The southernmost of the six main Ionian islands, Zakynthos (Modern Greek for Zakynthos), combines underdevelopment with indiscriminate, rampant commercialization. Most of the island is still green and pristine, tourism is growing in well-defined enclaves, and the main resorts seem to manage to expand without particularly harming the quiet outskirts. The island is clearly divided into three zones: the bare, mountainous northwest; fertile middle plain; and the east and south shores filled with resorts.
The largest resort, the rival of colleagues on Corfu , Laganas on the southern bay of the same name serves as a round-the-clock party platform and does not give up its position from Easter until the last flight in October. There are smaller resorts to the north and south of the capital, and the southern peninsula of Vasilikos is notable for its beautiful countryside and beaches, including the luxurious Yerakas. Although high-rise buildings with apartments for visitors and even factories have already appeared on the central plain, it is here that the relatively peaceful part of the island begins: rural estates, vineyards, ancient villages and the ruins of Venetian buildings destroyed by the earthquakes of 1948 and 1953.
The island still produces good wines, such as white Popolare, as well as nougat in powdered sugar mandolato – the best variety is sweetened with honey. Zakynthos is the birthplace of the cantades song genre, and these ballads are heard in the taverns of Zakynthos and throughout the island. And in Laganas Bay, loggerhead sea turtles breed. Such places in the world are few and far between, and as the species is threatened with extinction, fierce disputes between the greedy tourism business and environmentalists do not subside.
South and West of Zakynthos
The business southern edge of the island is the Vasilikos peninsula, which is dominated by the resort of Argassi, where vacationers go on tours, and the vast Laganas Bay with the resort of the same name, where visitors mainly go. At the far southwestern edge of the bay, near the village of Keri, the first in a series of villages on the sparsely populated western shore, the terrain becomes mountainous.
- Resort Argassi
The road from Zakynthos to the southeast passes through the liveliest resort on this bank of the Argassi, although the local beach in some places is no wider than a couple of meters. Traveling on your own, it’s probably better to look for accommodation a little further, nevertheless, the resort is convenient as a starting point for trips deep into the Vasilikos peninsula, and if you really need to stay, try contacting the Vaso or Soula guesthouse, both on the highway, closer to the village entrance, and on the waterfront there are such sophisticated hotels as Locanda and Iliessa Beach.
The culture of the local taverns does not rise above the “Greek nights”, the more striking exception is Venetsiana, in which Greek national food is accompanied by nightly cantades. There are several discos in Argassi, they are the largest and most loved on the urban half of the island, including Vivlos and Barrage, and cheap and fun bars are innumerable.
- Vasilikos Peninsula
The peninsula, stretching from Argassi to the southeast, seems to be perhaps the most attractive part of the island: progress is happily combined with natural beauty. On various maps, various points in the outback are vaguely designated as “Vasilikos villages”, but only a series of seaside resorts, mainly on the eastern coast, are really interesting. The first two are the newly developed Caminha, where comfortable Levantine rooms are rented out, and the more established Porto Zoro, with a much better beach spit, on which stands the moderately priced Porto Zoro hotel and restaurant of the same name.
Away from the shore, amenities can be found in the sprawling village of Ano Vasilikos – this is because it is necessary to serve vacationers on two beaches nearby – Ionio and Banana. Invite to stay there, among other things, apartments Vassilikos on the highway and Angelika by the church. Highway taverns are recommended to visit Kostas’Brother and Gallos, the latter with a French touch, while the Logos bar has great drinks. The secluded Agios Nikolaos lures to its good beach from Argassi, Kalamaki and Laganas, offering daily excursions during the season on a free bus.
The expanding Vassilikos Beach hotel complex sits in the heart of a fast-growing community that already has a number of restaurants and rooms for rent: choosing Christina’s tidy sanctuary is one of the best bargains imaginable on the island, and it has a pleasant environment. At the very tip of the peninsula is its stellar treasure – Yerakas, a delightful crescent of golden sand. Here is one of those piglets that loggerheads have chosen for breeding.
Therefore, the beach is closed to the public from dusk until dawn, but in the excellent Turtle Information Center (Turtle Information Center) you can learn a lot about this species and other inhabitants of the sea. But there is almost nothing else, except for a trio of taverns by the beach – it is recommended to visit To Triodi. Accommodation is best booked in advance through a British agency. The beach attracts crowds of sunbathers, but leaving the city of Zakynthos by bus at 6:00, you can enjoy Yerakas almost alone for several hours.
Compared to Yeracas, Porto Roma, on the east coast and closer to Argassi, is disappointing: sand and pebbles on the shore of a tiny bay, there is a tavern and a bar, rooms are rented by the highway, sometimes unauthorized bivouacs are arranged by especially stubborn lovers of spending the night in the fresh air. Nevertheless, some special, Greek spirit is felt in the place. On the west coast, there is only one beach worth seeing – Daphne, where a paved road now leads. There are a couple of taverns on the beach, including the excellent Mela Beach.
- Resorts Laganas and Kalamaki
Most of the hundreds of thousands of people who come to Zakynthos every year end up in the resort of Laganas. The beach – 9 kilometers around the bay – is good, although trampled down, and the range of entertainment is immense: from water sports to ballooning, sometimes there is also an amusement park. The line of coastal bars and restaurants stretched for a kilometer and a half, and another good kilometer goes along the main street of the village deep into the island. There are places that are open 24/7.
Others are content to play deafeningly loud music until dawn. The competition of video bars with music bars turns the night Laganas into a series of shots from the movie “Bladerunner”, but this is exactly what guests from England like , and here they are in the majority. If this suits you, then it’s better not to find a place on the planet, but if not, rather, legs in hand – and go. Housing is almost completely bought up by tour operators selling tours, but on the southern outskirts there is an unpretentious campsite and rooms are also rented there, where, by the way, it is quieter, or contact the Homeowners Association (daily 8:30-14:00 and 17:00 -20:00).
From the hotels, try your luck at the old-fashioned Byzantio, near the crossroads, or at the Tasoula boarding house between the beach and the campsite, or at the larger Ionis hotel on the main street, on the way to the beach. Among the most authentic traditional taverns are Dionysos in the middle of the main street of the village and Zougras, which, not reaching the river on the road to Kalamaki, and in the second, cantades performers perform almost every night, and you can appreciate quite decent Chinese and Indian cuisine in Butterfly and Estia, respectively. The most popular bars were Kamikazi and Potters, popular clubs like Zeros and End are quieter.
In neighboring Kalamaki, the beach is better than in Laganas, and generally quieter, although sometimes the sounds of a nearby airport annoy. More or less large hotels rely on guests with vouchers, however, Crystal Beach rents rooms on the side, the Spring Tours agency operating throughout the island also helps to find housing for a while. Both Stanis taverns have extensive menus with Greek and international dishes, but the one on the beach is more suited for lunch, while her sister is set for evenings. A great alternative is Zepo’s near the beach, there are several places serving traditional cuisine. Nightlife is in bars like Fire and Down Under on the road to Laganas and in the discos Cave Club and Byzantio on the hillside above the village, where foreign and Greek dance music is played.
- The village of Keri
The village of Keri is hidden in a rocky fold above the cliffs that rise above the southernmost tip of the island. In the village, some Venetian buildings survived, which were spared by the earthquake, including the Church of Panagia Keriu (Virgin of Keriu): Most Pure, they say, once saved the island from being plundered by pirates, hiding it behind thick fog.
An uneven path after 1 kilometer leads from the southern outskirts of the village to the lighthouse, where it’s a sin not to admire the sea, rocky vaults, heaps of stones or sit in a tavern. Next to Limni Keriou, which has become a lazy and picturesque resort, the beach is home to the Turtle Beach Diving Center.
Arrange for rooms at the friendly Limnv guesthouse or look for accommodation through your local Homeowners Association. For food, head to Poseidon, located by the bay on the far side of the village, or Keri Restaurant, which serves good daily meals.
- Western coast of Zakynthos
Buses do not reach the wild western edge of the island and to get there, you need to rent a car or a more powerful motorcycle. Nestled among beautiful and fertile highlands – fields surrounded by olive groves and orchards – Majerado boasts an undamaged architecture. There is a beautiful bell tower near the church of Ayia Mavra, and the rich carved iconostasis and icons are noteworthy in the church itself. The main holiday of the village, one of the most magnificent on the island, is the day of memory of Mavra, celebrated on the first Sunday of June.
Another notable church in the village is Bogoroditskaya Panayia, from the porch of which there are breathtaking views of the middle plain. But it is best to get acquainted with the architecture that adorned the entire island before the earthquake, in Kiliomeno with its traditional 2-storey houses. At first, the village was named after its – Nikolskaya – church of Agios Nikolaos, at which more than 100 years ago they began to build a bell tower, and it already makes a deep impression, but to this day it does without a roof.
The Alitzerini Tavern (usually lunch only) still occupies the cave house built in 1630 and serves excellent traditional dishes. The road from Kiliomeno passes through the nondescript village of Agios Leon, after which you can either turn into a fertile plain or downhill along a newly paved bypass road to the impressive rocky coast at Limgnonas, where there is a cove and a tavern.
Even further, the highway turns to the Kambi farm, perched on the top of a cliff – sightseers frequent the village, admiring the sunset over the sea here, fortunately, the views from a height of 300 meters will not let you down, and for ease of observation, it is worth going into one of the three taverns facing west . The best of them is named after the concrete cross (Greek for stavros) erected over the village in memory of the villagers who were killed in the 1940s by both the soldiers of the Greek royal troops and the Nazis.
The only way to the shore on this edge of Zakynthos leads through the village of Maries, which is in a wooded green hollow 5 kilometers to the north: 7 kilometers of completely passable rut descend to the rocky bay of Stenitis, where there is a tavern and a yacht pier, and another road begins to far the inspiring Vromi Bay, from where speedboats go to To Navajo Bay (Shipwrecks).
North of Zakynthos
The center of tourism in this part of the island is the resorts of Tsilivi and Planos, which pass into each other, a few kilometers north of the capital. Further north, a string of tiny beaches begins, and the lush landscape of the hinterland is dotted with picturesque villages. Behind the resort of Alykes, as you approach the far tip of the island – Cape Skinari, the coast becomes more uneven and ragged, and in the mountainous outback the center of the knitting trade – Volimes is hiding.
- Tsilivi resort, Planos farm and surroundings
Leaving Zakynthos north and inland, the road winds its way past luxurious countryside and mound-like hills. The first local seaside resort, Tsilivi, 5 kilometers north of the capital, essentially merges with the neighboring village of Planos and, in terms of development and construction, competes with Argassi. Unfortunately, the local shores often suffer from oil pollution, which can only be cured by winter storms.
Behind Planos there is a good, albeit no-frills Zante campsite, and despite the fact that numerous vacationers on expensive tours are preferred, there is surprisingly a lot of free accommodation: contact the Anetis coastal hotel: all rooms have air conditioning and TVs or try to rent a room at Gregory’s. It also helps with housing and Tsilivi Travel, located on the road leaving the town inland. Of the handful of tourist taverns, The Olive Tree is the best, while Passage to India features both Chinese and Indian cuisine.
Beer houses like Mambo Club or Planet Pub tend to rely on the British, or at least imitate British pubs. The further along the coast, the quieter and more pleasant the beaches, and there is at least some rental housing and a decent selection of restaurants everywhere. A good option, for example, is Pachia Ammos with the Petra pension and the Porto Roulis fish tavern. Drosia is also good: housing – new Drosia apartments, and food in a prosperous fish tavern – Andreas.
- Alykes resort and its bay
The vast bay of Ormos-Alikon, 12 kilometers north of Tsilivi, in addition to the sandy shores into which the surf hits, is also known for two resorts, the largest in the area. The first one, Alykanas, is a small but growing village, and mostly seaside villas are offered as accommodation for guests. The second – Alykes – is named after the salt pans, the ghostly signs of which are now found outside the village, but it is famous for its beaches, the best north of the capital.
It’s easier to rent a room by the sea through Spring Tours, and behind the office of this agency there are quite a few hotels with sea views: contact the Ionian Star, but the chaotic Eros Piccadilly, which is near the intersection, will cost you the best. Food outlets are plentiful, with the best being Vineleaf, which has rare items like cream-filled jalapeno peppers on its menu, as well as the more mundane Fantasia and Ponderosa taverns.
After Alykes, there are no real resorts on this coast, and there is also, by and large, no bus service. On Xiya beach, 4 kilometers to the north, sulphurous springs beat, and the water flows into the sea, as a result – a proper aroma and a strange feeling for swimmers, who fall either into hot or cool water. Not without pleasantness and a halt, possible on the way north, on the next beach of Makris Gialos: there is a good tavern and a semblance of a campsite built in haste.
After another 6 kilometers there will be a small labor port of Agios Nikolaos, connected by ferry service (daily) to the port of Pessada in Kefalonia . Few visitors stay here, which is probably why perhaps the most luxurious apartments in the Ionian archipelago stand out so brightly – cool stone Nobelos, although there is also a more modest Panorama. Before the ferry, you can eat at the fish restaurant La Storia or the Porto tavern.
From the port you can take a boat to the northernmost end of the island, to the Blue Caves, which bear this name, perhaps with more right than other sights of the same name in Greece , which are countless in the country. Caves, by the way, are very good for snorkelling. As you dive into the water, you will see your skin turn luscious blue. Further, the road snakes through thickets of gorse, past stone walls built without mortar, and rests on the lighthouse on Cape Skinari.
Not far away, on the descent to the pier, behind the Anemomilos windmills, run by a friendly family, you can rent ordinary rooms, as well as the excellent To Faros tavern. The friendly brothers who own the mills also arrange the cheapest boat trips to the Blue Caves (7.50 €; 15 € – together with a visit to To Navajo Bay).
- Katastari, Ayia Marina and Volimes
It is more convenient to explore the settlements and towns in the north of the island by car or a durable motorcycle, although tour mini-buses departing from some resorts are laid along these places, and even municipal buses run (occasionally and not everywhere). But it is here, 2 kilometers inland from Alykes, that the second village of the island after the capital, Katastari, is located. The village obviously does not fit in with tourism, but just because it is more convenient to observe the ordinary – and genuine – life of Zakynthos, away from the crush of resorts and ports.
The most impressive building is the huge rectangular church of the Virgin – Iperaia Theotokos – with a double bell tower and a new small amphitheater for festive performances. Kendro psysteria pampers you with delicious grilled dishes at incredibly low prices. And a couple of kilometers south of Katastari, in the tiny farm of Pigadakya, works – no matter how incredible the Museum of Culture of Verzaio (summer daily 9:00-15:00 and 17:00-19:00; 3 €): exhibited curious things related to to folk culture and agriculture.
The St. Panteleimon Cathedral is also interesting, under the altar of which a well is hidden – which does not happen in the world! A little higher, the Kaki Rahi tavern prepares delicious local dishes. The church in Ayia Marina, a few kilometers southwest of Katastari, impresses with a baroque iconostasis and a bell tower restored using everything left behind by the 1953 earthquake. The bell tower stands separately, like almost everywhere in Zakynthos, in the Venetian style.
Volimes is the center of such a popular trade on the island as embroidery, and in numerous shops they sell the works of local craftswomen. With your own transport, you can ride to the monastery of Anafonitria, 3 kilometers to the south: it is believed that the monastery had a cell of the heavenly patron of the island of St. Dionysius, whose memory (Agios Dionysios) is celebrated twice in Zakynthos: August 24 and December 17. The paved road from the monastery leads to the rocks above Navajo Bay (Shipwrecks): the view from there is hair-raising (far below is a wrecked freighter that ran aground in the 1960s).