The south: Moraitika to Kavos

South Corfu is the half nobody photographs, and it is where the value is. The land flattens out, the beaches get wide and sandy instead of shingle, and the same money buys a bigger room than it does at Nissaki. Moraitika and Messonghi are two villages either side of a river mouth, both with long shallow beaches and tavernas that are used to children.

The west side is the surprise: the Korission lagoon behind a sand bar, with dunes and juniper at Issos and Halikounas, flamingos in winter and almost nobody in summer. Marathias and Gardenos further down are the kind of long empty beaches the north simply does not have.

Then there is Kavos. It is a strip of bars at the island's southern tip aimed at very young British holidaymakers, and it is exactly as advertised — brilliant if that is what you want, miserable if you arrive expecting a Greek village. It does not bleed into the rest of the south, so do not let it put you off Messonghi.