Thirteen places off their own map of Lefkada, and how far each one is from the gate.
The hosts’ list
Not a guidebook. A map they actually use.
Everything here is saved on the villa’s own map. The villa
is the ring on the east coast above Nydri, with Madouri, Sparti and Skorpios in the bay in front of it —
the three you look at from the terrace. Distances are by road from the gate, measured on the road network
rather than guessed.
The west coast is the one to read carefully. Those beaches are
ten or twelve kilometres away as the crow flies and the map makes them look like a morning’s nothing.
There is a mountain in between. By road it is nearer thirty kilometres and the better part of forty minutes,
each way, and the last stretch down to some of them is on foot.
Point at a mark, or at an entry, and the two find each other.
Close to home
1Dimitris TavernTaverna · Ag. ChristoforosThe closest table to the villa, two minutes down the hill. It keeps no website and no booking page, which tells you most of what you need to know about it.0.5 km · 2 min
2Nydri waterfallsWaterfall · Behind the villageThe Dimosari falls, on the stream that comes down the gorge behind Nydri. There is a café under a plane tree at the top of the path, and a viewpoint before you reach the water.The Dimosari falls at the head of the gorge. Photograph by Thomas Dahlstrøm Nielsen, CC BY-SA 4.0.6.5 km · 10 min
Eating and drinking
3Anasa tou ZorbaTaverna · NikianaA seaside taverna at Nikiana, in the same family’s hands since 1978 and built right on the water. Fish, seafood and local meat off traditional recipes, Lefkadian wine, and its own small beach — you can swim between courses. There is a beach bar, and a fenced playground in sight of the tables.breathofzorbas.com9 km · 12 min
4Lefkaditiki GiWinery · Nydri–Vasiliki roadA working winery that takes visitors, at the eighth kilometre of the Nydri–Vasiliki road, about five hundred metres past the Syvros turning. Dimitris Rombotis started it at Syvros in 2000 and built this one to be open to the public. It works the island’s own varieties.lefkaditikigi.gr12 km · 15 min
5RachiRestaurant · ExanthiaBuilt on the ridge above Exanthia, and the balcony is the reason people drive up: the open Ionian in front of you, and the sun going down into it. Food out of a wood-fired oven, vegetables from their own garden, their own wine. Park at the entrance to the village. If your table is not ready you wait at their bar, and they open at two.rachi.grThe Fly Me Bar on the same ridge, where you wait for a table. Photograph by Stefan Fussan, CC BY-SA 3.0.23 km · 30 min
Inland
6Olive Museum “Fabbrica”Museum · SyvrosThe Tsarlambas family’s olive press in the middle of Syvros, built by their ancestors in the early 1800s and worked until the mid-1970s — first by a horse turning the mill, then a diesel engine, then an electric one. Listed as a historical monument in 1997 and opened as a museum in 2003. There is a tasting room and a shop at the end of it.fabbricaolivemuseum.gr17 km · 20 min
7Faneromeni MonasteryMonastery · FriniThe oldest and largest monastery on Lefkada, and the island’s religious centre for centuries. It is dedicated to the Dormition of the Theotokos, who is the island’s patron, and it is still a working community — an abbot and four monks. Its feast is Whit Monday, when most of Lefkada comes to it.The gate, under a mosaic of the Theotokos. Photograph by spheeris, CC BY 3.0.21.5 km · 25 min
The west coast
8Agios NikitasVillage · West coastA fishing village on the far side of the island, and the way in to this whole run of beaches. You leave the car at the top and walk down the stone street to the little port, past the houses and the tavernas.One of the lanes running down through the village. Photograph by spheeris, CC BY 3.0.26 km · 35 min
9MilosBeach · Below Agios NikitasThe next bay south, and there is no road to it. Either the boat from Agios Nikitas beach, which runs through July and August, or the path over the headland past a ruined windmill — steep in places. Being awkward to reach is what has kept it undeveloped.26 km · 35 min
10KathismaBeach · West coastThe long one, and the busy one. Fine pale sand under the mountains, sunbeds and umbrellas most of its length, a road right down to it and a bus that comes. People paraglide off the slope above it.The length of Kathisma from the road above it. Photograph by iant71, CC BY 3.0.29 km · 40 min
11Megali PetraBeach · Below KalamitsiBig Rock, and it is named for them: boulders standing along the shore under green cliffs. Partly organised — there are sunbeds, set down in the gaps between the rocks.29.5 km · 45 min
12KavalikeftaBeach · Below KalamitsiThe neighbouring cove, reached down a narrow road through the olive groves. White pebbles mixed into the sand, rock standing out of the water, and nothing built on it.30 km · 45 min
Getting here
13Preveza (Aktion)Airport · PVKAktion — PVK on the ticket. The nearest airport to the villa, across the water on the mainland, with direct flights from across northern Europe through the season. Transfers to the villa run around the clock.pvk-airport.gr39 km · 45 min
Save it to your phone before you travel and you can navigate from it once you
are here.
