Zakynthos offers a big variety of beaches and I will show you the best beaches of Zakynthos. There are sandy beaches, rocky beaches, cliffs to snorkel, wild beaches „Algarve-style“ – so basically one for every taste.
During our stay at Zakynthos, we tried to avoid the crowds and more touristy places and focused on the areas which are lesser frequented by tourists or even unknown to many tourists. Basically, we avoided most of the South as this is where all package tourists go. I would recommend not to go to Argassi or Banana beach which counts as the most popular and crowded ones due to their close location to the airport. However, Southeast headland of Skopos (apart from Argassi) is way less touristy and one of my favourite parts of Zakynthos. There is one little beach after another and they are so versatile. I will start my list of the best beaches of Zakynthos with my favourite beaches in this area of the island.
Best beaches in the South of Zakynthos: Porto Zorro beach
Porto Zorro is one of my favourite beaches located at the headland of Skopos. It is a very picturesque beach due to some big rock formations just off the beachside. There is a well-maintained beach club where even weddings take place and comfortable sun loungers with big pillows. If you might think it sounds a bit posh, it is not. It is just a very comfortable beach and the little beach club offers anything you can wish from breakfast to lunch and dinner or drinks.
Best beaches in the South of Zakynthos: Gerakas beach
Continuing my list of the best beaches of Zakynthos with a completely different beach of the headland of Skopos: Gerakas beach. It feels like at Algarve there because the beach is wide, rough with big cliffs and when we were there it was quite windy. One part of the beach is equipped with sun loungers, the other part is without any installations – you can choose your preference. It is also long enough to have a walk at the beach (which is not the case for most of the other beaches, I recommend. ) The only beach which is even longer is the super crowded one in the South (the one where you don’t want to be; that is why you are reading this article 😉
Best beaches in the South of Zakynthos: Daphne beach
This beach is one of the most important turtle beaches in Zakynthos and therefore highly protected. You can go there to swim but there are many small installations along the beach in order to protect the nests and the eggs of the turtles which are buried in the sand. The good thing about this: the restaurant which is located at this beach offers free sun loungers in order to keep the people a bit away from the nesting area of the turtles. And the second cool thing about this beach: next to the restaurant was built up an hippie heaven. An old, hippie man built up little, lovely „rooms“ at the beach which all dispose of a bed, some kind of sunshade and were created with a lot of love. See yourself:
However, this beach is not very special. The reason why it made it into my list of the best beaches of Zakynthos is that it is not as crowded as other beaches which makes it charming to go there. Plus my theory is that the probability of seeing turtles there while snorkelling is high as it is one of the beaches with the most turtle eggs of the island. We didn’t see any though 🙁
Apart from the beaches in the South, my heart fell for the North-East of the island. At the time when we were there, it felt like there are almost no other tourists, restaurants and accommodations in this area were quite empty – and so were the beaches. Therefore the list of the best beaches of Zakynthos continues now with some beaches in the East.
Best beaches in the East of Zakynthos: Makris Gialos
The most stunning beach in this area is Makris Gialos, a very small beach with turquoise and super clear water. It is located within cliffs and there are some rocks and caves in the water which makes snorkelling at this beach very enjoyable. I guess in high season this beach must be more crowded, so make sure to be there early, cause it really deserves to be mentioned within the best beaches of Zakynthos.
Best beaches in the East of Zakynthos: Xigia beach
Xigia beach is naturally a very interesting beach. The water is milky blue due to the sulfate springs which run in the sea close to this lake. Therefore it also smells a bit like sulfate (or better: rotten eggs). But also this beach is a bit like Makris Gialos located within cliffs and due to its rocky surroundings snorkelling is fun there.
Best beaches in the East of Zakynthos: coast of Agios Nikolaos and Makris Gialos
Actually, the whole coast around the two above mentioned beaches is worth it to go. Just take your car and drive along the coast and stop wherever you want and like it. There are many amazing cliffs and small natural caves. This part of the island is rocky and apart from a few beaches, there are further little swimming stops where little stairs of platforms were built in order to be able to access the water. For examples these amazing stairs leading into very clear and turquoise water (which is present along the whole North-East coast):
These stairs form part of the restaurant “El sueño“ which truly felt like a dream to us. They have amazing food and also created some breakfast for us even if normally they don’t serve breakfast. If you eat there you can use their little sun lounger platform for free. So we did and guess what?! We were the only guests there the whole day. I don’t understand how this place can’t be super crowded. Big, big recommendation for the restaurant and the sea there.
Best beaches in the West of Zakynthos: Porto Limnionas
Besides these two directions, there is also the West coast which is mainly shaped by huge cliffs and a rough sea. Apart from Shipwreck beach which I will not mention in this article (Read „Boat tour to Navagio beach worth it“ to get my very straightforward option) there are two more charming spots.
Porto Limionas is one of them. This beach is not for people looking for a quiet beach to tan the whole day, nor for people who want to do long beach strolls. But for all of you out there who love clear waters, caves and snorkelling. This little bay is surrounded by cliffs and there is no sandy beach or anything close to that. A restaurant was built there in the rocks and they opened a cute platform of sun loungers of different levels. However, it doesn’t feel as if there are too many people as the platform is not packed with sun loungers but there is a decent distance between sun loungers and umbrellas. Food and drinks are even served to the sun beds which made the stay there really comfortable. And I didn’t even mention the crystal clear, turquoise water yet – amazing if you like to snorkel.
Best beaches in the West of Zakynthos: Porto Vromi
Another little and very epic located bay is Porto Vromi. The main reason why people come here is because boats to famous “Shipwreck beach” depart from here. However, it is a very charming place and invites for a little snorkle or swim. Plus the drive to come here is already so spectacular.
THE Best beach of Zakynthos: Stenitis bay
The winner of the best beaches of Zakynthos is actually not a beach but a little bay. We reached it by boat. On the map, it looks like you can go there by car as well. However, I’m not sure about it and therefore don’t want to raise false hopes.
But look yourself:
Quite similar to Porto Limionas also in the West or Makris Gialos in the East, but just a little bit more special for one reason: There is a little cave which leads about 50 meters into the cliff. It was so cool to go in there, but also a bit scary to be honest, look yourself:
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I hope you liked my list of the best beaches of Zakynthos. If you want to read more about Zakynthos, don’t miss my article about all the insider tips of the island. Just click here to get to the article.
Never stop exploring!
