Corfu

Corfu carries a different Mediterranean memory. Venetian architecture, olive groves, green hills and Ionian waters give the island a layered identity, where European history and relaxed beach life meet with unusual elegance.

Corfu lies at the northern entrance to the Ionian Sea, just off the coasts of Albania and north-western Greece. Unlike most Greek islands, it never came under lasting Ottoman rule: the Venetians held it for four centuries, followed by the French and then the British, before it joined Greece in 1864. Corfu Town, with its two fortresses, the Liston arcade and the Spianada, is a UNESCO World Heritage site.

The island is greener than the Aegean, covered with olive groves planted under Venetian rule and hills dotted with cypress. The north-east coast, facing Albania across a narrow strait, holds old villas and quiet coves such as Kassiopi and Kalami, where Lawrence Durrell once lived; the west coast has the cliffs and bays of Paleokastritsa; and the Achilleion, built for Empress Elisabeth of Austria, stands above the coast south of town.

The season runs from May to October. Late spring is the island at its greenest, with wild flowers along the paths of the Corfu Trail; June and September are warm without the crowds of high summer. July and August are hot and busy, the time for boat days along the north-east coast and evenings in the squares and lanes of Corfu Town.

Greek Orthodox Easter is the great festival of the island, celebrated in Corfu Town with philharmonic bands, processions and the Holy Saturday custom of throwing clay pots from the windows. Corfu is wetter than most of Greece in winter, which keeps it green but means many hotels close from November to April.

Corfu’s best hotels are resorts on the east coast, facing the mountains of the mainland across the strait. Corfu Imperial, a Grecotel resort, occupies the whole of the Kommeno peninsula north of Corfu Town; Ikos Dassia lies on the long beach at Dassia a little further north; and Domes Miramare, a Luxury Collection Resort, Corfu, stands in gardens on the shore at Moraitika, south of the town.

LVXVRY books Domes Miramare through Marriott STARS & Luminous — at the official hotel rate, with the privileges the programme attaches to the stay. For Corfu Imperial and Ikos Dassia, the latter run on an all-inclusive basis, LVXVRY advises on and arranges the stay, and can add a villa on the north-east coast or a day by boat to Paxos and Antipaxos.