Ionian Islands Cruises

The Ionian is the arm of the Mediterranean between western Greece, the heel of Italy, and the coast of Albania, and it is the deepest water in the Mediterranean — the Calypso Deep, in the Hellenic Trench about 63 km (39 mi) southwest of Pylos, bottoms out at 5,109 m (16,762 ft). It is warmer, clearer, and noticeably calmer in summer than the Aegean on the other side of Greece. Its eastern edge is fringed by the seven Ionian Islands, the reason most visitors come.

Seven principal islands off Greece's west coast — Corfu, Paxos, Lefkada, Ithaca, Kefalonia, Zakynthos and Kythira — known collectively as the Eptanisa, the Seven Islands, plus a scatter of smaller ones like Meganisi, Kalamos and Antipaxos. They look and feel unlike the Aegean: green, wooded and far wetter, with Corfu taking 1,111 mm (43.7 in) of rain a year. Venetian rule from 1204 to 1797 and a British protectorate until union with Greece in 1864 left campaniles, arcaded streets and cricket rather than minarets.

Lefkada is one of the better-value Ionian islands, largely because it is reached by road rather than by ferry — a causeway and floating bridge connect it to the mainland, so there is no crossing fee to pay. Tavernas, rooms, and beach days run cheaper than Corfu or Mykonos, though the west-coast beaches around Porto Katsiki and Egremni charge for parking, up to about €12 as of 2026, and Nidri's marina prices climb in August. Yacht charters out of Lefkas Marina are where the real money goes.

The west-coast beaches, first of all — Porto Katsiki and Egremni, white cliffs dropping to water of an almost implausible blue, reached by steep staircases and hairpin roads. It is also one of Europe's great windsurfing bays: Vasiliki's afternoon thermal, known locally as the Eric, arrives around 1 pm and blows Force 4–6. And it is the only Ionian island you can drive to, which makes it the busiest sailing base in the region.

Myrtos is the great postcard of Kefalonia: a wide arc of white marble pebbles between two limestone headlands, with water that reads turquoise because of how the stones interact with the light rather than any trick of photography. You reach it down a steep 2 km (1.2 mi) of hairpins from Divarata, and the shelf drops away fast, so it swims deep and can run a strong shore break. Most small ships and day boats view it from the water, which is arguably the better angle.

Not on foot. As of 2026, the sand at Navagio is closed — restrictions run from 2 June to 31 October 2026 under a joint ministerial decision, banning landings, swimming anywhere in the cove, and vessels approaching within 50 m (164 ft) of the shore — because the limestone cliffs above it keep failing. Still open are the clifftop viewing platform and the boat trips that enter the bay for photo stops, most of them from Porto Vromi, about 4 km (2.5 mi) away. A €3.9 million scheme announced in July 2026 would extend the beach 30 m (98 ft) seaward to protect the wreck of the MV Panagiotis; no reopening date has been set.

Corfu lies at the northern end of the Ionian Sea, off Greece's northwest coast and separated from Albania by a strait barely 2 km (1.2 mi) wide at its narrowest. It is the second-largest Ionian island at 611 sq km (236 sq mi), with about 99,000 residents and Mount Pantokrator rising to 906 m (2,972 ft). Corfu Town's Venetian old quarter, ringed by two fortresses, was inscribed by UNESCO in 2007.

A collapsed cave lake in eastern Kefalonia, near Sami, where the roof collapsed centuries ago, leaving a chamber about 36 m (118 ft) high and 40 m (131 ft) wide, open to the sky. Small rowing boats take visitors across water 20 to 30 m (66 to 98 ft) deep and so clear that the boats appear to hang above the bottom; midday, when the sun drops straight in, is the moment to be there. Excavations in 1962 turned up votive offerings from the 3rd and 4th centuries BC, when it was a sanctuary of Pan.

Ithaca sits in the middle of the Ionian chain, tucked against the northeast coast of Kefalonia and separated from it by a channel of a few kilometers. It is small and mountainous — 118 sq km (46 sq mi), rising to Nirito at 806 m (2,644 ft) — with a population of under 3,000 and a deep, near-landlocked harbor at Vathy that makes it a favorite overnight stop for charter yachts. It is traditionally identified as Homer's Ithaca, an identification that goes back to Strabo and that archaeology has made plausible without proving.

At the purpose-built cruise terminal in Corfu's new port, on the northern side of the town, with berths for several large ships plus an anchorage for smaller vessels. It is roughly 1.5 km (1 mi) to the edge of the old town — walkable in about 20 minutes, though shuttle buses and taxis run the route, and the last stretch along the seafront is the pleasant part. The Old Fortress, the Liston Arcade and the Spianada are all within the old town itself, so a day call covers the UNESCO core comfortably.

The standard week — the so-called Ionian circle — leaves Lefkada or Nidri and runs Meganisi, Kalamos or Kastos, Ithaca, Fiskardo on Kefalonia, then Sivota or Sami and home: about 120–140 nautical miles (220–260 km / 140–160 mi) with no leg over 25 nm. A ten- to fourteen-day version starting in Corfu adds Paxos and Antipaxos and runs to roughly 200–220 nm. Mornings are calm, the northwesterly sea breeze fills in after midday, and there is an anchorage every few miles.

It is the gentlest cruising ground in Greece. The dominant summer wind is the maistro, a northwesterly thermal that gets going around midday, peaks at 10–20 knots (Force 3–5) in the afternoon, and dies at sunset — nothing like the Aegean meltemi, which can hold 30 knots for days. Add short passages, deep sheltered bays, and no significant open-water crossings, and you have the reason most flotilla and first-charter operators base here.

Yes — small ships and motor-sailers work the Ionian from roughly April to October, typically running Corfu to Paxos, Lefkada, Ithaca, Kefalonia and Zakynthos over a week. The islands suit vessels with about 200 passengers or fewer: many of the best calls are at village quays and open anchorages rather than cruise terminals, and the sea stays calm enough for tendering. Larger ships mostly call only at Corfu, Argostoli, and Katakolon on longer Mediterranean loops.

Ferries, mostly short ones. Kefalonia, Ithaca and Lefkada are linked by frequent car ferries across the inner channels; Corfu connects to Paxos by seasonal fast boat in one to two hours and to Igoumenitsa on the mainland year-round; Zakynthos runs to Kyllini in the Peloponnese. Corfu, Kefalonia, Zakynthos, Preveza (for Lefkada), and Kythira have airports, but Paxos, Antipaxos, Ithaca, and Meganisi do not — the boat is the only way in.