Exploring Costa Navarino

Looking for the perfect weekend break? Charismatic culture, stunning scenery, an opportunity for adventure at every turn? Well Costa Navarino has it all!

Not last week but the week before, I was lucky enough to enjoy a weekend in the stunning resort of Costa Navarino, a 5 star luxury resort that exceeded my expectations on every level and made it’s way into my ‘Must Visit’ locations list of 2016. Having had such an incredible weekend in the dunes I thought I would take the opportunity of this bank holiday and take you guys on a weekend break of your own. First we’ll take a look at the stunning location and surroundings of Costa Navarino and then, tomorrow, we can explore the resort itself.

Located on the costal tip of Messina, Greece, with direct flights from London and an added option of flying in to Athens then travelling via car, the resort is just 3/4 hours away from London.

Breathtaking views of untouched, colourful scenery are found almost everywhere in the surrounding areas of Costa Navarino. Whether you explore on foot, by bicycle or in the car you are always close to an amazing picture perfect moment.

One of the most beautiful places I have ever seen in Europe was Navarino Bay, which by looking at the pictures below I’m sure you’ll agree with me when I say this capture wouldn’t look out of place in the far east! The crisp blue waters of the meditereanen sea and the historically stunning cliffs that create this iconic scene had me, quite literally skipping for joy!

The best bit? The beach is deserted, a far cry away from your usual european beaches that are dominated by tourists. The water is clear and knee deep until the cliffs mirror one another, so the location is perfect for a dip in-between sunbathing or relaxing with a book on the soft golden sand. This natural reserve is for sure, one of Greece’s best kept secrets!

Another really great thing to do if you are staying the the resort is venture out for one of the cultural cooking classes which take place in a traditional Greek home. Costa Navarino offers this as a daytime or evening excursion and I would highly recommend it. The class gives you the opportunity to get really stuck in preparing your own dinner and the women who teach the trade are so warm and inviting. We made pasta from scratch which was such a treat! I will be doing this at home from now on as I had so much fun and it tasted amazing! A sprinkle of parmesan and cinnamon on top – oh yes!

After dishing up and enjoying the culinary delights cooked by yours truly we danced the night away, clinking glasses and holding hands with Greek music blaring through the kitchen. It was such a fantastic night, all of which I managed to capture on my snapchat, did you see? So much fun!

The location of the cooking class is BEAUTIFUL too – in fact, we spent just as much time posing on the balcony as we did cooking 😉 Exhibit a:

We stayed at the resort for three nights in total so we had 2 and a half days to play with when it came to exploring and boy, did we cram it all in! As well as the frolics on the beach, amazing dinners, spa treatments (all to follow in tomorrow’s post) we well and truly worked our way around the surrounding areas.

Driving through the wonderful town of Pylos was a real highlight, as this is the main town of the area so it gave us a early great perspective on traditional and local life around the resort.

Having researched the location prior to my trip I took it upon myself to seek out the location’s picturesque waterfalls. So, on the second day of our trip that’s exactly what we did. Along with our lovely Costa Navarino representative Vasillia and our driver we went on the hunt for water! Naively, having seen the photos online I thought the waterfalls would be easily accessed and we would simply walk to a viewing spot and take a few fab pictures.

This, however was NOT the case. Rather than experiencing a leisurely stroll in my pretty spring dress and sandals, what actually unfolded during the search for the wonderful cascades of water was a rock climb! OK, so I may be slightly exaggerating but the natural beauties were tucked away from sight and just as if we were in the deep depths of the Indonesian jungle we jumped, scrambled, trekked and climbed our way through the path, often getting knee deep in water to take the next step. IT. WAS. BRILLIANT!!

Honestly one of the funnest days of my year so far, I couldn’t have planned a better way to spend an afternoon. The sun was blazing, the activity was thrilling and the natural beauty that surrounded us as we took each step was beyond breathtaking.

Would I do it again in a dress and sandals, H to the no but my goodness was it funny! My travelling buddy and bestie Emma was also wearing birkinstocks?! To climb! Honestly I have never laughed so hard. We were walking past people with head to toe climbing gear whilst snap chatting away in our ‘spring look-book’ attire 😉 Another great day captured on snapchat 😉

The third and also last day of our trip we only had the morning to play with, so play we did. Whilst singing disney songs at the top of our lungs we jumped on a bike and along with a Costa Navarino biking expert we rode back to the stunning Navarino Bay.

Emma, who has never ridden a bike before was able to enjoy the excursion by riding tandem with our instructor which I thought was really accommodating of the resort – they really have thought of everything! What an amazing location to have your first ever bike ride ey?!

The views were stunning, the ride was smooth and we thoroughly enjoyed our morning in the sun 🙂

Signing out now with a video, a new addition to my travel posts and a real capture of this truly stunning location through my eyes, I hope you enjoy it 😀

Tomorrow I’ll be showing you Costa Navarino itself, the amazing hotel, restaurants, beach and so much more! I’ll see you then 😉

I’d like to thank the lovely team at Hills Balfour for doing such an amazing job in helping me to organise this unforgettable weekend! Vasillia from Costa Navarino for her ridiculously awesome organisational skills and for being a genuine beaut on the trip and of course, Emma Slade, for making the trip so memorable and capturing all the best moments through the lens for you guys!

 

 

 

*These images were shot on the Canon 500D, Olympus P-EL7 and iPhone 6 – I usually only post my DSLR pics on this site but due to some amazing captures on my phone (including the feature image at the top of the post of the waterfall)  I decided to use a mixture, so some of the images are clearer than others. *Video was created on the Go Pro.