Where to Stay
Corfu for Luxury Travellers: The North-East Coast and the Old Town
The island that was never Ottoman, looks nothing like the Cyclades, and keeps its best stretch quietly to itself. A guide to the parts worth your money.
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A Greek island that is not quite Greek#
Corfu spent four hundred years under Venice, then a spell under France, then fifty years as a British protectorate. It was never taken by the Ottomans - the only part of Greece that can say so - and the result is an island that looks, eats and behaves unlike anywhere in the Aegean.
The old town has arcades and shuttered six-storey townhouses rather than whitewashed cubes. The food has Venetian bones: sofrito and pastitsada are closer to Italian braises than to anything in the Cyclades. There is a cricket pitch in the main square, left by the British, still in use. The local soft drink, tsitsibira, is ginger beer.
And it is green - properly, densely green, with something like four million olive trees and cypresses on every ridge. That is not an accident of taste. Corfu receives more rain than anywhere else in Greece. The landscape people come for is the direct product of weather they would not want on holiday.
Where to stay#
The four Corfus
| North-east coast | Corfu Town | Kommeno & the east | West coast | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| What it is | Steep green coast of coves and villas | Venetian UNESCO old town | Resort peninsulas near the capital | Dramatic cliffs and sunset beaches |
| The product | Private villas, many with jetties | Boutique hotels in historic buildings | Large five-star resorts | A mix, plus mass-market stretches |
| Swimming | Deep, clear coves - pebble not sand | None in town | Calm, organised, resort beaches | Sandy, open, sometimes rough |
| Evenings | Taverna in a cove, often by boat | The best on the island, walkable | Hotel dining mostly | Varies enormously by village |
| Need a car | Yes | No | Helpful | Yes |
| Best for | Villa weeks, families, boats | Culture, food, two to three nights | Full-service resort stays | Sunsets and beach days |
Our callThe classic Corfu week is two nights in the old town followed by five on the north-east coast - ideally in a villa with a boat. If you want a hotel to do everything for you, take one of the Kommeno or Dassia resorts instead and drive north for lunch.
The north-east coast#
A fifteen-kilometre stretch between Barbati and Kassiopi where Mount Pantokrator drops almost directly into the sea. The road runs high along the slope; the villas sit below it among olives and cypresses, many with their own steps down to a jetty.
The coves - Nissaki, Kalami, Agni, Kerasia, Avlaki - are small, pebbled and very clear. Several of the best tavernas are easiest to reach by boat, and renting a small outboard for the week is completely normal here. Across the strait, close enough to read the hillsides, is Albania.
This stretch has been quietly British since the 1960s - Lawrence Durrell wrote Prospero's Cell in the white house at Kalami, which is still there and still serves lunch - and it remains the island's discreet money. There are almost no large hotels, because there is almost nowhere to put one.
Where to stay on the north-east and east coast
Corfu Imperial, Grecotel Exclusive Resort
Kommeno - private peninsula, 20 min from town
The island's grande dame: an entire wooded peninsula with its own bays, bungalows and villas with private pools, and the shortest transfer to both the airport and the old town. The most complete resort on Corfu.
Angsana Corfu Resort & Spa
Benitses - south-east, hillside
A Banyan Tree group property on a steep terraced hillside above the sea, with a large spa and sweeping views toward the mainland. More contemporary and more design-led than its neighbours.
Rate bandTop band
Spa-led stays and architecture that is not Venetian pastiche.
Check rates on Booking.comDomes Miramare, Autograph Collection
Moraitika - east coast
Adults-only, low-rise and on a quiet waterfront, with private-pool suites and a restrained register. A good middle path between a villa and a large resort.
Private villas, Kalami to Kassiopi
North-east coast
The real luxury product on this coast. Stone houses in olive terraces, most with pools, many with private steps to a jetty, usually with a manager and a cook available. Almost nothing here is a hotel, which is the point.
Corfu Town#
The old town is a UNESCO site and deserves it: two Venetian fortresses, a grid of tall shuttered lanes called the kantounia, and the Liston - an arcaded terrace built by the French and modelled on the Rue de Rivoli, now the island's open-air drawing room.
In front of it is the Spianada, the largest square in Greece, with a cricket pitch in the middle of it.
Two nights here is the right amount: enough for the fortresses, the Antivouniotissa museum, a proper dinner and an evening drinking under the arcades, without eating into beach time.
Corfu Town is the only Greek island capital where the obvious thing to do in the evening is simply to walk.
The rest of the island worth a day#
Paleokastritsa on the north-west coast: a cluster of deep bays under cliffs, with a hilltop monastery and the island's most photographed water. Busy at midday, lovely at six.
Porto Timoni, reached by a steep walk down from Afionas - a double bay with a beach on each side of a narrow isthmus. One of the best swims in the Ionian and an honest twenty-minute climb back.
Mount Pantokrator, the island's summit, with a road to the top and a view across to Albania and down the whole east coast.
The west-coast sunsets at Pelekas, where a stone platform known as the Kaiser's Throne was built so Wilhelm II could watch them.
Getting there and around
Fly direct - the airport is in the town
Corfu (CFU) takes direct seasonal flights from across Europe, and the runway ends about three kilometres from the old town. Transfers are short: ten minutes to town, forty-five to the north-east coast.
Hire a car for the north-east
The coast road is narrow, winding and steep down to each cove. A small car is far better than a large one here. Compare hire cars on Corfu.
Rent a boat for the week
On the north-east coast this is the local habit rather than an indulgence - small outboards need no licence in most cases and turn every cove and taverna into an easy afternoon. Boats on Corfu.
Book the arrival transfer
Short, but worth arranging if you land late or are heading straight north. Pre-book a transfer.
Frequently asked questions
Which is the best area to stay in Corfu?
The north-east coast between Nissaki and Kassiopi for villas, coves and boats. Corfu Town for culture and dining. Kommeno or Dassia for large full-service resorts near the capital. Avoid booking blind in Kavos or Sidari, which serve a very different market.
Is Corfu good for luxury travel?
Yes, but the luxury here is mostly private rather than branded - villas with jetties rather than a dense cluster of five-star hotels. If you want a resort to do everything, Corfu Imperial and Angsana are the strongest options.
Why is Corfu so green?
It receives more rainfall than anywhere else in Greece, mostly outside the summer. That is what supports the olive groves and cypresses, and it is the main visual difference from the Cyclades.
When is the best time to visit Corfu?
Late May to June, and September. May is exceptional for walking and wildflowers. July and August are hot and busy, particularly on the west coast. The season runs comfortably from April to October.
Do you need a car in Corfu?
On the north-east coast and the west, yes. If you are staying in Corfu Town for a short break, no - the old town is pedestrian and the airport is minutes away.
Corfu or the Cyclades?
Corfu for green landscape, a real historic town, villas with boats and a longer season. The Cyclades for whitewashed villages and sharper light. They look nothing alike, and Corfu is the easier arrival.
The short version#
Two nights in the old town, five on the north-east coast, a small boat for the week, and a car small enough for the coast road.
Book the village, not the island. On Corfu that distinction is the whole difference.
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