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Route · 14 days · one-wayYacht charter route · Ionian

Preveza via Kefalonia & Zakynthos.

Two weeks under sail from Preveza through Meganisi, Ithaka, Kefalonia and Zakynthos, taking in castles, caves, turtle bays and quiet island quays.

The route

Day-by-day route

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Meganisi
Day 1

Preveza → Meganisi

A gentle 22-mile shakedown south from Cleopatra Marina, through the Lefkas swing-bridge on the hour, to a pick of three quiet Meganisi bays.

Distance

18 NM

Sailing

~3.6h at 5 kn

At a glance

Route at a glance

Best season

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

Duration

14 days

Departure

Preveza

Sailing area

Ionian

Route summary

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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
Meganisi
1
Day 1

Preveza → Meganisi

Week one starts at Cleopatra Marina, the big service base on the Preveza side of the gulf, and the first job is the Lefkas Canal an hour south. The swing-bridge lifts on the hour, so we usually aim for the nine o'clock opening and let the fleet sort itself out in the waiting basin. Once you're through, the afternoon breeze fills in down the east side of Lefkada and pushes you across to Meganisi by early afternoon. It's a small island, one you could drive around in an hour, but it packs in more good anchorages than places twice its size. Atheni in the west is the quiet choice, with Niagas taverna on the water and a stiff climb up to Spartochori on the clifftop. Vathy keeps the small marina and the livelier quay. Save the Papanikolis submarine cave for a dinghy poke tomorrow morning.

Things to do

Dinghy into the Papanikolis submarine cave

Climb the steps to Spartochori village

Long swim off Atherinos Bay

Grilled octopus on the Vathy quay

Sundowner above the harbour at Errikos

Mooring tip

Most bays here run restaurant moorings — you take the buoy free and settle up over dinner. Vathy's little marina has lazy lines and a fee if you'd rather book a berth; holding is good on sand in 4–8 m, and it's well tucked from the north-west.

Ithaka
2
Day 2

Meganisi → Ithaka

Ithaka is where the Homer story really takes hold, and most two-week crews make Vathy their first stop on the island. The harbour is a tight horseshoe, cypress and pale houses stacked up the slopes, Mt Nirito standing over the whole thing and catching the last of the light. The entrance channel is narrow and the cliffs rise steeply on both sides, so take it slow on the way in. Ashore, the walk up to the Cave of the Nymphs, where legend has Odysseus stashing his gifts from the Phaeacians, is a warm half-hour on a dirt track above town. Dexa, the pebble cove just west, is the swim on the way home. For dinner, To Trehantiri or Sirenes on the front both do a proper sofrito, the Ionian's veal-in-white-wine dish. Bag the town quay early in August.

Things to do

Walk up to the Cave of the Nymphs

Swim off pebbly Dexa Bay

Sofrito veal at To Trehantiri

Wander Vathy's old-town lanes

Evening stroll to the harbour battery

Mooring tip

Go stern-to on the Vathy town quay — small fee, water and power, and good holding in 5–8 m of mud, but set the hook hard because the basin is tight. If you arrive after four in high summer and it's packed, drop back to Kioni six miles north for a calmer night.

Asos
3
Day 3

Ithaka → Kefalonia (Asos)

Cross the channel south-west and Kefalonia opens up, all pine and limestone. Assos sits on a little isthmus below its Venetian fortress, the one the Venetians threw up in the 1590s to watch the strait for pirates. The circuit of the walls is an easy hour on foot, with the old cisterns and magazine still standing inside the gate and the view worth the climb on its own. Down below, the bay is the postcard everyone knows — terracotta roofs, dark pines, green water. Myrtos, arguably the island's most famous beach, is a mile away by road; the shot from the cliff on the descent beats standing on the pebbles. Order a glass of Robola, the crisp local white grown on the slopes of Mount Ainos, at whichever taverna has a table in the shade.

Things to do

Walk the Venetian fortress walls

Drive to the Myrtos Beach overlook

Kayak the coves north of the bay

Robola tasting at a hillside taverna

Coastal path through the wild oregano

Mooring tip

Anchor off the village in 5–8 m of clean sand, or grab a second-line stern-to slot on the little quay if one's open. The bay is wide open to the west, so if a westerly shows in the forecast, shift round to Fiskardo or Foulis a few miles north for the night.

Asos
4
Day 4

Kefalonia (Asos) → Asos

No passage today, which is rather the point of booking two weeks rather than one. You can spend the whole day in and out of the water below the castle, or make an excursion of it. Myrtos is the obvious swim, and the crescent under the cliffs does live up to the pictures, though bring reef shoes: the 'sand' is ground-down marble and the beach shelves off fast. Inland, Drogarati is worth the drive, a deep stalactite chamber with acoustics so good they hold the odd concert down there. Melissani sits nearby on the same loop — a sinkhole lake where the roof has fallen in and, around midday, the sun drops a column of light straight onto the water. Lunch is kreatopita, the Kefalonian meat-and-rice pie, at any village kafeneio. No fuel here; save that for Sami.

Things to do

Swim the marble crescent at Myrtos

Tour the Drogarati stalactite chambers

Catch the noon light at Melissani

Kayak across to Foulis Bay

Kreatopita at a village kafeneio

Mooring tip

Stay put at anchor off Assos in 5–8 m of sand. Should the wind back into the west, motor round to Foulis or Fiskardo, three to five miles north, where you'll find better shelter.

Lixouri
5
Day 5

Asos → Kefalonia (Lixouri)

Twenty-five miles sounds like a haul, but you spend all of it tucked in the island's lee, so on a calm afternoon it's mostly motoring on flat water. Break the run at Petani, where gold cliffs frame a deep-water anchorage over sand in 5–7 m; it's the best swim on this stretch. Lixouri sits at the foot of the Paliki peninsula, the quieter counterpart to busy Argostoli over the water. The quay is long and easy, with power and water, and a shady seafront promenade running under tamarisks. Hire a bike at the harbour and roll south to Xi, where the sand is a strange rust-red from the clay cliffs behind and the shallows run out forever. The Calliga winery pours Robola in the hills above town. On a weekend evening you might catch the kantadores, the old mandolin-and-guitar trios, playing in the square.

Things to do

Swim below the cliffs at Petani

Cycle to the red sand at Xi

Robola tasting at Calliga winery

Stroll the Lixouri seafront promenade

Catch the kantadores in the square

Mooring tip

Take a stern-to berth on Lixouri's main quay — small fee, water and power, and plenty of room. If a strong northerly is forecast, the Argostoli quay across the gulf is more sheltered, though you'll share it with more commercial traffic.

Zakynthos
6
Day 6

Lixouri → Zakynthos

Thirty miles of open water carry you off Kefalonia and onto Zakynthos, the last and southernmost of the Ionians. Navagio, the shipwreck beach that turns up on every Greece poster, is the waypoint no one skips: a strip of white sand at the foot of sheer chalk cliffs, with the rusting hull of the Panagiotis half-buried where it ran aground back in 1980. You can't sail in — anchor in the deep water outside the cliffs and take the tender the last stretch. It's strictly a daytime stop, wide open to the north-west, and the cliffs shed rock, so don't linger and mind the buoyed exclusion zone. Round Cape Skinari and run down to Zante Town for the night. The arcaded seafront was rebuilt almost stone for stone after the 1953 quake, and Solomos Square fills up for the evening stroll. Carry some mandolato nougat back aboard.

Things to do

Anchor under the Navagio shipwreck cliffs

Mandolato and ouzo on a Zante terrace

Join the evening volta on Solomos Square

Clifftop view from Cape Skinari

Buy nougat at a harbour bakery

Mooring tip

Go stern-to on the Zante Town quay; it's basic, with water but no power, and no proper marina exists on the island. It's open to the south and south-west, so if a southerly threatens, run eight miles down to Keri Bay and anchor in 5–8 m of sand.

Zakynthos
7
Day 7

Zakynthos → Zakynthos

Think of a day off on Zakynthos as two easy runs, one north and one south of the town, with the afternoon thermal to nudge you home. Up at Cape Skinari the Blue Caves are the morning trip — a run of low sea-arches where the light bounces off the pale rock below and the water inside glows an improbable blue. Local boats run tours from Skinari, but with a snorkel and a torch you can do it off your own tender. To the south lies the marine park around Keri and the little islet of Marathonisi, the main Mediterranean nesting ground for loggerhead turtles. Anchor clear of the buoyed zone off the islet's south end and keep an eye on the surface; through the summer the turtles come up to breathe every quarter-hour or so. Finish with saganaki, the flamed cheese, at a Keri clifftop taverna.

Things to do

Snorkel the Blue Caves at Skinari

Anchor in Keri's warm shallow bay

Watch for loggerheads off Marathonisi

Saganaki at a Keri clifftop taverna

Clifftop walk above Vromi cove

Mooring tip

For a quiet night, anchor in Keri Bay in 5–8 m of sand, holding is reliable; otherwise it's back to the town quay. Around Marathonisi you're inside a national marine park, so anchor only outside the buoyed nesting zone at the islet's south end.

Sami
8
Day 8

Zakynthos → Kefalonia (Sami)

This is the long one — thirty-eight miles back across open water, and the reason the alarm goes early. Slip out of the anchorage by eight, ride the lee of Zakynthos for the first ten miles, then let the north-westerly settle on the beam for the crossing. Sami is a working town on Kefalonia's east side, best known for standing in as the set of the film Captain Corelli's Mandolin; the waterfront survives much as it was shot, and a few tavernas have leaned hard into the connection. Practically, it's the easiest fuel stop in the inner Ionian, with the diesel pump a few metres off the bow. Save an hour for Melissani, the sunlit cave lake up the road, reached by little boats from the visitor centre. If there's time left, Antisamos beach is a five-minute drive north.

Things to do

Boat into the sunlit Melissani lake

Lounge on cinematic Antisamos Beach

Walk the Captain Corelli waterfront

Drive up to the Drogarati cave

Top up diesel at the fuel dock

Mooring tip

Berth stern-to on the Sami quay — small fee, water and power, and the fuel dock right alongside, which makes this the simplest place to refuel all week. It's long and easy to come onto, and well sheltered from the north-west.

Fiscardo
9
Day 9

Sami → Fiscardo

A short twelve miles up the inside of the coast, often under engine in the flat of the afternoon, with the headland opening on Fiskardo from a few miles out. This is the one corner of Kefalonia the 1953 earthquake spared, and the reward is a run of pastel neoclassical houses along the water that has been under heritage protection for decades. It's no secret, so the quay fills by early afternoon in August; a call to the Port Police on Channel 12 ahead of time doesn't hurt. Just east at Emplisi, the ruins of a Roman villa lie in three to five metres of clear water, walls and pottery shards you can pick out without a mask on a still day. For dinner, Tselenti up the hill or Lagoudera on the quay; finish on bakaliaros, salt cod with garlicky skordalia.

Things to do

Stroll the cypress-lined Fiskardo quay

Snorkel the Roman ruins at Emplisi

Bakaliaros at Lagoudera on the water

Sundowner above the harbour at Tselenti

Dinghy to the wreck off the entrance

Mooring tip

The town quay is free but goes early — call the Port Police on Channel 12 as you approach, and try to be alongside by two in high season. If it's full, Foulis Bay a mile east is a good overflow anchorage, 4–6 m over sand with solid holding.

Astakos
10
Day 10

Fiscardo → Astakos

Twenty-two miles east puts you back on the mainland, on a stretch of the Acarnanian coast that almost no charter itinerary bothers with — which is exactly its charm after the camera-crowds of Fiskardo. Astakos is a fishing town first and a yacht stop a distant second: the quay is lined with caiques, the berthing is free, and the little one-table ouzeria along the front haven't yet swapped their menus for something international. The local plate is revithada, chickpeas cooked slow overnight in a clay pot with lemon and oregano; here they'll often put the morning's fish alongside it. Walk a couple of kilometres north to Kounina, a quiet pebble beach reached on a path past olive groves and tamarisk. Pick up a jar of thyme honey from the village shop; the hives sit on the wild hillsides above the town.

Things to do

Revithada with the fishermen on the quay

Walk past olive farms to Kounina Beach

Watch the day's catch come in

Buy thyme honey from the village shop

Sundowner under the tamarisk trees

Mooring tip

Berth stern-to on the free town quay. Holding is only fair over mud and weed in 4–6 m, so back down hard to make sure the anchor has bitten. It's calm at night, but expect a few katabatic gusts off the mountains first thing.

Kastos
11
Day 11

Astakos → Kastos

Eight miles south-west across to Kastos, the long thin island off Ithaka's shoulder that holds fewer than fifty year-round residents and a stillness the rest of the Ionian mostly lost decades ago. One village around the harbour, one free quay, one fig-shaded taverna at its head. The morning walk is up the donkey path to the old stone windmills on the ridge, half an hour with the view back to Ithaka opening as you climb; the mills are roofless now but the masonry holds. On the south coast, Sarakiniko is the swim anchorage, sand in 4–6 m with no road down to it, so you'll often have the place to yourselves unless another crew had the same idea. The kafeneio squeezes its lemonade from the tree on the dock, and dinner is whatever came in that morning. Remember your last fuel and stores were Sami.

Things to do

Swim off quiet Sarakiniko Bay

Climb to the abandoned windmills

Homemade lemonade in the fig shade

Walk the donkey path to Kastos Village

Snorkel the Blue Cave on the south side

Mooring tip

There's a single free quay with no services — space for eight or ten boats at most. Go stern-to, drop the anchor well clear over sand in 5–7 m, and back in gently. It's snug in any wind, but there's no fuel and nothing to provision, so arrive stocked.

Kalamos
12
Day 12

Kastos → Kalamos

Four miles east is barely a passage — you'll likely motor it across on flat afternoon water and hardly bother with the main. Kalamos is Kastos's bigger neighbour, still small and still unfussy, but with two villages: Port Kalamos down by the harbour and Episkopi higher on the ridge, pines running right to the shore. The set-piece is Port Leone on the north coast, a whole stone fishing village left to fall quiet after the 1953 quake wrecked the spring that watered it. Nobody came back, and seventy years on the houses are folding slowly into the bay. Reach it on the ninety-minute coast walk or, easier, by tender. Asprogiali just south of the harbour is the swim, a strand of pale moonstone pebbles under grey-blue water. Order the savoro, small fish fried and steeped in vinegar and rosemary, and watch the goats wander down at dusk.

Things to do

Walk or dinghy to the Port Leone ghost village

Swim the moonstone pebbles at Asprogiali

Hike up to Episkopi village

Savoro fish at the harbour taverna

Watch the goats come down at dusk

Mooring tip

Take a stern-to slot on the single Port Kalamos quay — small fee, water but no power, and room for about a dozen boats. Holding is excellent in 5–8 m of sand, well sheltered from the north-west, though the channel from Kastos can gust in the afternoon.

Preveza
13
Day 13

Kalamos → Preveza

Twenty-eight miles north closes the loop back to Cleopatra Marina, mostly gentle motoring up the inner channel with the Lefkas swing-bridge to time on the way. On hand-back day the four o'clock lift is the usual target; the waiting basin fills through the afternoon in high season, so don't leave it late. Break the run for one last swim at Mytikas, on the mainland side, where golden sand backs a shallow bay with easy anchoring off it. Once you're berthed, it's worth the twenty-minute walk into Preveza. The old town runs in a tangle of Venetian arches behind the seafront, the market street cuts back from the harbour, and the tavernas along Pantokratoras haven't been priced up for tourists. Take on fuel at the marina before evening, put a load of washing through, and go into town for moussaka and a jug of retsina.

Things to do

Last swim off golden Mytikas Beach

Restock provisions in Preveza Town

Moussaka and retsina on Pantokratoras Street

Wander Preveza's Venetian old town

Refuel at the Cleopatra Marina dock

Mooring tip

You'll come back onto lazy lines at Cleopatra Marina, full services and a fee, usually pre-booked through your charter agent. Leave time for the swing-bridge, which lifts on the hour and queues up early in August, and refuel before the technical hand-back.

Preveza
14
Day 14

Preveza → Check-Out

The hand-back itself is painless: papers signed at the desk, the fuel receipt logged, the cleaning time settled the night before. That usually leaves the morning free before your transfer, and it's well spent on the walk into Preveza — the arched old town along the seafront, the café strip on the Pantokratoras front for the first coffee, the small market a street back that sells local thyme honey and Kalamata olives to carry home. If you've time and a car, Monolithi to the south is the longest beach in Epirus, a twenty-two-kilometre run of fine sand behind the pines, with the deep, clean swimming you don't get inside the Ambracian Gulf. Then it's the easiest getaway of any Ionian base: Aktion airport shares the peninsula with the marina, five minutes by taxi across the channel.

Things to do

Morning coffee on Pantokratoras Street

Wander Preveza's cobbled old town

Buy thyme honey at the market

Last swim down at Monolithi Beach

Five-minute taxi to Aktion airport

Mooring tip

Aim to be back at Cleopatra Marina by six on the Friday for the technical hand-back, then sleep aboard and step off by nine on Saturday. The airport is a five-minute taxi or a short shuttle away on the same peninsula, so no early alarm needed.

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