Corfu, the Ionian Escape

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After Lisbon, our escapes series heads south-east. At the end of August the team booked a flight to Corfu two days before leaving, with four nights ahead and one simple wish: the clearest sea we could find, without giving up a real city in the evening. Here is our journal — where we slept, sailed and dined, with the practical pointers you need to plan the same trip.

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Greece's Venetian island

Corfu does not look like the Greece you picture. No whitewashed cubes, no sun-scorched rock: here everything is green — millions of olive trees, cypresses, hills sloping gently down to a lagoon-blue sea. And the town is Italian before it is Greek. Four centuries of Venetian rule (1386-1797) left it two fortresses, ochre and pink facades with green shutters, narrow lanes known as kantounia, and a historic centre listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

There is even a piece of Paris in the middle of it all: the Liston, the arcaded promenade lining the great Spianada esplanade, was built during the French occupation of the early 19th century on the model of the rue de Rivoli. You take your coffee under its vaults, facing a cricket pitch inherited from the British — Corfu is an island of layers.

Getting to Corfu from Paris

• By plane — Direct flights from Orly with Transavia (and easyJet in season), in about 2 h 45. We booked on the Wednesday to leave on the Friday: €580 return per person, of which €401 for the return leg alone. Booked in spring, the same trip goes for around €200. The lesson is expensive: for Corfu in August, plan ahead.
• From the airport to the hotel — The airport is in town, ten minutes from the centre. To reach Moraitika, twenty kilometres south, we took a private transfer booked in advance (€55 on arrival, €60.50 on departure), the simplest option with luggage.
• Getting around — Ride-hailing apps work (Uber and Bolt call local taxis): count €40 to €77 between Moraitika bay and the old town, half an hour's drive. Beyond that, a hire car still rules the island.
• The detail that matters — Corfu runs one hour ahead of Paris. The sun sets late, the evening starts early.

Domes Miramare, a bay of your own

Our address for this journal is an adults-only hotel set right on the water at Moraitika, on the island's east coast: Domes Miramare, a Luxury Collection Resort. A 1960s grand hotel completely rethought, with stone-and-timber bungalows slipped between the olive trees, a beach of pale pebbles and, above all, a private dock from which the boats leave. We had an Emerald Retreat beachfront room, king bed, terrace three metres from the water — a setting no Paris palace can offer.

The real life of the hotel happens on the dock and the beach: sunbeds facing the water, bar service until evening, floating mattresses and that Ionian light, softer than the Cyclades'. The concierge service deserves a paragraph of its own: in three email exchanges it found us a private boat, rearranged the outing when the weather demanded it and had a pair of swimming goggles added on board because we had only packed one.

Paxos and Antipaxos by private boat

This is the day you come to Corfu for without knowing it. An hour's sailing to the south lie two tiny islands: Paxos, with its pocket-sized harbours and a west coast pierced by sea caves, and Antipaxos, whose Voutoumi and Vrika beaches have water so clear you would swear you were in the Caribbean. Through the concierge we booked a Prestige RIB speedboat with captain for the day: €1,250 for the boat (shared between passengers, up to eight on this type of craft), leaving the hotel dock at 10 am and back around 6 pm.

The programme unfolds gently: first the Blue Caves of Paxos, into which the captain eases the hull at idle speed, then the swims of Antipaxos, a grilled-fish lunch in the port of Gaios, and a last stop in a cove the captain picks according to the wind. The wind, precisely: our outing planned for Saturday was pushed back to Monday because of a rough sea, and the replacement boat offered for Sunday broke down the day before. Moral of the story: ask for the boat as soon as you book the hotel, keep two possible days in your stay, and let the concierge arbitrate with the weather — ours did, perfectly.

Corfu Town: the Liston, the Spianada, the old port

On Sunday, into town — Kerkyra to the Greeks. Thirty-five minutes by Bolt (€77, Sunday-evening-in-August pricing) and you step out at the foot of the immense Spianada, the largest square in Greece, framed by the arcades of the Liston on one side and the Old Venetian Fortress on the other, perched on its promontory above the sea. Walk past the Palace of St Michael and St George, then lose yourself in the kantounia: this is where the town gives itself away, between candied-kumquat shops, laundry-strung courtyards and Byzantine churches whose bells ring the Venetian way.

Finally head down to the old port and the Spilia quarter, the liveliest part of the old town after dark. We dined at Salto, a wine bar-bistro opened in 2013 by two chefs, Pavlos and Natasha: open kitchen, a fourteen-seat counter facing the pass, more than a hundred Greek wines from small producers. Fish of the day, sage gnocchi, a bottle of white from Kefalonia. Book ahead, the room is tiny. Back to the hotel by Uber, €40.

From above: paragliding over the Ionian Sea

On Sunday morning, before town, we gained some altitude: a tandem paragliding flight over the coast, booked the day before on site. Take-off is from the hills above the sea, and for twenty minutes you understand the island at a glance — the pale ribbon of beaches, the green of the olive groves up to the summit of Pantokrator and, offshore, the blue line of Albania, only two kilometres to the north. Simple to organise (the instructors come and collect you) and the finest “photo” of the trip, even if you bring none home.

Our tables — tested on the ground

• Salto Wine Bar-Bistro (old port, Corfu Town) — Our best dinner of the trip: produce from small Greek producers, an encyclopaedic wine list, counter-dining atmosphere.
• The restaurants of Domes Miramare (Moraitika) — Dinner with your feet in the water, reinvented Greek cooking and fish over the embers; this is the “extras” line on our hotel bill.
• Lunch from the boat (Gaios, Paxos) — Grilled fish and Greek salad in a harbour taverna chosen by the captain. Simple, perfect, and you go straight back in the water.
• Kumquat — The island's speciality, as a liqueur or candied: the old-town shops sell it everywhere, and it is the souvenir that travels well.

Price pointers for planning the trip

A few real figures from our stay, for two people at the end of August — the most expensive season of the year. Hotel and restaurants depend on your wishes: the island offers every level, from the harbour taverna to the beachfront palace.

• Flights — €580 per person return (Transavia, booked 48 hours before). Count on half that by booking early.
• Private boat to Paxos-Antipaxos — €1,250 for the day, captain and fuel included, to be shared between passengers.
• Airport transfers — €55 and €60.50 to Moraitika. Taxis to town — €40 to €77 a ride.
• Tandem paragliding — booked the day before on site; the instructors come and collect you.

Booking tours and activities

Corfu lends itself beautifully to experiences: a cruise to Paxos and Antipaxos, a day at Paleokastritsa and its caves, a visit to the Achilleion, Empress Sisi's palace. In August the boats leave full — book before you go.

Experiences offered via Viator — booking may earn Lavie Maison a commission, at no extra cost to you.

Where to stay in Corfu: our addresses

Partner links — booking may earn Lavie Maison a commission, at no extra cost to you.

Before or after Corfu: our Paris apartments

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Before flying home, one last stop under the arcades of the Liston for an iced coffee and a bag of candied kumquats — the Corfu souvenir that never ends up forgotten at the back of a cupboard.

And to stretch the summer at home: the team that tested Corfu is the one that welcomes you all year round in Paris. Lavie Maison rents characterful apartments in the capital's finest neighbourhoods — the Marais, Saint-Germain, the Left Bank, Trocadéro — with a real kitchen, hotel-grade beds and a welcome in ten languages. Book direct on our site: nights are 5% cheaper than on the platforms, and the team answers before, during and after your stay. We are also in Nice and Bordeaux for those who prefer the Riviera or the vineyards.

In Corfu, luxury is not the price of the boat: it is the first stroke in the water off Antipaxos, when you realise no photograph could ever have rendered that colour.

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