Kefalonia beaches are not as well known, but they are as good as you will find in any Greek island.
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Agia Effimia Beach
- Name: Agia Effimia, or Agia Efymia (Αγία Εφυμία)
- Location: Kefalonia island, Greece
Click here to see it on the map and to get directions - Overall Rating: 2/5
- Joy Index (What the Water Felt Like): 3/6
- Beach Berm: Sand
- Seafloor: Sand
- Access: The beach is right next to a busy road, so access is good
- Amenities: You can walk to the town stores across the main promenade road. There you will find restaurants, cafeterias, grocery stores, hotels, etc.
- Notes: Agia Efymia beach has the advantage that it is right off the town’s main street, and thus easily reached on foot if you stay in one of the town hotels. The beach itself is not much to write home about. It’s a very narrow strip of sand under the road’s retaining wall, and next to the fishing harbor. But the water is clean and refreshing, so if you just want a quick dip in the sea from your hotel, it’s perfect. A fifteen-minute walk through the town would take you to Paradise beach.
Agia Kyriaki Beach
- Name: Agia Kyriaki beach (Αγία Κυριακή)
- Location: Kefalonia island, near Zola village, Greece
Click here to see it on the map and to get directions - Overall Rating: –
- Joy Index (What the Water Felt Like): –
- Beach Berm: Shingle
- Seafloor: Shingle
- Access: Good road all the way to the beach.
- Notes: The beach did not seem suitable for swimming during our visit. The surf was saturated with plant material (sea wheat), and it was too rough.
Antisamos Beach
- Name: Antisamos beach (Αντίσαμος)
- Location: Kefalonia, Greece
Click here to see it on the map and to get directions - Overall Rating: 3/5
- Joy Index (What the Water Felt Like): 4/5
- Beach Berm: Shingle and some rocks
- Seafloor: Shingle and some rocks
- Access: Paved road all the way to the beach, albeit narrow and steep for the most part. There is plenty of parking near the east end. There is also bus service to the beach
- Amenities: You will find restaurants and bars at the beach. It is organized with parasols for hire, showers, etc.
- Notes: Antisamos beach seems to be wildly popular with a more youthful crowd, probably because the music from the adjacent bars sets the atmosphere. You can reach the beach after a 15-minute drive east from Sami.
Kaminia Beach
- Name: Kaminia beach (Καμίνια)
- Location: Kefalonia, Greece
Click here to see it on the map and to get directions - Overall Rating: –
- Joy Index (What the Water Felt Like): –
- Beach Berm: Sand
- Seafloor: Sand
- Access: A good, paved road will take you right to the beach
Kaminia is the nesting ground for the loggerhead turtles (Caretta caretta), so it’s not really a good beach for swimming.
Caretta caretta is an endangered species that nest extensively , in Kefalonia (Kaminia, and Skala beaches), in Zakynthos island, in western peloponnese, and in Crete.
The Caretta Caretta breeding season overlaps with the European high tourist season as the turtles approach the beaches to lay eggs between May and August.
Like most turtles, they take decades to reach sexual maturity and they prefer to lay their eggs at the beach where they hatched themselves.
They prefer a sandy and quiet nesting ground, and any human activity at the beach tends to interfere with the Caretta caretta nesting.
Makris Gialos
- Name: Makris Gialos, or Makrys Gyalos beach (Μακρύς Γιαλός)
- Location: Kefalonia, near Argostoli Town, Greece
Click here to see it on the map and to get directions - Overall Rating: 2/5
- Joy Index (What the Water Felt Like): 4/5
- Beach Berm: Sand
- Seafloor: Sand
- Access: Paved road all the way to the beach. You have to park on a road and walk about five minuted before you go down some steps to the beach. The road to the beach can be confusing. Someone has placed a series of signs directing cars down a narrow dead end. Once you drive there it can be impossible to turn your car around. The goal of the signs is obviously to guide people towards a taverna, but it leads to nothing but frustration and long lines of cars stuck on a very difficult road.
- Amenities: Makris Gialos is an organized beach with parasols for hire spread throughout the sand. You will find a beach town within walking distance, and several restaurants built right on the edge of the beach.
Notes:
You can only imagine how beautiful Makris Gialos beach must have been before the uncontrolled development encroached on it. It is lined with golden soft sand, and the water is absolutely crystal clear.
But it is so crowded that it is difficult to even walk around without stepping on someone’s towel.
If you like crowds, this is probably the best beach in Kefalonia, but if you like some peace and quiet, you would be better off choosing one of the other beautiful beaches in Kefalonia (like Myrtos, Petani, or Antisamos) among others.
Other visitors agreed with our sentiment. They posted on our previous message board:
“Only a few years ago this was an excellent beach. It was a big wide open sandy space and it had a small unobtrusive bar on it which served its purpsoe well. The only thing to be heard was the sea lapping at your feet,the occasional big wave and children enjoying themselves.
I visited later and it has been almost ruined. A large restaurant/beach bar building has been built, and there are yards and yards of duck boards to walk on and the beach is rammed full of sun beds.
The music blares out all day loudly and people play football/volleyball and ping pong around you as if you werent there and behave as if you are in their way.
The restaurant serves lots of food which ends up strewn on the beach, along with packaging and drinks cartons. Totally ruined in favour of making more Euros…” (Joe)
Myrtos Beach
- Name: Myrtos beach (Ελληνικα)
- Location: Kefalonia island, Greece
Click here to see it on the map and to get directions - Overall Rating: 5/5
- Joy Index (What the Water Felt Like): 5/5
Myrtos is one of the best beaches in Greece, so it has it’s own page.
Click here to read our complete report on Myrtos beach
Paradise Beach (in Agia Effimia)
- Name: beach (Ελληνικα)
- Location: , Greece
Click here to see it on the map and to get directions - Overall Rating: 3/5
- Joy Index (What the Water Felt Like): 3/5
- Beach Berm: Shingle
- Seafloor: Shingle
- Access: You will find a hotel at the beach. The town is also within walking distance
Petani Beach
- Name: Petani beach, or Petanoi (Πετανοί)
- Location: Kefalonia, Greece
Click here to see it on the map and to get directions - Overall Rating: 3/5
- Joy Index (What the Water Felt Like): 4/5
- Beach Berm: Shingle
- Seafloor: Shingle
- Access: A paved road (with lots of switchback turns at the last stretch) will bring you right to the beach.
- Amenities: Once there, you will find restaurants, hotels, and bars right on the beach. It’s an organized beach, so you can hire a parasol and sun beads.
- Notes: Several guides rate Petani higher than Myrtos beach, so our expectations were elevated when we visited. On the map it looks like an out of the way place, so we envisioned a beach as good as Myrtos but with less people. We were disapointed to find that Petani is much smaller, and a much more crowded beach. Perhaps before all the development it was a beautiful place to swim, but today it cannot be compared with other top-notch beaches of Greece. It’s a nice place to swim for sure. The beach is pleasant and the water crisp and beautiful, so if you are in the area, don’t neglect to visit it.
Platis Gialos Beach
- Name: Platis (or Platys) beach (Πλατύς Γιαλός)
- Location: Kefalonia, Greece
Click here to see it on the map and to get directions - Overall Rating: 2/5
- Joy Index (What the Water Felt Like): 4/5
- Beach Berm: Sand
- Seafloor: Sand
- Access: A paved road will bring you right to the beach. Parking can be tight.
- Amenities: You will find a restaurant/café right at the beach
- Notes: Platis Gialos is separated by Makris Gialos (see above) by a pile of rocks, and is frequented by mostly families and locals. It’s a small beach so it gets very crowded in the middle of the summer. Parking can be difficult, and once you park, there are a few steps that lead down to the beach. A visitor posted on our old message board “Much better than sister beach (Makris Gialos) as it does not have half as many posers.”
Skala (Spithi) Beach
- Name: Skala (Spithi) beach (Σκάλα)
- Location: Kefalonia, Greece
Click here to see it on the map and to get directions - Overall Rating: 3/5
- Joy Index (What the Water Felt Like): 3/5
- Beach Berm: Sand
- Seafloor: Samd
- Access: A paved road will take you right to the beach. Parking on the road.
- Amenities: You will find restaurants and café/bar right on the beach. The town of Skala is within walking distance as well. It’s an organized beach with parasols for hire.
Notes on Skala Beach
Skala and Kaminia (see above) beaches are a favorite nesting ground for the endangered Caretta carettaturtle. Caretta caretta has been characterized as “endangered” species “by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) in their 2003 List of Threatened Species (the Red List), based on data indicating that the species is suffering an 80% or great decline in numbers over the last three generations.” (Lambert, J. 1999. “Caretta caretta”, Animal Diversity Web)
One of our readers (Rozalia), and frequent visitor to Skala left this report on our old message board: “Skala beach, have been to this resort and beach on holiday three times and can only say that it gets better and better. My opinion of the beach is very clean, makeup of sand and small to medium sized pebbles is good, sea is crystal clear, access is superb also sea is great for snorkeling loads of sealife. Overall opinion brilliant all together a beach to look forward too.”
Spasmata (Megali Ammos) Beach
- Name: beach (Ελληνικα)
- Location: , Greece
Click here to see it on the map and to get directions - Overall Rating: 1/5
- Joy Index (What the Water Felt Like): 1/5
- Beach Berm: Sand
- Seafloor: Sand
- Access: Good: paved road all the way to the beach with parking nearby
- Amenities: There is a restaurant on the beach and a hotel nearby. You may also hire parasols and sun beds once there.
- Notes: The day we visited Spasmata the strong wind had made the sea very rough. As a result, we saw long black patches of black floating matter (probably sea wheat) that made the sea uninviting. This beach is very close to the airport. A little more driving around the end of the airport revealed some more small beaches were a few campers had parked for the day, but none of these swim-spots looked promising to return another day.