The Perfect Paxos Beach Villa

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Paxos Beach

THE PERFECT PAXOS BEACH VILLA

2 February 2010 by Tony Wells

A beach villa close to tavernas and a shop or two is what many people seek for their Greek island holiday. Villa Paradisos on the tiny Ionian island of Paxos ticks all the right boxes.

It’s not hard to picture the perfect Greek island villa. It is comfortable but not too cluttered with decor and furnishings; its doors open onto large terraces fully equipped for al fresco eating; the pool, a few steps from the house, is open to the sun and is surrounded by sunloungers and parasols; and beaches, tavernas and a shop or two are just a few minutes away, on foot or by car. Villa Paradisos, on Paxos, one of the most popular properties in specialist Travel à la carte’s Paxos à la carte programme, meets all these requirements. It is the perfect Paxos beach villa.

Paxos, in case you haven’t already had the good fortune to visit, is a tiny island paradise an hour’s boat ride from Corfu. Seven miles long by two wide, the island in summer basks in an atmosphere of restful calm, its shores lapped by gentle Mediterranean waves, the olive groves of the interior stirred by soft sea breezes. The resident population of 2,000 lives mainly in the three coastal villages of Gaios, Lakka and Loggos, and Paxos à la carte’s properties – cottages, apartments, beach villas and luxury inland houses – are in and around Loggos, the smallest of the three. If you take the path through the olive groves at the back of Loggos, winding your way past oleander and bougainvillea, lemons and figs, in 15 minutes or so you will come to the hamlet of Kontoyanatika, a scattering of traditional houses renovated and modernised for holiday use. As you cross the Loggos road and head towards the sea, on the left you see a couple of old stone buildings, one still an uninhabited shell, and between them an elegant single storey villa with a garden stretching out to front, side and rear. This is Paradisos, paradise, the perfect Paxos beach villa, under 10 minutes on foot from three different beaches on Paxos’s east coast. The nearest beach, Marmari, is a left turn out of the gate, a five-minute stroll through the trees, then a simple descent across some terraced olive groves to the sea, easy for any pair of legs over four years old. Kipiadi and Kipos are the other two beaches nearby, Kipiadi ten and Kipos 15 minutes’ walk from the villa.

Inside in the house and outside in the garden, Paradisos has everything the Paxos beach villa needs. Three bedrooms, two showerrooms, modern kitchen, big open living room, doors opening out onto a large terrace with table and seating for six or more, plenty of shade, a barbecue, pool, sun loungers and umbrellas, and perfect tranquillity. Look out onto olive groves during the day and a clear starry sky at night, hearing only the whirr of the cicadas and the hoot of the scops owl. Heaven!

For details of Villa Paradisos and Travel à la carte’s villas and apartments in Greece, visit www.travelalacarte.co.uk or contact Chris Griffiths (email chris@travelalacarte.co.uk or tel 0030 26620 31207) or Tony Wells (email tony@travelalacarte.co.uk or tel 020 7316 1867).