Corfu

Most of the previous reviewers visited Corfu as a day trip from Albania or arrived directly by plane. This is reasonable, as the Old Town of Corfu is a remote site for WHS travelers in Greece. For a long time, it was the only WHS in the northwest, the sites in Albania are much closer. But since Zagori Cultural Landscape was inscribed on the list in 2023, more visitors may be heading to Corfu from mainland Greece.

I visited Corfu as a day trip from Ioannina. I left Ioannina early in the morning by rental car to catch the first ferry from Igoumenitsa at 7am. The drive to Igoumenitsa takes an hour, the ferry to Corfu takes about an hour and twenty minutes. I left my car at the large free parking lot right next to the ferry port, very convenient. It seemed that I was the only day tourist on this first ferry in the morning, otherwise only a few campers and some backpackers. The majority of the vehicles were vans and trucks.

The visit to the Corfu WHS actually begins on the ferry ride as soon as the eastern tip of the peninsula with the Old Fortress comes into view. The ferry sails towards the Old Fortress (photo) and then along the north side of the core zone to the landing stage.
I enjoyed my first walk through the old town early in the morning. There were only a few people around, the shops on Nikiforou …

I visited this WHS in Spring 2022 as a day trip by ferry from Sarande, Albania. I booked my ticket online one day before to depart with the earliest fast ferry to Corfu to beat the cruise liner crowds that tend to arrive between breakfast and lunchtime, which turned out to be a wise choice. There's also a slower ferry that transports cars too but it really isn't worth the time and money as the Old City and fortifications of Corfu are at walking distance from the ferry drop-off point.

Corfu is well on the beaten track and is famous for its 19th and 20th century British Neoclassical housing as well as its two Venetian fortresses. As such, it is comparable to Trogir, Croatia or Kotor, Montenegro, but also to Valletta, Malta or Dubrovnik, Croatia. The fortifications of Corfu and the views from both fortresses are fine but if truth be told I was a bit underwhelmed by the rest of the buildings which were very scrubby and in quite a bad shape (I even managed to spot a rusty bike hanging outside one of the window sills of the higher buildings!). I started off by visiting the New Fortress of Corfu with the Venetian Lion gate. The Baroque church hidden just besides it was a pleasant sight and a good stopover point half way of the uphill road leading to the new fortress. Apart from the high massive fortification walls and a number of rusty cannons, the highlight …

As a quick getaway for the long Ascension weekend, I jumped on a plane to Corfu. My original plan had been to travel cross-country from Corfu to Skopje. When this didn’t pan out due to travel times, I shortened my trip and visited Corfu and the neighboring sites in Albania.

Corfu has a nice old town and a great Mediterranean fortification. It exceeds what you will find in the Venetian Works of Defence inscription being a Venetian fortification itself. You will find the Venetian lion adorning its fortification walls. It’s not, though, on the scale of Vallletta. But honestly, what could be? With Malta, it shares a British past. You will find several British buildings scattered around town.

While you can roam the city for a few hours, I am hard pressed to name a true highlight. In summary, Corfu is nice enough, but not great.

Getting There

Several low budget carriers and charter airlines serve Corfu. Corfu is a standard package holiday destination, so you may find cheap flights. In my case, the flight stayed flat at €150 until the day I flew. I know, because jokingly I asked a friend if he wanted to jump onboard to Corfu the same day. From the airport, you can walk to the old town. There are also buses or cabs if you have luggage are staying somewhere else on the island.

Alternatively, you can arrive by ferry from Albania or Greece. If you are traveling …

I visited Corfu city after a short stay on the nearby island of Paxos (a much more pleasant destination). A larger place than I imagined, it is festooned with cafes and bars selling terrible food.

After a Greek coffee and some lukewarm quiche we started with the Old Fortress, which was fortified by the Venetians and dominates the city’s east side. It is not much to look at, especially its tumble-down top, but you get a good view of the airport.

In the heat of the day we later hiked up the hill at the other end of town to reach the top of the ‘New Fortress’. This fortress is more imposing than the Old one, but even harder to get a decent photograph of. Although entrance is free, tourists are tricked (ourselves included) into paying €3 by a wily group who stand by the entrance and offer you a “free” drink if you pay them for admission. There I encountered some of the worst toilets I have ever set foot in. The climb is worth it, though, because it affords a better view of Corfu than does the Old Fortress.

The Old Town of Corfu with its Venetian/British architectural mix is the odd one out among Greek WHS. It entered the list in 2007, 8 years after they were done adding the Classical Greek sites. Despite Corfu’s prominent package holiday profile (worth a million visitors a year), the WHS isn’t covered well on this website. No photos at all have been posted for example. So I was eager to explore Corfu Town as a prologue to my 'Balkan Tour 2015', which will take me to Albania, Macedonia and Kosovo.

The Venetians were here for the longest period: from 1386-1797. They mainly used the site as a military stronghold, to keep tabs on the entrance to the Adriatic Sea via the Straits of Corfu. They constructed the Old and the New Fortress, which protect the town of Corfu on both sides. These fortresses still are the major landmarks and tourist attractions in town.

The Old Fortress lies on an artificial peninsula. It was something like a self-contained village, where the Venetian rulers were safe from the hands of the Ottomans while the onshore general population suffered. The British used it in the same manner during the 19th century. Most buildings date from that period, including barracks and the great neoclassical Anglican Church of St. George.

The New Fortress was placed on a hill, overlooking the town. It seems less visited than the Old one, maybe the steep uphill walk deters tourists. There are some nice surprises waiting at …

The fortresses were massive and forbidding. But the town was depressing with so many restaurants, shops etc closed down.

The Island is still easy to access, by air from Athens, and by ferry from Igoumenitsa & Patras (Greece), Bari & Brindisi (Italy) and Sarande (Albania).

Lovely and relaxing, but not enough there to keep one more than a couple of days. The 1800s castle of the sad empress is lovely and romantic, but not old enough to be outstanding historically. In old town, it seemed many buildings still need repair from past earthquakes, but the church is really lovely. I especially enjoy the souvenir shops here with a combination of linens, jewelry and delightful food or beverage items like Kumquat liquor to try. the beaches about 20 minutes from town near the Monestary are nice. the whole island is small, so having a rental car can be very enjoyable.

We visited the beautiful island of Corfu this summer. Corfu Town is the capital of the island and there are two fortifications at both ends of the city. The Old fortification is picturesque lying on an outstretched peninsula in the Ionian sea. However, it seems to be collapsing slowly following the bombings of World War II. The church of St. George in the fortress is worth a view. The New Fortress lies at the opposite end of the city and is in a much better state. The city is beautiful at night but beware of motorbikers! The architecture varies from Greek Orthodox type, to Venetian, to English. A view to St. Spiridion church is a must. Definitely worth a visit.

The island of Corfu is mostly known as a holiday destination for its beaches and its green environment, which is quite unlike most other Greek islands. Its history is also unique among its sister islands, in that it has never been part of the Ottoman Empire (although the Turks have besieged the island many times). It was instead ruled by the Venetians, who have left many architectural traces, and then, succesively, by the Russians, the French, and the British, before it became part of Greece. The capital of the island, of the same name, has been a fortified place for many centuries, and has withstood the invasion attempts of many would-be conquerors (although it was the first of the Greek cities to submit to Roman rule). The city's architecture today is mainly of Venetian origin. The Venetians used the city to guard their Mediterranean trade routes against the Turks and thus constructed big fortifications there (both the Old and the New Fortress are worth a visit - I preferred the huge New Fortress over the smaller and more touristy Old Fortress, though). The historic part is well-preserved, and any visit to Corfu should include a trip to the capital, even though there was a lot of destruction in WWII and a lot of the architecture is from the British period (and thus not particularly remarkable).