Tours in Corfu

Walk into Corfu Town in the late afternoon and you will notice the sound first. Shutters opening, scooters threading through lanes barely wider than your shoulders, someone calling across a balcony. The old town is a tangle of tall, faded houses with laundry strung between them, and the lanes run downhill in a way that makes getting lost feel like a plan.

Start near the Old Fortress, where the town meets the sea on a rocky headland. Cross over to the open green of the Spianada, the big square that locals treat as a front room. On one side is the Liston, a row of arcades with cafés underneath, and the habit here is to take one coffee and make it last an hour. The arches have a Parisian look that surprises people who expect a purely Greek island town.

Behind the square the town gets denser. St. Spyridon Church has a bell tower you will spot from several lanes away, and it is the church most people in town seem to have a story about. The Palace of Saint Michael and Saint George sits at the edge of the Spianada, and its Museum of Asian Art is a quiet change from the sun outside. Walk a little further and Boschetto Gardens gives you shade and a view over the water.

Corfu's layers of Venetian, French and British rule show in the street names, the architecture and even the food. There is more to ask a guide about than one short walk can hold. The New Fortress, Mon Repos, Paleokastritsa and the Achilleion are all within reach, and if one of them is on your list, ask. A local guide can build a day around it.