Zante tours cover the island’s capital, its Venetian past, the cliffs of the west coast and the sea caves that open onto clear water. For other routes, see our tours in Greece page.
This page covers what Zante tours are, Zakynthos Town, the beaches and sea caves reached by boat, the villages and hills, the seasons and the turtle nesting months, and how travellers reach the island and where they stay.
What are Zante tours?
Zante tours are guided trips around the Greek island of Zakynthos, by coach, by jeep and by boat. Operators list island tours and cruises to the Blue Caves and Shipwreck Beach. They also list trips to see the sea turtles of Laganas Bay.
One operator page sorts its Zante tours into sea cruises and land excursions. The cruises include a trip around the island, a sunset cruise and a turtle trip with the Keri Caves. The land trips run by coach or by jeep. Another listing adds semi-private speedboat tours in Laganas Bay and at the Shipwreck.
Wikipedia puts Zakynthos, also known as Zante, in the Ionian Sea. By size, it ranks third among the Ionian Islands. The island measures 405.55 square kilometres, and its shore runs 123 kilometres. The article gives a length of 40 kilometres and a width of 20 kilometres, in the shape of an arrowhead.
The Peloponnese mainland is 20 kilometres east of the island, and Kefalonia is 15 kilometres north of Zakynthos. One operator page lists a day trip to Kefalonia among its Zante tours. A mountainous plateau forms the western half, while a fertile plain fills the east. For a first look, open our Zante photo gallery.
Zante tours belong to a region of five main islands: Corfu, Zante, Cephalonia, Leucas and Ithaca. Wikipedia ranks Zante second in population, after Corfu, at about 40,000 people. Among Greece’s thirteen regions, it lists the Ionian Islands as the smallest by area. Travellers who compare islands can browse the Greek island destinations on our site.
The name behind Zante tours comes from Greek myth. The island took its name from Zacynthus, whose father was Dardanus, an Arcadian chief. In the Odyssey, Homer lists 20 nobles from Zakynthos among the 108 suitors of Penelope. In nineteen fifty-three an earthquake destroyed the majority of the buildings on the island. Since then, all buildings have been strengthened.
What do Zante tours show in Zakynthos Town?
Zante tours show Zakynthos Town as a rebuilt harbour capital. A waterfront square, a Venetian castle on the hill above and the church of Saint Dionysios stand out. The saint is the island’s patron, and his relics are kept there.
Zakynthos Town serves as the island’s capital. The town sits on the north coast, toward its eastern end. The name Chora, meaning the Town, is a second name for it. Wikipedia says boat trips, nightlife and food draw visitors to the town from all over the island. For the wider trip, see our general information about Zante.
Zante tours reach a town that was rebuilt after the earthquake. The earthquake article says damage was very heavy in the capital. Only two buildings survived there. Everything else needed rebuilding. A stamp from that year shows the Faneromeni Church’s collapsing bell tower. Wikivoyage adds that the rebuilt main town resembles Saint Mark’s Square in Venice.
Solomos Square faces the waterfront and holds the major museum buildings, Wikivoyage says. The Dionysios Solomos Museum is dedicated to the national poet of the Greeks. A statue of the poet adorns the main town square, Wikipedia says. The Byzantine Museum shows icons, carved iconostases and wall paintings. It also helps explain how the town looked before the earthquake.
Bochali hill rises above the town and holds a small Venetian castle, Wikipedia says. Wikivoyage calls the fortress partly ruined and places it on a pine-covered hill. One operator page describes the hill as a panoramic viewpoint over the harbour and the bay. The village of Bochali lies one kilometre northwest of the town centre.
The church of Saint Dionysios is where the relics of Dionysios are kept. Its tall bell tower is a landmark of the town. Dionysios was a sixteenth-century bishop born on Zakynthos. Zante tours that stop at the museums also meet the poet Dionysios Solomos, who wrote the Hymn to Liberty. Plan the wider trip with our Greece travel information.
Which beaches and sea caves do Zante tours visit by boat?
Zante tours reach the coves and sea caves of Zakynthos by boat. On the northwest shore, Navagio Beach sits below high cliffs, and Wikipedia says boats are the only way in. The blue caves lie in the cliffs near Cape Skinari.
Navagio is also called Shipwreck Beach, and Wikipedia adds the nickname Smugglers Cove. The cove was first called Agios Georgios. The coaster Panagiotis went aground at the cove in a storm with poor visibility. The wreck rests buried in the limestone gravel. The Zakynthos Shipwreck Beach and Blue Caves tour page holds the detail of that stop.
Wikipedia records two closures of Navagio. The first was brief and followed a collapse of the cliff above the beach. Anchoring later reopened with limits. The second followed an earthquake between Kefalonia and Zakynthos. Afterwards boats were able to approach, but swimming stayed banned. Access to the shore has changed more than once.
Zante tours also stop at the Blue Caves. Wikipedia calls them shallow openings in the white cliffs, joined by rock arches. The sea’s turquoise colour gives the caves their name. Small boats run there from Agios Nikolaos, a harbour village about 30 km northwest of Zakynthos City. Wikivoyage adds that round-the-island cruises list them.
Wikipedia says the Vassilikos and Marathia peninsulas enclose the wide, shallow Laganas Bay in the southeast. Along the western shore from Keri to Skinari, Wikipedia adds, the rock formations include arches. Among Zante tours, one operator lists the Mizithres viewpoint and Eros Cave as stops. The Mizithres and Eros Cave boat tour page covers that trip.
Boat types on Zante tours differ. Wikivoyage says a traveller can hire a boat or join a tour to reach the Blue Caves. One operator offers speedboat tours in Laganas Bay. Another lists half-day cruises with swim stops and a local crew. A third says its smaller boats have no toilets or changing areas.
What do Zante tours show in the villages and hills?
Zante tours by road leave the coast for the mountain villages of northwestern Zakynthos. Wikipedia places Volimes 23 km northwest of Zakynthos City, close to the Ionian Sea coast. Wikivoyage says local arts and crafts can be bought there.
Volimes sits in the mountains of the northwest, and Wikipedia calls it a community. It lies 1 km west of Ano Volimes. Korithi, Elies, Varvara and Askos are villages inside the community. Cape Skinari, the island’s northernmost point, is 7 km northeast of it. Volimes used to be the seat of the Elatia municipality.
Anafonitria stands 2 km inland from the sea and 3 km south of Volimes. Wikipedia puts the Navagio bay 3 km to its northwest, and its monastery dates from the fourteenth century. Zante tours can pair hills and sea. One operator lists a full-day tour of the north that joins land viewpoints with a boat visit to Navagio.
Maries, a mountain settlement, carries the names of two women, Mary Magdalene and Mary of Klopas. Wikipedia says traditional stories have Mary Magdalene dropping anchor at Porto Vromi. It also lists a three-aisled church from the fifteenth century, dedicated to her. Among Zante tours, one operator names Xigia Beach, on the northeast coast, for its sulphur springs.
Keri stands on a hillside in the south. Lithakia lies 6 km north of it, and Zakynthos City 15 km to the northeast. Wikipedia gives its lighthouse as 7 metres tall, built in the nineteen-twenties on top of the cliffs. Wikivoyage calls the hilltop cross at Kampi, with views over the west coast, a classic sunset stop.
Zante tours on land run by coach or jeep. One operator lists villages, viewpoints, local food and culture inland. Another says the mountain villages offer cooler air, olive groves and traditional tavernas. Wikipedia lists the main crops as olive oil, currants and grapes, plus citrus fruit. Its Zante currant is a small seedless grape native to the island.
When do Zante tours run through the year?
Zante tours centre on the long sunny summer. One local operator names July and August as the high season, when every boat route sails daily. Turtles also nest in Laganas bay in those months, inside a national marine park.
Zante tours that sail into Laganas bay cross a national marine park. According to Wikipedia, no earlier Mediterranean national park was created for the safety of sea turtles. The park dates from the late nineteen-nineties and covers 135 square kilometres. Loggerhead females lay their eggs on its beaches during the night, between late spring and August.
Each year the park counts between 900 and 2,000 nests. The article puts that at about four fifths of the Mediterranean loggerhead nests. Six beaches form the nesting habitat, and Sekania ranks among the world’s highest loggerhead nesting concentrations. Marathonisi islet is one of the six, and the turtles, Marathonisi and Keri Caves boat tour carries its name.
Four rules stand out in the Wikipedia articles for anyone near the nesting beaches of Laganas bay. Fishing is banned inside each marine zone of the bay. Beachgoing at night and water skiing are banned on Kalamaki beach. No aircraft can take off or land at the island’s airport between 10:00PM and 5:00AM, except in special cases.
Wikipedia calls the climate of Zakynthos Mediterranean: dry, hot summers and rainy, mild to cool winters. Winter brings sizeable rain, and yearly temperatures average near 18.5 degrees Celsius. The same operator says late spring, June and September are the quieter months for Zante tours. It lists comfortable temperatures for swimming, photography and island tours.
Wikipedia says the meltemi blows dry and strong out of the north across the Aegean. It adds that similar winds blow in the Ionian regions. One operator’s page says its Zante tours comply with port authorities and can be rescheduled or cancelled for poor weather. The tours and cruises page lists more trips.
How do travellers reach Zante for Zante tours?
Travellers join Zante tours once they land at the airport or step off the ferry. The island has one airport, which takes charter flights from northern Europe. Wikipedia calls Kyllini on the mainland the usual place of arrival on the island by sea.
Wikipedia puts Zakynthos International Airport 4.3 km outside Zakynthos Town. It opened in the early nineteen-seventies and takes connecting flights to other Greek and foreign airports. The article adds that the main approach crosses Laganas bay and ends over Kalamaki beach. Laganas and Kalamaki lie close by. A new terminal building was completed there in the late two-thousands.
Wikipedia says the main port is in Zakynthos Town, with a ferry to Kyllini on the mainland. A second port, at Agios Nikolaos, has a ferry to Argostoli on Cephalonia, which lies 15 km to the north. Operator pages list a Cephalonia day trip among their Zante tours. Longer sea routes appear under Greek islands cruises.
One operator lists transfers for Zante tours from Laganas, Kalamaki, Argassi, Tsilivi and Alykes. Laganas sits on the south-east coast, and Wikipedia calls it the island’s largest resort. Kalamaki lies in the bay of Laganas, about 3 km north-east of Laganas itself. Argassi is 3 km to the south-east of Zakynthos Town. A separate page covers hotels on Zante.
Tsilivi, also called Planos, lies on the north-east coast about 4 km north-west of Zakynthos Town. Alykes lies on the same coast, about 10 km north-west of the town. Vasilikos sits at the easternmost point of the island, 11 km south-east of the town. Its peninsula has low, pine-forested mountains. Wider lodging sits under Greece hotels.
Wikipedia says roads cover the island, with the densest network in the flat east. The main route, the EO35, links the capital with Keri in the south. Zante tours by road, which operators run by coach, minibus and jeep, use this network. For those who drive, car hire has its own page.
What else do travellers ask about Zante tours?
Which saint do islanders celebrate, and when?
Wikipedia names Saint Dionysios as the patron saint of Zakynthos. It says the island celebrates him on August 24 and December 17. The article gives no programme or hour for either day. Check the dates locally before planning Zante tours around them.
Dionysios started out in a monastery off the island’s coast, where fellow monks urged him to become a priest. He was then made Archbishop of Aegina. Later he took over as Archbishop of Zakynthos, staying in post till a permanent holder came. He lived out his life in his island monastery and died on December 17.
Who ruled Zakynthos before it joined Greece?
Wikipedia says Venice held the island until Napoleon dissolved the Venetian Republic in seventeen ninety-seven. Venice called the island Fiore di Levante, which translates as Flower of the East. Another article adds that Venetian culture still shapes local music, cuisine and language across the Ionian Islands.
Zante tours today visit an island that joined Greece in eighteen sixty-four. French rule, the autonomous Septinsular Republic, French rule again and British control came first. One article calls the Septinsular Republic the first Greek self-government since the Byzantine Empire fell to the Ottomans.
Which writers were born on Zakynthos?
Wikipedia says the island stayed in closer touch with literary movements of the West under Venice. Other Greek lands had less contact. The Italian poet Ugo Foscolo was born there and wrote the sonnet “A Zacinto” for it. Zante tours visit the very island that his poem honours.
Andreas Kalvos was also born on Zakynthos and became a Romantic poet. Wikipedia places him in the Heptanese School of literature, known for lyrical and satirical poetry. Elizabeth Moutzan-Martinegou was born there too. She was a poet and playwright of the early nineteenth century. Wikipedia calls her the first prominent woman writer in modern Greek.
How high does the land rise, and which islets lie around it?
Zante tours run on an island that rises to 758 metres at Vrachionas, its top point, says Wikipedia. The article says the southwest coast consists largely of steep cliffs. The northern and eastern shores, it adds, hold wide sandy beaches instead.
Wikipedia lists five small uninhabited islands in the municipality: Marathonisi, Pelouzo, Agios Sostis, Agios Nikolaos and Agios Ioannis. Agios Sostis lies in Laganas bay, while Agios Ioannis sits off the west coast. If a stop on the map raises a question, ask us about a trip to Zante.
Why did ancient Athens want the island that Zante tours visit?
Zante tours follow modern routes, yet Wikipedia also tells an ancient story. In the fifth century B.C. Athens made an alliance with Zakynthos. For Athens, the island was a source of tar. Tar kept the planking of Athenian ships safe from rot and decay.
The tar was dredged from a lake bed, now called Lake Keri, using myrtle branches tied to poles. It was collected in pots and carried to the beach, or sent by sea to the Athenian dockyard at Piraeus. In 430 B.C. a Spartan attack on the city failed.