I have long believed that accessible travel should never mean compromising on quality. One hotel that epitomises this is Sirens Resort in Loutraki, which sits on thermal spas and ancient canals on the Gulf of Corinth, on Greece’s Peloponnese coast (50 miles from Athens).
It’s a hotel specifically adapted for accessibility, with a level of attention to detail that makes it the best in the region at what it does: giving disabled travellers the best experience they can. For your wheelchair friendly beach holiday in Greece, look no further.
The Hotel
Sirens Resort is more of a complex than a hotel, with five apartments named for Greek mythic figures like Odysseus and Aphrodite, sleeping between one and eight depending on how many travellers they’re catering for and how many wheelchair users are in each room. The facilities include raised and unraised beds, and the roll-in showers are wheelchair friendly. Beach views can be had at the apartments’ balconies. The Sirens don’t allow pets, but they do make an exception for guide dogs where required. There’s in-room physiotherapy available, as well as rolling tables, electric beds, hoists and a variety of scooters and wheelchairs.
The hotel also offers a variety of excursions if you want to see some of the locale – and if you like your history, you couldn’t be in a better place to do so, with the Parthenon, Acropolis, the ancient city of Olympia where the first Olympic Games were held, Delphi and ancient Corinth itself within day-trip distance.
The Beach
One of the real selling points, though, is the beach and garden onsite. The hotel has a sea-ramp for easy access to the sea, and every guest can be provided with a free manual sea-wheelchair. Friendly beachside staff can help where required. It consists of pebbles rather than sand, but if anything, this makes for a more stable handling surface. It’s steadier for non-wheelchair users too, with paved paths around the loungers. Also on-site is a garden where staff host regular barbecues.
The Holiday
With the amenities here, a great holiday can be had within the complex itself. As ever, though, when planning your holiday I advise going with a specialist tour operator to help with the logistics – which can be a challenge. Factoring in any number of possible accessible resorts, local disability regulations and different languages (even a different alphabet in Greece’s case) can prove daunting. Wherever you’re going, using a tour operator with experience in the area you’re looking at, and specific expertise with disabled travellers, is the best way to ensure a stress-free holiday with the maximum of enjoyment.
Philip Scott is the owner and founder of Can be Done, a fully licensed UK tour operator specialising in worldwide holidays for disabled individuals and groups. With over 31 years’ experience organising long and short breaks for disabled travellers, Philip has built a reputation for helping his clients select hotels that offer high standards of accessibility, from specially-equipped rooms to a wheelchair friendly beach, to ensure that those with special needs can experience truly relaxing and carefree holidays.
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