I flew from Hong Kong into Athens to begin the tour at 5:30am the next day!

I am currently on the BusAbout loops through Europe and so the first thing I will say is that Greek Islands BusAbout is much more of a ‘group’ style of travel than the loops.

The tour visits 4 Greek islands – Mykonos, Paros, Santorini and Ios and in true BusAbout style you can select where you would like to stay and for how long. However in not so true BusAbout style, if you get to an island and decide that you would like to stay additional nights, you can’t without forfeiting the remainder of your ferry trips, as some of my fellow passengers discovered. As BusAbout uses ferries to traverse the islands, the number of nights on each must be booked two weeks in advance – unless you would like to pay additionally for your own ferry ticket to the next island, essentially going ‘off tour’.

The majority of passengers on board my tour were doing the minimum two nights on each island, and would therefore stay with the same guide and group of people for the tour duration. I however decided to stay four nights in Mykonos, two Paros, four Santorini and two Ios. This therefore meant that I went through three different groups and tour leaders, which for me was great as it broke up the ‘group’ tour feeling. I also found that each of the leaders and groups had very different vibes and whilst one group was party hard, the next were much more chilled out and happy to go with the flow. Passengers like myself who jump between groups also gave something to the new groups that we came into, those staying two nights on each islands were happy to see new faces and meet new people. I certainly never felt unwelcome or brushed off coming into an already formed group.

There are many optional activities available for passengers traveling the islands. Dinners, day trips, and pub crawls were something that the majority of passengers all chose to do, and really contributed to the ‘group’ tour feel. I jumped on at the beginning of the season being the second or third group to leave Athens, so the number of passengers with each leader was only around 15, compared with the 40 or so in peak time.

Smashing plates like a real Greek tourist!

In regard to accommodation I chose to stay at the BusAbout recommended hostels for all four islands. Paradise Beach Club in Mykonos, Elisabeth Pension in Paros, and Far Out Beach Club in Ios were all fine to stay at. The two beach clubs were right on the water and had everything you could need including restaurants, bars, deck chairs and small supermarkets, and it was handy to stay at the drop-off points with the majority of the group.

I did however have some issues with Santorini accommodation. When I initially booked everything in April before I left Australia, a different hostel was the recommended. Upon arriving in Mykonos I found out that the recommended hostel I booked had actually closed down and there was a new recommend. That was no problem and I was told that my booking would be transferred over and I would get a room with no issues. When we arrived I was placed into an 8 bed female dorm at Fira Backpackers – the new BusAbout recommended hostel. I had no problem going into the 8 bed dorm as it was filled with other BusAbout people, however was told by the hostel at check-in that the 12 euro deposit I had paid was not transferred to them and I therefore had to pay the full price and chase my deposit with BusAbout directly. Fine, no problem.

Upon arriving into the room, it was a little disappointing to discover it was downstairs and windowless with no air-circulation at all, and they provided sheets but no blankets. But, I thought, it’s a hostel so take what you get. Unfortunately the pillows and linen were a different story.

After pulling back the pillowcase on my pillow, I found that mould was growing directly out of the pillow. The other girls in the room looked at their own pillows and found that some were okay, some had a smaller amount of mould, and others smelt like soil. Many of the sheets were also covered in mould and seemed to have not been through ANY type of washing machine. Ever.

I have a thing for cleanliness. It’s the make or break point of a hostel for me. I will be happy in very basic accommodation if it is clean. Fira Backpackers was not. This is the most disgusting hostel in regard to cleanliness I have ever stayed in.

As I discovered my mouldy pillow at 1am, I went directly to reception to ask for a clean one, which they gave me from a spare room and threw the mouldy one in. The next day after sleeping the night in the 8 bed dorm, almost all of the girls, myself included, woke up feeling unwell with sore throats and stuffed up noses. It seems that the lack of air-circulation and mouldiness throughout the room did not do good things for our health.

As we left for the beach excursion that morning, I was able to speak with my BusAbout tour leader and let her know what had happened with the bedding. From there BusAbout were great. We found the pillow, photographed it and sent it through to BusAbout head office, as I had requested to be moved to a different room. This was actioned very quickly by BusAbout and I was able to move to a 4 bed dorm (which unfortunately still had mouldy sheets, luckily I had my sleeping sheet with me) without needing to pay an additional cost.

I do not blame BusAbout for the issues that occurred. This was not however the level of hostel I had expected from a BusAbout Recommended. I realise this was a newly selected, last minute, emergency style arrangement due to losing the original recommended accommodation, however I am disappointed that BusAbout made this the recommended choice and as well as the pick-up and drop-off location.

I joined BusAbout as I liked the features of being able to move on with a group, having a leader to help with any issues that may arise, and having access to BusAbout recommended accommodation options. As BusAbout have put their name to this hostel by making it the recommended option as well as the pick-up and drop-off point, they are essentially directing clients to book there. It is disappointing to me that this incident occurred. Fira Backpackers would be a good hostel if it were clean (shower curtains were extremely mouldy, drains and toilets were often blocked and overflowing) and I hope that this is an issue that is being worked on by both BusAbout and the hostel, as there are many passengers that will go through.

So overall I had a great time on BusAbout Greek Islands. All three of the tour leaders were organised and well informed, and whilst all had completely different personalities, all made the experience enjoyable and unique in their own ways.

See my Greek Islands Video Journal