Corfu Island belongs to the Ionian Islands group and is a popular worldwide holiday destination. It is a green island with a size of about 592 km², which has a multitude of idyllic beaches. The most beautiful beaches are on Zákinthos, unfortunately to the detriment of the turtles that breed there.
Corfu Town (Kerkira), the capital of Corfu, is a Venetia ncity with picturesque streets and at the same time the most beautiful and largest city on the Ionian Islands. The old town is an excellent place to stroll or take a ride in a “Monippo”, a single horse carriage.
When visiting Corfu Town, you should definitely visit the Palace of St. Michael and St. George. A palace that was built by the British between 1819 and 1824 and was later the residence of the Greek royal family. Nowadays it houses the Museum of Asian Art. The exhibits include armor, ceramic and silk work from China, India or Japan, as well as statues and armor. All of them were collected while traveling by the diplomat and Corfiot Grigórios Mános (1850-1929).
Also the banknote museum with a large collection of Greek money or the Byzantine Museum, which opened in 1984 and houses some art treasures, are well worth a visit.
A beautiful and worth seeing church is Agios Spyrídon from 1589. The bell tower has a red dome and is the highest on the island.
After a long sightseeing tour of the city, relax with a coffee under the arcades in Listón. This is a row of cafes that is modeled on the Rue de Rivoli in Paris.
Especially in the north of the island of Corfu, a large number of holiday resorts have emerged. This also includes the strongholds of Sidári and Kassiópi. The mountain Pantokrátor (“the ruler”) is very popular with nature lovers and dominates the picture on Corfu’s northeastern bulge. Its peak is around 906 meters high, and the seaside resorts of Nisáki and Mparmpáti are not far from it.
The south of the island is not so mountainous, but richer in contrast. Here is the place Vátos with its whitewashed houses and many balconies adorned with flowers. The place Benítses is very popular with tourists with its lively night life and the many possibilities for water sports.
There are three still original islands in front of Corfu. These include Ereikoússa with its wonderful sandy beaches, Mathráki or the largest island of these three, Othonoí, which can be reached by ferry from Corfu Town.
Corfu climate
Corfu is located off the southern tip of Albania and the northern Greek mainland in the Ionian Sea, only about two kilometers from the mainland and about 200 kilometers from the Italian boot heel.
According to its southern position on the 39th parallel, the climate is Mediterranean. That means hot, dry summers and mild winters with a lot of precipitation.
The location in western Greece, together with the high mountains on the mainland, ensures significantly more rainfall than in other regions of Greece. In Corfu, for example, an average of 1,300 millimeters of rain is measured, in Athens only 400 millimeters per year. However, around 80% of the rainfall on Corfu falls in the cool winter months. The most rainy days and the highest rainfall is from October to February / March to be expected, with around ten to fifteen days of rain per month. In summer, however, rainfall is rare and mostly limited to thunderstorms. Therefore there are only one or two rainy days a month from June to August.
The temperatures are also typically Mediterranean. Thanks to the island location, it doesn’t get quite as hot in summer, but the maximum temperatures are around thirty degrees on average in the hottest months, i.e. July and August. Temperatures of more than 35 degrees have to be expected now and then not only in the country. These temperatures can appear uncomfortably humid on the east side of the island, here the humidity rises more easily due to the lack of sea breeze. It will be over twenty degrees from May and will remain so until October. In winter, the daytime temperatures are usually still around 15 degrees.
Best travel time for Corfu
The main season in Corfu is from mid-June to early September. Then it’s hot and dry, ideal for beach vacations and water sports like surfing, sailing and diving.
Bathing in the sea is pleasant from June to the beginning of November with water temperatures of over twenty degrees.
The spring months are ideal for sightseeing, outdoor activities such as hiking or mountain biking.
Most of the accommodations and restaurants open from Easter, from April the weather on Corfu will also be much more stable.
From the beginning of November, most hotels and taverns close, although the temperatures can still be mild on some days.
