About Corfu

Corfu Weather

Weather in Corfu month by month

General Information 

How to get there

By Air: Olympic Airways link Corfu to Athens and Thessaloniki. Corfu airport is situated 3 km south of the town. Another airline operating services from Athens to Corfu is SEEA. During the summer season there are many charter flights from various European cities to the Corfu island.

By Car Ferry: Corfu is linked to Patras, Igoumentisa, Paxos, Sayiada (Epirus) and Italy.  One can get to Patras by KTEL bus or train. From Athens and Thessaloniki there are regular KTEL bus services to Igoumentisa.

How to get about the island

Urban and interurban buses operate regular services to all parts of the island. On the island there are petrol stations and garages, as well as car rental agencies and places where one can rent motorcycles or bicycles. Tour agencies organize sightseeing tours and excursions to all the interesting sites of Corfu.

Interesting events

The most important events on Corfu are the religious festivals and village fetes. First and foremost are the processions in honour of St. Spyridon, the island's patron saint. These take place four times a year: on Palm Sunday, on Good Sathurday, on August 11th and on the first Sunday in November. On these occasions the embalmed body of the saint is carried through the town with ritual pomp and ceremony, accompanied by philharmonic bands from all over the island. The Corfiot carnival is celebrated in a particularly colourful way in the town and, on the last Sunday of carnival, there is a parade of floats to the musical accompaniment, again, of local philharmonic bands, after which King Carnival is set alight and burnt.

Most impressive are the religious ceremonies of Holy Week, which reach their climax on Easter Sunday. A picturesque local custom is the breaking of clay pots and vessels which are tossed out of windows and from the balconies of the town on the morning of Good Saturday.

On May 21, Corfu celebrates the union of the Ionian Islands with Greece.

In summer there is a cricket festival with the participation of British teams. In summer also there i are concerts given by the two municipal orchestras and the three philharmonic bands.

In September, the Corfu Festival takes place, with performances of ballet, opera, theatre and concerts, with the participation of Greek and foreign artists and companies. Folk dance performances are held in the Old Fortress, during the summer months. Many genuine traditional country fetes, linked to religious festivals take place in many villages of the island. Besides the religious ceremonies, these comprise traditional dances and music.

Sports entertainment

Besides swimming in the marevllous sea which surrounds the island, one can enjoy all kinds of water sports on most of the organized beaches of Corfu. Almost all the big hotels provide the necessary facilities and equipment for water sports. Many other hotels also have tennis courts, while riding, sailing and cricket enthusiasts will be afforded the possibility of indulging of their hobbies. At Gouvia is a golf-course at "Livadi tou Ropa", where the necessary equipment may be hired.

Those who enjoy night life will find themselves in their element in Corfu. In all the tourist villages and resorts on the island there are discos, tavernas with floor shows, night bars, pubs, cafes, etc.

Local Specialities

The culinary specialities of Corfu are famous. One must try the "sofrito" (small slices of fried veal in a savoury sauce with garlic), the "pastitsada" (thick macaroni with veal in tomato sauce) and the "bourdetto" (special fish - preferably scorpion fish or rockfish, or tope - cooked in an onion sauce with plenty of red pepper). And one should also taste the "mandolata" - the delicious Corfu nougat- the fragrant strawberry liqueur, the kumquat confections and the excellent Kerkyrean wines.

Corfu town and its landmarks

Corfu's houses are mostly middle-and working-class homes, generally mulch-stored blocks of apartments. They are built on very small plots of land, and only rarely they do have a courtyard or garden. Corfu's aristocratic homes were built during the Venetian period and they too are adapted  to the limited space, with two or three floors and a relatively plain appearance. The main feature of these town houses are the projecting porches which form balconies and add an imposing air to the buildings (Ricchi and Giallina houses).

The tourists may visit here The Old Fortress, with its fixed iron bridge in 60 m length, a lot of tunnels, bastions and winding galleries. The entire area of the Old Fortress is very picturesque and it is worth climbing to the top of the cliff, to enjoy one of the most beautiful views of the town.

The New Fortress, also known as the Fortress of San Marco, was built by the Venetians in 1576, shortly after the second Turkish siege. It was here that the wall protecting the town on the west side ended. At the foot of the fortress nestles the old harbor. The French and the British completed the building of the fortress. Its two beautiful gates are especially interesting. They have survived , almost untouched, to our day and bear the emblem of Most Serene Republic, the winged Lion of St. Mark.

Barely 100 m away from the center of the Esplanade, stands an elegant old building, reminiscent of the Venetian period - The Town Hall. The building was used as a meeting place of the Venetian aristocracy. This is one of Corfu's most harmonious and well-proportioned buildings. It is closely linked to the the history of the theater in Greece, and particularly in the Ionian islands, and contributed greatly to the theatrical fame of Corfu.

The Palace of St. Michael and St. George, which stands along the northern side of the Esplanade, constitutes one of the finest buildings in Corfu and one of its most impressive landmarks. Built in Georgian style, it is the grandest building of the British period and unique in the entire Mediterranean.

The Ionian Parliament is historically important, since this is where the last Ionian Parliament , on the 23 September 1863, voted for the union of the Ionian islands with Greece. Until 1940 it was a Protestant church, but in 1943 was badly bombed, but later restored.

Another fine building from the British period is the Prefecture, which stands at the top end of the Esplanade. It was bought by the Government of the Ionian State to serve the as the residence of the President of the Ionian Senate.

The building housing the Reading Society of Corfu, on the west side of the northern section of the Esplanade, is another interesting monument. The Reading Society was founded in 1836 , for the intellectual enrichment and enjoyment of its members. It contains an important library specialising in books on the Ionian islands, and collection of paintings and icons.

Other interesting landmarks are the Maitland Rotunda and the Douglas Obelisk, built during the British period.

The old town of Corfu is very much worth wandering about in, not only because of its important historical landmarks but also because of its unique character. The flagstone streets, the tall buildings, the churches and the sea walls, the contrafossa dividig the Old Fortress from the Esplanade, give visitors the impression, that they are strolling in some corner of Venice. Among the loveliest walks is that around the vast Esplanade. The view of the contrafossa through the Municipal Gardens is very picturesque. As one's gaze leaves the Esplanade, after lingering on the Palace, it embraces a magnificent view toward the coastal road and its sea walls. Along this road and up to the Cathedral, the narrow lanes lead to the Campiello, the oldest quarter of the town, where the oldest houses and many historic churches of Corfu are to be found. Another notable landmark of the Corfu old town is the central market. Nikiphorou Theotoki is the most interesting street here, as the rows upon rows of volta resting on their stone columns, and the tall buildings, present one of the most characteristic aspects of the Old Town.

In Corfu tourists may visit several interesting museums. 

Archaeological Museum is housed in a building inaugurated about ten years ago and situated in Vraila street, a few minutes away from the Garitsa coastal road. This is where all the archaeological finds brought to light on the island are kept. The most important exhibit of the Museum is the west pediment of the temple of Artemis - the famous Gorgon pediment, contemporary with the temple itself (590 BC). This is the most ancient surviving pediment in Greece and one of the most important surviving groups of the monumental sculpture of the Archaic period to have been discovered to date. In the museum are also housed the finds of the excavations on the Mon Repos estate.

The Museum of Asiatic Art is housed in the Palace of St. Michael and St. George in Corfu town. There are to be seen a lot of interesting exhibits from different periods. The Collection of Christian Art has not to be missed. This collection is housed in the same wing as that occupied by the Museum of Asiatic Art. Here are exhibited, among others, early Christian architectural sculptures and parts of mosaic floors from the Palaeopolis basilica, parts of Byzantine frescoes of the 11th, 13th and 18th centuries, which were removed from the ruined church of Kato Korakiana, and a collection of icons of the 16th-18th centuries.

The Solomos Museum is situated in Corfu town, in the Mourayio area, in the house where Dionysios Solomon lived during the last years of his life. It was created in 1864 by the Society for Corfiot Studies and comprises portraits, busts and objects belonging to the poet.

The Museum of the Fighters for Heptanesian independence is housed in the restored building of the Ionian Parliament. It comprises portraits of presidents of the Ionian Parliament and other political personalities, various resolutions in favour of Union, printing materials from the period of the British Protectorate and other documents relative to the struggles of the Heptanesian people for union with Greece.

The Municipal Gallery possesses interesting old maps, portraits of the kings of Greece and paintings by some of the best-known Corfiot painters. The Antivouniotissa Monastery houses a fine collection of paintings belonging to the Reading society and interesting icons.

Churches in Corfu

There are a great many churches in Corfu - possibly about 800 - both in the town itself and in the countryside. Most of these were built in the 17th and 18th centuries in the architectural style of the West. This great number is quite impressive. It is due partly to the relative freedom of religion granted by the Venetians, but also to the fact that most of the churches belonged to guilds or to wealthy families, who were able to afford the cost of their construction. Most of the churches are not very large.

The most important church in Corfu is St. Spyridon, which is situated in Sarocco quarter in Corfu town. St. Spyridon, who is the patron of Corfu, was a Cypriot bishop who took part in the First Ecumenical Synod of Nicaea (325). His remains were kept in Constantionople and where brought to Corfu after the fall of the city, together with the relics of St. Theodora, which are now kept in the Cathedral. Corfu celebrates St. Spyridon's feast day on the 12th of September, but it also celebrates the days on which the embalmbed body of the Saint is carried in solemn procession through the streets of the town. These processions were established during the period of Venetian rule and are still held every year in commemoration of miracles performed by St. Spyridon on various occasions in the history of the island. The Good Saturday procession is the oldest of these, and was established to commemorate the miracle of the relief of Corfu from famine. The procession of the 11th of August was established to commemorate the island's deliverance from the Turkish siege in 1716, a miracle attributed to the Saint.

The Cathedral of Panaghia Speliotissa (Virgin of the Grotto) is the second important church in Corfu town. The basilica was built in 1577 on the site of a previous church dedicated to St. Vlasios (Blaise). It owes its name to the fact that icon of the Virgin was brought here from an old church which has stood on the small square of the New Fortress and which was demolished by the British in order to open a new entrance to the Fort. The church celebrates its feast-day on the 15th of August, day of the Dormition of the Virgin, and lalso on the 11th of February, day of the holy martyr St. Vlasios and of St. Theodora, whose relics are kept here.

One of the oldest churches in Corfu is the Church St. Nicholaos, which was built in 16th century. Other beautiful and very old churches are those of Panaghia Antivounitissa (The Virgin opposite the Mountain) and of Panaghia Kremasti in Corfu town as well as the church of Christ Pantocrator and the church of St. John The Forerunner.

Of the old Catholic churches, the Roman Catholic cathedral of St. James, which gave its name to the nearby theater of San Giacomo, has survived, as has the church of St. Francis and the church of Our Lady of Tenedos. The latter was built just outside the walls of the New Fortress and is the most genuinely baroque building of the island. It owes its name to the refugee Capuchin monks who, fleeing from the Turks on the island of Tenedos, had found a haven in Corfu. In this church was housed the first Greek printing press during the time of the Septinsular State.

In the Mandouki area stands the Monastery of Our Lady Platytera (18th century), which was destroyed by bombs in 1799 during the conflict between the Russians, Turks and French, but was immediately rebuilt. In this church are buried John Capodistrias, first president of Greece, the Corfiot historian Andreas Moustoxydis, and the hero of the War of Independence, Photos Tzavellas.