They say that Paleokastritsa is one of the most beautiful beaches in Corfu… I would disagree, and here’s why…
Paleokastritsa is located 26 km from Kerkyra. Before Paleokastritsa, our team was supposed to climb the Kaiser’s throne by van, but since the streets are terribly narrow and with elbow bends and because some “smart ass” parked his vehicle exactly where it shouldn’t, a traffic jam was created and we got stuck.
And while the lamella started to smell suspiciously, the temperature in the van was rising, but not because of the atmospheric conditions.
It was impossible to go forward or backward on the elbow bend and the impossible uphill. We all had a terrible thought: “We’re not going to reverse all the way down, are we?”
Idle observers have already started placing bets on who will be the first to boil in their car.
At least the view from the overheated window was nice…
After intense, precise maneuvers, we descended to civilization, plans were changed and Paleokastritsa shone in our passenger sky.
When you arrive in Paleokastritsa, you must first find a parking lot. We struggled a bit in September, and you can find out for yourself what it’s like in the season.
The beach is mixed, it has both sand and gravel, so for all tastes.
The beach is also very crowded in September.
I have to admit that the beach itself did not impress me, although it has the most important thing for me, which is the Sea track, the most intelligent system for entering the water for disabled people. When I see this machine, I want to throw myself in the water out of gratitude for it’s existance.
Even the approach to the beach is perfect.
However, when I heard from my “testers” how cold the water is in Paleokastritsa, I gave up on entering. The water in Paleokastritsa is almost always cold, only sometimes less sometimes more because of some underground sources that cool it.
Disabled people can’t really swim in cold water for a thousand medical reasons so I don’t really understand why this precious machine is placed right here on a cramped beach with cold water. Which is not to say that I’m not deeply grateful that this device even exists.
Besides swimming, there are other ways to cool off.
Watching red-faced tourists is always a dear sport to me.
And there is plenty of that in Paleokastritsa.
You spend the whole day on Paleokastritsa, so there is also a modest Aquarium where you can spend part of the time.
The entrance looks like this, and if you stone me, I put you on “ignore”. I didn’t feel welcome, so I bypassed the aquarium.
When you’re there, you should also stop by the cafe where James Bond was filmed, then go up to the Paleokastritsa monastery, there’s also the village of Lakones, and also the Andjelokastro fortress. That was all in the plan, but it fell through, because the driver of our little excursion said “I’M NOT CLIMBING ANYWHERE ANYMORE TODAY!”.
And that would be about it. I didn’t find out why Paleokastritca is the most beautiful beach in Corfu.
All in all, I would not return here.
What are your impressions of Paleokastritsa?
Did I miss something?
Traveled and overheated,
Marko Veličkovic
Hi there, really interesting blog post. I just got back from Paleokastritsa and i really loved it, but… all your points are really valid, the beaches are very cramped and mostly taken up with huge sun loungers to rent. I can’t imagine it is an easy place at all if you use a wheel chair or to be honest have any mobility difficulties, the roads are narrow with mostly not much in the way of sidewalk and where there is the ramps area fairly infrequent and lumpy. My partner and I both commented on how hard it world be for anyone in a chair and yes the water was cold in places and in fact when I was snorkeling I found a few cold water springs near the sea bed. We stayed at a good hotel but it had no facilities for people in a chair with no level access to the reception and no accessible toilet in the reception with a lot of internal steps between bar, terrace, restaurant etc.. seems like corfu has some catching up to do on accessibility in general? Which is a real shame as its a very beautiful island
Thank you for your comment and support! I am glad that you can relate with my view of Corfu.