Corfu Boat Trip Paxos Antipaxos: The Coast

Leaving Corfu

The Old Town first, and it is worth being on deck for. Corfu Town's Venetian fortifications were built to hold the island against the Ottomans and they were designed to be seen from the sea, which is precisely where you now are.

The Kanoni Peninsula follows, running south from the town. This is the stretch with the two small islets and the causeway that appear on every postcard of Corfu, seen here from the other side.

Then the palace of Mon Repo, a nineteenth century villa in wooded grounds on the shore. It was built by a British Lord High Commissioner and later became a Greek royal residence, which is a reasonable summary of Corfu's last two hundred years. All three are within the first half hour, which is an argument for not settling into a seat below deck the moment you board.

Corfu boat trip Paxos Antipaxos: down the east coast

Perama, Benitses and Kavos go past in order, three coastal towns with very different characters strung along the same shore. Benitses is an old fishing village grown into a resort. Kavos is at the far southern end and has a reputation that precedes it.

From the water none of that matters much. What you see is a green coastline with white buildings scattered along it and hills rising behind, which is the Ionian doing what it does.

It is a long stretch, and this is the part of the day that differs most between departure ports. From Corfu Port you see all of it. From Lefkimmi you join near the end of it.

Cape Asprokavos and the crossing

The southern tip of Corfu, where the island runs out and the open channel to Paxos begins. Rounding a cape always feels like something, and this one marks the transition from coasting to crossing.

The water changes here. Sheltered coastal water becomes open channel, which on a calm day means nothing at all and on a windy one means the boat starts to move properly for the first time.

Paxos appears ahead as a low green mass. The tour description notes the olive and cypress cover, and from a distance that is genuinely all you see: an island that looks upholstered. It is also the moment the day stops feeling like a coastal cruise and starts feeling like going somewhere, which changes the mood on deck noticeably.

Day trip to Paxos and Antipaxos: the west coast run

Between the free time at Lakka and the swim stop off Antipaxos, the boat runs the length of the exposed western side of Paxos, and this is comfortably the most dramatic stretch of the entire day.

The coast here is a wall of white limestone, several hundred metres of it in places, undercut into caves and arches by an open sea with nothing between it and Italy. The tour names the white cliffs of Erimitis specifically.

There are photographs from this coast where the cruise boat is a white speck against the rock. That is not a trick of the lens; it is what the scale is actually like from the deck.

The islets on the way home

Skaltsonisi and Mongonisi are both named in the tour's own description, and both sit off the southeastern end of Paxos where they are passed on the return leg towards Corfu.

Mongonisi is the larger and is joined to Paxos by a causeway, with a beach and a taverna that make it a destination for people staying on the island. Skaltsonisi is a rock with vegetation on it.

They matter less as sights than as markers. Passing them means the day is turning for home and you have the crossing back ahead of you, which is when the music usually starts on this boat.

Which side to sit

Heading south from Corfu Port the coast lies to starboard, so that is the side to be on for the Old Town, Mon Repo and the string of coastal towns. Coming home the whole arrangement reverses.

For the west coast of Paxos and the caves it depends on the direction of the run, and the guides will tell you. This is one occasion where paying attention to a briefing gets you a better view.

The general advice is the same as on any day boat: do not treat your seat as permanent. Leave something on it, move around, use the bow when there is something ahead and the stern when there is not.

The crossing as part of the day

On the Corfu Port option, a lot of this day is sailing. That is either the point or the drawback depending on who you are, and it is worth being honest with yourself before booking.

What makes it work is that the coast is genuinely interesting rather than empty water, and that there is a guide telling you what it is. Hours of unexplained sea would be a different proposition entirely.

There is a bar, there is deck space, there is music on the way back. Twelve hours is a long day and the operator clearly knows it, which is why the boat is arranged the way it is. Any Paxos and Antipaxos boat tour from Corfu is a long day by definition, and this one is arranged around that fact.

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