If you rent a car from one of the many rental companies on the island, you can drive around it in one day thanks to its small size. Enjoy car trips on the island of Zakynthos.
The island of Zakynthos is less than 40km long and about 16km wide, so it is not a problem to see all the interesting places during a one-day car trip.
Obsah článku
Zakynthos car trips – where to go
We rented a car for 3 days (car rental in Tsilivi) and returned to some places, because, for example, Banana beach, one of the most beautiful beaches on the island, is definitely worth a second visit. I would not hesitate to say that it is the most beautiful island in Greece.
Car rental price list
The car rental per day costs +- €50 in the summer season, but it depends on the type and size of the car and also the number of days. The longer, the cheaper.
DAY 1 – Turtle Beach, Banana Beach and Keri Village
Our starting point was next to the Hotel Admiral in Tsilivi, where there was also a rental company from where we rented a Fiat Scudo – a van for 8 people, but also ideal for 6 people and lots of necessary luggage (sunbeds, bottled water, towels, etc.).
In the morning, immediately after breakfast, we headed towards the southeastern part of the island to Vassilikos and Gerakas, where there is a rescue station for loggerhead turtles, and also on the nearby beach you will see turtles laying eggs in the sand, and thanks to local conservationists, these places are marked with wooden “houses” so that some careless visitor does not step on the egg in the sand.
Then we continued to the northernmost point of the eastern part of the island, took some more photos and went with the children to the promised Banana beach. Sunbeds 2pcs + umbrella €6, we took 2 sets for 6 of us for €12 :) The sea is beautifully clean, no pebbles, beautiful. Right next to the beach is the Casa Playa restaurant, they bring food directly to the water, so we ordered spaghetti, a hamburger and 2 salads, gave €30 and the food was there in a moment ;-) We really didn’t need anything else until dinner, it filled us up nicely.
On the beach, everyone except the children got luxuriously burned, so the journey in the van to the town of Keri was quite a suffering, thanks to the large glass windows, but the view of the sea behind the town of Keri was worth it, a great panorama, one of the most beautiful on the island!!! It is recommended to be in Keri in the evening and you will see a beautiful sunset, but since the way there and back is not great, it is better to get there in daylight :)
DAY 2 – Blue Caves, Navagio Beach and Kalamaki
The next day we visited the Blue Caves – Blue Caves and Navagio beach with the shipwreck – Shipwreck, we drove on a road to the lighthouse in the north of the island and bought tickets directly for both attractions.
The blue water in the caves was great, as were the caves themselves.
Navagio beach was quite crowded, the stones on it were really quite unpleasant if you didn’t have water shoes, which were, by the way, quite cold, about 18C max.
We had an hour to swim, so we took advantage of this.
When we were in Zakynthos for the second time, I filmed this beach from above, check out the video.
On the way back, we stopped at the viewpoint above the town of Zakynthos and went to Kalamaki beach, where there were many shells and planes landed above it, it was supposed to be one of the most beautiful on the island, which was not true, so we continued through the resort of Laganas to Agios Sostis, from where boats depart if you want to see turtles swimming in the sea. Here we only took a few photos and went to our favorite Banana beach where you spent the rest of the day and the last trip in the rented car, driven about 160km on a road :)
Tips:
The cheapest shop on the island to buy groceries is LIDL in Zakynthos, you will find it in the direction of Laganas. For example, a 6-pack of bottled water costs €1.30 in Lidl, in seaside resorts it usually costs €1.70, but it is not uncommon to pay €2 for a 6-pack of 1.5L water.
Tsilivi aquapark is great, as you can see for yourself in the video.
The view from the hill Bochali above the town of Zakynthos can be photographed from 2 places, either if you are driving from Tsilivi to the town then turn right and in a small square, not far from the restaurant, there is a great view, although parking is not allowed there, but we stopped for a while and took a few photos. The second place is well marked with arrows as Best view to Zakynthos (the most beautiful view of Zakynthos), but it is from a restaurant where they want to charge for photos, entry to the viewpoint is only possible from the restaurant, entry is €2.5. We went there 3 adults + one child, we only photographed 2 but still paid €10.
Roads on the island are marked on maps with several colors, I definitely recommend driving only on the red ones, you will recognize them by two full lines in the middle, the yellow ones are already very narrow and when you meet a bus there it is quite an adrenaline experience :) The green color of the roads indicates non-asphalt roads, suitable only for a quad bike or a horse :)
Villages and towns are sometimes marked, sometimes not, so it is better to orientate yourself by the advertising signs of hotels, attractions, etc.
Just because it is 10km from one village to another and you drive on a “red” road, does not mean that you will be there in 15 minutes, as is the case with us, usually 10km on the island takes about half an hour.
If you are going to the island through a travel agency, its delegate will offer you both car rental and Zakynthos trips, I definitely recommend arranging this yourself, it is not complicated, there are enough Czechs arranging these trips on the island, you can save several euros/person, or even tens of euros if more of you go on the trip.
Restaurants expect a 10% tip.
Prices:
Draught ice cream – €1.5
Gyros in pita bread – €1.5
Frappe – €2.5
Cola – €2.5
Inflatable lounger – €5 ordinary, €10 large/wider
Many travelogues describe Zakynthos as a commercial island, where the Greeks try to make money on every attraction, but I don’t think it’s that much different from other islands. Our family liked Zakynthos very much and that’s why we like to return to the Admiral Hotel, where we are always accommodated.
You can find the largest selection of trips at Invia.cz
Third car trip around the island of Zakynthos in Greece
As always, we rented a car to explore the island in more detail, but this time from a different rental company than during our previous visit to Zakynthos, and here too we can see an increase in prices.
Zakynthos by car
For those who like to nitpick, who also read articles on this website and one of them commented last time that a car in Greece can be obtained for €20/day, I must remind you that if you want to rent it in season for only a few days, we only took it for 2 days, the price was €50/day including full insurance, which is full insurance with 0% deductible.
Book your car online at Rentalcars.com
We saw the lowest price for an A-category rental car (Daewoo Matiz and other similar small cars) at €35. We had a Fiat Grande Punto arranged this time, but its battery “somehow” died after the rental company employee handed it over to us, so we had another car brought to us, which was a Lancia Ypsilon. A nice new car in category C, whose price here in the Tsilivi resort ranged from €50 to €55/day in high season (we were here in July 2015).
Dafni Beach
The destination of the trip was the nearby Dafni Beach, which you can find in the southeast of the island. The road to it leads from the Tsilivi resort through the town of Zakynthos (Zante) and Argasi towards the east, and then through the “mountains” on a road that is not really a road, up a steep hill and then steeply down again. But our fully loaded car, even with the air conditioning on, handled it perfectly, and before we knew it, we were there. A smaller parking lot indicated that there would not be crowds of people here, as for example on Banana Beach, located not far from there to the north of the island.
Parking is free as usual, but there is a nature reserve here where turtles lay their eggs right on this beach, so we were warned at the entrance to be careful.
Dafni Beach is truly beautiful, there are plenty of sunbeds (5€/2 sunbeds + umbrella), shade too, and you can get refreshments in one of the two restaurants there.
Just be careful when entering the water, although this beach is mostly sandy, you walk into the water over really big stones, which will suit those interested in snorkeling. You can see for yourself in a few photos what will be swimming around your feet :) when you venture into the sea.
View of the shipwreck on Navagio Beach
Even though the island is not large, it is certainly much easier to drive with navigation through the small villages and even in the capital. I used to use offline maps Mapfactor navigator, now I have Maps.me navigation on my mobile, it navigates, I would say, better, it also has more comprehensive points of interest and, above all, you will use it 100% even when hiking.
Update: I now only use Google Maps offline navigation, which is free.
Since the first trip around Zakynthos, when we were on Navagio Beach by boat (Navagio beach) in 2013, I wanted to see this beach from above, which is really quite high, and the only way to get there is to drive to the viewpoint. Unfortunately, anyone who thinks that if something is 25km away, you will get there in half an hour is very wrong. The roads here are not marked for Europeans who are used to a sign at the beginning and end of every village and especially at intersections.
Here it is really important to have navigation if you don’t want to get lost, which happened to us this year too (even though it’s only a few km). After almost an hour and a half, we drove from Tsilivi through the town of Katastari along the coast to the village of Volimes and from there (left) after about 2km to the desired “postcard view” of the shipwreck on Navagio Beach.
Parking and entrance to the viewpoint are free, although as you can see in the video that I shot, not only for the readers of this article, the view from the “railing” is nice, but you can take better shots and photos from the cliff on the right.
You get there along a rocky path, in places with a view of the bay, which I definitely do not recommend to people who are afraid of heights.
Be sure to equip yourself with good shoes, flip-flops or pumps are not the right thing (which we also saw with some individuals).
In one of the articles, I wrote that the island of Zakynthos can be driven around by car in a single day. Today we drove across half the island for almost 3 hours and then to Dafni Beach on the other end of the island, and the whole day flew by like water, spending almost 5 hours on the road and seeing “only” two attractions. So if you just sat in the car and took pictures from it, you could do it in one day, but you won’t have pictures from all the places where you can’t get to by car.
The most beautiful beach on the island of Zakynthos is called Xigia Beach and you will find it in the north-east of the island between the resorts of Alykanas and Varvara.
A few photos from the way back to the Tsilivi resort, when we drove through the villages of Maries, Exo Chora, Kiliomeno and Maherado. Sometimes the beginning of the village is marked, sometimes it is not, the end is the same, so I will repeat myself, but even though the island is quite small, it will definitely be easier with navigation.
See all the activities you can do here
Car rental
You can book your car in the Czech Republic and have it delivered to the exact time and date, for example, right to the hotel, the prices are often better than on the spot.
Map of the island of Zakynthos
Related
Other hotels in Zante
Naše tipy
Kde vybíráme ubytování
Už mnoho let používáme aplikaci Booking. Nic neřešíte, klidně hodinu příjezdem na místo si pobyt rezervujete a je to. Ceny jsou často nižší, když si ubytování zamluvíte na poslední chvíli.
Kde kupujeme vstupenky
Neradi celá rodina čekáme ve frontě. Kdo máte malé děti, je vám to jasné. Proto můžete na stránkách GetYourGuide koupit online vstupenky na mnoho míst, kde byste jinde stáli frontu. A v zahraničí klidně i výlety, kde byste jinak u cestovky platili 2x tolik.
Kde koupit zážitky
Každý určitě zná web Slevomat. Zde máte na výběr z mnoha zážitků, což může být ideální dárek.
