Navagio beach | MY GREECE TRAVEL BLOG

Majestic limestone cliffs soar above alluring light blue seas at Navagio Beach, seen in this image by Flickr member Cristi Sinca

Guest post by Christofer Adam

Are you counting the days till summer arrives? Can you not wait till your next holiday trip? Are you living and breathing for your next adventure? Then you are reading the right article! Since we know how important and desirable it is for you to swim in crystal clear waters, we have chosen some of the top beaches you can find in Greece — the country where the sea, sun and summer are taken for granted!

Follow our guide and get ready to have the most remarkable beach holidays!

Porto Katsiki, Lefkada

This famous golden sandy beach is located around 40 kilometres southwest of the island’s capital city, Lefkada Town. The magnificent hills surrounding this beautiful beach are well worth the effort it takes to arrive there – which involves an exhausting but adventurous hike of 80 steep steps! But before you follow the track, it might be a good idea to buy yourself a frappe (the famous Greek iced coffee) from the snack bars you can find at the top of the hill so that you won’t find yourself thirsty half way! However, if you are not excited about this idea, there is always an alternative solution — just take one of the taxi boats available from the nearby towns of Nidri or Vassiliki for a magical journey. Porto Katsiki provides a range of water activities including swimming (of course!), sailing and surfing.

Porto Katsiki beach, seen in an image by JuzaPhoto member Robepate

Navagio Beach, Zakynthos

Situated on the north-west shore of the island of Zakynthos, Navagio beach — also popularly known as Shipwreck beach — is one of the most photographed beaches in the world. And this is not random at all, as the steep limestone cliffs, white sands, crystal clear waters and the incredible abandoned shipwreck stuck on the sand create an astonishing scenery. The location is also a favourite spot for base jumpers, as the view from above is mesmerizing! You can only access the beach by boat, unless you are a base jumper, in which case you can jump from the cliff and smoothly land on the soft sands!

Base jumping is the fastest way to reach extroardinary Navagio beach

Faliraki, Rhodes

With its golden sands spread for more than 5 kilometres, Faliraki beach in Rhodes is one of the most beautiful on the island. As a very well organized beach, Faliraki will keep you busy and satisfied with its wide range of services and activities provided. Umbrella and sunbed rental is available, while you can also find a variety of water activities such as bungee-jumping! Furthermore, the area doesn’t lack of any good restaurants, night clubs and cafeterias. Bear in mind that the beach gets crowded, so it’s a good idea to wake up early in the morning if you would like to secure yourself a spot near the shore. However, if you are on hangover from having too many cocktails the night before, then you can take a nap at the beach while sunbathing! Just remember to put your sunscreen on, as you don’t want to wake up later with sunburns! To check out some of the best places to stay in Faliraki, click here.

An aerial view of Faliraki beach, from the Discover Rhodes travel site

Golden Beach, Thassos

Golden Beach (Chrysi Ammoudia) is a long coast with golden sands, and it is without a doubt the most beautiful beach of Thassos Island. The shallow waters are so transparent you can see the bottom of the sea and all the little fish swimming there! The scenery is magnificent, as the beach is framed by little cliffs and green trees reaching down the sea, while Mountain Ypsarion arises over the bay, creating an irreplaceable view. As a very well organized beach, it is also a popular destination for families with small children. Check out the best places to stay near the beach by clicking here.

YouTube member Goran Tosic posted this 3-minute video showing a variety of views of gorgeous Golden Beach

Red Beach, Santorini

Situated in the most popular island of Greece, the Red Beach is famous for its unique colour of sands and the stiff red lava cliffs surrounding it. It is blessed with a beautiful sandy shore, clear blue waters and big rocks sitting around it, creating a magnificent scenery that would make you want to spend the whole day there! The beach is near Akrotiri area, and we suggest accessing it by boat which you can board from the areas of Perissa or Akrotiri. Otherwise, if you prefer walking and hiking, then you might as well reach the beach by foot, which is just 10 minutes away from Akrotiri.

Santorini’s Red Beach seen in an image by Flickr member Alex Coppo

Christofer Adam is a Content Marketing Executive at London’s leading Online Marketing Agency, passionate with Social Media, Creative Writing and the Travel Industry. Click here to view his profile on LinkedIn.

Zakynthos island’s breathtaking Navagio beach — more famously known throughout the world as Shipwreck Beach — is seen in a photo provided courtesy of Flickr member Neitsch (Andreas Neuburger). Click here to view the stunning full-size version of the photo on Flickr, and click here to view other outstanding travel and landscape images from Andreas’s photostream on Flickr.

Ionian intrigue: I will have to live a very long and healthy life if I’m ever going to check off all the destinations on my long bucket list of places to see in Greece.

I still haven’t been anywhere in the Ionian group of islands, for example, where I would love to visit Corfu, Kefalonia, Ithaka, Lefkada, Zakynthos and several of the chain’s smaller islands (though not in that particular order).

A Greek-Canadian acquaintance is disappointed that I haven’t yet made it to Zakynthos (also known as Zante), which is one of his personal favourite places in all of Greece. “You’ve really gotta go there man,” he has repeatedly told me, insisting I’ll be “blown away” when I see the incredible beaches, coastlines and landscapes.

I’m already well aware of the island’s spectacular coastal cliffs and the gorgeous white pebble beaches nestled below them — including Navagio, more popularly known around the world as Shipwreck Beach.

Although I’ve seen hundreds of photos and dozens of videos, I never get tired looking at images of Navagio — they just make me want to see it (and the rest of Zakynthos) in person even more.

So do online travel articles that I stumble upon from time to time.

Online photo features and travel pieces

Like the photo feature entitled This is the the prettiest beach in Greece, which basically makes it the prettiest in the world, which Huffington Post Travel published earlier this year and updated just last month.

Or the article headlined Scenic caves, shipwrecks and turquoise sea: Discover Zante, published today in the online edition of the U.K.’s Express newspaper. It was penned by travel writer Rob Crossan, who described Zakynthos as “an island where stress rarely gets beyond deciding whether to have one more portion of fresh fish, one more dip in the inviting Ionian Sea, or one more evening stroll beneath the twinkling stars.”

[Coincidentally, it was almost exactly a year ago that the Express published another piece about Zakynthos — Fantasy island! Head to Zante for beautiful beaches and delicious food — in which Laura Millar wrote about Shipwreck beach, the famous Blue Caves, and the wonderful local cuisine.]

Besides the travel writing, there’s the countless Zakynthos photos on Fickr, and scores of videos on YouTube, that keep me mesmerized and dreaming about going to the island sometime soon.

Here are a few that show Zakynthos from a variety of interesting and alluring perspectives:

This view of Navagio was posted on Twitter by Amazing Pictures

Panagiotis Zoulakis captured this amazing aerial perspective of the infamous Navagio beach shipwreck. You can view the full-size photo, along with dozens of other outstanding images, on his photography website: www.pzoulakis.gr