Lefkada Town: a short guide to the island's capital.

Most people drive straight through on the way to the beaches. It is worth stopping. The town is small and flat, everything is within walking distance, and it feels like a place where people live all year, not a resort.

The old town and its houses

The old town grew up under the Venetians, after they moved the island's capital out of the castle and onto the island itself. The plan has hardly changed: a main street running through the middle, the central square with the church of Agios Spyridon, and narrow lanes branching off like the bones of a fish, each one ending at a small square with a church.

Look up at the houses. Lefkada sits in an area with frequent earthquakes, and over the centuries the town developed its own way of building. The ground floors are stone, and the upper floors are light timber frames, many of them clad in painted sheet metal. Inside, wooden posts carry the floors, so the house is held up by its timber frame and stays standing even if the stone walls move. That is why the town looks the way it does: low houses, pastel colours, iron balconies and tin walls in blue, yellow and pink.

The churches are mostly from the 17th and 18th centuries, with bell towers built in a metal frame and fine carved and painted iconostases inside. Many are open during the day. There is also a small archaeological museum and a folklore museum if the afternoon is too hot for the beach.

The main street and the waterfront

The long main street is pedestrian and is the town's living room: shops, bakeries, cafés, and in the evening the whole town walking up and down it. Around the square and in the side lanes there are tavernas, places for meat, ouzo and meze, and cafés where people sit for hours.

On the east side the town opens onto the marina, one of the largest in the Ionian, full of sailing boats. The waterfront promenade along it is the place for an evening walk, with the mountains of the mainland across the water.

Agia Mavra castle and the bridge

At the entrance to the island, just across the bridge, stands the castle of Agia Mavra. The first fort was built around 1300, the Ottomans rebuilt and enlarged it in the 16th century, and the Venetians used it as a fortress. For a long time the island's town was inside its walls. Today it is open to visitors, and from the walls you see the canal, the lagoon and the town together.

Next to it is the floating bridge that joins Lefkada to the mainland. It swings open to let boats through the canal, and watching it turn is part of the fun. For the road, the bridge and the airport, see Getting to Lefkada.

The lagoon, Gyra and the windmills

North-west of the town lies a large, shallow lagoon, protected as part of the Natura 2000 network. It is a good place for birds, especially from winter to spring, when migrating birds stop here. A road runs around it, and walking or cycling along the edge at sunset is one of the simplest pleasures in town.

On the outer side of the lagoon is Gyra, a long strip of sand and pebbles facing the open sea, a few minutes from town. It continues to Agios Ioannis, where old stone windmills stand along the beach. This side catches the north-westerly wind in the afternoon, so the mornings are calmer and the afternoons belong to kitesurfers. For the beaches further down the west coast, see Agios Nikitas and the west coast.

Faneromeni monastery

About 3 km above the town, in the pine trees near Fryni, is the monastery of Panagia Faneromeni, the patron saint of the island and the most important place of worship on Lefkada. The church was rebuilt after a fire in the 19th century. Come for the quiet and for the view: from the courtyard you see the town, the lagoon, the castle and the mainland laid out below. Dress modestly, with shoulders and knees covered.

Where to stay

We look after villas all over Lefkada. See all the villas we look after, by area.