Better known individually than by the name of the whole archipelago, the islands of Corfu, Paxos, Lefkas, Ithaca, Cephallonia and Zakinthos include some of the best-known Greek holiday islands. Italianate architecture, cypress trees and olive groves, bathed in a nurturing climate, characterize the islands. Corfu and Zakinthos are the most commercialized, with Cephallonia rapidly catching up, but Lefkas and Ithaca still offer pockets of a rural way of life little touched by tourism. Whatever your plans, the Rough Guide will help you fulfil them.
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Editorial Reviews
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The satellite islands, such as the Dhiapondia islets off northwest Corfu, Meganissi off Lefkadha, and even Andi paxi south of Paxi, are becoming more accessible to adventurous travellers each year. Committed loners and misanthropes might also consider the areas around Korissíon lagoon or Mount Pandokrator on Corfu; the hills around Karya or the little-visited southwest coast, especially Athani, on Lefkadha; the quieter parts of Kefallonia, such as the Lixouri peninsula or Assos; or the northeast of Zakynthos. If you want to live as the Greeks live away from the tourism racket, try the island capitals: Corfu Town has transformed itself in recent years, Lefkadha Town has a lively buzz to it, and Argostoli retains a spacious charm despite being razed by the 1953 earthquake. The other seismic victim, Zakynthos Town, also has a certain class and lovely setting, despite busy traffic detracting from its charm at times. The latter two are particularly authentic, and secondary! towns like Lefkimi on Corfu or Lixouri on Kefalonia are even less influenced by tourism. Of course, some mountain villages still see hardly any outsiders at all.
It’s worth noting that nobody ever came to the Ionian islands looking for cordon bleu food or Scandinavian plumbing, but that applies to just about the whole of the country. In all but the smartest accommodation, bathrooms are haphazard, though rarely insanitary. And while there are excellent tavernas on many islands, most, over the decades, have been content to reach a happy medium with their foreign customers. They generally serve meals lukewarm, following the Greek nostrum that hot food is bad for the system, and on the smaller islands certain vegetables can be difficult to obtain (you could launch a career as a comedian on Paxi by asking for lettuce). Yet these shortcomings have actually entered the mythology of the thousands who return regardless to the islands year after year. One of the reasons they return – beyond some of the finest swimming and watersports in the Mediterranean, the landscape, sunshine and balmy nights out under the Milky Way – is the welcome that all ! but the largest resorts still manage to extend. Despite the pressure of tourism, the islanders remain a disarmingly friendly people, and reserved Britons are often embarrassed by their astonishing kindness. The traditional quality of filoxenia, kindness to strangers, survives, and can take the form of anything from an orange offered from someone’s garden to a meal, a lift or a room for the night. And after decades of handling tourists who insist on speaking their own tongue, islanders are genuinely charmed by attempts to speak their language, even if it’s just a yia sou or kali mera.
WHEN TO GO If you can, it’s best to avoid the islands in late July and most of August, when holidaying Greeks and Italians descend en masse, accommodation is scarce, and temperatures and prices soar. June and early September are just as good for those concerned about fine weather (in fact, the 1990s have seen a number of fairly unstable high summers, with rainy Augusts followed by stunning Septembers and Octobers). In June, the sea is usually warm enough for swimming; in September it can be as warm as a bath.
May, September and October are the times for bargain flights and packages, and, though you may risk short spells of inclement weather, are probably the best times to visit. In May many spring flowers are still in bloom, and villages and villagers are fresh from the winter. In late September and early October you can be blessed with fine weather, warm seas and almost no other visitors. However, bargain package deals in these low-season periods should be carefully scrutinized: some remote resorts (noted in the Guide) close early, often stranding those without the wherewithal to hire transport.
Early May and late October mark the beginning and end of charter flights to the islands, although there’s a mini winter season around Christmas and New Year. Outside these times you have to fly via Athens, but, with the exception of Paxi, every island capital has hotels open year-round, and most local accommodation companies can rustle up some suitable accommodation. When the rafts of knick-knacks are packed away until next season, even the most developed resorts resume their prelapsarian charm, and major towns – in particular, Corfu Town – are to be seen at their best. The only bars or tavernas will be those the Greeks themselves use, which is usually the best recommendation at any time of the year. The winter months, November especially, see spectacular storms in the Ionian, yet it is possible to get sunburnt on Christmas Day. Off-season travel is also the only way to catch the two biggest festivals of the year: pre-Lenten carnival, a Venetian tradition maintained with parades, parties and mischief; and Orthodox Easter, which is celebrated for a full week and can be an extremely moving experience.
Prevailing northwesterly winds affect all the Ionian islands, commonly rising in the afternoon, occasionally developing into the maestro – the Ionian equivalent of the Aegean meltemi – which can blow for three days or more. These winds make the Ionians ideal for yachting holidays and watersports, but can make beaches at exposed resorts hellish. The climate figures given below are averages for Corfu – if any generalizations about Ionian weather can be made in advance, they can be made only about the region as a whole. The archipelago has any number of micro-climates: Lefkadha’s valleys are like little lost Shangri-Las of meteorology, and Paxi gets only a fraction of the storms that gang up on nearby Corfu’s Mount Pandokrator.
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1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A perfect counterpart to Lawrence Durrell's Prospero's Cell,
This review is from: The Rough Guide to Ionian Islands, 2nd Edition (Rough Guide Travel Guides) (Paperback)
John Gill is no Lawrence Durrell, but this is not necessarily bad. While it is highly unlikely that anybody will show any interest in this guide 60 years after its publication, I have to admit that it is quite useful now. Having just returned from a two-week holiday with friends on Corfu and Paxos, I can confirm that we put the guide to good use. It contains the usual blend of the descriptions of attractions, historical information, an occasional topical articles (like The Ionian School of Painting), and of course practical information.As for practical information: the author himself admits that the situation with ferries changes from one year to another, so you have to check it yourself. Most ferry companies have their own Web sites nowadays, and you can also make reservations there. The yearly inflation rate in Greece is about 5%, which you have to take into account when comparing prices in the guide with the actual ones. As for kafenios and tavernas - use your own sense. Recommending or - rarely - advising against some taverna can be useful sometimes, but sticking strictly to your guidebook without looking around, you are no different than the rest of the tourist crowd, are you? And one thing is clear: Mr. Gill doesn't like tourists, especially British tourists. Neither do I (I don't sport any preferential dislike for any nationality, though), nor probably do you, or you would be booking your package holiday in Kavos or Ipsos instead of reading this guide. The attitude of "travellers" towards "tourists" is snobbish in its own way, and if you are put off by it, you probably won't like this guide. If you do consider yourself a traveller rather than a tourist, though, then the Ionian islands might be a good destination for you. I don't remember seeing any McDonald's joint there, so the charming idyllic picture might not be completely lost yet. And, speaking of idyllic pictures, Durrell's autobiographic Prospero's Cell, describing his years on Corfu before WWII, might be a perfect counterpart to this guide.
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