Corfu Town & the island's waist

No other Greek island has a capital like this. Four centuries of Venice, then the French and the British, left Corfu Town with arcaded streets, a cricket pitch on the Spianada, Italian shutters and two enormous fortresses facing each other across the town. It is a city to eat and walk in, not a beach town — and it is open all year, which almost nothing else on the island is.

South of town the coast road runs through Kanoni, Perama and Benitses, with the Achilleion above them: the palace Empress Elisabeth of Austria built for herself, later bought by Kaiser Wilhelm II, and still full of both of them.

The island is narrow here, so this cluster also takes in the west coast — Pelekas, Glyfada and Agios Gordios, big sandy bays under green cliffs that face the sunset. That is the real argument for basing yourself in the middle: you can have the old town for dinner and a west-coast beach in the afternoon without committing to either.