How Many Days Should I Spend on Kefalonia?

Kefalonia covers well over four to five days, enough to split time between Argostoli, the caves, and the villages spread across the island's north and west coasts.

Kefalonia fills a first day easily around Argostoli, the capital, where the De Bosset Bridge, the longest stone bridge built over the sea in the world, connects to a waterfront lined with restaurants and shops. Myrtos Beach, a steep drive north, gives an easy second stop for anyone wanting to see the island's most photographed stretch of coastline on the same day.

A second day belongs to the Melissani and Drogarati caves near Sami, where an underground lake lit through a collapsed section of roof gives a different kind of swim than the beaches above ground. Antisamos Beach, close by, rounds out the day with a quieter place to finish.

A third day suits the villages of the north coast. Assos, reached by a narrow, winding road lined with cypress trees, sits beneath a 16th century Venetian fortress worth the climb, and Fiskardo, the only village to survive the 1953 earthquake mostly intact, keeps a different character built around its untouched architecture.

A fourth or fifth day works well for the Robola wine region on the slopes of Mount Ainos, along with a hike into the national park itself, and the Paliki Peninsula's beaches, including Petani and Xi, known for its orange-tinted sand, give the west coast its own full day. Kefalonia also sits close enough to Ithaca that a day trip across the strait is straightforward for anyone with additional time.

Three days cover Argostoli, Myrtos, and the caves comfortably, four or five brings the north coast villages and wine region into the trip, and a full week lets Ithaca and the Paliki Peninsula round things out. Even a short three-day visit gives a real sense of the island's range, but Kefalonia's size and variety give genuine reason to plan for considerably more time than that.