Rides in Corfu (island)

On Corfu the way you travel decides what you actually see. Asphalt links the resorts in a loop, and everything else — hillside villages, abandoned farmsteads, bends that open onto the bay and the Albanian coast at once — hangs off the dirt roads. That is why a jeep safari here is not a ride for its own sake but ordinary transport: the vehicles run in convoy, the driver knows where the track is washed out and where there is no room to turn, and by lunchtime you have covered what would take a day on your own.

The routes split by compass point. The northwestern one climbs to Pantokrator and drops back to the coast through mountain villages where half the houses are boarded up and the other half keep a café. The southern route is longer and gentler: hills, olive groves, empty beaches and views over the Korission lagoon. There is also a version that runs south to northwest in a single day, but it is a long programme, taken when time on the island is short.

The sunset safari is a chapter of its own. It is arranged so the last hour falls on the west coast: the cars stop at a viewpoint and the sun goes down into open sea rather than behind a ridge. For anyone who would rather drive themselves there is a convertible for hire — easier than a large car on the narrow northwestern roads, and the roof comes down exactly where the switchbacks above the water begin.