Lefkada: what to see, where to stay and how to get around
Lefkada is the one Greek island you reach without a boat. A channel four hundred metres wide separates it from the mainland, and it was cut by hand — the Corinthians dug it in the seventh century BC, it silted up, the Romans dug it again, the Venetians again after them. Today a causeway and a floating bridge cross it, and the bridge swings open on the hour. Two hours, flat, and the castle guards the crossing rather than the town.
A short history of Lefkada
Lefkada was once a peninsula, and in the 7th century BC the Corinthians dug a canal that turned it into an island. According to legend, the poet Sappho leapt from the white cliffs at its southern tip. From 1684 the Venetians ruled it, followed by France and Britain, and in 1864 it was united with Greece together with the other Ionian Islands. The writer Lafcadio Hearn was born on the island in 1850 and was named after it. Today it is linked to the mainland by a short floating bridge, and it was hit by an earthquake in 2003.
The ten best sights in Lefkada
1Santa Maura CastleBuilt in 1300 on the sandbar, and it guarded the crossing rather than the town
2The LagoonA shallow lagoon behind the town, with fish traps in it that have been worked for centuries
3GyraThe sandbar beach beside the lagoon, with two windmills on it
4Porto KatsikiA white cliff with a wedge of sand under it, and eighty steps down
5EgremniThe 2015 earthquake destroyed the stair down; it is reached by boat now
- 6Kathisma
The long west-coast beach, and the surf is real on a windy day
- 7Pefkoulia
Pines down to the sand north of Agios Nikitas, and space on it
8Agios NikitasA fishing village of one street, and no cars are allowed into it
9Milos BeachTwenty minutes on foot over the headland from the village, or a boat
10KavalikeftaA quiet west-coast cove with rocks standing in the water
Scan with your phone camera to open the map there
What is an audio walk?
Tours in Lefkada →A guide in your headphones: open the walk on our site, walk from stop to stop, and at each one your phone tells its story. No guide, no group, and free. This is the first walk in Lefkada:
Free walking tours in Lefkada
The island you drive to
Lefkada is the one Greek island you reach without a boat. A channel four hundred metres wide separates it from the mainland, and it was cut by hand — the Corinthians dug it in the seventh century BC, it silted up, the Romans dug it again, the Venetians again after them. Today a causeway and a floating bridge cross it, and the bridge swings open on the hour. Two hours, flat, and the castle guards the crossing rather than the town.
- Santa Maura Castle · Built in 1300 on the sandbar between the island and the mainland, and its whole purpose was the channel — whoever held this fort held the only land crossing into the Ionian islands. It was Venetian, then Ottoman, then Venetian again, and the moat around it is seawater.
- Lefkada Town · The town is built in a way you will not see elsewhere in Greece: the ground floors are stone and everything above them is a timber frame clad in painted sheet metal. That is earthquake engineering — after the quake of 1825 the islanders worked out that a light upper storey on a flexible frame does not kill anyone when it falls.
- The Marina · Lefkada sits in the middle of the Ionian, and every yacht crossing between Corfu and Zakynthos passes through the channel here. The bridge opens on the hour, the queue of masts waits for it, and that hourly pause is the rhythm of the whole town.
- Archaeological Museum · In 1905 a German archaeologist named Wilhelm Dorpfeld began digging at Nydri on this island, convinced that Homer’s Ithaca was Lefkada and not the island that carries the name. He spent thirty years on it and found Bronze Age tombs. The theory is not accepted, but the finds are real and they are here.
- The Lagoon · A shallow lagoon behind the town, separated from the sea by the sandbar the castle stands on. The wooden fish traps in it work on the tide and have been used in the same way since Venetian times, and the salt pans beside them were the island’s other export.
- Gyra · The beach on the sandbar itself, with two stone windmills on it that ground grain with the wind off the lagoon. It is the one beach you can walk to from the town, and the water on one side of the strip is sea and on the other is lagoon.
The white cliffs
The west coast of Lefkada is a limestone wall two hundred metres high, and the beaches at the bottom of it are the reason people come to this island. Three of them are famous, one of them lost its staircase in an earthquake in 2015 and can now only be reached by boat, and at the southern end there is a cliff that antiquity made into a story. A full day and a car; the roads are narrow and the descents are steep.
- Agios Nikitas · A fishing village of one street that runs down to the water, and cars are not allowed into it — you park above and walk. It is the only village on the west coast that is actually on the sea; every other one is on the ridge, because the coast here is a cliff.
- Kathisma · The long beach of the west coast, and the one with real surf — the Ionian is open all the way to Italy from here and an afternoon wind builds a swell. The 2015 earthquake dropped part of the cliff onto the southern end of it, and that end has stayed closed.
- Exanthia · A village on the ridge three hundred metres above the sea, which is where the west-coast villages all are — people built up here because the coast was raided and because there is no flat ground below. The sunset from the square covers the whole western half of the island.
- Egremni · Until 2015 you reached this beach down three hundred and fifty steps. The earthquake of the seventeenth of November that year brought the whole slope down, took the staircase with it and widened the beach with the rubble. It is now reached only by boat from Vasiliki or Nydri.
- Porto Katsiki · The name means the goat’s harbour, and it is literal: before the steps were cut, the only animals that could get down here were goats. The cliff behind it is white limestone, the sand is white pebble, and the water is the colour it is because of both.
- Cape Lefkatas · A sixty-metre cliff at the southern tip, and the tradition — repeated by Strabo — is that the poet Sappho threw herself from it over an unrequited love. There was a temple of Apollo here, and the accounts also describe a rite in which a condemned man was thrown from the cliff with birds tied to him to break the fall.
The islands off the east coast
The east coast of Lefkada looks at a scatter of small islands, and two of them are private. One was bought by Aristotle Onassis in 1962 and is where he is buried; the other belonged to a nineteenth-century poet. Behind them the mountain villages grow a lentil with a protected name and the island’s only wine. Half a day with a car, plus a boat if you want to see the islands properly.
- Nydri · The busiest place on the island and the one Dorpfeld dug: the Bronze Age tombs he found above this bay are real, and his grave is on the hill opposite, because he asked to be buried looking at the site he was never able to prove.
- Madouri · The small wooded islet in the bay belonged to the family of Aristotelis Valaoritis, a nineteenth-century poet and member of parliament who left Athens and lived here. It is still private and still in the family, and nobody lands on it.
- Skorpios · Aristotle Onassis bought this island in 1962, and in 1968 he married Jacqueline Kennedy on it. He is buried here, with his son and his daughter. The island was sold in 2013 to a Russian buyer, landing is not permitted, and boats are required to stay offshore.
- Meganisi · The inhabited island opposite, half an hour by car ferry, with three villages and about a thousand people. Most of the men of Meganisi went to sea — the island supplied captains and crews to the Greek merchant fleet for generations, and the large houses in the villages were built with that money.
- Englouvi · The highest village on Lefkada at about eight hundred metres, and it grows a lentil that carries a protected designation — grown on terraces, pulled by hand, and sold by the kilo from the houses. The quantity is tiny and it never reaches a supermarket.
- Sivota · An inlet so nearly closed that from the sea you cannot see there is a harbour behind it, which is why the yachts fill it every night in summer. The village is a single row of tavernas on the quay and the water in front of them is flat whatever the weather outside.
Getting to Lefkada and getting around
- Lefkada Town · The only Greek island you reach by road — a causeway and a floating bridge, no ferry
- The Marina · Yachts crossing the Ionian stop here, and the bridge opens on the hour
Cheap eats in Lefkada
Two things on Lefkada carry a protected name and both come off the mountain: the lentils of Englouvi, grown on terraces at eight hundred metres and pulled by hand, and the salami of the island, air-dried and peppered. Add the lagoon, which supplies the fish, and you have an island that feeds itself. The going rate for a souvlaki is a few euro; a plate of lentils in a village is a little more.
- The town lanes · A few euro, standing, and open past midnight
- Englouvi · Lentils sold by the kilo from the houses; tiny quantity
- Lygia · The fish comes off the boats in front of the tables
- Sivota · One row of tavernas on the quay; book in August
- Agios Nikitas · No cars in the village; the tables are in the street
- Drymonas · A working olive press in a stone village
- Vasiliki · Harbour tables, and the wind drops at eight
- Meganisi · Village tavernas on the island opposite; take the ferry
Museums in Lefkada
A small island with one real archaeological argument in it: a German dug here for thirty years trying to prove this was Homer’s Ithaca. He failed to convince anyone and found genuine Bronze Age tombs anyway, and he is buried looking at them.
- Archaeological Museum · The Nydri finds, and the argument behind them
- Phonograph Museum · A private collection in one room; knock if it is shut
- Santa Maura Castle · Open ground, free, and the moat is seawater
- The timber-framed town · Walk and look up; stone below, timber and metal above
- Cape Lefkatas · A temple of Apollo stood here; nothing is left of it
Nature and day trips near Lefkada
A limestone wall down the west side, a lagoon on the north, a mountain in the middle that reaches twelve hundred metres, and an earthquake in 2015 that rearranged part of the coast. The island is also green — it rains more here than in the Aegean, and the hills are pine and olive rather than rock.
- Porto Katsiki · Eighty steps down, no shade, and go before ten
- Egremni · By boat only since the 2015 earthquake took the stair
- Kathisma · Real surf on a windy afternoon; the south end stays closed
- The Lagoon · Fish traps worked on the tide since Venetian times
- Rachi · The ridge road above the west coast; the drive is the point
- Kavalikefta · A quiet cove with rocks standing in the water
- Sivota · An inlet you cannot see into from the open sea
Things to do in Lefkada with kids
The east coast is sheltered and shallow and the west coast is cliffs and swell — that is the whole decision on this island. Everything below is on the east or in the bay, and the ferry to Meganisi is a half-hour outing that counts as a boat trip.
- Nikiana · Pebble coves, flat water, and shade behind them
- Perigiali · Quieter than Nydri with the same sheltered water
- Ponti · Shallow a long way out; the windsurf schools are here
- Mikros Gialos · A quiet pebble bay on the south-east coast
- Gyra · Walkable from town, with two windmills on the sand
- Meganisi · The car ferry is half an hour and counts as a boat trip
Holy places in Lefkada
The island's churches are small and timber-framed like its houses, because the same earthquakes took them down. The one site that matters is older than all of them and is not a church at all — the cliff at the southern cape, where a temple of Apollo stood and a story about Sappho began.
- Cape Lefkatas · Sixty metres straight down; the fence is there for a reason
- Agios Petros · A village church among the vineyards of the south
- Englouvi · The highest church on the island, and the lentil festival
- Alexandros · A mountain village with its church at the centre
- Exanthia · On the ridge; the bell tower is the landmark from the sea
- Santa Maura · The castle is named after a church that stood inside it
Nightlife in Lefkada
Lefkada has two evenings: the town, which is Greek and late and has nothing to do with tourism, and Nydri, which is the strip. Vasiliki is the third and it is a windsurfers’ evening — it starts early because they are up at seven.
- The main street · Tables out from eight; this is the local evening
- The Marina · Bars along the water, and the masts in front of them
- Nydri · The strip; loud from eleven and it is not subtle
- Vasiliki · Starts early and ends early; windsurfers keep farmers’ hours
- Sivota · The yacht crowd, on the quay, and quiet by midnight
- Exanthia at sunset · The ridge, the whole west below, and no bar at all
Frequently asked questions about Lefkada
What is there to see in Lefkada?
The top sights in Lefkada are Santa Maura Castle, The Lagoon and Gyra. The full list on this page has 10 sights, each with a photo and a short note.
How many days do you need in Lefkada?
Three to four days are enough to see the best of Lefkada without rushing, including at least one walking tour.
Is there a free walking tour in Lefkada?
Yes. sleepntrip has 3 free audio walks in Lefkada, with no guide and no group: your phone tells the story at every stop. The first one: The island you drive to.
How do you get to Lefkada and get around?
The main ways are Lefkada Town and The Marina. Full details are in the transport section on this page.
Where to stay in Lefkada, and for how much?
sleepntrip shows only rooms in Lefkada that meet nine conditions: a good location, high guest scores, cleanliness, and a price of up to $80 a night for two. Pick your dates and see what is free.
Looking for a hotel in Lefkada for your dates?
Only rooms that meet nine conditions, up to $80 a night.