Porto Katsiki

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. The sea is deep here and the bay drops away quickly; beyond the headlands the seabed falls to hundreds of metres.

The name means "goat port", and the story goes that before modern roads only goats could reach it. The beach became widely known only in the 1990s, after a road was built out to the south-west of the island near the village of Athani. Even so, the last part of the approach remains a stairway down the cliff face from a car park on top, which is also the best place to take in the whole curve of the cove from above.

Farther south lies Cape Lefkada, whose white cliffs may have given the island its name. Ancient writers placed a sanctuary of Apollo on the cape, and legend held that the poet Sappho leapt to her death from its cliffs. An earthquake in 2015 badly damaged the beach, a reminder that this coast is still being shaped.

Getting there

Porto Katsiki is on the south-west coast of Lefkada, about 35 km from Lefkada town, near the village of Athani. There is a car park at the top of the cliff with a stairway down to the beach, and in summer boats bring visitors from Nidri on the east coast. Lefkada is joined to the mainland by a causeway and a floating bridge. The nearest airport is Aktion National Airport (PVK), which serves Preveza and Lefkada, about 40 km away in a straight line; Preveza is 43 km away.