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Paxos: A Guide To Enjoying the Wild Island

When you think about Greek islands, Santorini is one that usually comes to mind. It has beautiful architecture, the white and blue streets are full of smiling Greeks and tourists, and the party life, ouzo, and food is legendary. If this is not what you are looking for, we have the island for you: Paxos.

If you are looking for it, you can find the simple life in Paxos (and plenty of cats)

Paxos is a wild, rocky, desolate, tiny island, full of pebbly beaches, crystal clear water with multiple shades of blue, and wild caves that pirates used to hide in. It also has the most amazing Greek food and friendly people. Another plus: the island is very family friendly. We saw many families with children of all ages playing on the beaches, enjoying dinner together, and sailing into the harbor from Italy, Great Britain, the Greek mainland, and many other places. We also saw many solo travelers and lots of couples of all ages. This island has something for everyone – except maybe the hard partiers.

Hiking a short trail along the Lakka harbor

During the summer, Paxos enjoys quite a few tourists, mostly from Italy and Great Britain. In the winter, it is too rainy and the ocean is too cold for swimming. Because of that, there are very few visitors from November to April. In the summer, it is very hot and the ocean is quite refreshing. It isn’t as warm as the Caribbean, but we easily spent an hour swimming without feeling cold – as long as we were moving!

Fun caves along the shore of Paxos only accessible by boat

How To Get To Paxos

We flew into Corfu and took a one-hour ferry, the Ilida, from the Corfu port to Gaios, the main city on Paxos. This ferry was one of the fastest ones you could take, which we booked using Ferryscanner. It was 24€ per person, one way (August/September 2019). From Gaios, we took a taxi to Lakka, where we stayed for the weekend.

Be aware that you need to time your ferry and your flights carefully. We had a late afternoon flight when leaving Corfu, and needed a ferry from Paxos to Corfu that day. It didn’t seem to be a problem for the ferries to run out of room or tickets, but from Paxos there were very few midday ferries.

The Paxos harbor

We took a late morning one called the Kamelia that took about an hour and a half. It brought us to the south end of the island of Corfu. After that, we transferred to a bus that took another hour on top of that to bring us to the airport and the port in Corfu. Our ticket for the Kamelia ferry included the bus and was about 12€ per person (August/September 2019).

Where To Stay In Paxos

There are a few choices of areas to stay on Paxos. Gaios is the main city in the center on the east side of the island. It is larger and more bustling, with lots of tourists coming through. There is also Lagos, which is a tiny, quiet fishing village on the south end of the island. In the middle of the island are several small villages. Very few people stay there because it takes longer to get to the ocean. We wanted a quieter experience (but maybe not as quiet as Lagos) and chose Lakka, on the northern tip of the island.

We stayed in an AirBnB just outside of the town and walked less than five minutes down the road to get to the town and the bay every day. There were many apartments and small hotels in the village, but nothing luxurious that we could see. If you want a luxury stay in a hotel then Paxos is probably not the place for you! There were a few very nice houses for rent on some cliffs overlooking the bay. Beyond that, Lakka is for the more adventurous.

In front of our AirBnB

What To Do In Paxos

Hiking

The island is very wild, craggy, rocky, dry, and desolate in some areas. You can do some hiking, but be prepared with plenty of water and sunscreen, especially if you are visiting in the summer where the temperatures can really soar. We did a little hike out to a lighthouse on the west side of the island. It was nothing too strenuous, just rocky, dusty, and hot. From there we hiked down to a wild beach on the west coast that we had all to ourselves.

Finding some trails to hidden beaches!

Swimming

Swimming, of course, is one of the highlights of Paxos. The beaches near Lakka were very nice, but very rocky. We saw a few people who were obviously veterans of the place. They brought blow up mattresses to lay on while on the beach, and they also wore water shoes to help them walking over the rocky beaches and rocks in the shallow water. We did just fine without both of these things, but if you want a more comfortable stay, it might be good to invest in some water shoes and a blow up mattress for lounging on the shore!

The Greeks and many other people prefer the rocky beaches because it keeps the water more clear. We could see straight down to the bottom of the bay that the boats were moored in, and the bottom was often 6-7 meters below us! The blue colors of the water are also stunning, especially around the hidden caves on the western shore.

Our own private beach! It was pretty rocky on the shore but had a great little cove for swimming.

Rent A Boat

If you want to see a little more of the island, we recommend renting a boat. People without licenses are allowed to drive anything up to 30 horsepower. While we were there, no boats were available. We did, however, find a captain who was willing to pilot us around the western coast for a few hours one afternoon. We had a great time as he took us to several hidden beaches and caves and knew all the private beaches.

Some of the caves we explored were so big our boat could fit inside!

There was one place with three giant caves next to each other that were connected by a small break in the wall. We jumped in the water and swam from one cave to the next, as well as trying out some free diving. Bring your goggles and enjoy the colorful little fish that live around the caves and in the bay areas! The water here is especially stunning because of the minerals and reflection of the sunlight inside the caves.

Our captain for the day boating around Paxos

Rent A Motorbike Or Car & Explore Some More!

You can also rent a car or even a motorbike for the day if you want to check out the other villages and would prefer to move at your own pace. A word of caution for Americans who would like to rent a car or motorbike and drive around the islands. Make sure you have an international driver’s license when you visit Greece, as well as for other European countries. We have found recently that it is more difficult to rent cars or other vehicles without an international or EU license.

Side note: I recently got a German license which has made rentals much easier – read about how I did that here!

A private beach only accessible by boat

What To Eat & Drink

Seafood

Greek food does not mess around. We had the most amazing baked goods in the bakery near the port, and nearly every meal we had was excellent. Seafood is the best food to get while in Lakka. We had some amazing grilled sea bass at the Arriva restaurant, as well as the most perfect grilled octopus and swordfish while on Corfu.

Baklava

Baklava is one of the most famous Greek desserts, but strangely, we found that on Lakka it was made with almonds and not walnuts. It was still good, though!

If you can’t find baklava anywhere else, then look in the bakery!

Visit A Typical Greek Restaurant

One of the best experiences you can have in Lakka for dinner is visiting the Taverna Nionios restaurant. They will take you to their kitchen and show you everything they are making. They tell you how they made it and what is in it, and then let you pick and choose what you want to have for dinner. Our waiter was the most enthusiastic man about the food in his restaurant that I have ever met! Their food was a good sampling of typical Greek food, and the atmosphere was friendly and lively.

We found that most people would have late lunches and dinners. We suspected that dinners went on until well after midnight! The most lively time in Lakka seemed to revolve around dinner and whenever the tour ferries would arrive. A group of tourists would run around the village for a few hours trying to see everything and then run back to their ferry a short time later to be shuttled off to another island.

Try The Wine, Retsina & Ouzo

Surprisingly, Greek white wine and rosé was typically quite good. Retsina and ouzo are also Greek specialties one should try. Start with a small portion to decide if you like them in case the taste is too foreign for you!

Sundowners by the harbor

Don’t Drink The Water!

Do not drink the water from the tap on the islands. The mainland has good water filtration, but the islands are still not quite there. When you see the locals drinking bottled water it is a good indication that it isn’t healthy to drink from the tap. Thankfully, bottled water is in abundance and is very cheap. A big bottle was usually around 1€ or less, and was almost always cold.

Enjoy The Wild Island Of Paxos!

Paxos is the perfect island for a quiet getaway, for those who just want to swim in beautiful water, enjoy wonderful Greek food by the port, and for those who would rather leave the party life in Santorini. We enjoyed Paxos for its natural beauty, the simplicity of village life, the amazing food, and the beautiful water. It may not be the easiest to get to, but it is worth the effort. It isn’t too expensive relative to other more well-known islands, and is the perfect place for travelers to get away from the hustle and bustle of a typical party island.