Zakynthos Town, Tsilivi & the east coast

Zakynthos Town was flattened by the 1953 earthquake and rebuilt to its own old plan, so the arcades, the Solomos square and the church of Agios Dionysios look Venetian without being old. It is a working town rather than a sight, best used for an evening: the waterfront, a plate of fish, and the drive up to Bohali for the view over the harbour.

North of town the coast is one long soft arc — Tsilivi, Planos, Tragaki, then Alykes and Alykanas. The sand is fine, the water shelves gently, and this is where the island put its better hotels, from family apartments to the clifftop suites at Akrotiri. It is busy and unapologetically touristic, but it is calm after dark in a way Laganas never is.

Use it as the practical base. The airport and the ferry port are both at this end, Navagio and the Blue Caves are a day trip, and you are not driving mountain roads to get to dinner.