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Ask a Greek to name the Ionian Islands and you get one word: Eptanisa, the Seven Islands. Ask how to island-hop them and you get a shrug, because unlike the Cyclades there is no ferry spine running down the chain. Most crossings go via mainland ports, a car matters more than a ferry pass, and the one beach everyone pictures, Navagio on Zakynthos, is closed to landing and swimming until at least the end of October 2026.
The seven run north to south down Greece's west coast: Corfu, barely two kilometres off Albania at the narrowest point of the strait; tiny Paxos; Lefkada, joined to the mainland by a floating bridge; Ithaca and Kefalonia, separated by a channel you cross in about half an hour; Zakynthos; and Kythira, alone off the southern Peloponnese on the way to Crete. Venice held Corfu from 1386 to 1797 and Britain ran the whole group as a protectorate until 1864, which is why you find free-standing Venetian belltowers, a cricket pitch in Corfu Town and pastitsada on taverna menus.
For where to eat pastitsada made properly, see our best restaurants in Corfu.
We are a Greek team. Vaggelis is a licensed Greek tourist guide and Panos does the research and data, and this guide is built the way we would plan it for a friend: what each of the seven islands is actually like, which one suits which trip, the small islands worth a day, the ferry routes that run in practice, sailing the sheltered Inland Sea, and two itineraries that don't waste days on mainland transfers. Every island also has its own full guide on the site, linked from its section.
Corfu is the Ionian's northern anchor and the only Greek island that was never Ottoman — we've covered it end to end in our guide to Corfu, Greece.
For where to sleep once you're there, see our best hotels in Corfu, fifteen picks from a €50 new-town hotel to the island's benchmark all-inclusive.
For the Cyclades comparison, see the Cyclades vs Ionian Islands guide.
For the Corfu beaches specifically, see the best beaches in Corfu.
For individual island guides: Corfu, Kefalonia, Zakynthos, Lefkada, Ithaca, Paxos.
What Are the Seven Ionian Islands?
The seven main Ionian islands, from north to south, are Corfu (Kerkyra), Paxos (Paxi), Lefkada (Lefkas), Ithaca (Ithaki), Kefalonia (Cephalonia), Zakynthos (Zante) and Kythira. Greeks call the group Eptanisa, and older English books use the Greek-derived Heptanese. Both simply mean seven islands.
Count the small inhabited islands as well and the number climbs to around fifteen: Antipaxos, Meganisi, Kalamos and Kastos, the three Diapontian islands off Corfu (Othonoi, Ereikoussa and Mathraki) and Antikythera, plus dozens of uninhabited islets such as the Echinades and the Strofades. Kefalonia is the largest at roughly 780 km²; Paxos, at about 25 km², is the smallest of the seven.
Where are they? Along Greece's west coast in the Ionian Sea, between the Greek mainland and the heel of Italy. Corfu sits off Epirus and Albania in the north; Paxos, Lefkada, Ithaca, Kefalonia and Zakynthos cluster off the western mainland and the Peloponnese; Kythira lies off the southern tip of the Peloponnese, roughly halfway to Crete, and is governed today from Attica rather than the Ionian Islands region.
Crete is not an Ionian island. It belongs to no island group and is a region of its own, and neither Kos nor any other Dodecanese island is Ionian either. There is also no Ionian peninsula in Greece: the Ionia people sometimes half-remember is the ancient Greek coast of what is now western Turkey, which has nothing to do with these islands.
A Short History: Venice, Britain and 1864
Venice ruled Corfu from 1386 and, island by island, most of the chain until the Republic fell in 1797; Lefkada was the exception, Ottoman for two centuries until Venice took it in 1684. Napoleon's France came next, then the Septinsular Republic of 1800 to 1807, backed by Russia and the Ottomans and usually described as the first self-governing Greek state of modern times. After 1815 the islands became the United States of the Ionian Islands, a British protectorate run from Corfu, and Britain handed them to Greece in 1864.
That history is why the Ionians feel different from the Aegean: Italian-influenced dishes like pastitsada and sofrito, the serenade-style kantades sung with guitar and mandolin, belltowers built apart from their churches, and in Corfu Town a cricket ground on the main square. For where it sits in the bigger story, see our Greek history timeline.
The Seven Ionian Islands at a Glance
The Seven Main Islands, North to South
Corfu (Κέρκυρα): Culture, Greenery, and the Most Beautiful Town
Corfu (Kerkyra) is the northernmost, best-known, and most culturally developed of the Ionian islands. The island has an international airport, a six-century Venetian heritage, an Old Town UNESCO-inscribed in 2007, and a coastline of extreme variety — from the package resorts of the northeast coast to the undeveloped coves of the northwest.
Corfu Town is the reason to visit first, before beaches. The UNESCO-listed Old Town is one of the finest urban spaces in Greece: the French-built Liston colonnade modelled on the Rue de Rivoli in Paris; Spianada Square (the largest square in the Balkans); the Old Fortress on its rocky peninsula; and the labyrinthine kantounia (narrow alleyways) of the Venetian quarter. The cricket pitch on the Spianada is a legacy of British occupation (1815–1864).
Key sights beyond the town: Paleokastritsa (six bays, turquoise water, a clifftop monastery — the most scenic beach destination on the island); Achillion Palace (the neo-Grecian villa built by Empress Elisabeth of Austria in 1889); and Old Perithia (the best-preserved medieval village on the island, largely abandoned in the 1960s, now slowly reviving with stone-house tavernas). For the full beaches guide, see best beaches in Corfu.
See the Corfu travel guide for the complete island guide.
Find top-rated hotels in Corfu on Booking.com, or compare prices on Agoda for the best deal.
Corfu is also the Ionian island with the most to actually do — the UNESCO Old Town, Paleokastritsa's six bays, Porto Timoni and the Antipaxos day trip among them. We've covered the 17 best things to do in Corfu in full.
Paxos (Παξοί): Perfection in Small
Paxos is about 25 km² of olive grove, three harbour villages and turquoise sea. It has no airport, no sandy beaches and no resort infrastructure. What it has is the most perfectly preserved small-island atmosphere in the Ionian group and water of a quality that produces a physical shock the first time you see it.
The three villages — Gaios (main port, Venetian castle on the islet protecting the harbour mouth), Lakka (northern harbour, enclosed by hills, a favourite with yacht traffic), and Loggos (smallest, finest tavernas) — are within 30 minutes of each other on a single road. The island is covered with ancient olive trees, many a thousand years old.
Antipaxos, a short boat ride south, is Paxos's day-trip satellite: even smaller, with a handful of vineyards and two famous beaches, Voutoumi and Vrika. The colour, a saturated turquoise without qualification, comes from a white limestone and sand seabed under very clear water.
See the Paxos travel guide for the complete island guide.
For a hotel on Paxos itself, see our best hotels in Paxos guide.
Lefkada (Λευκάδα): The Best Beaches
Lefkada is connected to the mainland by a 25-metre floating bridge — technically making it a peninsula, though it has always been treated as an island. The connection means easy car access from Athens (5 hours, no ferry), but also means the island fills with mainland Greeks in high summer.
The beaches are the reason to go. Porto Katsiki and Egremni on the dramatic west coast, where limestone cliffs fall hundreds of metres into turquoise water, are consistently ranked among the finest in Greece and Europe. Porto Katsiki is reached by road and boat. Egremni lost its road and stairway in the 2015 earthquake; a rebuilt road and steps reopened in 2021, but check locally before you go, and many people still arrive by boat.
Vassiliki in the south is one of the finest windsurfing and kitesurfing locations in the Mediterranean — the daily afternoon thermal wind creates near-perfect conditions throughout summer and attracts international competition circuits. Nydri on the east coast is the sailing hub, with the sheltered bay and concentration of charter yacht operators.
To explore Lefkada at your own pace, compare car rental prices on Discovercars for the best deals across all islands.
See the Lefkada travel guide for the complete island guide.
Lefkada is the cheapest of the big Ionian islands to sleep on, and the accommodation splits by coast in a way that catches people out — where to stay in Lefkada has the nine areas compared.
Ithaca (Ιθάκη): Homer's Island
Ithaca is where Odysseus came home to. Whether the modern island is Homer's Ithaca is still argued, but excavations at Polis Bay near Stavros turned up an ancient offering inscribed with a dedication to Odysseus, so people in antiquity clearly treated it as his island.
It is a small island (96 km²) of dramatic mountains, sheltered bays, and walking trails between hilltop villages. There are no major beaches — it is primarily for walking, swimming from rocks, and the specific pleasure of being in a place whose story you know intimately. The main town of Vathy is built around the finest natural harbour in the Ionian — a near-circular bay navigable through a narrow channel. The Archaeological Museum of Stavros holds the best evidence of pre-Homeric settlement. The Cave of the Nymphs above Vathy is where Odysseus hid the gifts of the Phaeacians on his return.
See the Ithaca travel guide for the complete island guide.
Kefalonia (Κεφαλονιά): The Majestic Island
Kefalonia is the largest and most geologically dramatic of the Ionian islands. Mount Ainos (1,628 m) dominates the interior — a national park of Abies cephalonica fir trees that grow nowhere else in the world. The devastating 1953 earthquake destroyed most of the island's Venetian architectural heritage; most of what you see was rebuilt from the 1960s onward. What the earthquake could not destroy was the landscape.
Myrtos Beach — white pebbles between limestone mountains, electric turquoise water — is the most photographed beach in the Ionian Islands. Fiskardo in the north escaped the earthquake and preserves its Venetian port town intact — the only village that shows what pre-1953 Kefalonia looked like. Assos is a peninsula village below a Venetian fortress, in a spectacularly narrow isthmus. Melissani Cave is an underground lake partly open to the sky, with water that glows blue-green in midday light.
Robola wine — a dry white made from the indigenous Robola grape on Kefalonia's limestone plateau — is one of the finest Greek white wines. The Robola Cooperative winery continues a tradition Venetian merchants prized enough to export across their empire. Kefalonia is also the island of Captain Corelli's Mandolin — Louis de Bernières's novel filmed primarily at Assos and Fiskardo.
See the Kefalonia travel guide for the complete island guide.
Find top-rated hotels in Kefalonia on Booking.com, or compare prices on Agoda for the best deal.
Zakynthos (Ζάκυνθος): Navagio and the Sea Turtles
Zakynthos (also known as Zante) is best known for a single image: Navagio Beach (Shipwreck Beach), a rusted 1980 smuggler's ship on white pebbles between 200-metre limestone cliffs. Be clear about 2026: landing and swimming in the cove are banned until at least 31 October 2026, boats must stay 50 metres off the shore, and the view from above is only from the official clifftop platform. A boat trip past the mouth of the cove and the viewpoint are still worth doing, and our Shipwreck Beach guide explains exactly what is open.
Beyond Navagio: the Blue Caves on the north cape, where sunlight bouncing off the white rock turns the water an electric blue, best in the late morning; the loggerhead sea turtle (Caretta caretta) nesting beaches of Laganas Bay in the south, a national marine park and the most important loggerhead nesting site in the Mediterranean; and a wide range of beaches from developed resort strips to remote west-coast coves.
The south of the island — Laganas, Kalamaki — is the most resort-developed, specifically aimed at package tourism. The north and west coast are quiet, rural, and dramatically beautiful.
See the Zakynthos travel guide for the complete island guide.
Kythira (Κύθηρα): The Seventh Island
Kythira is the Ionian island most people forget, because it is nowhere near the others. It sits off the southern tip of the Peloponnese, an hour by ferry from Neapoli, and nobody sensibly combines it with Corfu or Kefalonia on one trip. Historically it belongs with them: Venice called it Cerigo, and Britain governed it with the rest of the group until 1864. In practice it is a separate holiday, and a much quieter one.
What it has is a hilltop Chora under a Venetian castle looking down on the beach and harbour at Kapsali, the old fishing village of Avlemonas on the east coast, the Neraida waterfall and old mills at Mylopotamos, and the thirteen-arch stone bridge at Katouni, built in 1826 under the British rather than the Venetians it is usually credited to.
Getting there: short flights from Athens to Kythira's small airport, ferries from Neapoli, less frequent sailings from Piraeus, and a seasonal link to Kissamos on Crete. See our Kythira travel guide for the full island.
The Smaller Ionian Islands Worth Knowing
Between and around the big seven sit the small islands that make the Ionian worth a second trip. Most work as a day from a neighbouring island; a couple are places to disappear for a week.
Meganisi, a 30-minute car ferry from Nydri on Lefkada, has three villages, Spartochori on its ridge, Katomeri and the harbour at Vathy, and the Papanikolis sea cave, named after a Greek submarine said to have hidden there in the Second World War. It is the easiest small-island escape in the group.
Kalamos and Kastos, reached by small ferry from Mytikas on the mainland, are sailors' islands: a harbour village each, a few tavernas, rocky coves and very little else. Kastos has fewer than a hundred year-round residents.
Skorpios, just off Nydri, was Aristotle Onassis's private island and the setting of his 1968 wedding to Jacqueline Kennedy. It was sold in 2013 and you cannot land, but most boat trips out of Nydri sail past it.
The Diapontian islands, Othonoi, Ereikoussa and Mathraki, lie north-west of Corfu, with boats from Corfu Town and Agios Stefanos. Othonoi is the westernmost point of Greece; Ereikoussa has the sandy bay at Porto.
Antikythera, between Kythira and Crete, has a population you could seat in one taverna and is famous for one find: the Antikythera mechanism, the ancient Greek geared calculator recovered from a shipwreck off its coast in 1901, now in the National Archaeological Museum in Athens.
The Strofades, south of Zakynthos, are protected as part of the National Marine Park of Zakynthos and are not open to visitors. For more islands this size across Greece, see our best unknown and small Greek islands.
For how the Ionians compare with the Cyclades and Dodecanese, see our guide to the best Greek islands to visit.
Which Ionian Island Is Best for You?
First visit, culture and an easy airport: Corfu. The Old Town alone justifies it, the airport has direct flights from much of Europe, and the green north-east coast is the gentlest part of the island for families.
The best beaches, with a car: Lefkada. Porto Katsiki, Egremni and Kathisma line the west coast, and you can drive over the bridge from the mainland without booking a ferry.
Scenery, food and wine: Kefalonia. Myrtos, Assos, Fiskardo, Melissani Cave and Robola wine, on an island big enough to fill a week. See things to do in Kefalonia.
Boat trips, turtles and nightlife: Zakynthos. Laganas in the south is the party strip; the north and west are quiet villages, sea caves and clifftop views. See things to do in Zakynthos.
Peace and small-island Greece: Paxos. Three harbour villages, olive groves and the water around Antipaxos, best for three or four nights. See things to do in Paxos.
Walking and Homer: Ithaca. No big beaches, plenty of trails between hill villages, and the easiest add-on to a Kefalonia trip.
Off the map entirely: Kythira, which you combine with the Peloponnese rather than with the other Ionians.
Without a car: Corfu has the best bus network, and Paxos is small enough for a scooter and water taxis. Everywhere else, rent a car.
Choosing between two? Our Corfu vs Zakynthos comparison goes island against island, and our Cyclades vs Ionian Islands verdict settles the bigger question.
Island-Hopping the Ionian Islands: The Key Facts
The Honest Reality
Ionian island-hopping is harder than Cycladic island-hopping. There is no equivalent of the Piraeus-Paros-Naxos-Santorini express route. Most inter-island Ionian connections go via mainland ports — Igoumenitsa in the north, Patras and Kyllini in the south — which adds substantial travel time and requires careful scheduling. A car is strongly recommended.
Weather cancellations on these crossings are routine outside high summer, so if a missed sailing would cost you a non-refundable night, buy a policy with trip delay cover; our guide to travel insurance for Greece compares the plans that pay out for it.
Key Ferry Routes
Schedules change every season and several small Ionian operators don't sell tickets online, so check live sailings on Ferryscanner before you lock in dates. Most summers one operator also runs a single island-to-island service down the chain; Lefkas Traveller, Ilida and the Azimut catamaran have all run versions of it in recent years, but the operator, days and stops change almost annually, so treat it as a bonus rather than the backbone of a plan.
Getting to the Ionian Islands
By air: Corfu (CFU), Kefalonia (EFL) and Zakynthos (ZTH) have international airports with flights from Athens and summer charters from the UK, Germany and much of Europe. Kythira (KIT) has a small domestic airport with flights from Athens. Preveza/Aktion airport (PVK) on the mainland is 25 km from Lefkada. Paxos and Ithaca have no airport.
By car from Athens: Drive to Patras (2.5 hours), Igoumenitsa (6 hours), or Kyllini (3 hours) for ferry connections. Lefkada is accessible directly by road — 5 hours from Athens, no ferry needed.
From Italy and Albania: ferries from Venice, Ancona, Bari and Brindisi cross the Adriatic to Corfu and Igoumenitsa, making the Ionian Islands a natural entry point for overland travellers from western Europe, and fast boats link Sarande in Albania with Corfu Town in around half an hour.
Corfu is also the first Greek port on most Venice-to-Athens sailings, and our guide to the Greece and Croatia cruise routes shows how it fits between Dubrovnik, Kotor and the Aegean.
Ionian Islands Itinerary: Two Practical Options
One Week: Two Islands Properly
Option A (Classic): Fly into Kefalonia — 5 nights exploring the island (Myrtos Beach, Fiskardo, Assos, Melissani Cave, Robola wine). Ferry to Zakynthos for 2 nights (Navagio boat trip, Blue Caves). Fly home from Zakynthos.
Option B (Northern): Fly into Corfu — 3 nights (Old Town, Paleokastritsa). Day trip to Paxos (Gaios harbour, Antipaxos water). Drive to Lefkada for 3–4 nights (Porto Katsiki, Vassiliki, Meganisi day trip). Drive to Athens or fly from Preveza.
Two Weeks: The Full Ionian Circuit
Start at Zakynthos (fly in) → Kefalonia (2 nights; ferry Pesada-Agios Nikolaos) → Ithaca (1–2 nights; small ferry from Sami) → Lefkada (3 nights; ferry from Fiskardo) → Paxos (2 nights; ferry via Igoumenitsa) → Corfu (3 nights) → fly home from Corfu.
A car is essential. Book all inter-island connections in advance in July–August.
Sailing the Ionian Islands
If island-hopping by ferry is the Ionian's weak point, sailing is its strength. The central Ionian between Lefkada, Meganisi, Kalamos, Kastos, Ithaca and northern Kefalonia, which sailors call the Inland Sea, is a pocket of water sheltered by islands on almost every side, with passages of one to four hours and a harbour or anchorage at the end of each. It is the area most often recommended for a first sailing holiday in Greece for exactly that reason.
The wind is the other reason. Instead of the Aegean's meltemi, the Ionian gets the maistro, a north-westerly that usually fills in around midday, blows a comfortable force 3 to 5 through the afternoon and drops at sunset. Mornings are for motoring to a swim stop, afternoons for sailing, evenings for a harbour taverna.
The main charter bases are Lefkas Marina and Nydri on Lefkada, and Gouvia near Corfu Town for the northern route to Paxos. A typical week out of Lefkada loops Meganisi, Kalamos, Kastos, Kioni or Vathy on Ithaca, Fiskardo on Kefalonia and Sivota on southern Lefkada before heading back. To bareboat you need a recognised skipper's licence; without one, book a flotilla, where you sail your own yacht with a lead crew handling the harbours, or a skippered charter.
For routes, costs and booking platforms, see our guides to sailing in Greece and Greece sailing holidays.
When to Visit the Ionian Islands
Best overall: May–June and September–October. The Ionians retain their lush greenery longest of any Greek island group — even in September the hills are green, the flowers in the olive groves are still blooming, and the sea temperature (26°C) is at its finest.
Key difference from the Aegean: the meltemi, the strong northerly that makes Cycladic crossings rough and Cycladic beaches windswept in July and August, barely reaches the Ionian. What you get instead is the maistro, a north-westerly that builds most summer afternoons and drops at sunset: pleasant on land, and the wind sailors plan their days around.
Peak season (July–August): Very busy, particularly Corfu and Zakynthos. Kefalonia and Lefkada handle crowds better due to their size. Temperatures reach 35°C but the Ionian Sea is calmer than the Aegean, so the heat is more manageable.
Ionian Islands FAQ
What are the 7 Ionian islands?
Corfu, Paxos, Lefkada, Ithaca, Kefalonia, Zakynthos and Kythira, listed north to south. Greeks call them Eptanisa, the Seven Islands.
How many Ionian islands are there?
Seven main islands, and around fifteen inhabited ones once you add Antipaxos, Meganisi, Kalamos, Kastos, Othonoi, Ereikoussa, Mathraki and Antikythera, plus many uninhabited islets.
Is Crete an Ionian island?
No. Crete stands alone as its own island and region. The nearest Ionian island is Kythira, which has a seasonal ferry to Kissamos in western Crete.
Which is the largest Ionian island?
Kefalonia, at roughly 780 km², followed by Corfu. The smallest of the seven is Paxos, at about 25 km².
Which Ionian islands have airports?
Corfu, Kefalonia and Zakynthos have international airports, Kythira has a small domestic one, and Lefkada is served by Preveza/Aktion airport on the mainland. Paxos and Ithaca have none.
What islands are near Kefalonia?
Ithaca is the closest, about half an hour from Sami by ferry. Lefkada is reachable from Fiskardo in summer, Zakynthos from Pesada in summer, and Meganisi and the small islands of the Inland Sea are a short sail to the north.
Is Corfu an Ionian island?
Yes. Corfu is the northernmost of the main Ionian islands and the seat of the Ionian Islands region.
Can you island-hop the Ionian Islands without a car?
Partly. Corfu to Paxos, Kefalonia to Ithaca and Lefkada to Meganisi all work as a foot passenger, but most longer hops go through mainland ports with thin bus links, so for more than two islands a car makes life much easier.
Are the Ionian Islands better than the Cyclades?
Different rather than better: greener, with calmer seas and far less wind, while the Cyclades have the whitewashed villages and easier ferry-hopping. Our Cyclades vs Ionian Islands guide scores them category by category.
What group of islands includes Corfu, Paxos and Kefalonia?
The Ionian Islands, the chain off Greece's west coast that also includes Lefkada, Ithaca, Zakynthos and Kythira.
Plan Your Trip
- Corfu Travel Guide — the full Corfu guide
- Best Beaches in Corfu — the 12 Corfu beaches you should not miss
- Kefalonia Travel Guide — the full Kefalonia guide
- Zakynthos Travel Guide — Navagio and beyond
- Lefkada Travel Guide — Porto Katsiki and the dramatic west coast
- Ithaca Travel Guide — Odysseus's island
- Paxos Travel Guide — perfect small-island Greece
- Kythira Travel Guide — the seventh island, off the Peloponnese
- Sailing in Greece — routes, costs and the Ionian sailing circuit
- Cyclades vs Ionian Islands — which group is right for you
- Greece Ferry Guide — how to navigate Greek ferries
- How to Plan a Trip to Greece — full planning framework.
Written by
Athens-born engineer · Coordinates a 5-expert Greek team · 50+ years combined field experience
I write every article on this site drawing on real, first-hand expertise — mine and that of four colleagues who live and work across Greece daily: a Peloponnese tour operator, a transfer specialist across Athens, Mykonos & Santorini, a Cretan hotel owner, and a Northern Greece hotel supplier. Nothing here comes from a single visit or desk research.
Informed by 5 Greek experts
Every destination we cover has been visited and vetted by at least one team member — not for a review, but as part of their daily work in Greek tourism.