Paddle sports are the quiet stars of a beach club week. Windsurfing gets the glory, but it is the paddleboards and kayaks that everyone actually uses: before breakfast when the bay is glass, with the kids after lunch, and on the weekly excursion around the headland to a beach you cannot reach by road. At our clubs the whole fleet is free to use.
What paddle sports can you do at the beach clubs?
- Stand up paddleboarding: Red Paddle Co 10'6" Ride boards for everyday paddling, with tuition for first-timers. See the paddleboarding activity page for the detail.
- Kayaking: sit-on kayaks anyone can grab and take out, with doubles so younger children ride with a parent. Detail on the kayaking activity page.
- The Ride XL: a 17 foot inflatable board that takes up to 10 paddlers at once. Officially a paddleboard, in practice a party.
Why is Greece so good for learning?
The water is warm, so falling in is a laugh rather than a shock, and the bays at Lixouri and Stira Bay are sheltered and flat in the mornings, which is exactly the water a first-time paddler needs. The water safety team is on hand with tips, and by mid-week most beginners are paddling past the moorings like they own them.
The weekly SUP excursion
Once a week, on the calmest morning, a guided group paddles out of the bay to explore the neighbouring coastline. Small children come along as passengers on a parent's board or in a double kayak. It is the session guests talk about at dinner: sea caves, an empty beach, coffee back at the club by eleven.
Which holiday should you book?
All the beach clubs carry the full paddle fleet: Lixouri Bay and the Villa Club in Kefalonia, Stira Bay on Evia, and Feel Viana in Portugal adds flat river paddling alongside the ocean. Paddle sports also slot neatly into a family activity holiday, because they are the one watersport every age can do on day one.
