We had been to ten Greek islands before Lefkada, and we did not expect this one to blow us away the way it did. We only went because so many of you told us it was unmissable. Honestly, you were right.
Within a week Tijs was calling it the best island in Greece, and he said he could have stayed for months. We have done Milos, Skiathos, Mykonos and Santorini, and Lefkada still beats all of them. A year later it is still our number one, and we cannot stop raving about it.
It is the mix that does it. Electric blue beaches, an old town full of traditional tavernas, and a handful of modern, slightly bougie restaurants and bars that would not look out of place in Melbourne. Here is what surprised us, and what caught us out.
Five things that surprised us
1It is an island you can drive to
Lefkada sits in the Ionian, on the west side of Greece near Kefalonia, and it is joined to the mainland. If you hate ferries you can drive from Athens in about four hours, and you can pop over to the mainland for dinner in about 20 minutes.
Or so we thought. One night we rode the scooter off the island for dinner. The bridge was being redone, and the crossing was a boat. We missed the turn off completely because we thought it was just a boat, then drove the scooter into it with everyone else and out the other side.
Dinner was worth the detour. Taverna O Nikos is a family run barbecue taverna about ten minutes out of Lefkada town, doing slow cooked lamb on the spit, pork skewers, souvlaki and pita. The service was fantastic and we would drive off the island for it again.
2The ferry does not run every day
We came the other way, on the ferry from Corfu, which landed us at the main port in Lefkada town. There is a second port down south at Vasiliki. Ferryhopper and Ferryscanner will tell you which one your route uses.
What we did not know is that the ferries do not run every single day. We had six days planned and had to push it to seven, because there was no ferry on the Thursday. We were not upset about it. Check the timetable before you book anything on either side.
3The best beaches make you earn them
This is the bit nobody warned us about. At the famous beaches you cannot park and step onto the sand. Porto Katsiki, a cove under a massive cliff, is a lot of stairs down and a lot of stairs back up. Egremni, about 15 minutes' drive away, is around a kilometre's walk down. You need some level of fitness for both.
Both are worth every step. Porto Katsiki has the bluest water we have ever seen, electric blue, and it was not even busy when we went in the afternoon. Egremni is the longest strip of beach you have probably ever seen. Tijs reckons Lefkada has the best beach he has ever been to, and it is not in Thailand or the Maldives.
If stairs are a problem, Agios Nikitas is the easy one, a cute little village with a beach cove and shallow water, so it is good for families. Get there early, because the car park fills up. Down south, Agiofili charged ten euro to get in when we posted about it in September 2025, and they throw in a free coffee.
4It is bigger than it looks
Lefkada takes about an hour to drive from one end to the other, and from Lefkada town none of the beaches are within walking distance. We hired a scooter for 20 to 25 euro a day and a car for 40 euro a day in September 2025, from a company that was really nice to deal with.
The drives turned out to be half the fun. On the way to a restaurant one evening we pulled over at Cafe Panorama, a little roadside cafe that does not look like much from the road, and had a beer over the cliff. We stayed half an hour just staring at how blue the water was.
5It is cheaper than the famous islands
We braced for Greek island prices. Lefkada is a lot cheaper than Mykonos and Santorini, partly because the big cruise ships do not go there, so there are fewer tourists. At a cute beach club in Nidri, the kind of place you expect to get stung, our coffee was about 3.50 euro.
Our Airbnb in Lefkada town was 100 US dollars a night in September 2025, with a full kitchen, a massive lounge, air con and two balconies. All up, the island cost the two of us about 240 euro a night, accommodation and food included.
The bits we would keep exactly the same
Lefkada town as a base. We stayed there because of the gyms, and it was the right call. It sits on the port where the island meets the mainland, with the old town, lots of restaurants and an awesome gym we trained at all week. The catch is that you are not within walking distance of a beach, so if that matters more to you, look at Agios Nikitas or Nidri.
The coffee. Every place on Lefkada knows how to make coffee, honestly. Hood 44 in Lefkada town was the one we went to pretty much every day, and their coffee was spectacular. For a traditional Greek dinner without leaving town, Kyma is easy to get to, and the moussaka and the octopus were both so good.
Sunset on the hill. Rachi is a modern Greek restaurant up on a hill, and after two months in Greece it was Tijs's all time favourite and most memorable meal. The moussaka comes with fried bits on top. Book it for peak dinner time. Next door, run by the same people, Fly Me is where you sit with a cocktail and watch paragliders run off the side of the mountain at sunset. The sunset bars are mostly walk in, so turn up at six or seven and claim your spot.
Two nights down south. We finished in a villa at the bottom of the island with a sea view and an outdoor pool overlooking the ocean. There is almost nothing around it and very few restaurants, so you need a car, but for two nights it was exactly right.
So, is it really the best Greek island?
For us, yes. On our last day someone messaged to say Kefalonia would surprise us and might beat it, and that was our next stop. All the islands are amazing, but we still preferred Lefkada.
Go in May to June or in September. We were there in September and it was perfect, not too crowded, and the weather was perfection. June, July and August are peak, very busy and very hot. Give it at least four days, and a week if you can. We had seven and could have stayed the whole month.
Abbey & Tijs