Paxos
Overview
Paxos has no airport, three small harbours and an interior of olive trees roughly 500 years old. Local myth says Poseidon broke a piece off Corfu with his trident to make a private retreat for himself and Amphitrite. The usual way in is the ferry from Corfu, an hour and a quarter to Gaios, the tiny capital. The Venetians planted the olives, and the trees still bear, gnarled and dense across an island only 10 kilometres long.
Most of the island’s life is in three settlements. Gaios, on the east coast, sits on a near-enclosed natural channel between the main island and a smaller offshore islet of the same shape. Loggos, ten minutes north, is a horseshoe of houses around a single jetty. Lakka, at the northern end, has the gentler swimming, a curved and sheltered bay, and most of the better small hotels. Most visitors stay in Lakka and go to the other two for lunch.
The west coast is the dramatic one, and it is best seen from the water. The Erimitis cliffs above the Tripitos arch, the sea caves at Ortholithos and the smaller cove called Achai can be reached only by boat. Hire a small one in Gaios for the day and run the west coast from south to north. Start by mid-morning: the afternoon swell closes the caves by 3pm, and you will be turned back at the bigger ones.
Antipaxos, 20 minutes south by water taxi, is the second island most guests should visit, even on a short stay. Its beaches at Vrika and Voutoumi have pale sand and shallow water unlike anywhere else in the Ionian. There is one taverna behind each beach, and you should arrive an hour earlier than you think for a table.
House Notes
Arrival
Kerkyra Lines runs the Flying Dolphin hydrofoil, on a vessel named Paxos Island, from Corfu Town to Gaios in 55 minutes. Guests arriving by private helicopter land at Corfu and transfer by arranged private boat. The island has no helipad of its own, and no airport nearer than Corfu.
The address
Torri e Merli stands on the olive-grove edge of Lakka: a 17th-century Venetian fortified manor restored as a five-star hotel, and one of the few of its kind still intact on the island. Its name reads as turrets and battlements. For a stand-alone estate with a pool, private villa rental through Paxos Retreats is the alternative.
The kitchen, Loggos
Vassilis, on the Loggos harbour front, has belonged to the Andreadakis family since 1957; it began as a snack counter for workers at the olive and soap factories and became a full restaurant in the 1970s. Konstantinos Andreadakis runs it now, and the dish to order is lobster kritaroto, orzo slow-cooked with the catch. Tables sit on the stone terrace; book ahead in season.
Erimitis, on foot
The Boikatika loop follows 2 kilometres of stone-floored donkey track through untended olive groves to the cliff edge above Erimitis bay, where limestone rises high over a turquoise sea. Allow one hour and walk before 9am, because the path has no shade from midday. The island’s only natural spring surfaces just above the beach, seeping through a rock face enclosed in stone.
The Anemogiannis factory
On the Loggos waterfront stands the Anemogiannis factory, built in the late 19th century by the brothers Stefanos and Ioannis Anemogiannis on land bought in 1874. It began as an olive press and grew into an oil mill, refinery and soap works, and its 24-metre brick chimney still rises over the harbour. It is a preserved monument of industrial architecture and the record of how the island once turned its five-century-old olive groves into oil.
Ypapanti, by arrangement
Ypapanti, built in 1601 by the brothers Adam and Vasilis San Ippolito in the hamlet of Grammatikeika between Lakka and Magazia, is the only Byzantine-style church on Paxos. Its double dome and marble altar front set it apart, and the 1772 Venetian bell tower stands beside it. It opens on Wednesdays from 6pm to 7pm; the Planos office in Lakka arranges private visits at other times.
The castle, by boat
The Castle of Agios Nikolaos stands on a low islet 40 metres off the Gaios waterfront, and a small boat from the harbour makes the crossing. Building began in 1423 under the Venetian baron Adam II San Ippolito and was complete by 1510; most of the walls, the gunpowder store, the watchtower and the original cannons remain. The islet also holds two small chapels.
Erimitis at table
Erimitis Bar Restaurant, above the west-coast cliffs at Magazia, opens daily at 6pm and takes reservations by phone two days ahead, with card details to hold the table. Every table faces the Ionian sunset across the Erimitis cliffs. The kitchen works with Paxiot produce; bring a layer for the clifftop breeze after dark.
Captain Nikos
Nikos began hiring out boats from Loggos in 1982, while he was still fishing. His son Panayiotis runs the business now, with rigid inflatable boats (RIBs) and larger deluxe boats delivered to Lakka, Monodendri, Gaios or Mongonisi by arrangement, and a private day trip to Parga or Corfu with a named skipper. The fleet is based in Loggos; book in advance for July and August.
The window
The weeks to come are late May to mid-July and the first three weeks of September. In August, Gaios fills with flotillas of yachts from the sailing schools of the Ionian bases, moorings are taken by mid-afternoon, and the quiet harbours draw a crowd every night. The island settles again in September, when the sea stays warm and the tavernas stay open.
Anchorage Notes
Gaios
Gaios, the island’s capital and main port, lies behind the wooded islet of Agios Nikolaos, which closes off the channel and hides the harbour until the last turn. The ferries, the Corfu hydrofoil and the sea taxis all come in here, and a yacht lies in the green channel between the town and the islet. It is the busiest water on Paxos, and still small.
Lakka
Lakka is a fishing village on the northern tip, set on a natural, almost circular bay closed by two headlands. It is one of the most popular anchorages in the Ionian, busy through the season with yachts, windsurfers and swimmers. A yacht lies in the round green bowl of the bay, with the village and its tavernas around the water at its head.
Loggos
Loggos, on the northeast coast, is the smallest of the island’s ports: a tiny fishing harbour with a handful of shops and bars around it and shingle beaches close by. A yacht lies close in against the little quay, with the village a few steps deep behind it. It is the quietest of the three Paxos harbours.
Antipaxos
Antipaxos lies 3 kilometres south: a small island of vineyards and some 20 people, with a single harbour, Agrapidia. The day boats come for its beaches, Vrika with its white sand and Voutoumi with pebbles over sand so pale that the water above it looks like glass. The sea taxi runs from Gaios in a quarter of an hour, and a yacht lies off the beaches.