The satellite islands of Paxos and Andípaxi (part one)
If you’re thinking of booking a Villa holiday in Corfu, then you may be wondering if the island has enough to keep you entertained for the whole of your fortnight break. Well, rest assured it does. Whether you’re looking for sun and sand, or rest and recuperation, Corfu will have something to offer you. But, if you’d rather venture further afield from your holiday villa, then you might consider visiting the quiet and beautiful satellite islands of Paxos and Andípaxi, which are both easily reachable from the mainland. Villa holidays in Corfu are great, don’t get us wrong, but sometimes a change is as good as a rest. By the time you return from your island break, you’ll appreciate your holiday villa even more.
Paxos, or Paxí, is a small island just 12km by 4km in extent, and is devoted primarily to olive cultivation. Like Corfu’s other northern satellite islands it has a dire water shortage which has prevented the construction of all but one luxury hotel. That makes the island sound remote, but it is far from that. There are ferries everyday from Corfu Town and also from Igoumenitsa, Sívota and Párga on the mainland. Seat son these crossings need to be reserved the day before travelling. The island’s population of just over 2,000 is often matched in high season by an equal number of tourists. Paxos is popular with the yachting fraternity and villa crowd, and is probably best avoided in high simmer as the island is awash with designer-clad tourists. Prices therefore escalate and rooms become scarce. However, there are still plenty of secluded places to escape to, and the island returns to some sort of normality once the last ferry of the day departs.
Most visitors stay in or around the main harbour and villages of Gáiös. Its three and four story pastel-fronted houses front a channel of water and give the impression of being built on a river. Opposite is the islet of Áyios Nikoláos, which is endowed with the inevitable pre-requisite ruined Venetian fort. It can be reached by boat and undoubtedly offers the best view of the town. Nothing much has changed on Paxos, and it’s arguable that it remains pretty much as Edward Lear painted it at the end of the nineteenth century. Unless you visit in the heights of summer, it should always be possible to get a room in or around Gáiös. The food isn’t cheap on the island, but then again it is an island and is maximising all the seasonal income it can get its hands on. The Corfu tourist board advises all visitors to haggle about prices, and that appears to be sound advice as far as we can see: why pay more than you need to?
The island’s only sandy beach is in Mogonissi, a 45 minute walk to the south of Gáiös, and is set in a pleasant bay flanked by the Kingfisher bar and taverna. En route to the beach you’ll pass numerous small rocky coves with secluded shingle beaches: the scenery is undoubtedly spectacular, and on a hot day you’ll struggle to resist the allure of the cool clear Ionian Sea.
