Nature And Outdoors in Corfu (island)

Corfu is the greenest of the large Greek islands, and the reason is meteorological: Atlantic fronts reach it, and rainfall runs several times higher than in the southern Aegean. Hence woodland down to the water, streams that do not dry out, and olive groves counted in millions — under the Venetians every tree planted earned a payment. The high point, Pantokrator, rises to nine hundred and six metres; on a clear day the summit shows the Albanian shore, and a fourteenth-century monastery stands right at the top.

On land the island is explored on wheels and on horseback. Jeep safaris follow the dirt roads of the northwest and the south: abandoned villages, switchbacks, lunch in the hills and a sunset stop on the west coast. The bike route through the south is the calmer option — gentle relief and empty roads. Horse rides run in the foothills and along the beaches, and are probably the only way to reach stretches of shore no vehicle can.

The water leads south. The Blue Lagoon at Sivota and the island of Paxos with its Blue Caves beneath the cliffs make the standard day cruise, with anchor stops for swimming; Antipaxos adds beaches where the colour of the water comes from a white limestone bottom. On Corfu itself people swim in the coves of Paleokastritsa, wedged between wooded headlands — essentially the same views you get from Pantokrator, only from below.