2 or 3 Days in Zakynthos: Ultimate Itinerary and Guide

How do you spend 2 or 3 Days in Zakynthos? Now that you’ve made the decision of visiting Zakynthos on your next vacation, here’s everything you need to know.

How to Get to Zakynthos

Zakynthos is reachable via plane, ferry, or car + ferry. If coming from Athens, you can fly directly to Zakynthos, or drive to the west of Greece and take a ferry. For those who wish to skip Athens coming in or out, Zakynthos has an international airport with flights to Vienna, Prague, Budapest, and more.

Best Places to Stay in Zakynthos

There isn’t a single best place to stay in Zakynthos. Either way you’ll end up driving or boating somewhere on the opposite side of the island. But if we had to pick, here’s our tips:

• For convenient location relative to main port/airport: Zakynthos town
• For nightlife: Laganas
• For resorts: Tsilvi

How to Get Around in Zakynthos

I’d recommend renting a car from the airport or port. K express was the cheapest automatic vehicle I could find for mid-September. They picked us up from the airport and shuttled us 5 minutes to their location. Alternatively, many people choose to rent an ATV/quad. To travel from end to end of Zakynthos takes over an hour via car, so it wasn’t my first choice. Buses and organized tours are also an option, as are taxis.

Best Places to Eat in Zakynthos

Per Google reviews and our experience, there are two amazing restaurants on the island. They gave us two of our best meals on our entire 12-day trip in Greece. The rest are highly rated restaurants based on Google and TripAdvisor.

1. The Old Windmill

The Old Windmill is a popular dinner spot because of the views over the island and water around sunset. It’s a restaurant built next to an old windmill, with great service and food. While the restaurant was able to seat us at 7pm on a Saturday, I recommend getting a reservation – reservations get the seats with the best views over the island and water.

One of their staple dishes is the courgette salad, which we absolutely devoured. The skewers and pita and dip plate are also delicious. Outside of the 2 star Michelin restaurant in Athens, this was the best meal we had in all of Greece.

2. To Diafokereiko

To Diafokereiko is located within the town of Koiliomenos, which we also recommend visiting. The restaurant is a hidden gem of the island; none of the blogs I read mentioned the restaurant. The restaurant has been around since 1680, which makes it both a historical and gastronomic destination.

We highly recommend the aubergine (eggplant). The beef stew and local cheese are also delicious. Though they are adorable, don’t feed the cats!

3. Other

We’ve included a complete list of suggested restaurants on our Google Map, but here are some other options:

• Votsalo Taverna (Near Keri)
• Miretta Gelateria (Zakynthos)
• Porto Roulis

2 Days in Zakynthos Itinerary

For more info on the top things to do in Zakynthos, check out our other blog post here. You can also find all our tagged destinations (those that we did and didn’t do) below:

Day 1:

• 9am to 4pm: Full day private boat tour to see Navagio Shipwreck, sea turtles, Blue caves/Keri Caves. Bring food to eat lunch.
• 4-6pm: Find a beach to relax on or relax at your hotel
• 7pm: Dinner at The Old Windmill
• Optional: nightlife, but you’ll probably be exhausted from the boat tour

Day 2:

• 9am to 11am: Head to Navagio Shipwreck view point. Stop by the small town of Volimes on the way there. Grab a bite to eat if you’re hungry for breakfast. Walk around the town and explore the many stores with local products.
• 11am to 12am: Navagio Shipwreck view point.
• 12pm to 3pm: Stop by To Diafokereiko for lunch. They open at 1pm. Explore the small town of Koiliomos as well if you choose.
• 3pm to 4pm: Myzithres Viewpoint. You can drive almost up to the viewpoint, though many people park at the bottom of the hill.
• 4pm to bedtime: Laganas or Zakynthos. Find a highly-rated place for dinner and go out on the town if you so choose.

If Days 1 and 3 are half days:

• Day 1: Do Myzithres viewpoint in the afternoon. Jump into the waters at Korakonissi and make a reservation at Keri Lighthouse for dinner.
• Day 2: Boat tour(s), Old Windmill and/or Laganas
• Day 3: Navagio shipwreck

If you have more than 2 days:

• Gerakas Beach
• Laganas Beach
• Korakonissi (jump in the clear waters, cool swim spot)
• Port Limnionas (rocky swimming area with beautiful waters)

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