Corfu · Towns & villages

Towns & villages of Corfu

Harbour towns, mountain hamlets and the places where island life still follows its own rhythm.

Corfu Town & Kanoni

Corfu Old Town

A Venetian, French and British town of lanes, arcades and two fortresses

Corfu Old Town is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and it feels like no other town in Greece. Tall Venetian houses crowd narrow stone lanes called kantounia, a French arcade runs along the Spianada, and cricket is played on the green below the old fortress. Church bells ring all day for Saint Spyridon, the island's protector. Cafes, small shops and good tavernas fill the lanes, and the sea is always at the end of one of them.

Getting lost in the kantounia
Coffee under the arcades of the Liston
The Old and New Fortresses
The church of Saint Spyridon
A cricket match on the Spianada

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The west coast

Paleokastritsa

Six small bays under green cliffs, with a monastery on the headland

On the west coast, the land breaks into a string of coves with water of an unlikely turquoise, backed by cliffs of cypress and olive. A white monastery stands on the rock above the sea, and above it all, on a peak to the north, the ruins of Angelokastro watch the coast. Many people say it is the most beautiful corner of Corfu. It is also the busiest, so go early or late in the day.

The Monastery of the Virgin on the headland
A boat trip to the sea caves
Angelokastro, the castle on the cliff
A swim in the clear coves at early morning

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The west coast

Afionas

A quiet hill village on a cape, with a sunset over two bays

Afionas sits on the narrow neck of Cape Arilla, with the sea on both sides. Its lanes are lined with old houses and the village is much calmer than the resorts below. A path leads down to the beach of Agios Georgios on one side and, on the other, to the cove of Porto Timoni, a double bay joined by a thin strip of land. Come in the evening for a table on the terrace and the sun going down into the Ionian Sea.

The walk to the double bay of Porto Timoni
Sunset from a terrace taverna
Quiet lanes and old stone houses
The view of Ereikoussa and the Diapontia islands

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The north

Old Perithia

The oldest village on Corfu, deep in the shadow of Mount Pantokrator

High on the northern flank of Mount Pantokrator, Old Perithia is a village of stone that its people slowly left during the 20th century. Houses stand roofless among the fig trees, and a few have been restored. A handful of tavernas serve lunch on the square, and in the quiet you can hear the bells of goats on the slopes above. It is the best place on the island to feel how the villagers lived before the coast filled with visitors.

Lunch on the square among the ruins
Walking the stone lanes of the abandoned houses
The path up Mount Pantokrator
The view down to the northern sea

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The north-east coast

Kassiopi

A fishing harbour under a Byzantine castle, facing Albania

Kassiopi is a small harbour village on the north-east coast, just across the water from the mountains of Albania. Fishing boats and yachts lie below a ruined castle that you can walk through at no cost, and the lanes behind the quay are full of tavernas, bakeries and small shops. The Romans came here, and the emperor Nero is said to have stopped to sing at the temple of Zeus Kassios. Pebble coves lie on either side of the village.

The ruined Byzantine and Angevin castle
Dinner by the harbour
Swimming from the small coves nearby
A day trip to the villages of the northern slopes

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The north-east coast

Kalami and Agni

The bay where the Durrells lived, with a taverna on every beach

Kalami is a pebble bay in the north-east, with cypress trees running down to the water. In 1935 the writer Lawrence Durrell and his wife rented the White House here, right on the sea, and his younger brother Gerald wrote about the island's wildlife in My Family and Other Animals. Today the White House is a taverna. A short walk or boat ride south is Agni, a smaller cove with three well-known tavernas on its shore. Both are made for long lunches by the water.

Lunch at the Durrells' White House
The walk from Kalami to Agni along the shore
Looking across to Albania at sunset
Swimming off the pebbles

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The west coast

Pelekas

A hill village with a viewpoint where an emperor came for the sunset

Pelekas is a village of narrow lanes on a hill in the west of the island, a few minutes from the sandy beaches of Glyfada and Pelekas. Above it is the viewpoint called Kaiser's Throne, where Kaiser Wilhelm II is said to have come to watch the sun go down, and from here you can see across the whole island to the sea on both sides. The village has a relaxed, easy-going feel, with old houses, small tavernas and one of the best sunset terraces on Corfu.

Sunset from the Kaiser's Throne
The beaches of Pelekas and Glyfada below
A slow evening in the lanes
The view across the whole island

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Regions

Where to base yourself in Corfu

Corfu Town & Kanoni

The UNESCO old town with its two fortresses, the Spianada and the Liston, the museums, and the peninsula of Kanoni just south, with Mon Repos and the view of Pontikonisi.

The west coast

Paleokastritsa and its bays, the cape of Afionas and Porto Timoni, the hill village of Pelekas, and the sandy beaches of Glyfada and Myrtiotissa.

The north-east coast

Quiet bays facing Albania, from the beach resorts of Dassia and Gouvia to the harbour of Kassiopi, with Kalami and Agni on the way.

The north

Mount Pantokrator and the abandoned stone village of Old Perithia, the sandstone cliffs of Sidari and the long bay of Agios Stefanos.

The south

Flatter, quieter country of olive groves and dunes, with Moraitika, Boukari, the lagoon of Korission and the beach of Issos.

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