Corfu
A Venetian town between two fortresses, an arcade built by the French, a palace built for an empress, and an airport whose runway ends in a lagoon two kilometres from the Old Town.
- Arrival
- Corfu Ioannis Kapodistrias · CFU
- To the city
- About 5 to 10 minutes to the Old Town
- Private jets
- Same airport, runway of about 2,350 m
- Best time
- May to September
The city
Four centuries of Venice, and the sea on three sides.
Corfu Town stands between its Old Citadel and New Fort, raised by Venice from the fifteenth century to hold the entrance to the Adriatic, and UNESCO listed the whole fortified ensemble in 2007. The French added the Liston, an arcade of cafés that recalls a Paris boulevard, along the Spianada, said to be the largest square in the Balkans; the British, who held the islands from 1815 to 1864, left the Palace of St Michael and St George, now the Museum of Asian Art. Above it all rises the bell tower of St Spyridon, where the island's saint lies.
Out of town the island turns green and steep. The Achilleion, a neoclassical palace built for Empress Elisabeth of Austria, stands in the hills south of the town; Palaiokastritsa on the west has a monastery on the headland and boats to the caves below. From May to September the highs run from 23 to 31 °C, with almost no rain in July; the wet winters keep the hills green.
Arriving
Over the lagoon, into town.
Ioannis Kapodistrias Airport sits about two kilometres south of Corfu Town, its runway bordered by the Chalikiopoulos lagoon, so that the islet of Pontikonisi and the Vlacherna monastery pass under the wing on approach. The town centre is five to ten minutes away.
- Milan 1 h 50
- Nice 1 h 50
- Baku 3 h 40
- Delhi 7 h 10 long-range jet
- Cape Town 10 h 50 long-range jet
When to go
May to September.
A green island with a short, dry summer. From May to September the highs climb from 23 to 31 °C and the sea reaches 25 °C in August, with only 11 mm of rain in July. October turns wet quickly, and November and December each bring more than 200 mm.
- 13° J 163 15°
- 13° F 149 15°
- 16° M 108 15°
- 19° A 74 16°
- 23° M 47 19°
- 28° J 19 22°
- 31° J 11 24°
- 31° A 22 25°
- 27° S 74 24°
- 22° O 147 22°
- 18° N 206 19°
- 14° D 207 17°
What to see and do
Days in and around Corfu.
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Landmark
The Old Town
Venetian streets between two fortresses, the Liston arcade and the Spianada, a World Heritage Site since 2007.
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Landmark
The Achilleion
The palace built for Empress Elisabeth of Austria, with its statues and gardens above the coast south of town.
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Landmark
Palaiokastritsa
A monastery on the hill, coves and sea caves below, on the island's west side.
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Culture
Museum of Asian Art
About 11,000 Chinese, Japanese, Korean and Indian objects fill the Palace of St Michael and St George, a museum since 1927.
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Culture
Archaeological Museum of Corfu
Its prize is the Gorgon pediment of about 590 BC from the Temple of Artemis, shown with the archaic Lion of Menecrates.
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Culture
Mon Repos
Prince Philip was born in this villa of 1831, now the Paleopolis Museum, set in wooded grounds with ruins of temples to Hera and Artemis.
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Golf
Corfu Golf Club
Donald Harradine designed this par 72 course in the Ropa Valley in 1969, threading it between seven lakes.
Official site -
Nature
Mount Pantokrator
From Old Perithia a walk of about two hours leads to the 906 metre summit, its monastery church and a view across to Albania.
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Wildlife
Korission Lagoon
More than 126 bird species, flamingos among them, have been recorded on this 427 hectare lagoon behind dunes and a juniper forest.
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Food & wine
Theotoky Estate
Owned by the Theotoky family for generations, the estate near Giannades makes wine and organic olive oil and opens Monday to Saturday for tastings.
Where to stay
Three houses in the MICHELIN selection, none yet with a Key.
Shown for information. We have no arrangement with any of these hotels.
- Domes Miramare, a Luxury Collection Resort A modernist hotel of the 1960s built for the Onassis family, now adults only, with 113 rooms, suites and villas, a private beach, and the hotel's own yacht to reach the town in twenty minutes.
- Domes of Corfu, Autograph Collection The large one, on the headlands of the west coast, straight onto the beach at Glyfada.
- The Olivar Suites A hundred and twenty suites, many with plunge pools, set in old olive groves directly on the sand at Messonghi, about forty minutes from the airport.
Where to dine
Where to book on Corfu.
No MICHELIN Guide covers Corfu. These three tables hold Golden Toques in the 2026 Greek awards.
- Etrusco Golden Toques 2026, two toques Creative Corfu
- Venetian Well Golden Toques 2026, one toque Modern Greek Old Town
- Makris Golden Toques 2026, one toque Greek Domes Miramare, Moraitika
Elsewhere in Greece
More reasons to come.
- Athens The Parthenon, the Plaka, and the seaside hotels of Vouliagmeni.
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Mykonos
Windmills, beach clubs, and a runway that takes private jets.
- Santorini Villages on the rim of a sunken volcano.
- Elounda Resorts on the Gulf of Mirabello, in the east of Crete.
- Rhodes The medieval town of the Knights, inside its walls.
- Costa Navarino Golf courses and resorts in the south-west of the Peloponnese.
Flying to Corfu?
Choose how you arrive.
A Business or First Class seat on a scheduled airline, or an aircraft of your own. Tell us the date and how many are travelling, and we reply with one final price, our margin included.