The popular TV series The Durrells showed millions of viewers the beauty of Corfu beyond the beaches, and the 220km Corfu Trail has become a popular route for walkers keen to explore the landscape, olive groves and picturesque villages of the island’s coast and interior.
The series, starring Keeley Hawes, was based on the novels of Gerald Durrell, who lived on Corfu in the 1930s, but the walking trail along the island’s length was not officially established until 2001.
Leading from Arkoudillas in the south to Cape Agia Ekaterini in the north, the route does, of course, take in some lovely beaches, as well as numerous resorts used by Olympic Holidays, and can take around 10 days to complete on a schedule recommended by the downloadable book The Companion Guide to the Corfu Trail.
The constantly-changing landscape starts predominantly with dunes and beaches, and covers cliffs and mountains, valleys and gorges, and fields and streets, with some stiff climbs and rough pathways.
It takes in Spartera, Lefkimmi, the valley of Gardeno, Lake Korission, Paramonas, the Messongi River valley, the summit of Agii Deka, Pelekas, Myrtiotissa Beach, Liapades, Paleokastritsa, Agios Georgios, the Megapotamos River, the deep valley to Sokraki, the rugged Karst Plateau, Pantokrator mountain, Parigori Gorge and Saint Spiridon Beach.
The route is marked with yellow, metal ‘CT’ signs, with yellow paint markers on stretches in between, but be careful not to confuse them with the smaller, fluorescent plastic signs for an annual marathon, which lead in the opposite direction.
See other recommended walks in Greece and Cyprus.