Zakynthos is the island behind one photograph. A rusting hull on a strip of white sand, walled in by vertical cliffs, with water in a blue that looks edited. That cove has done more for Greek tourism than any marketing campaign, and it has also flattened the rest of the island in most people’s minds. There is a great deal else here: sea caves at the northern cape, a protected bay full of loggerhead turtles, a mountainous green interior, and a south coast that ranges from the loudest strip in the Ionian to villages where nothing happens at all.
The famous cove
Navagio, the shipwreck beach, sits on the northwest coast in a bay enclosed by cliffs, with no land access to the sand.
Access has changed. Rockfalls in recent years have led to closures and restrictions affecting both the clifftop viewing platform above the bay and landing on the beach itself, while boats have generally continued to visit the bay. The position has moved more than once.
Check close to your dates. This is the one thing on the island worth confirming with a local operator in the week before you travel rather than assuming from an article or a photograph, including this one.
Go early either way. Whatever is running, the first boats of the morning have the bay to themselves and the light on the cliffs is at its best.
The blue caves
At the northern tip near Cape Skinari, the sea has eaten arches and caverns into white limestone, and the light reflecting off the rock underwater turns the whole space blue.
Small boats get further in, which is the single thing that determines how good this stop is.
Morning is the time, when the sun angle is right and the colour is at its most intense.
It combines with the shipwreck bay on most day trips from the north of the island, which is the efficient way to do both.
The rest of the island
The east coast north of the main town is the moderate side: sandy beaches, family resorts, calm water and easy access.
The southeast around Laganas is the nightlife strip, cheap, loud and busy through the summer, and unmistakable once you are in it.
The west is high, green and largely undeveloped, with a cliff road, viewpoints and a handful of coves reached by long descents.
The interior has hill villages, olive groves and vineyards, and it is where the island stops being a resort.
The town was rebuilt after an earthquake and is more useful than beautiful, with a good market, a couple of museums and the ferry.
Practical notes
Getting there is by air, with heavy seasonal charter traffic from across Europe, or by ferry from the mainland port opposite.
A car helps a lot, because the island’s good bits are spread from the northern cape to the southern peninsula and the bus network serves the resorts rather than the sights.
The roads in the west are narrow and steep, and worth driving in daylight.
The season is summer heavy. Outside roughly May to October a large share of the accommodation and the boat trips shut down.
Where it fits in a Greek trip
Zakynthos sits in the Ionian, off the west coast, which is a different country in feel from the Aegean islands: greener, wetter in winter, with Venetian rather than Ottoman history behind it.
Its natural pairing is with the island to the north, and our guide to Corfu covers the biggest and most varied of the Ionian group.
For the wider question of where the best swimming in the country actually is, across the Ionian, the Aegean and the mainland, our guide to the best beaches in Greece is the place to start.
And if you are weighing this side of Greece against the far southeast, our guide to Rhodes covers the island with the medieval city and the longest season in the country.
The short version
Book the boat trip to the north for early in your stay and confirm with a local operator what access to the shipwreck cove is actually like that week, because it has changed repeatedly. Take the smallest boat you can into the blue caves and go in the morning. Choose your base carefully, since the southeast strip and the quiet east coast are half an hour and an entire holiday apart. Hire a car for the west coast road and the interior villages. And on the turtle bay, pick the operator with rules rather than the one with promises.
