Corfu: The Island That Four Empires Couldn’t Fully Tame

Corfu is unlike any other Greek island, and the reason is visible in the architecture of its old town. Venetian campaniles rise alongside French-built arcaded streets modeled on Paris’s Rue de Rivoli. A British cricket pitch sits at the center of the Esplanade. Byzantine fortresses bookend the old town on both promontories. This island has been ruled by Venice, France, Russia, and Britain — in addition to its own Greek inhabitants — and each occupier left something behind. The result is a UNESCO World Heritage historic center that feels more like a small northern Italian city than any Greek island has a right to.

We have visited Corfu in May and in September and found both visits different and equally good. May brings the island’s exceptional floral display — Corfu is the greenest of the Ionian islands, its olive groves and cypress trees producing a landscape that belongs to a different palette from the sun-bleached Cyclades. September brings the post-summer quiet, the harvests, and the evenings when the old town belongs almost entirely to its residents.

The island’s green character — wetter than the eastern Aegean, sheltered by its position in the Ionian — creates a particular microclimate that supports wildflowers, citrus groves, and the olive trees that have stood here since the Venetians planted them in the 16th century and paid islanders per tree to cultivate them. Eight million olive trees stand on Corfu today, a Venetian inheritance still producing fruit.

Logistics: fly into Corfu (CFU) from Athens or direct from many European cities. The airport is 3km from Corfu Town. Rent a car or scooter to explore the island properly — buses serve the main routes but the most beautiful spots on the north and west coasts require your own wheels.

Why Corfu rewards the traveler who slows down

Corfu Town’s old town (Kerkyra) is genuinely one of the finest historic urban environments in Greece — the two Venetian fortresses (Old Fortress and New Fortress) bookending a network of lanes where washing hangs between Italian-style buildings, the arcaded Liston promenade built by the French in 1807, and the Byzantine and Venetian churches that punctuate every few blocks create an atmosphere that is simultaneously Greek and Mediterranean in the broader sense.

The Old Fortress on the eastern promontory is open to visitors and provides the best views of the old town and the Albanian coast across the Ionian channel — Albania is visible from Corfu on clear days, a reminder of how close Greece gets to its neighbors here. The Church of Saint Spyridon, patron saint of Corfu, is the most visited church on the island: its silver coffin containing the saint’s mummified remains has been carried through the town in procession four times yearly for centuries.

Paleokastritsa on the northwest coast is the most famous beach on the island — a series of coves beneath a headland crowned by the Theotokos Monastery, with water of extraordinary clarity and a Byzantine-era monastery offering views over the coves and the open Ionian. Come in the morning before the tourist buses arrive; the light on the water before 9am is exceptional.

The Canal d’Amour near Sidari in the north is a narrow channel of rock-carved water — legend says swimming through it guarantees finding love, which has made it a tourist destination but has not diminished the remarkable color of the water in the carved limestone.

What should you do in Corfu?

Corfu Town and the Esplanade

Spend a full morning on the Esplanade — the large open space between the old town and the Old Fortress that serves as the social center of Corfu life. The Liston arcade (modeled on the Rue de Rivoli) has been serving coffee and gelato since the French built it in 1807. Cricket is still played on the pitch at the south end — a British legacy so improbable in Greece that it has become a defining part of island identity.

Walk the lanes of the old town from the Liston westward toward the New Fortress: the streets become narrower, the laundry more prevalent, the restaurants more local and less tourist-facing. The campielli (enclosed courtyards) of the Venetian era survive in several places — follow any narrow lane that goes uphill.

Achilleion Palace

The Achilleion was built by Empress Elisabeth of Austria (Sisi) in 1890 as her private retreat, and after her assassination was purchased by Kaiser Wilhelm II. The neoclassical palace sits on a hill south of Corfu Town with formal gardens and statues of Achilles in various heroic poses. The interior is modest; the gardens and the view across the Ionian to the mainland are the reason to visit. Entry €10.

The beaches

Corfu’s best beaches are in the north: Sidari (where the Canal d’Amour is), Agios Stefanos, and the Roda-Acharavi stretch of family beaches. The east coast has calmer water but less scenery. The west coast — Glyfada, Myrtiotissa, Agios Gordios — has the most dramatic cliff-backed beaches. Myrtiotissa (clothing optional, accessible by a steep path or dirt road) was called by Lawrence Durrell the most beautiful beach in the world.

Where should you eat in Corfu?

Rouvas Restaurant in the old town (Solomou Street) is one of the oldest tavernas on the island, operating since 1922, serving traditional Corfiot cooking at prices that have not kept pace with Corfu Town’s tourism surge. The pastitsada and the sofrito are both exceptional. Mains €13-18.

Etrusco outside the village of Kato Korakiana (15km from Corfu Town) is the island’s finest restaurant — Michelin-starred, Italian-Greek fusion from a family with one foot in Tuscany and one in the Ionian. The tasting menu (€85-110) reflects the hybrid character of Corfu itself. Book weeks ahead.

Taverna Agni on the east coast bay of Agni is the classic Corfu taverna experience — tables on a wooden platform over the water, fishing boats tied up alongside, fresh fish landed that morning. The boatmen from Corfu Town still bring clients here by water taxi in summer, as they have for decades. Grilled fish by weight; budget €30-45 per person.

In the old town, the Liston cafes are for morning coffee (slightly overpriced, incomparable for atmosphere), and the lanes behind it have excellent small restaurants for lunch.

Where should you stay in Corfu?

Siorra Vittoria Boutique Hotel in the old town (Stephano Padova Street, €130-200/night) is a beautifully restored Venetian mansion with eleven rooms and a garden, two minutes from the Liston. Breakfast on the courtyard terrace is one of the better hotel breakfasts in Greece.

Bella Venezia in the old town (€100-160/night) is a neoclassical mansion hotel near the Esplanade with elegant rooms and genuinely helpful staff. The location puts you within walking distance of everything in the historic center.

For a beach-focused stay, Marbella Corfu near Agios Ioannis on the east coast (€120-250/night) is a large resort with excellent pools and direct beach access; Villa de Loulia near Peroulades in the far north (€160-280/night) is the best of the smaller boutique options with a pool overlooking the Ionian.

Budget travelers find good value in the Mantouki and Garitsa neighborhoods south of the old town, where small guesthouses and pensions run €40-80/night.

When is the best time to visit Corfu?

May and June are excellent: warm enough to swim, the island at its greenest, and full tourist infrastructure operating without peak-season prices and crowds.

September and October are the ideal balance: warm sea temperatures persisting from summer, significantly reduced visitor numbers, olive harvest beginning in late September, and accommodation 25-35% cheaper than August rates.

July and August bring Corfu’s peak season — the beaches are busy, the old town fills with cruise ship day-trippers in the morning, and accommodation prices reach their peak. The evening atmosphere is excellent; the midday crush at Paleokastritsa is not.

November through April is the quiet season: some coastal businesses close, but Corfu Town functions year-round and the winter light on the Venetian facades has a quality that summer visitors never see.

Corfu connects naturally with the rest of the Ionian: Zakynthos is the island at the other end of the Ionian chain. Athens is accessible by ferry via Igoumenitsa or by direct flight. For a mainland Greece addition, Meteora is 3 hours inland. Find ferries and Corfu villa rentals through our Greece Planning Guide.