Overview of Our Trip
We landed in Athens at 6am and had 5 nights to spend in Greece before flying out of Athens again. Since we landed so early we decided to take advantage of the day and go straight to Zakynthos Island. This meant a 3.5 hour drive and then a 1.5 hour ferry to reach the island. We spent 4 nights there and wished we had more time. Then we went back to Athens to spend our last 24 hours in Greece there exploring the traditional Athens sights.
Zakynthos Island
Zakynthos (or Zante, which is it's Italian name) is the third largest island in the Ionian Sea. It's about 160 sq mi with about 76 miles of gorgeous coastline with views of some of the bluest water you'll ever see in your life. The main city on the island has the same name, Zakynthos, and there are several other smaller villages on the island as well, all traditional Greek style with narrow cobblestone streets and colorful houses with red-tiled roofs. We stayed in Zakynthos town and had easy walking distance to the water and all of the restuarants and shops we could want. There were a couple of other towns we saw that we thought would be nice to stay in including Argassi if you want to be a little more removed from things but still have access to lots of cute restuarants on the water, or Laganas if you want to be closer to the party scene.
We brought our rental car over on the ferry so we had that while we were on the island (check your rental agreement because some companies will charge extra for that. Avis did not though.) I think there are some public transportation options on the island but obviously we didn't use them and I don't think they would be able to get everywhere we wanted to go so I was glad we had a car. Plus it was so much fun to drive around the island! Most of the roads are really curvy as they wind up or down the various small mountains. You're also able to see all of the quintessential Greek sights including the cute villages and all of the olive trees everywhere. And also the little stands which are selling olive oil and fresh fruits. Plus you are frequently treated to an unexpected but nonetheless outstanding view of the mountains and sea in the (sometimes not so distant!) distance.
Our first night we ate at a really cool seafood place in town called Thymalos which had a really fun and quirky atmosphere and it was right across the street from the water. They have a ton of different fish and you can order exactly what you want. It was recommended to us by our host and although the food wasn't really my style Matt really liked it a lot and the experience warrants a visit. That evening we also got to wander around the town a bit which was good since we didn't actually get to do much of that the rest of our stay.
Our first day we drove up to Cape Skinari (the northern most tip) and hired the company there to take us to the Blue Caves which was really cool and one of the reasons we picked this island. The blue water reflects off of the white cave walls and gives everything a blue color. The key when going to the Blue Caves is to hire a small boat that can actually go into the caves, and preferably one with a glass bottom so you can look down and see the blue coral and how clear the water is. You can find companies from Zakynthos town which will take you all the way up there which would take more time but since we had the flexibility of the car we choose to save the time and money by driving as far as we could.
The same company offered to take also take us to the famous Shipwreck beach for an additional 5 euro/person so we did that as well since that was our next stop anyway. They switched us into a larger boat and drove around the island about 20 minutes which was really cool to see some of the island from the boat as well; there were gorgeous views of the cliffs. We arrived at Shipwreck Beach (aka Navagio Beach) and we all ooh'd and aah'd at how beautiful it was. It's surrounded by high cliffs (and thus only accessible by boat). The beach is made of small white pebbles and the water is as blue as you can imagine. The MV Panagiotis has been beached there since 1980 which adds some nice contrast to the lovely area and also gives the beach it's name. We spent an hour there climbing on the boat and taking a ton of pictures.
After getting back to our car we decided to also drive to the viewpoint over Shipwreck Beach as well, which was almost as good as being on the beach in person. From up above you can get such a great view of the beach and how gorgeous it is. Definitely worth the drive and the 15 minute hike!
That same day on our way back to town we stopped at Porto Limnionas which was a nice area where you could jump into the water from the rocks, although we opted not to do that since it was early evening by that point. We made it back to town and enjoyed a wonderful Italian dinner at another place recommended to us by our host called Alesta. Matt got a traditional Mediterranean dish there called pastitsio which was really good.
I decided to spend the next morning scuba diving and had a good time. I got to see a school of small barracuda and also a couple of moray eels which were peaking out at me from their dens! I found that there were lots of interesting dive sites around the area, including caves, reefs, and shipwrecks and if time or money wasn't a factor I would've enjoyed exploring more of them. But what I did get to see wasn't nearly the same (read: as beautiful) as diving the Great Barrier Reef.
We spent the rest of that day at Vassilikos peninsula and hanging out at Dafni beach. It was quite the drive getting there on some narrow curvy roads but it was worth it. It was a relatively secluded beach with (free!) sunbeds/umbrellas and a sandy beach. There was also an establishment right there to provide food, drinks, and bathrooms.
That evening after washing up we decided to drive across to the west coast and get dinner where we could watch the sunset. We picked a great spot (another recommendation from our host) called Machali's Sunset Taverna.
Most of our last day on the island was spent hanging out at Gerakas Beach. It's a really nice beach with soft sand and crystal clear shallow water with hardly any waves. There are sunbeds and umbrellas for rent. It's also one of the main nesting beaches for the Caretta Caretta loggerhead sea turtles so depending on the season sometimes there are areas of the beach that are roped off to protect the nests. The island in the bay right off of this beach is known as turtle island as they are frequently seen swimming around the area. We didn't see any turtles but there were some nests roped off in the sand. Also, the far end of this beach is the nude beach if that's your thing.
That evening we went to Argassi for dinner at a place called Anadalis. It was a really beautiful location right along the water and the food was really good as well. After dinner we decided to go see Laganas since we hadn't been there yet and we found there were lots of bars and clubs there! That would definitely be the town to visit if you're looking to party on the island.
Athens
We spent less than 24 hours in Athens. We checked into our airbnb and then immediately walked to the Acropolis to see the Parthenon. Luckily our late arrival meant that we missed the morning rain and since it was a rather dreary Sunday evening it seemed to be less busy than usual. We spent less than an hour there walking through the ruins and reading a bit about the renovations they are doing. It was really cool to see and obviously we couldn't leave Athens without going there but it was a bit pricey.
We also spent an unnecessary amount of time looking for food in Athens. Part of this was due to bad recommendations and then retracing our steps. Then part of it was our bad timing. We had wanted (and expected this to be easy) to get gyros in the morning before our flight but everywhere we went didn't have the meat ready for gyros. Even the 24 hr places! So that was a bit disappointing. We ended up getting one at the airport for 3x the cost (9.5 euros compared to 3 euros elsewhere!). It was delicious though.
Budget
I spent $503 total while in Greece. This doesn't include our international flights since they were bought with the rest of our itinerary. This is per person and in US dollars. There were two of us traveling together so most things were split equally two ways.
Ground Transportation: $216. We rented a car for the duration of our visit which is the bulk of this cost. It also includes gas and the several tolls we went through, as well as the ferry to get to/from the island.
Lodging: $97. We stayed at two Airbnbs. Our Zakynthos airbnb was great and would highly recommend staying there! (Message me if you want to know where exactly)
Activities: $83. A bulk of this expense was for scuba diving, but it also includes the Acropolis and visiting the blue caves and Shipwreck beach.
Food: $107. Since we stayed at an airbnb we had a kitchen so we were able to make some of our own food and keep costs a little lower so we ate every breakfast at home and packed sandwiches for lunches and only ate out for dinners. Although we kind of loathed to do that since there appeared to be so many great restaurants on Zakynthos!
Summary
We're so glad that we were able to include a taste of Greece on this trip. Zakynthos island is one of the most beautiful places we've visited so far (and that's saying a lot!)! We enjoyed the slower-paced island living for a few days and took the time to stop and watch some amazing sunsets. We also found that there was plenty to do on the island as well: scuba diving, snorkeling, fishing, turtle-spotting, hiking, swimming/hanging on the beach, rent a 4-wheeler or moped and drive around, bars and clubs to party at and a ton of great restuarants to eat at. We are very excited to go back some day!
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