Corfu

Floating at the northern entrance to the Ionian Sea where Greece meets the heel of Italy and the mountains of Albania, Corfu (known in Greek as Kerkyra, after the mythological nymph Korkyra loved by Poseidon) looks and feels completely different from the dry, whitewashed islands of the Aegean. Watered by generous winter rains and blanketed by more than four million untamed Venetian olive trees and towering Italian cypresses, it is the greenest large island in Greece.

Because Corfu successfully repelled every Ottoman siege and remained under the rule of the Republic of Venice for over four hundred years (1386 to 1797), followed by Napoleonic French and British rule until 1864, its UNESCO-listed Old Town resembles a pastel-painted cousin of Venice, Naples and Paris, bookended by the Old and New Venetian Fortresses and the royal park of Mon Repos and whitewashed Vlacherna Monastery. Along its dramatic western and northern cliffs lie the six emerald coves of Paleokastritsa, the double-isthmus beach of Porto Timoni, the sculpted sandstone of Cape Drastis, and the neon-blue waters of Paxos and Antipaxos. Start with our before-you-go briefing and top things to do in Corfu.

Corfu Ioannis Kapodistrias International Airport (CFU) sits on a lagoon causeway just 2.5 kilometres south of Corfu Old Town, so close that watching planes glide over the Vlacherna Monastery footbridge at Kanoni is a famous island pastime. Blue Municipal Bus #15 connects the terminal with San Rocco Square (Old Town) and the Ferry Port in 10 minutes. Around the island, Blue Buses cover the urban perimeter (Kanoni, Mon Repos, Achilleion, Benitses and Gouvia), while Green KTEL Coaches link the Green Bus Terminal with Paleokastritsa, Glyfada, Sidari and Kassiopi. See getting to Corfu and how Blue vs Green buses work.

For a 3- to 5-day first visit, stay in or right beside Corfu Old Town (around the Spianada, Campiello or Garitsa Bay): you have fifty Venetian-Corfiot tavernas outside your door, instant access to both Blue and Green buses, and morning excursion boats to Paxos. If you want to wake up above crystal-clear snorkelling coves, base yourself on the north-west coast in Paleokastritsa; for calm east-coast family bays, choose Kontokali, Dassia or Kassiopi; for golden west-coast sunsets, pick Glyfada or Agios Gordios. Compare all regions in where to stay in Corfu.

Drink morning coffee beneath the French vaulted lamps of the Liston and get lost in the pastel kantounia alleys of Campiello, climb the sea-surrounded bastion of the 1546 Old Venetian Fortress, walk across the sea jetty to Vlacherna Monastery and Mouse Island (Pontikonisi), take a wooden boat into the sea caves of Paleokastritsa, hike down to twin-bay Porto Timoni, tour Empress Sisi's Achilleion Palace, and cruise to Paxos and Antipaxos. Full list in things to do in Corfu.

Corfiot cuisine (Kerkiraiki Kouzina) is pure Venetian-Ionian comfort food, built on slow-braised meats, warm spices (cloves, cinnamon, nutmeg and allspice), garlic, white wine and kumquats: rooster or beef slow-simmered in a rich spiced tomato-and-wine sauce served over thick hollow pasta (pastitsada), veal pan-seared with white wine, garlic and fresh parsley (sofrito), fiery red scorpionfish stew (bourdeto), British-legacy ginger beer (tsitsibira) and sweet orange-gold kumquat liqueur. Read more in our Corfu food and drink guide.

Home to Greece's first university (the Ionian Academy, 1824), eighteen philharmonic brass bands, the revered silver reliquary of patron saint Spyridon, and the childhood bays where naturalist Gerald Durrell wrote My Family and Other Animals.