Corfu

The Island The Ottomans Never Took

Corfu sits at the top of the Ionian, close enough to Albania that you can read the hillsides across the strait, and its history ran differently from the rest of Greece. Venice held it for four centuries and the Ottomans never did, which is why the old town has arcades and shutters and looks more like the Adriatic than the Aegean. The other difference is water. The Ionian takes real rain in winter, so Corfu is green in a way the Cyclades never are, with something like four million olive trees and cypress on every ridge. If your picture of a Greek island is bare white rock, this is the opposite of that.

The planning decision: which coast

The northeast, from Nissaki up through Agni and Kalami to Kassiopi, is the villa coast. Steep olive covered hillsides, small pebble coves, tavernas you arrive at by boat, and a long standing British connection that gave the stretch its nickname. It is quiet, expensive and where almost every good private house is. Corfu Town, halfway down the east coast, is the culture and the evenings. The west coast has the dramatic scenery at Paleokastritsa and the sunsets. The far south around Kavos is package nightlife and is a different island entirely, so it is worth knowing it exists in order to avoid booking into it.

Season, and a green island's price

May and June are the loveliest months here, when everything is still green from the winter and the sea has warmed. September is excellent and quieter. July and August are hot, busy and the greenery has faded to olive and dust. The rain that makes the island beautiful arrives from late October and is heavy through the winter, when most of the coast closes down. Easter in Corfu Town is famous, with pots thrown from balconies on Holy Saturday, and it is worth planning into rather than around.

Where to base, and getting in

Corfu airport sits just outside the town and has direct summer flights from across Europe plus short domestic hops from Athens. The northeast coast is around forty five minutes from the airport on a road that narrows considerably at the end. Boats matter here more than cars: the coves along the northeast are easiest reached by water, and a small boat for the week is the single best thing you can add to a villa stay. Ferries run to the Albanian coast and down the Ionian to Paxos, which is a fine day out.

Stay strategy

The villa market on the northeast coast is the real inventory here, and for a family or a group it is almost always the better week than a hotel. Among hotels, Domes Miramare occupies a former royal estate on the water at Moraitika with an adults only calm. Angsana Corfu sits above Benitses in a restored hillside property with the best spa on the island. Corfu Imperial holds a private peninsula at Kommeno and is the strongest for families. In town, small conversions inside the Venetian buildings put you in walking distance of the Liston and the fortresses.

When to begin

Six to nine months for a good northeast villa in July or August, which is genuinely competitive and repeats heavily year to year. Four months for May, June and September. If a boat is part of the plan, arrange it with the house rather than on arrival, because the good skippers on that coast are booked for the season.

Four experiences worth building the days around

• A boat day along the northeast coast, anchoring at Agni for lunch, which is the whole reason people come back to this island.
• An evening on the Liston in Corfu Town, the arcade built under French rule and modelled on the Rue de Rivoli, then dinner in the old town.
• Paleokastritsa on the west coast late in the day, when the coach traffic has gone and the light is on the cliffs.
• A drive inland through the olive groves to a mountain village, which is where the island is still entirely itself.

Who this trip suits

Corfu suits villa parties and multi generational families better than almost any Greek island, because the houses are good, the water is calm and there is shade. It suits sailors. It suits anyone who finds the Cyclades too bare or too hot. And it works well paired with a few nights in Athens at either end.

When another plan may fit better

If you want the whitewashed cubes and blue domes, that is the Cyclades and the islands we cover there are the trip. If you want serious archaeology, Crete or the mainland have far more. And if anyone in the party is imagining nightlife, be specific about which end of the island, because the two versions of Corfu do not overlap at all.

Plan it with one accountable advisor

Tell us whether this is a villa week with a boat or a hotel stay with the town in reach, and we will place you on the right coast and hold the house and the skipper together. Our luxury leisure travel planning covers it, and our group travel planning is built for villa parties.