Where to Stay in Zakynthos (Zante)

The island capital wraps around a working harbor where ferries depart for Kyllini on the Peloponnese. Wide arcaded streets and neo-classical buildings, rebuilt after the 1953 earthquake, give the town a slightly formal elegance. The hilltop Venetian castle looks down over terracotta rooftops. The evening waterfront fills with locals on the nightly volta. Every bus route, bank, and ferry connection on Zakynthos passes through here.

Laganas stretches along a long, flat arc of sand that also is critical nesting habitat for Caretta caretta loggerhead turtles. Those two facts define everything about the place. By day it is the most visited beach on Zakynthos. After dark the strip behind it hums with bars. The National Marine Park boundary limits motorized watersports on the eastern sections. It enforces lights-out rules near active nests each summer.

Tsilivi sits on the northeast coast a short drive from the capital. It is the island's most organized family resort. The beach faces north into sheltered water, keeping the sea calm enough for young children to wade far from shore. Behind it a compact resort village offers enough tavernas, ice cream shops, and small supermarkets that most families spend a full week without needing to drive anywhere. Olive groves press right up against the back streets.

The long southern peninsula is the most scenically beautiful stretch of Zakynthos. Pine-covered hills fall to clear-water coves including Gerakas, Porto Roma, and Banana Beach, each accessible by short dusty tracks. The place moves slowly by design. Accommodation is villa-style or boutique. There is no resort strip. Turtle protection rules keep the beaches free of jet skis and the shoreline dark and silent after nightfall.

Argassi wraps around a small headland immediately southeast of Zakynthos Town. It has the feel of a resort with a town on its doorstep. The shoreline is narrow and partly pebbly. The old windmills on the cape and the sunset views across the straits toward the Peloponnese compensate thoroughly. The handful of quality restaurants here draw diners from across Zakynthos in the evenings.

Alykes and its quieter neighbor Alykanas sit on the north coast beside old salt flats that give the area its name and lend the light there a particular flatness and calm. The beach is long, sandy, and shallow. The village has grown around tourism while keeping a Greek feel that bigger resorts lost years ago. The area sits closest to the famous Shipwreck Beach viewpoint at Skinari Cape that appears on every photograph of Zakynthos.