10 Top Places to Visit in Corfu, Greece

Corfu Old Town has been inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage site since 2007, recognising the only surviving example of a complete Venetian fortified town in the Mediterranean. Read the full UNESCO criteria at the Old Town of Corfu listing. Wander the kantounia (narrow alleys), visit the Church of Saint Spyridon with the patron saint's relics, and end at the Campiello quarter where six-storey Venetian houses lean over washing-strung lanes. Plan a full day on foot. Most museums charge 4-6 EUR; opening hours run 08:30-15:30 in winter and 08:30-19:30 in summer.

Pro Tip: Walk the Old Town twice - once at 09:00 with a coffee, once at 21:30 when the lanterns come on, to see two different cities.

The Old Fortress is the dramatic twin-peaked rock fortress on the eastern tip of Corfu Old Town, separated from the city by a Venetian-era moat called the Contrafossa. Built initially as a Byzantine fortification and expanded by the Venetians from 1546, it later served as a British military base and now hosts the Public Library, a Byzantine Collection and a small chapel. The 30-minute climb to the upper bastion (Land Tower) gives 360-degree views over the Old Town, the channel to Albania and the harbour. Entry is 6 EUR in 2026, opening 08:00-20:00 in summer; the combined ticket with the New Fortress costs 8 EUR.

Pro Tip: Climb at 08:30 right at opening to beat the heat and the cruise crowds; concerts on summer Wednesdays add live music to the lower plateau at sunset.

Achilleion Palace was built between 1889 and 1891 as the summer retreat of Elisabeth of Austria-Hungary, known as Sissi, after the death of her son Crown Prince Rudolf. Designed by Italian architect Raffaele Caritto in a neoclassical Pompeian style, the villa overlooks the Ionian Sea from the village of Gastouri. After Sissi's assassination in 1898 the palace passed to Kaiser Wilhelm II, then served as a hospital and a casino. Today the ground floor is a museum filled with Sissi's personal effects, statuary including the famous Dying Achilles by Ernst Herter, and Pompeian frescoes. Entry costs 10 EUR in 2026, opening 09:00-19:00 in summer.

Pro Tip: Skip the basement cafe, head to the Achilleion gardens at the rear and walk down to the seafront viewpoint - it is the best free panorama on the south coast.

Paleokastritsa is a horseshoe-shaped resort village on the west coast where six small bays cut into pine-covered cliffs to make some of the most photographed coves in the Ionian. The 13th-century Theotokos Monastery of Paleokastritsa sits on the headland above the main bay, free to enter (donations welcome) with a small icon museum, an old olive press and resident peacocks. Below, you can rent a kayak (15 EUR per hour) or join a boat tour to the offshore caves at Agia Triada and Nausicaa (15-20 EUR for 90 min). The Bella Vista taverna in nearby Lakones village 4 km uphill has the famous panoramic view back over the bays.

Pro Tip: Walk 12 minutes east from the main beach over the rocks to find the small cove at Agia Triada beach, almost always free of crowds.

Cape Drastis is the wild north-western tip of Corfu, where strange chalk-white cliffs and stratified rock fingers drop into deep turquoise water. The cape is the geological opposite of the green inland: erosion has cut narrow inlets and razor ridges that look almost lunar. Drive 4 km west from Peroulades village and park at the small dirt area; from there a 200 m walk on a marked path leads to the main viewpoint. There are no facilities, no entry fee and no crowds outside golden hour. Wear closed shoes - the path is loose and steep in places. The nearby Loggas (Sunset) Beach has a popular cliff-top bar that gets crowded after 19:00.

Pro Tip: Arrive 90 minutes before sunset for the best photos and bring a torch for the walk back over the loose path after dark.

Mount Pantokrator is the highest point on Corfu at 906 m, with a 14th century monastery on the summit and a 360-degree view that on clear mornings stretches across to the Albanian Acrocorinth peaks and south to Paxos. The monastery (free to enter, modest dress required) was rebuilt in 1689 and houses Byzantine icons. The drive from Corfu Town takes about 50 minutes along narrow switchback roads from Strinilas village (worth a stop for sage tea); a short steep walk from the upper car park reaches the chapel. The summit is crowned with telecommunications antennas which intrude on photos but the view itself is genuinely vast. There is a small canteen but no fuel station, so top up in Strinilas.

Pro Tip: Drive up before 09:00 - by mid-morning the haze rolls in and the Albanian coast disappears.

Canal d'Amour is a series of narrow sandstone channels just west of Sidari on the north coast, where wave erosion over thousands of years has cut deep blue passages between honey-coloured cliffs. Local legend says couples who swim through the main channel together will marry within a year - hence the name. The water inside the channels is sheltered, calm and turquoise, but the rocks are slippery so wear water shoes. Sidari itself is a busy resort town with bars, cafes and a 1.5 km sandy beach. Free parking is at the cliff-top above the channels and a wooden staircase leads down. There are no entry fees and the area is open year-round.

Pro Tip: Walk 200 m further west along the cliff path past the official channel for quieter coves and matching honey-coloured rock formations almost no one visits.

The New Fortress is the larger of Corfu Town's two Venetian forts, built between 1572 and 1645 on the rocky hill of Saint Mark to defend the western approach to the city. Despite the name it is older than the British-era additions to the Old Fortress. Massive bastioned walls in honey-coloured limestone enclose former barracks, vaulted underground tunnels and the small Britannia gate carved with the lion of Saint Mark. From the upper terrace you have an unmatched view of the Old Town's red roofs and the harbour. Entry is 4 EUR in 2026, or 8 EUR combined with the Old Fortress; opening 08:30-19:30 in summer. The site occasionally hosts evening concerts.

Pro Tip: Bring a small torch - the underground tunnels are mostly unlit and easy to miss without one.

Liston is the elegant arcade of seven-bay neoclassical buildings built between 1807 and 1814 by French engineer Mathieu de Lesseps under Napoleon's brief occupation. The colonnaded ground floor is now a row of cafes (Aegli, Olympia and Liston are the historic names) where a coffee costs 4-6 EUR and a glass of wine 7 EUR. Behind Liston is Spianada Square, the largest plateia in Greece, used for cricket matches (a British legacy from 1823) and free band concerts on summer Sundays. The Maitland Rotunda monument honours the first British High Commissioner. Together Liston and Spianada are the social heart of Corfu Town, free to walk and busy from breakfast until past midnight.

Pro Tip: Spianada hosts free open-air philharmonic concerts on summer Sunday evenings - check the Corfu Philharmonic Society notice boards near the Liston cafes.

Vidos is a small uninhabited island just 1 km from the Corfu Old Port, often overlooked even by Corfiots. The 12-minute ferry ride costs 5 EUR return. Once on the island, a 4 km circular walking trail loops past pine forest, the World War One Serbian mausoleum (paying tribute to the 6,000 Serbian soldiers who died here in 1916 after retreating from the Albanian Alps), three small pebble beaches and the modest Pantocrator chapel. There is one canteen near the dock with cold drinks and souvlaki at 4 EUR, and shaded picnic tables under the pines. The island is car-free and feels remote despite being five minutes from a Mediterranean capital.

Pro Tip: Take the 18:00 ferry back for the best harbour-side view of the Old Town walls turning amber in the late sun.