Greece · Ionian Islands
Corfu
The most Italian of the Greek islands: a Venetian old town the Ottomans never took, wrapped in olive groves and clear-water coves.
Corfu sits at the top of the Ionian chain, greener and wetter than the Aegean islands and shaped by four centuries of Venice rather than by the Ottomans. Its UNESCO-listed Old Town is the reason to come first: a tall, shuttered, Italianate maze wedged between two sea fortresses, with an arcaded promenade the French built and a cricket pitch the British left behind. Beyond it the island runs from olive hills and cliff-backed western coves to a mountainous northeast and a long strip of package resorts that give Corfu its double reputation.
Suggested stay
4–7 days
Language
Greek
Currency
EUR
Timezone
UTC+3
Why you'll love Corfu
The Old Town six storeys of Venetian shutters and arcades packed between two sea fortresses, still a lived-in city rather than a preserved one
Green island olive groves planted under Venice, cypress ridges and a real mountain spine, a world away from the bare Cyclades
Two coasts cliff-backed coves and clear water in the west, sheltered pebble bays looking across to Albania in the northeast
Odd inheritances cricket on the main square, ginger beer, kumquat liqueur and a Habsburg palace built around a statue of Achilles
Best time to visit
Mar-Sep
16-32° days
39.591° N, 19.860° E
UTC+3 · Europe/Athens
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Weather & when to go to Corfu
Month by month: typical highs and lows, rainfall and rain days.
✓ Best Mar-Sep
Cards tinted by calculated verdict · big number = typical daily high, small = low · hover for conditions
When to avoid Corfu
August is the crush: charter flights land full, the north-coast resorts run at capacity and prices peak, so aim for either side of it. Corfu is also the rainiest corner of Greece, and from late autumn most resorts, seasonal boats and beach tavernas simply close for the winter, which is an access problem rather than a weather one. Corfu Town stays open all year.
Top things to do in Corfu
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Corfu Old Town - Venetian lanes and the Liston arcade
history culture arts 👍 PopularA UNESCO-listed grid of narrow kantounia between six-storey tenements, opening onto the Spianada, the largest square in Greece. The French-built Liston arcade runs down one side, modelled on the Rue de Rivoli, and cricket is still played on the green in front of it - a British protectorate habit that never died out.
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Old Fortress and New Fortress - the walls that stopped the Ottomans
history scenic 👍 PopularThe Old Fortress stands on a rock islet cut off from the town by a Venetian moat, with a lighthouse, a Georgian garrison church and the best view back over the roofs. The bulkier New Fortress above the port has tunnels and bastions you can walk. Between them they turned back three Ottoman sieges.
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Achilleion Palace - the Achilles villa above Gastouri
history culture arts 👍 PopularEmpress Elisabeth of Austria built this neoclassical villa in the hills south of town as a shrine to Achilles, and Kaiser Wilhelm II bought it after her murder. It is heavy, strange and very photogenic, with terraced gardens of statuary and a long view down over the coast.
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Paleokastritsa - monastery headland and west-coast coves
scenic nature wildlife ⭐ Highly recommendedA cluster of small bays under wooded cliffs on the northwest coast, with a working monastery on the headland above the water. Local boats run from the beaches out to sea caves and to coves you cannot reach on foot. It is the island's signature scenery and it gets busy by late morning.
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Mount Pantokrator - the island from its summit
scenic nature wildlife ⭐ Highly recommendedThe highest point on Corfu, reached by a switchback road up through hill villages to a monastery and a spiky mast on top. On a clear day you see the whole island laid out, the Albanian mountains across the strait and, sometimes, the heel of Italy on the horizon.
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Angelokastro - the Byzantine castle on the northwest cliffs
history scenicA ruined fortress perched on a rock pinnacle high above Paleokastritsa, never taken in any of the sieges it faced. It is a short steep climb from the road for a chapel, cisterns cut into rock and a drop straight to the sea on three sides.
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Kanoni, Vlacherna and Mouse Island - the view on every postcard
scenic historySouth of town a causeway runs out to the small white monastery of Vlacherna, with the cypress-covered islet of Pontikonisi just beyond it. Planes come in low over the lagoon behind you. The wooded Mon Repos estate nearby holds the ruins of ancient Corcyra and the villa where Prince Philip was born.
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Church of Saint Spyridon - the island's patron in his silver casket
history culture artsThe red-domed bell tower is the tallest thing in the Old Town, and inside, the mummified body of Corfu's patron saint lies in a silver reliquary. Corfiots credit him with breaking the sieges and the plagues, and carry him through the streets in procession several times a year.
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Museum of Asian Art - a British palace full of Asian art
culture arts historyThe Palace of St Michael and St George, built for the British Lord High Commissioner at the head of the Spianada, now houses one of Europe's better collections of Chinese, Japanese and Indian art. The combination makes no sense at all, which is half the pleasure.
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Old Perithia - a Venetian ghost village on Pantokrator
history off beaten pathOne of the oldest villages on Corfu, built high in the mountains away from pirates and then almost entirely abandoned when people moved down to the coast for tourism. Stone houses stand roofless among walnut trees, a few tavernas have reopened, and restoration is slowly under way.
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Corfu Trail - walking the island end to end
hiking scenicA waymarked long-distance route running the length of Corfu from the far south to the northwest tip, through olive terraces, ridge tracks and hill villages, and usually walked in about ten days. Individual sections make good half-day walks, and spring is the green window before the heat.
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Corfiot cooking - pastitsada, sofrito and bourdeto
foodThe island's kitchen is more Venetian than Greek: pastitsada, spiced beef or rooster over thick pasta; sofrito, veal in garlic and vinegar; bourdeto, fish stewed in hot red pepper; bianco, fish with garlic and lemon. The local liqueur is made from kumquats, a fruit the British introduced.
Best areas to stay in Corfu
$ Budget $$ Mid-range $$$ Premium
Corfu Town (Kerkyra)
First-time visitors $$Venetian lanes, forts and evening promenade
Explore hotels in Corfu Town (Kerkyra) →
Paleokastritsa
Scenery and swimming $$Cliff coves under a hilltop monastery
Explore hotels in Paleokastritsa →
Kassiopi and the northeast
Calm and upmarket $$$Quiet harbour village, villa country
Explore hotels in Kassiopi and the northeast →
Acharavi and Roda
Families and beaches $Long sandy north-coast resort strip
Explore hotels in Acharavi and Roda →
Agios Gordios
Laid-back beach $Wide west-coast beach under olive cliffs
Explore hotels in Agios Gordios →
Live nightly prices from Booking.com, Agoda and others, centred on Corfu
Getting to & around Corfu
Getting there
Fly into Corfu (CFU) just south of the Old Town, or cross by car ferry from Igoumenitsa on the mainland
Flight
Corfu International Airport (Ioannis Kapodistrias) (CFU)
About 3 km south of the Old Town, on a spit beside the Chalikiopoulou lagoon, so approaches skim the water past Mouse Island. Taxis take under ten minutes and a town bus runs into the centre; most villa and package arrivals are met by a transfer coach. The terminal is small and charter-heavy, so summer arrivals bunch.
Ferry
Corfu Port
Frequent car ferries cross from Igoumenitsa on the mainland in around an hour and a half, and are how most Greek and overland traffic arrives
Ferry
Corfu Port
Overnight Adriatic ferries from Italian ports on the Patras run call at Corfu, taking cars and foot passengers
Ferry
Corfu Port
Fast passenger boats reach Saranda in Albania in about half an hour, which makes Corfu a common way in and out of the southern Albanian coast
Coach
Corfu KTEL bus station
Long-distance KTEL coaches run from Athens and Thessaloniki and ride the Igoumenitsa ferry across with you; a long day, but the cheap way in
Getting around
Hire car
The way to see the island: the interior is switchbacks and olive terraces, and buses thin out fast away from the main coasts
TBC
Green KTEL buses
Island-wide routes out of Corfu Town to the main resorts and villages; buy at the station kiosk or pay the driver, and check the last service back
TBC
Blue town buses
Frequent local routes around Corfu Town and its near suburbs, including Kanoni, Benitses and Gastouri for the Achilleion
TBC
Walking
The Old Town is a car-free tangle of lanes and steps, so you park outside the walls and go in on foot
Free
Taxi, scooter and quad
Ranks in town and at every resort; scooters and quad bikes are everywhere in season, on narrow roads that punish inexperience
TBC
Day trips from Corfu
Paxos and Antipaxos
Full dayIsland hopping
The two small islands south of Corfu. Paxos is olive groves and three tiny harbours, with sea caves and white cliffs along its west side; Antipaxos is barely inhabited and has the clearest water in the Ionian. Most people go on a boat that swims at both.
Getting there
ferry | tour
Around 1 hr 30 by day-cruise boat or fast ferry from Corfu Town
Butrint and Saranda, Albania
Full dayAncient city abroad
A UNESCO-listed ruined city layered Greek, Roman, Byzantine, Venetian and Ottoman, set in oak forest beside a lagoon. Take your passport: this is a scheduled international crossing into a different country, and worth checking the rules for your nationality first.
Getting there
ferry | tour | car
About 30 min by fast ferry to Saranda, then a short drive south
Parga
Full dayMainland harbour town
A tiered amphitheatre of pastel houses under a Venetian castle on the Epirus coast, with a beach on either side of the headland. Boat trips run on from there to the Acheron springs, the river the ancient Greeks took for the entrance to the underworld.
Getting there
ferry | car | tour
Direct excursion boat in season, or ferry to Igoumenitsa then about an hour by road
Diapontia islands
Full dayOuter islets
Three small green islands off the northwest tip. Othonoi is the westernmost point of Greece and claims Calypso's cave; Erikoussa has the easiest sandy beach; Mathraki is barely populated. Very little happens on any of them, which is the entire point of going.
Getting there
ferry | tour
About 1 hr by local boat from Agios Stefanos in the northwest
Korission Lagoon and the south
Half dayDunes and lagoon
A long freshwater lagoon behind a dune bar on the southwest coast, backed by juniper and cedar and good for birdlife, with the wide empty sands of Halikounas and Issos on the seaward side. The least developed stretch of coast on the island.
Getting there
car
About 45 min by car from Corfu Town
A little history of Corfu
Corfu is Homer's Scheria in most readings, the Phaeacian island that gave the shipwrecked Odysseus his last boat home. As Corcyra it was a Corinthian colony that grew into a naval power in its own right, and by the fifth century BC it was rich enough to pick a fight with its mother city. That quarrel dragged Athens in and helped touch off the Peloponnesian War, whose opening pages Thucydides gives over to the island's own savage civil strife.
What you see today is Venetian. Venice held Corfu from 1386 to 1797, planted the olive groves, raised the fortresses and turned back Ottoman sieges in 1537, 1571 and most famously 1716 - which is why Corfu is the one substantial part of Greece that was never absorbed into the Ottoman empire. Then came the French, who built the Liston, and a British protectorate that left cricket, ginger beer and a neoclassical palace behind before handing the Ionian Islands to Greece in 1864. Wartime occupation brought heavy bombing of the Old Town and the destruction of a Jewish community that had lived there for centuries; mass tourism followed in the 1960s.
Corinthian settlers found Corcyra, which grows into a naval power of its own
Corfu places itself under Venice, beginning four centuries of Venetian rule
The first great Ottoman siege breaks against the island's fortifications
The last Ottoman siege is repelled and Corfu stays outside the empire
Venice falls and the Ionian Islands pass to France, then through a run of short-lived regimes
The British protectorate of the United States of the Ionian Islands is established
Britain cedes the Ionian Islands to the Kingdom of Greece
Under German occupation, the Old Town's Jewish community is deported and largely destroyed
Corfu Old Town is inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage list
Know before you go
Payment
Cards & cash mixed
English
Widely spoken
Wifi
Reliable
Power
Type C / F
230 V, 50 Hz
Dialing
+30
Mobile network & SIM card
Get an eSIM before you fly
A Greece eSIM installs in minutes and works the moment you switch off flight mode. No SIM swap, no roaming bill.
FAQs about Corfu
▸ When is the best time to visit Corfu?
March to September is the good stretch, and May, June and September are the pick: warm sea, everything open and none of the August crush. July and August are hot and full. From October the island turns wet - Corfu is the rainiest corner of Greece - and most resorts close for winter, though Corfu Town carries on.
▸ How many days do you need in Corfu?
Four covers the Old Town, one coast and the Achilleion without rushing. A week is the natural stay if you have a car: the north, the western bays and the mountain villages are each a separate day, and the island is bigger and slower to drive than it looks.
▸ Do you need a car in Corfu?
Not if you are staying put in one resort. Yes if you want the western coves, Pantokrator and the hill villages: the green buses are infrequent and stop early in the evening, and the interior roads are narrow, steep and much better driven in daylight.
▸ Is Corfu good for families?
It is one of the classic family islands. The north coast around Acharavi and Roda has long shallow-shelving sand and purpose-built resorts within a flat walk of everything, while the west coast is prettier but steeper, pebblier and more prone to swell.
▸ What is Corfiot food like?
More Venetian than Greek. Look for pastitsada, spiced beef or rooster over thick pasta; sofrito, veal in garlic and vinegar; bourdeto, fish stewed in hot red pepper; and bianco, fish with garlic and lemon. The island liqueur is made from kumquats, a fruit the British brought in.
▸ Can you day trip to Albania from Corfu?
Yes, and many people do. Fast boats cross the strait to Saranda in about half an hour and the ancient site at Butrint is a short drive on from there. It is a full international crossing, so bring your passport and check the entry rules for your nationality.
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