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the enclosed natural harbour of Vathy 
waterfront in Vathy
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| Vathy is the capital of Ithaca and the island's largest town. Set at the head of an elongated bay, hidden from the seaward side of Ithaca, Vathy is an attractive harbour town. There are a good range of amenities in Vathy with plenty of tavernas, bars and cafes lining the harbour front and spread out across the town square.
Small apartment blocks and hotels are dotted around the town as well as along the coastline of the bay. The sheltered waters of the Vathy bay also attract many yachts and even the odd cruise-liner and well as a number of resident fishing boats.
Vathy is a very pleasant place to stay, however, it can get extremely hot in the high summer, many inhabitants prefering to move up the hillside to Perahori in the summer months. The sheltered bay precludes any sea breeze and the natural amphitheatre of hillsides around the town causes the air to get trapped in the town.
Why not treat yourself to the Ithaca Digital Information Pack which includes 5 Introductory Walks, a guide to Ithaca, eight wildlife booklets and the online version of the FoI Movie Ithaca Explorer - just 3.95! Click for more info on the Ithaca Digital Information Pack |
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| Although very little of the town's original venetian architecture survived the 1953 earthquake, Vathy is still an attractive town. Vathy is surrounded by the steep hillsides of south Ithaca and the town lines the natural harbour, with its tiny islets and myriad of yachts bobbing around in the sheltered waters.
Tavernas and cafes spill out their chairs onto the pavements that surround the harbour and across the square making this a picture of quintessential Greece. |
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| Like the rest of Ithaca, Vathy is pretty much spotlessly clean. |
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| Vathy is the largest settlement on Ithaca and the island's administrative centre and as such has the busiest roads on Ithaca. However, that is not much to speak of except during high summer or around ferry times. There are pavements, although at points these are not passable due to shop wares and cafes spilling out onto the pavements. Having said that, as long as you have your wits about you, you will be just fine. |
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| There is no beach at Vathy, so don't come here expecting a beach holiday unless you have a car. The pretty bays of Sarakiniko and Filiatro are a ten minute drive.
Most people who visit Ithaca go to Vathy at some point during their stay whether that be for a spot of shopping or just to have a look around. There are numerous ferries and boat trips that leave from Vathy for neighbouring Kefalonia, mainland Greece, Ithaca's satellite islets and even as far as Zakynthos at the southern tip of the Ionian archipelago.
Vathy's Archaeological Museum is worth a visit, housing finds that date back thousands of years. The museum's artifacts were excavated from from around south Ithaca, mainly from the area of the Aetos bay, where it is said that Odysseus was finally washed ashore after his twelve year journey home.
Ithaca's capital, however, really comes alive at night so why not join the locals on the evening Volta, as they walk around the harbour-side each evening. Then pull up a chair at one of the cafe bars in the square and watch the world go by. There are numerous good tavernas in Vathy so you can grab a bite to eat afterwards. |
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| Although there is little original architecture in Vathy, most of it being destroyed by successive earthquakes, the huge earthquake of 1953 in particular, Vathy is undoubtedly an authentic Greek town. With some 2,000 inhabitants, Vathy has a larger population than the rest of Ithaca put together! It is the administrative and financial centre of the island.
Although Vathy can become overrun with tourists in the high season, especially when one of the cruise-liners is in town, Vathy has its own rhythms that are untouched by tourism. |
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