The most beautiful drive on Corfu

A Venetian town, mountain villages and emerald bays in one day

Corfu (Kerkyra) is the greenest and most Venetian of the Greek islands: an island in the Ionian Sea where the water is emerald rather than Aegean blue, with a UNESCO old town full of arcades and fortresses, a mountainous interior with abandoned Venetian villages, and a west coast of clifftop castles and turquoise bays. This drive of about 175 kilometres strings together the eight finest places in a single loop, from the elegant old town via the highest mountain and the jagged north coast to the bays of the west and back.

Unique to Touren.app: you need not start in Corfu Town. Tap "Drive this route from your location" and we rotate the loop so it starts at the point nearest your hotel and brings you back. Everyone drives the same round, but from their own front door.

The route on the map

A schematic overview by Touren.app, not a navigation map. The exact route opens under “Drive this route” or in Google Maps. Map orientation: north is up.

Plan your own route

The 8 places along the route

1. Corfu-stad

Start · the Venetian town

The old town of Corfu is the best-preserved Venetian town in Greece, a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2007. Between two Venetian fortresses run the narrow lanes (kantounia), the arcade of the Liston (built by the French after the Rue de Rivoli in Paris) and the Spianada, the largest square in the Balkans, where the British left their cricket ground. Venetian, French and British, all mixed together.

Practical: park outside the centre (by the New Fortress or the Spianada) and walk in; the old core is largely car-free. Start early, before the cruise crowds.

2. Kassiopi

the riviera · Kassiopi

The road to the northeast follows the greenest coast of the island, past Barbati, Nissaki and Kalami, where the Durrell family lived in the 1930s (of "My Family and Other Animals"). At the end lies Kassiopi, a fishing village around a bay, with the ruin of a Byzantine castle on the headland and pebble coves ringed with tavernas.

Practical: park by the harbour and walk the loop around the bay and up to the castle hill. The coast road there is winding but beautiful.

3. Pantokrator

the roof of Corfu · Pantokrator

Mount Pantokrator is, at 906 metres, the highest peak of Corfu. A winding road climbs via the hamlet of Strinilas to the summit, where a monastery from 1347 and a forest of telecom masts stand. On a clear day you look out over the whole island, the Albanian and Greek coasts and sometimes even the heel of Italy. On the northern flank lies Old Perithia, a half-abandoned Venetian mountain village slowly coming back to life.

Practical: the summit road is narrow and steep with hairpin bends; take it steady and watch for oncoming traffic. There is a small car park by the monastery at the top. Bring something warm, it is windy up there.

4. Sidari

the north coast · Canal d'Amour

At Sidari on the north coast, the sea has carved the soft sandstone into a landscape of striped cliffs, fingers and inlets. The most famous is the Canal d'Amour, a narrow channel between two rock walls; legend says those who swim through it will find their true love. The water there is shallow and turquoise.

Practical: park in Sidari and walk to the western edge of the village, where the rock formations lie. Take care on the cliffs, the sandstone crumbles.

5. Angelokastro

the eagle's castle · Angelokastro

High above the west coast, on a pointed rock of nearly 300 metres, stands Angelokastro, one of the most important Byzantine fortresses of the Ionian and never taken. You reach it through the mountain villages of Lakones and Krini; on the way lies the balcony of the Bella Vista, with the classic view over the bays below.

Practical: park at Krini and walk the last steep path up to the gate. At the top stand a little chapel and the remains of the fortress, with a view all around.

6. Paleokastritsa

the emerald bays · Paleokastritsa

Paleokastritsa is the loveliest spot on the island: six bays of emerald and turquoise water, framed by green headlands, with a white thirteenth-century monastery on a promontory and sea caves you can visit by boat. The classic overview is from above, from the Bella Vista at Lakones.

Practical: park by the monastery or one of the bays; the last stretch down is steep. Visit the monastery with covered shoulders. Small boat trips leave from the main bay.

7. Achilleion

the imperial palace · Achilleion

In the hill village of Gastouri, Empress Elisabeth of Austria (Sisi) had the Achilleion built in 1890, a neoclassical palace dedicated to the hero Achilles. In the gardens stand statues of the dying and the triumphant Achilles, with terraces looking out over the sea. After Sisi it became the summer palace of Kaiser Wilhelm II.

Practical: ample parking at the entrance; ticket at the desk. Palace and gardens can be visited; reckon on about an hour.

8. Kanoni (Pontikonisi)

the classic view · Kanoni

Just below Corfu Town, on the Kanoni peninsula, you have the most photographed view of the island: the little white Vlacherna monastery on its causeway, and behind it the cypress-clad islet of Pontikonisi, Mouse Island, said in legend to be the petrified ship of Odysseus. The airport runway lies right beside it, so aircraft skim low overhead.

Practical: park at the Kanoni viewpoint. On foot you can walk the causeway to Vlacherna; a boat runs to Pontikonisi in season. It is only a few minutes back to town.

Practical: for the rental car, convertible and motorbike

From which place: the route starts in Corfu Town, but you need not start there. Tap "Drive this route from your location" and Touren.app rotates the loop to the point nearest your hotel, so you set off from your own front door and return to it. Many hotels lie along the east coast (Dassia, Ipsos, Kontokali) or in the north (Acharavi, Sidari).

For which vehicle: Corfu has no motorway. The coast roads are wide, but the mountain roads to Pantokrator, Angelokastro and Lakones are narrow and winding; take it steady and watch for goats, scooters and oncoming traffic. A joy in a convertible or on a motorbike.

Pantokrator as the big climb: the summit is the highlight, but the narrow hairpin road up costs the most time. With only half a day, skip the climb and drive the coastal loop; you still keep the town, the Canal d'Amour, Paleokastritsa and the Achilleion.

Best time: May, June, September and October are ideal: warm water, a green interior and quiet roads. Corfu is greenest in spring. July and August are hot and busy; drive early then and save the mountains for later in the day.

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