- Currency: Euro (€)
- Capital city: Argostoli
- Language: Greek
- Key phrase to learn: Yasou (Hello)
- Time difference: Greece is 2 hours ahead of the UK
- Average flight time: 3.5 hours
- International phone code: +30
- Emergency services number: 112
- Public holidays: New Year’s Day (January 1), Epiphany (January 6), Clean Monday (Shrove Monday), Independence Day (March 25), Orthodox Good Friday (Friday before Easter Sunday), Orthodox Easter Monday (Monday after Easter Sunday), Labour Day (May 1), Holy Spirit Monday (June 20), Assumption Day (August 15), The Ochi Day (October 28), Christmas Day (December 25), Synaxis of the Mother of God (December 26).
- Link to FCO travel advice: www.gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice/greece
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Why go to Kefalonia?
It was British writer Louis de Bernières and the 2001 film of his bestselling novel Captain Corelli’s Mandolin that helped to plant the idea of Kefalonia as a holiday destination in the minds of British holidaymakers.
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Enjoy crowd-free Kefalonia
Despite shooting to fame, the island has remained remarkably unspoiled and taking holidays in Kefalonia can feel like you’ve stumbled upon some kind of secret.
That’s not to say there aren’t plenty of package holiday-goers in Kefalonia (cheap Kefalonia package holidays attract budget travellers every year) but rather that Kefalonia wears it well. As the largest Greek Ionian island, it simply manages to accommodate holidaymakers without ever feeling mobbed.
Find budget and budget-busting holidays in Kefalonia
Probably the prettiest places to stay on Kefalonia are the handsome towns of Assos and Fiskardo in the north. In both, you will find rare examples of the island’s once-prevalent, candy-coloured Venetian architecture, which was all but wiped out by a 1953 earthquake.
Yachts and their well-off owners flock to Fiskardo during summer months, and local shops, restaurants and hotels here cater to visitors with big-ticket tastes.
If you want to do Kefalonia on the cheap, however, just look further south. Good all-inclusive deals can be found in the purpose-built resort town of Lassi or in the fishing-village-turned-resort-town of Skala on the south coast.
Visit beaches and more besides…
If you travel to Kefalonia on an all-inclusive package, you may have one thing in mind: beaches. Luckily, Kefalonia has lots of them and in this case, there is no negative correlation between quantity and quality.
The cliff-backed Myrtos Beach, with its turquoise waters, and the tree-bordered Antisamos Beach, which played a starring role in Captain Corelli’s Mandolin, are among the top picks.
When to go
If you’re planning a trip to Kefalonia for 2017, aim for between May and October. Outside these months, temperatures drop, rain (and occasionally even snow) comes, things quieten down and many of the bars and tavernas going into hibernation mode.
August is the hottest month, but if you can hold out until September or even October, you’ll find more reasonable mid-20C temperatures, less crowded beaches and cheaper deals on accommodation.
Events for your diary
Feasts of St Gerasimos: If you want to witness some local celebrations, time your 2017 trip to coincide with the feasts of St Gerasimos, Kefalonia’s patron saint. The first feast day takes place in mid-August and the second in late October. Both centre around the Monastery of Agios Gerasimos near the villages of Fragata and Valsamata.