At the end of our short trip to Amanzoe we chose to fly back to Athens airport by helicopter. This was the first time I’d privately chartered a helicopter, just for us, and I was really looking forward to it. Amanzoe’s website suggested an Athens based helicopter company, “ifly” to make the journey from the heliport, half way between the hotel and its Beach Club and Athens airport, and I discovered that I could charter a helicopter for around the same price as one night in Amanzoe, including F&B (€2800). This seemed like good value and an amazing way to round off our luxury short break. Plus, the 30 minute journey would be much kinder on my bad back than the 3 hours car transfer, and we could have a more leisurely breakfast and check-out from the hotel.

Ifly offers a choice of rotary and fixed wing aircraft sizes and I chose a larger, faster helicopter called an Agosta 109. This machine was 17 years old, but was still sleek and stylish and remained in excellent condition, and it had Amanzoe’s name on the fuselage, reflecting the relationship between the two companies.  I found the ifly guys to be very efficient and flexible in making all the arrangements – they even let me wait until just 2 days before departure before paying the non-refundable fee (in case I’d failed a Covid test on arrival into Greece, and been forced to quarantine for 2 weeks). Great service! 10/10

Everything was ready for us when we got to the heliport at 13:15 and the captain posed for photos and gave us our safety briefing. He was aware that I’d asked if we could fly close to the Parthenon, when I booked, so he told me he’d been in discussion with Athens Air Traffic Control (ATC) and was hopeful we’d be allowed close(ish) to the iconic ancient temple complex which sits on the Acropolis (a hill) overlooking the city.  But just in case we were diverted to another flight path, he told us he would fly us over another temple on a hill in the Peloponnese which resembles the Parthenon (but whose name I’ve forgotten).

We lifted off very smoothly, almost imperceptibly, at 13:20 and headed off across the shimmering cerulean Aegean coastline. The Italian built helicopter, registered SX-HKV, had 4 leather-bound ‘luxury car’ style passenger seats in an enclosed compartment, but a perspex screen allowed us to see into the cockpit and the route ahead. Despite our separation, we and the pilot still had to wear face masks. We had headphones to wear, which should have allowed us to hear the pilot talk to us and to ATC, though mine didn’t work. This helicopter was less noisy than others I’ve been on, and with the headphones over my ears noise was not an issue at all; we stretched out in our comfortable seats, enjoyed the views and sipped on the mineral water provided, all in air-conditioned comfort.

The views of the many shades of blue waters gently lapping on the arid sparsely populated land were mesmerising, but all too soon the densely packed city of Athens came into view, and a few minutes later we passed the Parthenon, though to be honest it didn’t stand out as distinctively as I thought it would. Probably because of the buildings crammed around it, and because, from the air, one can’t properly appreciate that it’s on a hillock looking down on said buildings.

We flew over Athens airport’s live runway and landed at the large heliport near the cargo and maintenance areas, and from there a private mini-bus took us on the 5 minute journey to the passenger terminal entrance.

We had had a brilliant journey! Before take-off the captain told us we might encounter some turbulence, but it turned out to be a perfectly smooth and comfortable journey and possibly the best experience of our holiday!

With ifly’s great customer service sandwiching the flight, I can only score it 10+/10