Karavados Holidays

Karavados is a pocket-sized village in the south of Kefalonia, anchored among pine forests and citrus groves. It has all the mainstays of a typical Greek town, including rustic houses with cheerful gardens, an oxblood-red church, and a couple of tiny tavernas. While mountains lie to the north, a pancake-flat plain rolls out for a mile to the coast. Here, you’ll find a couple of beaches with views right across to Zante.

Nearby Agios Thomas Beach has a couple of coves to its name. Most people don’t look beyond the main one, which comes paired with a taverna. But if you trace the skinny path at one end, you’ll discover a hideaway beach dotted with sunloungers and parasols. At low tide and with sturdy shoes, you can keep walking west to discover a coastline scattered with otherworldly rock formations. Agios Thomas Beach is about a 25-minute stroll – or a 5-minute drive – from Karavados.

Argostoli, the capital of Kefalonia, is only 15 minutes away by car. It’s got a great late-night shopping scene and a main square piled high with tavernas. The ports of Sami and Poros are less than an hour’s drive away, but once there you can hop on a ferry to the mountainous island of Ithaca or to Killini, on the historic Olympia Coast. Postcard-pretty Zante is within daytripping distance, too.