Route · 14 days · round-tripYacht charter route · Ionian

Corfu via Lefkas & Ithaka (14 Days).

Two weeks under sail from Corfu: Paxos, Antipaxos, Lefkas, Meganisi, Kefalonia and Ithaka, then the quiet Diapontia outliers on the way home.

The route

Day-by-day route

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Day 1

Corfu (Gouvia Marina) → Paxos (Gaios Harbor)

Thirty miles down the Corfu Channel to Gaios, a Venetian inlet guarded by two islets; settle the lines before the afternoon rush.

Distance

31 NM

Sailing

~6.2h at 5 kn

At a glance

Route at a glance

Best season

May – mid-October (peak Jun – Sep, calmer winds)

Duration

14 days

Departure

Corfu

Sailing area

Ionian

Route summary

Click any day to jump back to the map and see its photos, narrative and mooring tip.

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The full story

Day-by-day journey

Named anchorages, mooring notes and things to do for every leg of the week — the map follows along as you scroll.

Day 1 / 14

Day 1

Corfu (Gouvia Marina) → Paxos (Gaios Harbor)

Leave Gouvia early and let the southwesterly fill in as you clear the harbour mouth. The run down the channel is straightforward, and by the time Paxos rises ahead the slopes read greener than you expect, with olive groves right down to the rock. Gaios is the port everyone aims for. Two low islets, Agios Nikolaos and Panagia, screen the entrance and turn it into a channel barely wide enough for two boats to pass. The old town wraps the inner basin in stone, the layout unchanged since the Venetians set out the campiello. Get your lines made fast, then find a table on the quay. Ask for ladotyri, the local cheese kept under olive oil, and grilled sea bream if the day's catch runs to it. Tomorrow's leg is tiny, so there is no reason to hurry the evening.

Things to do

Dinghy out to the Tripitos sea arch

Espresso on the pastel-blue harbour front

Sample ladotyri, the oil-cured island cheese

Stroll the cobbles to Panagia chapel

Fresh grilled bream on the town quay

Mooring tip

The town quay gives you lazy lines and stern-to berthing for a small fee, with water on the pontoon, but get in before 15:00 in high summer — it's a tight basin that fills quickly. Shut out? Anchor on sand at Mongonissi cove, a couple of miles south, or grab a free buoy over at Lakka.

Day 2

Paxos → Antipaxos

Barely four miles separate the two islands, so this is a swimming day more than a sailing one. Antipaxos has no harbour and no overnight, which keeps it quieter than the crowds elsewhere suggest. Anchor in Vrika or Voutoumi, both floored with pale sand at three to seven metres and free of the weedy patches that dull the colour along other coasts. Sunlight comes straight back up off the bottom and gives you the turquoise the island trades on. There is a single taverna above Voutoumi beach with a handful of tables and a lobster pasta that people plan the day around. Above Vrika, a small vineyard still makes Verdea, the amber house white you will not find bottled anywhere else. Work back along the west coast in the afternoon and look into the cliff caves before the light goes and you have to be off the hook.

Things to do

Anchor off Voutoumi for a long swim

Hike up to the Verdea vineyard

Lobster spaghetti at the Voutoumi taverna

Paddle across the shallows to Vrika

Shoot the west-coast cliff caves

Mooring tip

Anchoring only. Both Vrika and Voutoumi hold well on sand in three to seven metres, but there is no staying the night, so be back at Gaios, Mongonissi or Lakka by dusk. Both bays open to the south, so if a southeasterly is forecast, take your swim early and move on.

Day 3

Antipaxos → Lefkas

This is the long haul of the fortnight, and the only leg the Ionian really makes you work for. There is no comfortable halfway harbour, so plan to slip the anchor by eight and use the calm early hours. Run south in the lee of Paxos first, then bend east toward Kastos or Kalamos, where a lunch stop and a swim sit almost exactly mid-passage. The west-going thermal usually arrives around one o'clock; on the rare day it pushes past eighteen knots you will want Lefkas already on the bow. Nydri is unashamedly a working resort, all water taxis and tavernas that could set your lines in their sleep. If you reach the channel with daylight to spare, ease past Skorpios on the way in. Onassis's old island still keeps its rope across the one small beach, but the water off the cape is anyone's.

Things to do

Swim stop off Kastos or Kalamos

Ease past the Skorpios anchorage

Sofrito veal on the Nydri waterfront

Walk the Nydri waterfalls trail

Kafenio coffee on the quay

Mooring tip

Nydri's long town quay takes 20-plus boats stern-to (small fee, water and power) but expect it full by four in season. Quieter alternatives are Tranquil Bay a mile south on 5-8 m sand, or the little marina at Vlicho another mile on.

Day 4

Lefkas → Meganisi

After yesterday, six miles feels like a rest day, and Meganisi is built for it. The island lies just across a mile-wide channel from Nydri, folding three deep, well-protected bays into a coastline you could drive round before lunch. Papanikolis Cave on the western point is the obvious first stop, a wartime submarine hideout the Greek navy used to duck German patrols, now a ten-minute poke about by dinghy. Above the western bay, Spartochori climbs the cliff in white terraces; the stair-walk up rewards you with the whole of Lefkas laid out behind. The bay tavernas run their own moorings, Niagas in Atheni and Errikos in Vathy among them, and the buoy comes free when you eat ashore, so wander up in the morning and reserve one. Settle on your bay early. The rest of the day is swimming, snorkelling and doing very little.

Things to do

Snorkel the Papanikolis submarine cave

Climb the steps to Spartochori village

Grilled octopus on the Atheni quay

Dinghy a lap around Skorpios

Swim off a south-coast pebble cove

Mooring tip

Vathy, Atheni and Spilia all have restaurant moorings; the buoy is yours for the price of dinner, booked in the morning. For a formal berth, Vathy's small marina has lazy lines and a fee. Holding is reliable on 4-8 m sand and shelter is excellent in any northerly.

Day 5

Meganisi → Kefalonia

Eighteen miles down the sound brings you to Fiskardo, tucked under the northern cape of Kefalonia. When the 1953 earthquake flattened almost every village on the island, this one came through, and its row of pastel neoclassical houses around a tight inner harbour has been photographed half to death ever since. The quay is free but ruthless in August; call the port on Channel 12 before one, or anchor round in Foulis Bay a mile south on 4-6 m sand. Mind the wash off passing yachts in the basin. With a hire car you can reach the Myrtos overlook and the white limestone crescent below, or the flooded cavern at Melissani near Sami, each an easy half-day. Out on the water, the little wreck off Emplisi cove makes a good snorkel. Dinner at Tselenti up the hill or Lagoudera on the front.

Things to do

Walk the pastel neoclassical waterfront

Drive up to the Myrtos Beach overlook

Tour the Melissani underground lake

Snorkel the small wreck off Emplisi

Sundowner at Tselenti up the hill

Mooring tip

Fiskardo's town quay is free but packed by early afternoon in August, and the wash from passing traffic makes it lively, so raise the port on Channel 12 before 13:00. Foulis Bay, a mile south, is the calm fallback on 4-6 m sand with good holding.

Day 6

Kefalonia → Ithaka (Frikes Harbor)

Frikes is the least visited of Ithaka's three ports, the one crews making for Vathy pass over — five miles of open water and you drop in. It stays a fishing harbour first and a yacht stop second, an old windmill on the point above it and a handful of tavernas where the kitchen still cooks whatever came in that morning. Order the octopus stifado; Symposium and Penelope both do it well. Inland, the dig at Stavros lays claim to the foundations of Odysseus's palace, and the small museum in the same village is honest about how contested that still is. If your legs are willing, the goat track north to Kioni is about forty-five minutes each way and gentler than the map suggests. Finish the evening back under the windmill with a glass of Robola.

Things to do

Walk inland to the Stavros dig

Hike the goat path to Kioni

Swim at Polis Bay south of town

Robola wine flight at an ouzeri

Sundowner under the harbour windmill

Mooring tip

Frikes is stern-to on your own anchor, free but with no services, and takes only 8-10 boats, so it pays to arrive by early afternoon. If it is full, Kioni two miles south is another free quay, or drop the hook on sand in Polis Bay. Shelter is solid in everything but a strong southerly.

Day 7

Ithaka → Lefkas (Nidri Port)

Fourteen miles north under the shelter of Lefkas's east coast is a gentle afternoon's work, and a good one to break the trip in half. If the sea is kind, pause at Skorpios as you come through; the small western beach is the only place you are allowed to land, but nobody minds you swimming off the cape. Nydri is the practical stop of the two weeks. It is busy and a touch touristy, and that is the whole point: the laundry, the fuel berth, the supermarket and the phone shop all sit within a couple of hundred metres of the quay, so the chores take an hour rather than a morning. In July and August the mezedopoleia along the front lay on live music most nights, laouto and bouzouki, sometimes a violin. Pick one with a courtyard out back. Take on fuel before six so the morning stays clear.

Things to do

Swim off the Skorpios cape

Refuel at the Nydri fuel dock

Restock at the harbour supermarket

Run a load at the laundromat

Live laouto at a mezedopoleio

Mooring tip

Nydri's quay is stern-to for a small fee with water, power and fuel right alongside, and the berthing is easy on a long wall, but it books out by five in August. Tranquil Bay a mile south is the quiet overnight option on 5-8 m sand.

Day 8

Lefkas → Parga

The day starts with the swing bridge across the Lefkas Canal, which opens on the hour, every hour, so aim to slip your lines around eight and join the queue early; the holding basin north of it takes thirty-odd boats and the crew there feed you through in good order. Once you are out, the southwesterly usually sets up a comfortable beam reach up the Epirus coast, past the Sivota inlets toward Parga. The town spills down a hillside under a fourteenth-century Venetian castle, pastel houses stacked above a curved bay. Anchor off Valtos beach a mile west for the swim, then move into the town anchorage or take a buoy off Krioneri for the night. Saganaki prawns are the order on the harbour front, and the walk up to the castle walls at sunset earns every step of the cliche.

Things to do

Swim in the Valtos Beach shallows

Climb to the Venetian castle for sunset

Saganaki prawns on the harbour front

Wander the lantern-lit old-town stairs

Coffee at the Krioneri beach cafe

Mooring tip

Anchor in Parga bay on 5-10 m sand with good holding, or take one of the few stern-to slots on the small town quay. The bay is open to the south and southwest, so if a southerly is on the way, tuck round into Valtos cove a mile west.

Day 9

Parga → Sivota

Fourteen miles further north lands you at Sivota, the mainland one in Thesprotia rather than its namesake over on Lefkas, and a good deal smaller. The draw is the Blue Lagoon, a two-hundred-metre channel between the Mavro Oros and Mourtemeno islets where the water goes the improbable shade the name promises. Anchor in five to eight metres of sand off Bella Vraka for a long swim, with the sandbar between the islets as the backdrop everyone photographs. Move onto the town quay for the night, where there is water, power and a small fee, and a line of tavernas that make bourdeto, the fiery scorpionfish stew, their calling card. Before dinner, the pine path above Mega Trafos cove is a quiet hour's walk with the bay opening up below you. A mastiha over ice on the seafront rounds it off.

Things to do

Snorkel the Blue Lagoon between the islets

Bourdeto fish stew on the quay

Dinghy over to the Bella Vraka sandbar

Walk the pine path above Mega Trafos

Mastiha nightcap on the seafront

Mooring tip

Stern-to on the town quay for a small fee with water and power, or anchor off Bella Vraka on 5-8 m sand. It is well sheltered from the north and northwest and fine for the night, but weekends get crowded; call the port on Channel 9 if the quay looks tight.

Day 10

Sivota → Sagiada

Sagiada sits about as far north as Greece runs on this shore, eighteen miles up the coast, with the Albanian frontier a couple of miles on and the Kalamas River wetlands spread out just to the south. The change of gear from the Corfu marinas is the reason to come: a quay lined with working caiques, a row of ouzeria with a single table each, and a stillness that explains a lot about the map. This bank of the channel was always the poorer neighbour of the island opposite. Birdwatchers make for the Kalamas Delta at first light, when flamingos and herons work the reedbeds and a boardwalk runs south from the village along the reserve. With your transit paperwork in hand, the crossing to Butrint on the Albanian side reaches one of the Mediterranean's best-kept Hellenistic and Roman sites inside an hour.

Things to do

Dawn birdwatching at the Kalamas Delta

Walk the working caique harbour

Fresh mussels at a quayside ouzeri

Cross to the Butrint ruins in Albania

Sundowner over the Albanian coast

Mooring tip

The little fishing quay is first-come, free and basic, with excellent shelter from any direction. To cross into Albania for Butrint you need a transit log arranged in advance, so lodge it with the marina office back in Corfu before you sail, not on the day.

Day 11

Sagiada → Ereikoussa

Twelve miles out from the mainland lifts you clear onto the Diapontia islands, a scatter of three, Ereikoussa, Othonoi and Mathraki, that sit northwest of Corfu, nearer Italy than Athens and quiet in a way the big island stopped being decades ago. Ereikoussa is the smallest and the easiest to reach: one harbour, one cedar-shaded beach at Braghini, two tavernas and under fifty people wintering here. The walk up to the hilltop chapel takes about forty minutes and, on a clear day, opens the whole Strait of Otranto, with the Albanian mountains one way and the heel of Italy the other. Othonoi, four miles west, makes a good afternoon add-on, with the so-called cave of Calypso on its south shore and a small harbour of its own. Come back for the night; raki and dominoes at the kafeneio is how the evening goes out here.

Things to do

Walk up to the hilltop chapel

Laze on Braghini's cedar-shaded beach

Sail four miles west to Othonoi

Bianco garlic-fish stew at a family taverna

Late raki at the harbour kafeneio

Mooring tip

Ereikoussa's harbour quay is tiny and first-come, or anchor on sand off the main beach in 4-6 m, sheltered from the south and southeast. There is no fuel and no shop worth the name out here, so top up tanks and provisions in Corfu Town before the crossing.

Day 12

Ereikoussa → Kassiopi

Back on the Greek side, sixteen miles southeast, Kassiopi wraps around its headland below a thirteenth-century Byzantine fort. The castle is a ruin: the Venetians pulled down the upper walls in 1386 so the Genoese could not reuse them, though the bailey and lower ramparts still stand and make an easy walk. The village quay is small, eight or ten boats stern-to on their own anchor, and it books up in season, so if your agent has not held a slot, drop into Avlaki Bay a mile east on 4-6 m sand, safe in anything short of a hard northeasterly. The pastitsada up in the plane-shaded squares, cinnamon-spiced beef over bucatini, is the plate to find. If you have the legs, the path up Mount Pantokrator reaches the 906-metre summit and its monastery, with the view running clear across to Albania and back over Corfu.

Things to do

Explore the Byzantine castle ruins

Swim off pebbly Bataria Beach

Hike the Mount Pantokrator trail

Pastitsada beef over bucatini in the old village

Sundowner at the Avlaki beach taverna

Mooring tip

Kassiopi's harbour is small and worth pre-booking in summer, which charter agents usually handle. If there is no slot, the standard overflow is Avlaki Bay a mile east, anchored on sand in 4-6 m and sheltered from the north.

Day 13

Kassiopi → Corfu (Gouvia Marina)

The last passage is a kind one, just twelve miles down the east coast into Gouvia, which leaves most of the day free. If the weather holds and you fancy it, the run round the northwest tip to Paleokastritsa is worth half a day: limestone coves at Agios Spyridon and the cliff climb to the Theotokos monastery, on the headland where Homer wrecked Odysseus among the Phaeacians. If not, drop straight south, berth by mid-afternoon and take a taxi across to the old town for the evening. The Liston arcades, French-built under Napoleon in 1807, run along the Spianada opposite the Old Fortress; take a table on that side for sofrito, veal braised in white wine and garlic, and finish with a kumquat liqueur from one of the shops on N. Theotoki. The fortress sound-and-light show starts around nine in summer.

Things to do

Optional cliff-coast swim at Paleokastritsa

Stroll the Liston under the arcades

Tour the Old Fortress at sunset

Sofrito veal on the Liston

Kumquat liqueur from the Old Port

Mooring tip

Gouvia is the usual last-night berth, with full services, fuel alongside and a taxi rank for the handover run. For dinner ashore instead, the NAOK quay opposite the Old Fortress is a short-stay option, but there is no staying the night there.

Day 14

Corfu → Check-out

Handing the boat back at Gouvia goes smoothly when the prep is done: refuelling slot reserved the evening before, a cleaning window agreed with the base manager, paperwork settled in the office. The technical check wants you alongside by nine on Saturday. Spare hours afterwards are well spent in Corfu Town, a quarter-hour by taxi. On summer Sundays the Spianada — the Balkans' biggest public square — stages cricket beneath the Old Fortress, a quirk that outlived British rule. Inside the palace of St Michael and St George, the Asian Art Museum keeps the country's richest trove of Chinese and Indian pieces. For coffee and loukoumades under the Liston arcades, nobody does it better. Grab a cake of olive-oil soap before you head back to the marina; from there the airport gate is a twenty-minute taxi ride.

Things to do

Cappuccino under the Liston arcades

Watch cricket on the Spianada

Visit the Corfu Asian Art Museum

Buy olive-oil soap as a parting gift

Pack and clean for hand-back

Mooring tip

This is a Gouvia handover: confirm your fuel slot and cleaning time with the base manager the evening before, and have the boat back by 09:00 Saturday for the technical check. The airport is about twenty minutes by taxi from the marina gate.

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Corfu via Lefkas & Ithaka (14 Days).

Day-by-day route

Corfu (Gouvia Marina) → Paxos (Gaios Harbor)

Route at a glance

Route summary