“No panties in Zante,” reads the tattoo on the leg of the young British woman who is having fun without limits on the British Strip. The “British strip” or … just “strip” is usually a street in tourist locations where all the no-holds-barred partying, all the drunkenness, all the excess imaginable unfold.

In places like Laganas, Kavos, Malia, Hersonissos, Faliraki, very young Northern Europeans and Northern Europeans – mostly British, Swedish and German – are unleashing all their… repulsions on the “debauchery holidays” they call “lads holidays“.

Specialist travel agents and agencies, mainly in Britain, are advertising all-inclusive and not just lads’ holiday packages. Wild parties in places where young people gather and let loose in the place of… debauchery. Or… hell, as (most) locals see it in the places that in Greece and internationally compete for which one has the most promiscuity and which one has the most extreme attractions.

The… attractions

From Zanteto Io, from Malia in Crete to Kavos in Corfu and Faliraki in Rhodes, Greek places for lads holidays have to compete with similar destinations such as Ibiza, Marbella, the so-called “Shagaluf” in Majorca, Riga and more. In all these places, the “recipe” is the same: a street (the strip) full of clubs and bars that turns into a vast house of fun without limits, where one will “party” without end.

This fun sometimes has consequences. Not a few people have been poisoned by the booze-bombs served in many clubs, while in many cases the incidents that take place between drunken tourists end up in the nearby health centre where the injured are taken.

There is not a single trace of exaggeration in the above and the video of the party with the oral sex contest (which the club says was a contest of… simulated chocolate licking) in Zakynthos is a drop in the ocean.

“One of my friends had sex with 100 girls in one summer. He slept with two different women every night,” says a tourist in Corfu, where what goes on was recorded on reality TV.

The reality show in question, which revealed Kavos’ orgies, provoked a strong reaction from the municipality, which still understood from the filming that it had little room to react. When his people followed the crew to see what would be filmed in the documentary, they were booed and even beaten up by the business owners of some of the strip’s stores.

It makes sense that what happens there stays there. “I have a feeling that all the drinks in the strip in Kavos and in Malia are promoted by the same mafia. They have the same disgusting taste and they are definitely not just adulterated, they are real poisons,” says another tourist who has… scanned the destinations for lads holidays in Greece. For these destinations there are plenty of complaints about crazy things: poisoning from booze-bombs, hoteliers keeping the passports of female tourists demanding 50 euros “a head” to return them, charges for using air conditioners (20 euros a night) in hotels, and all inclusive-VIP wristbands (70 euros) that supposedly ensure cheaper or free drinks.

For the above and many more there are not only complaints, but they are documented, and in a setting where there is no control, very unpleasant incidents have been recorded, such as the beating to death of an American tourist by goons in Laganas, the severe – almost fatal – poisoning of an 18-year-old British girl by (adulterated) balloon gas in Malia, the blindness of another British girl by adulterated drink, also in Laganas, and numerous hospitalisations of tourists.

So there are the expensive parties in clubs in these areas where… everything is allowed, but there are also the “extra attractions”. For example, the so-called “booze cruises”, or boat parties, where dozens of young people pile into small passenger boats where they drink, dance, sing, have group sex or… nothing after passing out while the boat tries not to capsize during the few hours the “cruise” lasts. It’s an… experience in which the (mostly British) tourists are happy that the party doesn’t stop with the music turned down, as it does in the clubs every time the police car passes by with the lighthouse on.

Among the attractions that local businesses use to attract tourists, however, are themed parties: with paint or foam thrown at participants, pool parties with contests where losers have to stay topless, famous drinks like “headfucker” or challenges like the “Fuck up challenge” and Iu’s “Slammer Shot”. The latter is a popular challenge that takes place in bars like “Flames”. The process involves placing a shot glass in a glass filled with alcohol and simultaneously drinking the drink in a vigorous manner. This particular procedure has been popularized through videos circulating on social media, such as TikTok, where the reactions of the participants are recorded.

Why it sells

If you’re over 30, you’re too old for lads holidays. Holidays to Malaya, Lagana, Kavo, Io, Kos, Faliraki and… similar places are for “people in their 20s who want to experience the carefree and frantic fun once (at least) in their lives while they are young and escape from the daily grind”. It’s not just the sex that sells, but the general reduced inhibitions from which a variety of professionals, from liquor dealers and bouncers to doctors, benefit, since the public hospitals on the islands that make up such destinations cannot take on all the tourists who need first aid every night in July and August, meaning that some of them are taken to private clinics.

“Chaotic”. This is the word used to describe the situation in the strips and explains why dozens of tourists end up in hospital every night. Some with fractures from falls due to drunkenness, some bleeding from bottles dropped on their heads during altercations with other drunks (or interfering bouncers), some in a semi-comatose or even comatose state from poisoning from too much or improper (adulterated) alcohol. Even more injured from car accidents on the surrounding roads (as they drunkenly drive whatever they have rented) and… several with serious and non-venereal diseases.

On these streets, the scene is typical. The lads and girls go around dancing. Some are semi-naked, wearing only sheets. Some girls get away and strip naked dancing to the cheers of the crowd. Some couples “drift off” and engage in sexual acts in plain sight, with drunken tourists laughing as they pass by.

It is understandable that inhibitions drop to such an extent when tourists consume whatever “boba” is available (we are talking about dozens of adulterated drinks every night) and breathe, as they claim, more from balloons than from the ambient air. In the clubs, in these places balloons are sold or available with the so-called laughing gas – laughing gas or hippy crack as it is known. It is nitrous oxide or nitrous oxide, or NOS or nitro, a colourless, non-flammable gas with a slightly sweet smell and taste. It is used in Surgery and Dentistry because of its anaesthetic and analgesic action and is sold in clubs to induce euphoria while relaxing the musculature and senses.

And it does this (police searches have found thousands of ampoules of such gas in areas such as Malia, Hersonissos, Laganas) without being addictive and without being banned, despite the fact that its systematic oral use can cause strokes, hallucinations, seizures, incontinence, heart aggravation, chronic depression and even bone marrow damage.

How they are advertised

In the case of destinations “offered” for lads holidays, nothing is accidental. They have been preceded by advertisements on mainly British channels and social media promoting these places as vast places of debauchery and suspension of all moral restraint, accompanied by frantic fun. They provide multiple options for places all over Europe, with a wide range of prices – up to £2,000 for a week – with ‘perks’ such as specialised apps (!) showing which shops have special offers or free drinks, taxi transfers, etc.

Strangely, the images of young people passed out in the middle of the street or of those walking around in a skimpy outfit, half-naked or with a sheet, spray-painted or crammed into boats to drink and dance don’t work as defamatory as some locals would hope. Quite the opposite, as the videos on TikTok end up being acts of “heroism” for most young Northern Europeans who… live to emulate and experience them (if they survive) at least once in their lives.

“Sun, alcohol and parties” from €416

“Nothing beats the Jet2 holiday package,” says the sound carpet that TikTok users have been using almost… maniacally lately in their videos. Its use everywhere, moreover, is indicative of the advertising bombardment that the British, Germans, Swedes, etc. receive in newspapers, radio, TV and the Internet for cheap holiday packages. And what could be more economical, advantageous and attractive than what has been known for decades in international tourism jargon as “lads holidays”: package holidays for young men (and often women) travelling in groups, with the aim of alcohol, nightlife and uncontrolled fun.

Greece, with its low alcohol price, temperate climate, natural beauty, party culture and tolerance of midnight parties, has become one of the flagship destinations for this tourist product in Europe.

On the map of agencies selling these kinds of experiences four names dominate the map: Laganas (Zakynthos), Kavos (Corfu), Malia (Crete) and – to a lesser extent – Faliraki (Rhodes). British and Irish tourism agencies such as Jet2holidays, On the Beach, Loveholidays and specialist companies such as Party Hard Travel have created a targeted product: “sun, cheap booze and nightlife included”. That is, a holiday package that includes “sun, cheap booze and nightlife”.

The “Laganas” package – The Zante of party tourism

Jet2holidays presents Laganas as “the island that never sleeps”. Photos on its website show crowded beach bars, young people with plastic beer glasses in hand and pink sunsets behind cocktails.

Packages, as advertised for these summer months, start from about £480 (€570) per person for seven nights in a self-catering two-star apartment, with direct flights from London. Airport transfers are included in the package, and for an extra £60 (71 euros) one can add the Nightlife Package Upgrade which includes an organised pub crawl, entry to two major clubs and a boat party. The final cost for a week, when drinks and extras are added, easily reaches £700-800 (833-952 euros).

In a sample of summer prices, basic 7-night packages in Laganas are shown from around £450-550 per person (flight + accommodation + transfers). Nightlife packages are usually added as optional addons (~£50-80), with pub crawl, club entries and boat party. With drinks and extras, the total week’s bill realistically comes to ~700-900 pounds.

Malalia – The Crete of 18-30

In Malia, Party Hard Travel caters directly to bachelor groups and large groups of friends. The standard package for June 2025 costs £420 (€500) per person for 7 nights in an economy hotel, with flights from Manchester, and already includes the Essential Events Package: boat party with unlimited drinks, entry to four clubs, beach BBQ with DJ set and foam party.

Although the basic package covers several events, extra drinks, upgrades to VIP tables and midnight excursions bring the total cost to £750-820 (€893-975). “All in one: sun, sea, alcohol and partying – the Malian recipe” is the motto used by travel agents.

Kavos

In Kavos the offer is even cheaper. For example, for 7 nights with flights and accommodation in a simple studio, it costs about 350 pounds (416 euros) per person. However, the events here are almost all paid extra: boat parties, bar crawls (i.e. the ability to fly from bar to bar with free drinks if you wear that particular wristband), paint parties and VIP Club Nights start at 50 pounds sterling (59 euros) each, so the total weekly cost is usually around 600-700 pounds sterling (714-833 euros).

How marketing works

The language on these companies’ sites is designed for an 18-30 year old audience and it doesn’t hide it, using youth humour, slang, promises of “the best week of your life”. The video teasers are edited like music videos: drone shots of beaches, quick cuts to crowded dance floors, impressive flaming cocktails.

The word “cheap” appears often, but always alongside “unforgettable”, a combination that aims to show that you can experience “big things” on a small budget.