Travel Project founder Kadi Coyle recently travelled with Slojourn Studio and Seez Travel on a famil through Greece. Here, she shares why it ruined all other holidays – in the best possible way.
It’s a warm evening somewhere in the Greek islands. I’m sitting with a glass of rosé that has no business being as good as it is, the sun doing something frankly unfair to the water, and a local, a person with far better rhythm than me, has just pulled our group up to dance.
There was no warning, no build up. Just Greek music, an outstretched hand, and the dawning that this was now happening.
The moment, for me, is Greece epitomised. Warm, spontaneous, generous, and impossible to manufacture on a tour itinerary.
At Travel Project, we have a firm philosophy. We don’t recommend destinations or properties we haven’t experienced ourselves. It sounds simple, but it changes everything about how we sell.
When the opportunity came to explore Greece – properly and deeply, from Athens to Crete – alongside the exceptional teams at Seez Travel and Slojourn Studio, I was excited and ready to put Greece to the test.
Underestimating Athens
Athens is a city people underestimate, and before this trip, I was one of them.
I thought I knew what it would be: ancient ruins, a lot of traffic, a stop-over before the islands. What I got was a city that is genuinely alive, buzzing with energy, culture, creativity and, crucially, exceptional food.
Standing at the Acropolis as the late afternoon light painted everything in gold is one of those experiences that quietly rearranges your sense of scale. You look out over a city that has been continuously inhabited for thousands of years, and you feel briefly and powerfully quite small.
Once we embarked on our Athens street food tour, I felt considerably better.
Warm loukoumades dusted in honey, souvlaki tucked into pillowy pita, tiny bars that look like nothing from the outside and are absolutely everything on the inside.
If your clients are flying into Athens and heading straight to the islands, please stop and tell them to stay for at least two nights. The city deserves it, and honestly, so do they!
The islands, where every cliché comes true
Paros surprised me the most. I expected it to be lovely – it’s Greece, everything is lovely – but I didn’t expect to fall quite so hard for it.
We did a pottery class that started as a fun activity and became something I was genuinely, embarrassingly invested in. There is something meditative about working with your hands in the sunshine with good company and zero phone signal. We also tried traditional clay tile making, which gave me a whole new appreciation for the craftsmanship embedded in even the most everyday elements of Greek architecture.
Folegandros was, without exaggeration, one of the most beautiful days of my life. A boat around the island, where cliffs drop straight into water so impossibly blue it looks like a filter has been applied to real life, with no crowds, no noise, no rush. Seez had timed it perfectly, as they tend to do. I took approximately 400 photos, and none of them does it justice.
And then there was Santorini – yes, that Santorini. The one you’ve seen on every travel mood board ever created. I went in braced for it to be overhyped, and came away wondering why it’s not hyped enough.
The cooking class we did there knocked me sideways: not a polished demonstration kitchen, but a warm, home-style space where we cooked together, ate together, and I came away with actual recipes that I have already attempted at home.
The Greeks, I should mention, do not let you go hungry. Food simply arrives – bread, dips, dishes you didn’t order – and keeps arriving. It is the greatest hospitality model I have ever encountered.
Bedding down
Gundari on Folegandros, an island in the Cyclades, is owned by a fellow Australian. It’s warm without being precious and relaxed without being careless. We’ve all heard about properties that melt into the landscape, and this is one of the strongest examples I’ve witnessed firsthand.
Carved into the cliff, it feels like it grew there naturally, which makes it the perfect antidote to a busy Santorini stint. The food is genuinely exceptional; we all agreed it was home to some of the best meals of the entire trip, and a boat tour directly from the hotel is a non-negotiable. Book it before you arrive.
Andronis, with its four properties across Santorini and one in Paros, is where design-forward luxury lives. Sharp, cool, effortlessly chic – the kind of hotels that make you feel slightly more interesting just by being in them. The spa at Anronis Concept is world-class, and I would strongly recommend booking a massage before you even unpack.
Daios Cove in Crete is my dark horse pick, though. I think it is criminally underrated. This is a property that has genuinely thought of everything: world-class dining, a private beach with water sports, a wellness centre that rivals any in Europe, private pools in-room, and a kids’ club that means families can actually relax (both the children and the parents, which is the dream).
It works beautifully for couples, families, and multigenerational groups, and the mansion suites sit above it all with views that stop you mid-sentence. If your clients are heading to Crete and haven’t considered Daios Cove, start that conversation today.
The people
Here is something they don’t tell you about famil trips: the best ones teach you about a destination, but they also connect you with incredible people.
Travelling with Narelle Langton and Fiona Cogar from Slojourn Studio was a genuine joy. There is a particular kind of conversation that only happens between people who care deeply about the craft of travel – the nuances, the details, the ‘did you notice that?’ moments – and we had a lot of those.
We had five different agencies, five different approaches, and one shared understanding that this industry is only better when we’re generous with each other.
By the end of the trip, we weren’t colleagues on a famil, we were friends who had danced together, eaten together, laughed together, and taken approximately one million photos of the same sunset from slightly different angles. Some bonds are built over years, and some are built over two weeks in Greece with very good rosé.
Greece does that to you.
The verdict
Seez Travel was a cornerstone of why this trip worked so well. George and the team have an almost uncanny depth of knowledge, not just about the obvious things, but about the right tour guides, the restaurants worth walking to, the experiences that feel authentic rather than curated-for-tourists.
The shadow luggage concierge service on the ferry is something I will be including in every single Greece itinerary we build from this point forward. That is the kind of invisible, seamless detail that elevates a holiday from excellent to unforgettable, and it matters enormously to our clients. In peak summer, navigating a crowded ferry terminal with luggage while hundreds of other tourists attempt the same thing is, to put it gently, not a luxury experience.
Greece is one of the rare places where the reality is richer, warmer and more layered than any brochure or Instagram grid could suggest. The history, the islands, the food (the food!), the generosity of the people, the spontaneous dancing… all of it is real, and all of it is waiting.
With the right ground partners in Seez Travel, the expert curation of Slojourn Studio, and the kind of tailored itinerary building that Travel Project does for every single client, Greece becomes more than a holiday. It becomes a story your clients will tell for years.
And if they ask about the rosé, tell them yes. All of it. Every glass.
For more information, visit Travel Project and Slojourn Studio.
