The Most Beautiful Places in the Ionian Islands
7 places · updated 13 October 2026
In short: By our ranking, the most beautiful places in the Ionian Islands are Navagio, Ionian Islands and Myrtos Beach. The list covers 7 places. Last updated 13 October 2026.
The Ionian Islands run down Greece's western flank, from Corfu near the Albanian coast to Zakynthos off the Peloponnese. They are greener than the Aegean islands, catching more winter rain, and their limestone coasts break into white cliffs, coves and caves above water of an intense turquoise. Centuries of Venetian rule left a culture distinct from the rest of Greece, visible in the arcaded old town of Corfu, the bell towers and the music of the islands.
The coastline is the main event here. Navagio, on Zakynthos, is a cove walled by sheer cliffs where the rusting hull of a ship that ran aground in 1980 lies on the white sand. On Kefalonia, Myrtos Beach is a long arc of white pebbles beneath steep slopes, and Melissani is a cave lake whose roof collapsed long ago, so that at midday sunlight falls straight onto the water and turns it a vivid blue. Lefkada's Porto Katsiki sits at the foot of pale cliffs on the island's southwestern tip.
Further north, Porto Timoni on Corfu is a rare double bay, two coves back to back on either side of a narrow isthmus. And on tiny Antipaxos, Voutoumi Beach shows how clear Ionian water can be, with a sandy floor visible far out from the shore. The islands themselves appear here too, as a group, because the chain as a whole is part of their appeal.
In this list
| # | Place | Type | UNESCO |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Navagio | Beach | |
| 2 | Ionian Islands | Island | |
| 3 | Myrtos Beach | Beach | |
| 4 | Porto Katsiki | Beach | |
| 5 | Melissani Cave | Show cave | |
| 6 | Porto Timoni | Beach | |
| 7 | Voutoumi Beach | Beach |
01 Navagio
Ναυάγιο
Greece37.860° N 20.625° E
dronepicr · CC BY 2.0 The wreck that gives this cove its name ran aground on October 5, 1980. The coaster MV Panagiotis, caught in a storm along Zakynthos's sheer western coastline, was steered — or drove — into the hidden bay, and its crew abandoned the ship there, reportedly while being pursued by the Greek Navy.
Did you know? Before the wreck arrived, the cove was known as Agios Georgios, or Ai Giorgis in local speech, after Saint George.
02 Ionian Islands
Επτάνησα
Greece37.800° N 20.700° E
Image by shogun from Pixabay Strung along the western coast of Greece, the Ionian Islands are the green counterpart to the bare Aegean: limestone mountains wooded with cypress, olive and fir, falling into a sea that shifts from deep blue to milky turquoise over pale pebble and marble.
Did you know? The Septinsular Republic of 1800 to 1807, under Russian and Ottoman protection, was the first Greek self-government of any kind since the fall of Constantinople in 1453.
03 Myrtos Beach
Greece38.344° N 20.536° E
- Blue Flag
Image by shogun from Pixabay Myrtos is the beach that makes people stop the car. On the north-west coast of Kefalonia, in the Pylaros area, a long curve of dazzling white pebbles sits at the foot of steep cliffs between two mountains, Agia Dynati and Kalon Oros, and the sea in front of it glows an improbable turquoise.
Did you know? After the 2014 Kefalonia earthquakes, a limestone block of about 180 cubic metres broke from the slope, smashed the access road and stopped near the shore.
04 Porto Katsiki
Greece38.602° N 20.549° E
- Blue Flag
Image by ioana_radu from Pixabay Porto Katsiki lies on the wild south-west coast of Lefkada, where pale cliffs fall straight into the Ionian Sea. The beach itself is a strip of stones at the foot of a curved, concave cliff, and its fame comes from the contrast between the bright rock and the clear blue water.
Did you know? Beyond the headlands that frame the cove, the seabed drops to depths of about 350 metres.
05 Melissani Cave
Λιμνοσπήλαιο Μελισσάνης
Greece38.257° N 20.624° E
Matt Sims · CC BY 2.0 The lake inside Melissani sits under a hole that wasn't always there.
Did you know? The lake's water is brackish, a mixture of inland fresh water and seawater that has seeped in from below.
06 Porto Timoni
Greece · 25.3 km from Corfu39.717° N 19.650° E
Przemek Pietrak · CC BY-SA 3.0 Porto Timoni is a double beach: two small bays back to back, joined by a narrow neck of land on the northwestern coast of Corfu, just below the hilltop village of Afionas.
Did you know? Afionas, the village above the beach, has a parish church of Agios Ioannis Lampataris built in 1636 and fewer than 300 inhabitants.
07 Voutoumi Beach
Greece39.150° N 20.233° E
Kakolyri Maria · CC BY-SA 4.0 Voutoumi is the best-known beach of Antipaxos, a small island of about five square kilometres a few kilometres south of Paxos in the Ionian Sea. The island has only a couple of dozen permanent residents and is covered largely in vineyards, so its coast has kept a quiet, almost rural character.
Did you know? Mediterranean monk seals use the sea caves of Antipaxos, notably the Kalogiris cave on the west coast, to rest and breed.
How this list is ranked
Places are chosen for how they look, not for how famous they are: each one has its own description and a photograph credited to its author. The order is a single world ranking that weighs the beauty of the place in curated photography together with how widely it is documented — the number of language editions of its encyclopedia article and how often that article is read in a year. The list is rebuilt as places are added, so the order and the counts on this page are always current.
Questions people ask
- What are the most beautiful places in the Ionian Islands?
- On our list, Navagio ranks first, followed by Ionian Islands and Myrtos Beach.
- What is the shipwreck on Navagio Beach?
- It is the wreck of the coaster MV Panagiotis, which ran aground in the cove in 1980. The beach on Zakynthos, also called Shipwreck Beach, is reachable only by sea.
- Why is Melissani Cave so blue?
- Part of the cave's roof collapsed, leaving an opening above the underground lake. Around midday, sunlight shines directly onto the clear water and lights it a bright blue.
- Which islands make up the Ionian Islands?
- The seven main islands are Corfu, Paxos, Lefkada, Ithaca, Kefalonia, Zakynthos and Kythira, together with many smaller islets such as Antipaxos.
- What kinds of places are there to see in the Ionian Islands?
- In our collection, the places in the Ionian Islands are most often beaches (5), caves (1), show caves (1) and islands (1).
- How many places are on this list in the Ionian Islands?
- The list covers 7 places.