Beach Guide
Beaches near the villa
Corfu has two quite different coastlines, and knowing which one suits your day is most of the trick. The villa sits on the sheltered east side, with the wilder west coast about forty minutes across the island.
East coast or west coast?
The east coast, where the villa is, faces the mainland across a narrow channel. The water is sheltered, calm and shallower close in, and the beaches tend to be a mix of fine shingle and sand. This is the side to choose with young children, for swimming rather than surf, and for mornings when you want to be in the water twenty minutes after leaving the house.
The west coast is the dramatic one: sandy bays beneath cliffs, open sea, bigger skies and the island’s sunsets. It is more of an outing — around forty minutes’ drive — and the sea has more movement in it. Most people staying a week end up doing both.
Kontokali Beach — about 5 minutes
The closest option and the easiest. Calm, shallow water, sunbeds and beach bars, and tavernas a short walk back. It is well suited to a lazy morning swim or an afternoon with children, and being five minutes away means you can go twice in a day without it being an expedition.
Gouvia — about 5 minutes
Smaller and sheltered, next to the marina. Less of a beach day in its own right than Kontokali, but a pleasant swim combined with a walk along the quay and lunch by the water.
Dassia — about 10 minutes
A longer beach with clear water and a livelier atmosphere, and the nearest place for water sports. If you want a full day on a lounger with things happening around you, this is the closest one that delivers it.
Ipsos and Barbati — 15 to 25 minutes
Continuing north, Ipsos gives you a long strip along the road, busy and cheerful, with water sports and a lively evening scene. A little further on, Barbati sits beneath the slopes of Mount Pantokrator and is the one to choose for water clarity — pebbly underfoot, strikingly clear, and quieter in feel than Ipsos.
Both are comfortable drives up the coast road, with the mainland mountains across the water for company.
Paleokastritsa — about 40 minutes
The island’s most famous stretch of coast, and worth the drive across. A series of small bays enclosed by green headlands, with a monastery on the point above and startlingly clear water below. Small boats run from the bays to sea caves and coves that cannot be reached on foot.
It gets busy in high season. Going early, or late in the afternoon when the day-trip coaches leave, makes a considerable difference.
Glyfada and the sunset coast — about 40 minutes
For proper sand and open sea, the west coast beaches below the village of Pelekas are the ones. Glyfada is the best known: a broad sandy bay backed by cliffs, with organised facilities and reliable swimming. Agios Gordios further south is similar in spirit with a wilder feel.
This is the side of the island to be on at the end of the day. The sunsets are the reason people drive over, and the reason they stay for dinner afterwards.
Boat trips
From the marinas along this coast you can arrange trips out to smaller beaches and coves that are awkward or impossible to reach by road, and longer excursions to the islands south of Corfu. It is one of the better ways to spend a day if the beaches start to feel familiar — and it puts the island’s coastline in context in a way the road never quite does.