An Enthralling Zakynthos Itinerary: 7 Days on the Ionian Coast

You can get to Zakynthos by air or by sea. Zakynthos International Airport (ZTH) sits around 3 miles south of Zakynthos Town. There are frequent domestic and international flights to Zakynthos Airport, particularly in summer.

By sea, ferries run from Kyllini in the Peloponnese, with the crossing taking around an hour. A private sea taxi is a more flexible alternative to the ferry timetable, and Zakynthos makes a good base for island hopping onward to Kefalonia, Lefkada or Corfu.

For the full picture, including car hire and transfer options, read our complete guide to travelling to and around Zakynthos.

Getting Around Zakynthos

Hiring a car is generally the most practical way to see the island, particularly for an itinerary like this one that moves between the coast and the interior.

• Car hire: covers most of the island, from Zakynthos Town out to the hilltop villages of the interior.
• Private boat charter: the only way to reach Navagio Beach, and the best way to explore the coastline's unspoilt coves and caves more efficiently.
• Local guides: worth arranging for treks and day trips; local knowledge adds real value to the routes.

• Day 1: A Day at Sea, Navagio and the Hidden Coves
• Day 2: Zakynthos Town and the Venetian Castle
• Day 3: Garakas Beach and the Turtles
• Day 4: Beach-Bar Bliss at Porto Roma
• Day 5: Korakonissi and the West Coast
• Day 6: What Olives! The Therianos Farm
• Day 7: Exo Chora and an Evening Trek from Agalas

Start the week on the water. Zakynthos's coastline is full of impeccable coves, grottos and towering cliffs best seen from a boat, so a private motor yacht or sailing charter is worth arranging for the day, skipper, crew and refreshments included.

The obvious highlight is Navagio, Zakynthos’s most popular, most spectacular and most Instagrammable spot on the northwest coast. Taking its name from the shipwreck that has lain on its sand since the early 1980s, the sandy bay is surrounded on three sides by spectacular treetopped white cliffs and is only accessible by boat. This sublime setting and the bay’s transparent, electric blue waters attract the crowds in high summer, but it’s most certainly a sight to behold, both from above and below.

Beyond Navagio, the same charter can take in whichever other coves and caves catch your eye along the way. Read our extensive guide on what you can see on a Zakynthos boat trip for even more inspiration for your holiday.

The capital of Zakynthos, Chora (or Zakynthos Town), is abuzz with activity in the summer months. A few of its historic Venetian buildings survive, and there are some interesting cultural attractions, including the Solomos Museum (dedicated to Greece’s national poet, Dionysios Solomos), and the Post Byzantine Art Museum.

The town’s streets and squares are flanked with bars, cafés and tavernas, and it’s very pleasant to spend time in them, whiling away the hours, soaking up the atmosphere, and watching the world go by.

Above the town, on Bochali hill some 140m up, stands the castle the Venetians built in the mid-17th century, later extended by the British with barracks and other military buildings.

What you can see today is very evocative, not least the the winged lion of Saint Mark above the main entrance. The views, which pan out over Zakynthos Town, the sea, and the Greek mainland, are unforgettable.

A slender headland at Zakynthos’s southeastern tip is home to the paradisiacal sands of Garakas beach. It is where Caretta caretta turtles come to nest, and if you’re in luck you might see one or two.

As an integral part of the island’s National Marine Park, Garakas beach has no tavernas, bars or lidos, but you can purchase refreshments from a minimarket nearby.

Through our partnership with the Conservation Collective and its subsidiary, the Ionian Environment Foundation, we help support vital conservation and sustainability projects that protect this remarkable corner of the Ionian.

One of Zakynthos’s many dreamy sandy beaches is Porto Roma, on the island’s southeastermost tip. Apart from its shallow waters, its views over to the Peloponnese, and its soft sand, Porto Roma is also home to Niko’s, a laidback boho-chic bar serving drinks and great local food.

Open all day long, it’s quite easy to spend hours there, sipping on refreshing drinks, snacking, and swimming in the sea. In fact, we actively encourage it.

Zakynthos's west coast is rugged and dramatic, its high cliffs dropping into some of the clearest water on the island, ideal territory for snorkelling. One of our favourite spots for some underwater exploration is Korakonissi, a narrow inlet with plenty of subaquatic action.

There’s also a panoramic bar there, so after a late afternoon dip you can sit down with a cold drink and enjoy the sunset.

A trip to the Therianos organic farm is a great day our for the entire family. Situated in the village of Kallithea, offering a mix of natural beauty, gastronomic abundance, and authentic Greek hospitality.

You can sample the fruits of the family’s labours, meet their beloved animals, learn about local agricultural traditions, and stock up on olive oil, olives, wine, honey and much more. They even have a line of olive-based skincare products that could be the perfect present for someone back home.

Close the week inland, in the island's southwestern hills. Exo Chora is one of the few villages to have survived the 1953 earthquake largely intact, its Venetian-era houses, 2,000-year-old olive tree, field of 33 wells and preserved watchtower offering a clearer sense of pre-earthquake Zakynthos than almost anywhere else on the island.

An evening trek is an excellent way to close out your trip, and this one in particular is one of our favourites. It starts and ends in Agalas, a mountain village in the southwest of the island that’s known for its old stone houses and timeless streets. Your expert guide will lead you along timeless tracks to the magnificent cliffs below the village to explore a landscape of pure enchantment and pristine nature.

You’ll return to the village in time for a well-earned aperitif and a spiritually uplifting moment watching the sun set into the winedark sea.

Seven days moves through a genuine cross-section of Zakynthos, its internationally-renowned beaches, its quieter corners, its capital and its rural interior, but it's a starting point rather than a fixed route. A Villa Specialist can adjust the order, the pace or the focus to suit how you'd rather spend the week.

Get in touch with a Villa Specialist to begin shaping your own version of this trip.