WHERE DO WE STAY?

In Mathraki we stay at the family run Hotel Paradise. As Hotel Paradise is the only hotel on the island, it’s not unusual for us to have the hotel (and the island!) to ourselves. Our local hosts Giorgos, Giannis and Nora provide fantastic home-cooked food and local knowledge, and look forward to welcoming you.

ROOM CHOICES

There are just seven rooms in the hotel. Unless you wish to opt for a single supplement at £215, rooms are allocated on a twin / double share basis. Please indicate your room choice on the booking form when booking. Rooms are subject to availability.

1. Psilos is a basic but comfortable twin share on the first floor, with air conditioning, and a shared balcony. There is a sea view and this room looks out to the southern side of the hotel.
2. Varkoysa is a basic but comfortable twin share on the first floor, with air conditioning, and a shared balcony. There is a sea view and this room looks out to the southern side of the hotel.
3. Diapolos (£50pp supplement) is a larger, triple room on the second floor. It contains a double bed and a comfortably sized sofa bed. Diapolos has air conditioning and sole use of a balcony. It looks out to the east, over the Diapolos islands. A great room for a couple.
4. Diakopos (£150pp supplement for sole use of either room, with shared bathroom) is a family apartment, with a twin share room and a double room, both separated by a corridor, but sharing a bathroom. Each room has air con and a door out onto a large front facing balcony. Ideal for a couple and two friends, or a family.
5. Karavi (£60pp supplement) is a triple room, with a separate double room and a sofa bed in a kitchenette. Great for a couple or a small family. Karavi has air conditioning in the double room only, and the double room has a door out onto the hotels large front-facing balcony.
6. Plateia (£20pp supplement) is a basic but comfortable double room on the top floor of the hotel, with air conditioning and a shared square balcony, which has a sea view.
7. Trachia is a basic but comfortable twin room on the top floor of the hotel, with air conditioning and a shared square balcony, which has a sea view.

itinerary

Our weekly itinerary will be governed by the weather, and is liable to change. Below provides a guide to a typical week. Your swim guides will structure the week carefully to ensure you get the very best swimming experiences taking into account the conditions. Most days involve a technique session in the morning and an afternoon swim, returning to the hotel for a home-cooked lunch in between. You can do as little or as much swimming as you like and if you’d like to swim only part of any swim, just let the guides know and you can hop back on the boat and just relax. As part of your stroke analysis from Dan, you will be filmed at the start of the week both above and below the water. dan and your swim guides will work with you to analyse your stroke, helping you to improve as the week progresses.  You can of course take the footage home with you.

SATURDAY

Arrivals and welcome to the island. Dan and the guides will hold an acclimitization swim with you in the hotel bay, taking some footage of your stroke to kick start the week.

Sunday

After breakfast and with time to digest, Dan and the guides will start the day with an introduction to the frontcrawl stoke. Dan will break the stroke down, explaining how  we will work on different aspects of the stroke throughout the week. This can range from length of stroke, rotation, breathing, head position, sighting in open water, arm entry and the catch phase. Later over a beer, Dan and the guides will go over the stroke videos with the group, offering starting points to work on. After lunch you will jump in the safety boat and head along Mathraki’s east coastline; a beautiful yellow-orange sandy beach stretching towards the harbour.  Dan and the Guides will assess the distance and get you in the water to start putting into practice what was covered in the morning technique session.  Swim back to the hotel in time for a well-deserved ice cream at the finish!

Monday

The morning technique session will focus on breathing, and how to ensure you are breathing optimally for your stroke. In the afternoon, we will head out to Trachia - a small rocky outcrop island off the north coast of Mathraki for our first inter-island swim.

Tuesday

For the technique session in the bay, Dan and the guides will focus on rotation – a hugely helpful part of any freestyle stroke.  In the afternoon, you will swim from Plateia Island off the west coast of Mathraki, back towards the hotel over the beautiful underwater rock formations.

Wednesday

This morning will start with a swim, exploring the Diakopo and Diaplo islands which you can see from the hotel taverna.  Starting by Diakopo Island, this is a gentle swim along the east coast before having a look at the caves. A short 200m swim across a small inlet to the west side of Diaplo and then we venture along the upper west side of the island. In the afternoon Dan will give you a talk about his swim journey – how he started from the early days as a school boy that took him to two World Championships, two Commonwealth Games and one Olympic Games.  It is a wonderful opportunity to hear about what it takes to be an Olympian – the training, coaching and the sheer dedication required to get to the top.  After Dan’s seminar the afternoon is free to chill out and relax before meeting for evening drinks and dinner.

Thursday

A busy day ahead, with a technique session focusing on the catch - or other aspects of the stroke that will be most useful to your own personal circumstances. Weather depending, in the afternoon we will jump in the escort boat to Karavi which sits just off the coast of Corfu. It a great place for lunch in Arillis Bay (this you will need to pay for) and then we will start from the beach and swim to the rocky outcrop of Karavi and along the length of its imposing cliffs. Look out for the minature secret beach.

Friday

A quick early morning sunrise swim in the bay by the hotel before departing the island for your onward journey home.

GETTING TO MATHRAKI ISLAND

Although remote, we have chosen Mathraki as one of our locations because it is easily accessible. We appreciate that you want to spend less time travelling and more time swimming! The easiest method of travel is to fly into Corfu, get a taxi across to Agios Stefanos harbour (on the west side of Corfu - please note there are two Agios Stefanos on Corfu) and then get the Mathraki Sea Taxi to Mathraki Island. Boat transfer to Mathraki: Meet at Agios Stefanos harbour for a 4pm crossing on the Saturday Boat transfer from Mathraki: We will get you up early on Friday morning for an 8am crossing back to Corfu, so that you can catch at 11.20am flight should you wish (this tends to be the most popular flight our of Corfu on a Friday morning).

GETTING TO CORFU

Fly to Corfu

Flying to Corfu is a three-hour flight from the UK. Airlines such as Easyjet and Ryanair provide regular flights from a variety of UK airports. Olympic Airlines provide flights from Greece to Corfu. For a variety of flight options we would recommend www.skyscanner.co.uk or www.kayak.co.uk.

Ferry to Corfu

There are many ferries to Corfu from Italy (Bari, Brintezi and Ancona) and from mainland Greece at Igoumenitsia and Patra. Most stop at Corfu along with more local ferry services so for more information please check with Direct Ferries on www.directferries.co.uk.

GETTING FROM CORFU TO MATHRAKI

Taxis from the airport to Agios Stefanos

We would recommend booking your transfer through Corfu Holiday Taxis. Dimitris and his team will look after you and are familiar with SwimQuest and how to get to Agios Stefanos Harbour for your downward journey to Mathraki. Simply email info@corfuholidaytaxi.com, use the website www.corfuholidaytaxi.com or call 0030 6972767803. Tell them you are going to Mathraki with the swimmers, they will wait for you at the airport. Alternatively, come out of arrivals and you will see the taxi rank in front of you. An airport taxi to Agios Stefanos harbour is approximately €70-80. Make sure the taxi driver knows which Agios Stefanos harbour you need (emphasise ‘West’ and that you’re heading onto Mathraki). The taxi journey takes approximately 50 minutes.

Buses from the airport to Agios Stefanos

The local bus terminal is a short taxi ride from the airport where there is a regular green bus service that stops off at Agios Stefanos. The bus fare is approximately €4.00. Ensure the bus driver takes you all the way down to the little cafe by the harbour in Agios Stefanos.

Mathraki Sea Taxi (run by our hotel)

To circumvent all local ferry times (which an be extremely unpredictable) our hoteliers on Mathraki Island offer a sea taxi service from Agios Stefanos harbour. This will run at 4pm on your arrival day, and 8am on the departure day, and costs €30pp for the return journey. Should you wish to get across to the island outside of these times, it is possible to book a private transfer for €100 each way.

Local ferries

There are infrequent local ferries to Mathraki. Alexandros runs from Corfu Town and takes approximately 3-4 hours, and Pegasus runs from Agios Stefanos and takes 45 minutes. Timings vary from week to week. Please contact the office one week prior to your trip should you wish to take a local ferry, and we will check times with our local hosts.

WHAT DO I PACK?

WHAT IS MATHRAKI LIKE?

READY TO BOOK?

We’re excited about meeting you on tour. To book your swimming holiday, simply fill in the booking form below. Once you have submitted the form, Charlotte (our bookings co-ordinator) will be in touch to request payment and to help you with any additional requirements.

---

In booking with us, you accept our terms and conditions, which can be found here. If at any point you have any questions, feel free to contact us: Charlotte Benton | +44 7743 233803 | charlotte@swimquest.uk.com Alice Todd | +44 7825 301443 | alice@swimquest.uk.com

Travel Insurance

As a SwimQuest guest, you are required to have in place travel insurance that covers you for all activities you will be taking part in during your trip. It is your responsibility to ensure that you are fully covered for these activities. Whatever travel policy you decide on, you will need to bring a copy of your current Certificate of Insurance to the safety briefing at the start of your SwimQuest holiday. Your Swim Guides will need to take a note of your insurer, policy number and the number to call in case of an emergency claim.

If you are looking for a travel insurance policy, we love worldnomads.com because they make choosing the right policy as painless as possible. Click here for more information >