Ζάκυνθος · The party strip of Laganas, a turtle sanctuary next door and the cliffs of the Shipwreck
Dance until sunrise on the Laganas strip, swim in a bay where loggerhead turtles nest, look down on the Shipwreck from the cliffs and end the night in an arcaded Venetian town of poets.
Greetings from Zakynthos
Zakynthos
Last night we danced on the Laganas strip until it got light, and this afternoon we were on a little boat in the same bay, watching a loggerhead turtle lift its head out of the water a few metres away. Tomorrow we are driving north to look down on the Shipwreck from the cliffs, then swimming into the Blue Caves. Tonight, though, the strip again.
Hour by hour
A turtle island, a clifftop view, a sunset taverna and a night on the strip.
Take a licensed boat from Limni Keri to Turtle Island, swim off its sandy beach and look into the sea caves of Keri.
Drive north through the hills to the viewpoint over Navagio, where the Panagiotis lies on the white pebbles far below.
Come down to the west coast for lunch above a turquoise inlet, then swim off the rocks.
Take a table on the cliffs of Kampi and watch the sun go down into the Ionian Sea.
Drive back south and join the crowd on the strip, from the bars to Rescue and Sizzle, until the early hours.
Where to stay
Laganas
Zante Plaza Hotel & Apartments · Resort hotel · €€
Laganas
Astir Palace & Astir Beach · Beachfront hotel · €€
Kalamaki
Crystal Beach Hotel · Beachfront hotel · €€
Only on Zakynthos
What makes Zakynthos different from every other Greek island.
The beach at the end of Laganas's club strip is a nesting beach of the National Marine Park of Zakynthos, founded in 1999 as the first national park in the Mediterranean created for sea turtles. Every summer night the clubs are full and the sand, a few hundred metres away, is left dark and empty for the loggerheads.
Usually between about 900 and 2,000 loggerhead nests are dug on the park's six beaches in a season, which makes the bay one of the most important nesting places of Caretta caretta in the Mediterranean. Females come ashore at night from May to August, and the hatchlings run for the sea until October.
Dionysios Solomos, born on Zakynthos in 1798, wrote the Hymn to Liberty in 1823, and its first stanzas became the Greek national anthem. He lies in the museum on St Mark's Square beside the poet Andreas Kalvos, another son of the island.
In the 5th century BC Herodotus described how the people of Zakynthos drew pitch from a lake, and the springs still seep near Keri. On the other side of the island, the Panagiotis has been rusting on the sand of Navagio since 1980.
“Zacinto mia, che te specchi nell'onde del greco mar.”
Towns & villages
Greece's loudest party strip, on a beach where sea turtles nest
Laganas is the island's party resort: a main road of bars, clubs, fast food and neon that runs down to a long sandy beach on the south coast. From June to August it fills with young, mostly British holidaymakers, and the night does not really start until after midnight, when Rescue, Sizzle and the clubs around them open their doors. The same beach is a nesting site of the National Marine Park of Zakynthos, so the sand belongs to the loggerhead turtles after dark. Few places in Europe put a club strip and a wildlife sanctuary this close together.
An arcaded Venetian town, rebuilt after 1953, under the castle hill of Bochali
Zakynthos Town, which the islanders call Chora, is the island's port and capital, strung along a wide bay on the east coast. The 1953 earthquake and the fires that followed destroyed almost all of it, and it was rebuilt in the old style, with arcaded streets, pale plaster and tall bell towers. Here you find the poets' museum, the Byzantine icons, the church of the island's saint and the Venetian castle on the hill of Bochali. It is the other face of Zakynthos, and it is only twenty minutes from Laganas.
Things to do
Festival
Walk the main road after midnight, from the bars to the big clubs, Rescue, Sizzle and Zeros among them, and stay out until it gets light. Foam parties and themed nights change from season to season, so check the posters on the strip.
Laganas
Beach
Cross the wooden bridge to the small pine-covered islet at the west end of the bay, with a beach bar and clear water.
Agios Sostis, Laganas
Nature
Take a licensed boat to Marathonisi, swim off its beach and look into the sea caves. You may see loggerheads in the bay, but never chase, touch or feed them.
Marathonisi
Good to know
Zakynthos, which many visitors still call Zante, its old Venetian name, is the southernmost of the main Ionian islands, about 405 km² of olive groves, white cliffs and long sandy bays. To most young Britons it means Laganas, one of the loudest party strips in Greece, where the clubs stay open until the sun comes up. But the beach at the end of that strip is part of the National Marine Park of Zakynthos, the main nesting ground of the loggerhead turtle in the Mediterranean, and the turtles have the sand to themselves every night. Beyond the bay are the cliffs of the west coast, the Shipwreck and the Blue Caves of the north, and a capital that gave Greece its national anthem.
When to go
July and August for the full party season in Laganas. June and September are warm, cheaper and calmer. The turtles nest from May to August, and the hatchlings emerge until October.
Getting around
Laganas is walkable and buses link it with the town. For Navagio, the Blue Caves, Keri and the west coast you need a car or a boat trip. Take care on the roads, especially at night and on quads.
Party safely
Drink water, keep an eye on your friends and your drinks, and agree how you will get home. Use licensed taxis, and stay on the road, not the beach, when you walk back at night.
Getting there
Fly direct from the UK and much of Europe in summer, or from Athens in under an hour. Ferries cross from Kyllini on the Peloponnese in about an hour.
Flights & ferries
An island named in Homer, four centuries of Venice, a British protectorate, union with Greece in 1864, and a town rebuilt after the earthquake of 1953.
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