The year is 1974. Abba have just won Eurovision with Waterloo and McDonald’s is about to unveil its first UK restaurant. And while it won’t impart the same meteor-sized dent on our cultural life as those two, friends Mark Chitty and Andy Searle are firing up a mini-revolution in international travel: the launch of Mark Warner.
The tour operator initially catered for singles and couples’ ski breaks, advertised in newspaper classified pages, which were run in person by Mark and Andy, then both in their early 20s.
Over the following decades the business grew and now, in its 50th year, operates in six locations – five summer resorts in Greece and Turkey and one Alpine chalet in France.
The pair’s masterstroke came in the 1980s when, with young families of their own, they were one of the first companies to add childcare to holiday packages.
And by 1996 they’d settled on today’s format – hot location, beachfront, pool, locally sourced food, morning-to-evening childcare, and as many activities as a family might reasonably cram into a day.
Downtime: Dan Hyde checks in to Mark Warner’s Paleros resort in Greece, pictured here. He finds that with plenty of activities going on, there are always free sun loungers around the pool
Mark Warner has five summer resorts in Greece and Turkey and one Alpine chalet in France. Above – the harbour of Paleros town
From sailing to tennis, mountain biking to exercise classes, scuba diving to wakeboarding and single-scull rowing, you dip in and out as you like. And it’s all included in the headline price, along with flights, transfers, accommodation and half-board.
For my money (and no one is pretending these holidays are cheap), Mark Warner has perfected its craft at its Paleros resort in a bay three hours north of Athens and a mere 30-minute transfer from Preveza Airport.
Our visit had a simple objective: mum and dad to get as much relaxing done as possible while our young son Freddy did the opposite. With any luck, I might also manage to fix my dodgy tennis forehand.
The main imponderable we had was how to keep our restless three-year-old entertained well past his bedtime while we ate dinner. A lot of buggy wheeling was staring us in the face.
Gear change: Paleros is just across the Ionian Sea from the island of Lefkada, pictured here
The resort runs excursions to the white beaches of Lefkada, reveals Dan, such as Port Katsiki, seen above
Mark Warner hasn’t just thought of how to sort that, but gone further.
Every evening at 7.30pm we dropped off Freddy at ‘sleep club’. You enter one of the childcare rooms and it’s like a mini cinema – dim lighting, air conditioning, a projector beaming on to the wall – albeit with children snuggled up in pyjamas on camping mattresses. On the screen they show a short film – think The Snail And The Whale – followed by a longer classic such as Beauty And The Beast. One by one, the children drift off to sleep.
The Paleros evening meal, like breakfast, is a buffet. The fish is fresh, the souvlaki superb and the Greek doughnuts delicious. If you’re in the mood, you end the evening at the pub quiz or musical bingo (a music quiz with a bingo finale) at the beach bar.
Paleros offers heaps of activities, from windsurfing to tennis, mountain biking to exercise classes, scuba diving to wakeboarding and single-scull rowing
TRAVEL FACTS
Seven nights at Paleros Beach Resort from £699pp half-board, based on two adults sharing. Includes return flights from Gatwick and transfers, departing October 6 (markwarner.co.uk).
By 10.30pm we pick up Freddy – and he’s out like a light for the night.
Paleros is just across the Ionian Sea from the white beaches of Lefkada – a popular island to which Mark Warner offers excursions. The resort, just across the road from Potamaki Beach, is a mixture of 130 villas and rooms surrounded by flowers, lush greenery and views of olive grove-clad mountains. Breakfast and dinner are served in the main restaurant (lunch is at the taverna by the sea) but most guests sit outside at tables by the pool bar.
The appeal of a Mark Warner holiday is that guests are dotted around the resort – out on the waves, bikes, tennis courts or in childcare – so there are always free sun loungers around the three pools.
Olly, the resort’s young tennis pro, did manage to rescue my forehand, and just in time for the Friday tournament.
As for childcare, you can book three hours either in the morning or afternoon each day, and we were hugely impressed by the service.
There are certain things you can take for granted on these types of holidays: a wealth of activities, evening entertainment, social interaction – and certain things you can’t: the quality of the food, the sea temperature, the willingness of staff and the reliability of the childcare. On all the vital imponderables, Mark Warner’s Paleros proved to be a triumph.
Source link
CHECK OUT: Top Travel Destinations
READ MORE: Travel News
