Ionian Islands: Corfu, Kefalonia & Zakynthos Guide

The Ionian islands, strung along Greece's western coastline from Corfu in the north to Zakynthos in the south, feel almost like a different country from the Aegean. Winter rain keeps them deeply green: olive groves and cypress trees run right down to the sea, and the water shades from turquoise to a luminous emerald over bays of white pebbles. Centuries of Venetian rule, and the fact that most of these islands never came under Ottoman control, left bell towers, arcaded streets and an Italian lilt in the food and music. If the Cyclades are all dazzling light and bare rock, the Ionian is soft, lush and melodic.

Corfu is the grande dame of the group. Its Old Town, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, is a layered maze of Venetian fortresses, the French-style arcades of the Liston and a cricket ground from the British era, all wrapped around washing-hung alleys where the everyday life of the island carries on regardless. Beyond the town, the north coast offers busy resorts and the calmer cypress-fringed coves of the northeast, while Paleokastritsa with its clifftop monastery and the sunsets of the west coast round out the essentials. Corfu also works well as a first or last stop in Greece, since frequent local ferries link it to the mainland port of Igoumenitsa.

Kefalonia, the largest of the Ionian islands, is a place of big landscapes. Mount Ainos, the highest peak in the Ionian, rises dark and forested at its centre, and the coastline delivers some of the most photographed scenery in Greece: the dazzling sweep of Myrtos Beach beneath sheer cliffs, the underground lake of Melissani lit through a collapsed cave roof, and the pastel harbour villages of Fiskardo and Assos. Distances here are greater than most visitors expect, so a rental car quickly pays for itself in freedom. The local Robola wine and the hearty Kefalonian meat pie are the tastes to seek out.

Zakynthos, known to the Venetians as the Flower of the Levant, pairs a lively south with a dramatic, nearly empty north. Navagio, the shipwreck beach walled in by white cliffs, is among the most photographed places in the country, best enjoyed from the water on a boat trip or from the viewing platform high on the cliff above. The Blue Caves near Cape Skinari glow with refracted light, while the shallow bay of Laganas is a nesting ground of the Caretta caretta sea turtle and part of a National Marine Park, so sections of the beach are protected and boats follow strict rules. Respecting those rules is part of visiting well.

Reaching the Ionian works differently from the Aegean, and it pays to understand this before you plan. There is no regular direct ferry between the Ionian islands and the Cyclades; the two groups face different seas, and combining them in one trip means travelling back through the mainland. Instead, the Ionian is served from the western ports: Kyllini in the Peloponnese is the main gateway for Zakynthos and Kefalonia, Patras also serves Kefalonia and Ithaca, and Igoumenitsa in Epirus is the doorway to Corfu and Paxi. Levante Ferries is among the familiar operators on the southern routes. From Athens, the usual approach is a drive or bus across to these western harbours.

Island hopping within the Ionian is possible but looser than in the Cyclades, where boats shuttle constantly between neighbours. In high season, excursion boats and seasonal connections link Zakynthos, Kefalonia and Ithaca, and Corfu is the hub for Paxi and Antipaxi with their famous sea caves and impossibly blue water. Many travellers instead pick one island as a base and explore it thoroughly, which suits the Ionian character: these are large, mountainous islands where the joy lies in slow coastal drives, village tavernas and finding a cove of your own, rather than in ticking off harbours.

The sailing itself is gentler here too. The Ionian Sea is largely sheltered from the meltemi wind that whips the summer Aegean, so crossings tend to be calm, and most routes are short daytime hops rather than long hauls. Even so, book ahead if you are travelling with a car in July or August, and expect everything to be at its fullest around August 15, when Greek families take their holidays, and over Easter. Outside the high season schedules thin out considerably, so check the connections before committing to a complicated route.

Timing follows the same rhythm as the rest of Greece, with one green difference. Spring arrives early and lavishly, carpeting the islands with wildflowers, and because the Ionian gets more winter rain than the Aegean, May and June are especially beautiful, with everything open and the sea warming up. September and early October bring warm water, harvest tables and mellow light. Midsummer is for beach life and guaranteed sunshine, at the price of the busiest roads and the fullest boats.

However you arrange it, the Ionian rewards a slower gear. Linger over a long lunch under a plane tree, take an evening walk along the Liston in Corfu Town, watch the boats come home to Fiskardo, and let at least one afternoon be about nothing more than a pebble cove and the sound of cicadas in the olive trees. The Aegean may have the postcards, but many travellers who come to the Ionian once find themselves returning to the same island, the same village and the same taverna, year after year.