When people picture a Greek charter they picture the Cyclades — white cubic villages, blue domes, bare rock.
The Cyclades are spectacular and they are also the windiest cruising ground in the Mediterranean. The meltemi blows hard from the north through July and August, and a family who booked their first charter expecting a gentle week can have a genuinely uncomfortable one.
The Ionian is the other Greece, and almost nobody outside the industry knows to ask for it.
A different country, effectively
These islands sit on the western side, facing Italy, and they were Venetian rather than Ottoman for four hundred years. That shows: the architecture has arcades and campaniles, the islands are green with olive and cypress, and the harbours look Italian because in a meaningful sense they are.
The wind is a moderate afternoon breeze that builds around one and drops at dusk. Distances between islands are short. It is entirely normal to spend a week here without a passage longer than three hours.
Corfu and the north
Corfu Town is a UNESCO site with two Venetian fortresses and an arcaded street built in deliberate imitation of the Rue de Rivoli. It is the most cosmopolitan town in the Ionian and worth a night.
The north-east coast is where the boats go: Agni Bay has three tavernas, no road worth using, and mooring lines run out to the yachts. Taverna Nikolas has been in the same family since 1965. This is a very old arrangement and it still works.
Paxos and Antipaxos
Two hours south, Paxos is an island of olive groves with three small harbours — Gaios, Lakka, Loggos — and not much else. That is the appeal.
Antipaxos, immediately below it, is barely inhabited and has water at Voutoumi and Vrika that people compare to the Caribbean without embarrassment. It is a day anchorage; there is nowhere to spend the night and that keeps it as it is.
Lefkada, Ithaca and Kefalonia
The inland sea between Lefkada, Ithaca and Kefalonia is the most sheltered water in Greece — a flooded basin ringed by mountains where the sailing is easy and the anchorages are numerous.
Ithaca is Homer's island and looks much as you would hope: a deep natural harbour at Vathy, a handful of villages, and a landscape that has changed remarkably little. Kioni is a horseshoe of a harbour with three tavernas. Fiskardo on Kefalonia is the only village on the island to survive the 1953 earthquake, which is why its Venetian houses are still standing.
Zakynthos, and the photograph
The Ionian's most famous image is Navagio — a shipwreck on a white beach beneath 200-metre cliffs, reachable only from the sea. It is genuinely as striking as the photographs, and it is busy from mid-morning.
The Blue Caves on the northern tip are the quieter version: sea arches where the water throws blue light up onto the rock above.
Practical notes
- Preveza and Corfu are the usual bases, both with airports and easy transfers.
- The afternoon breeze is reliable enough to plan sailing around and mild enough that nobody needs to be experienced.
- June and September are ideal. Even August is manageable here in a way the Cyclades are not.
- Loggerhead turtles nest around Zakynthos and parts of the marine park are restricted. Your captain will know the boundaries.
The week people book twice
The Ionian does not photograph as dramatically as the Cyclades and it does not have their reputation. What it has is a week that nobody in the party finds difficult.
For a first charter, for a party with children, or for anyone who would rather be sailing than braced against something, it is the more honest recommendation — and it is the one we make most often.
Tell us who is coming and how much sailing you actually want, and we will tell you whether this or the Aegean is the better week.
