Day 3: Turtle spotting, Keri Caves and Turtle Island boat tour
One day three of my trip to Zakynthos in one week, I decided to tick off another bucket list activity: turtle spotting in Zakynthos. It’s another one of the best activities in Zakynthos.
Turtle Island boat tour
I booked the tour to Turtle Island through Get Your Guide again. You can find the Zaknythos Turtle Island tour here (affiliate). I chose the option that included hotel pick up. It worked well, with a minibus picking up people from their hotels and driving the short distance down to the end of Laganas Bay where the boats leave from.
Turtle spotting in Laganas Bay
The first stop on the boat was turtle spotting in Laganas Bay. The boat headed out into the bay, and then slowed down so the guide on the boat could look out for turtles. There were a few other turtle-spotting boats in one area, so our boat headed over the join them.
We spent about 20 minutes looking for the turtles. And it was ok – but not the best. It was a shame that there were quite a lot of boats around – it didn’t seem that nice for the turtles to be surrounded by four or five different boats. The turtles would spend most of the time deep under the water, so all your could see was a faint shadow under the water. When the turtle did come up to the surface, you had to be super lucky to be in the exact right place on the right boat at the right time, to get a glimpse of it for the split second it took a breathe before diving back under.
I enjoyed seeing the turtles, and it was nice to see the faint outlines and split-second views of them at the surface. But to be honest. I was hoping for better views. I guess it’s inevitable with a tour that involves looking for wild animals. You just have to be very lucky to be in the exact right place when the turtle comes to the surface, and hope it stays there long enough for photos. Next time, I think I’d look for a private turtle spotting boat tour to hopefully get better views. But it was still nice to get a glimpse of the turtles.
Keri Caves
After about 20 minutes with the turtles, the boat moved on to the next stop. The next stop was Keri Caves. These caves, on the south-west tip of Zakynthos, are lovely. The rock faces are really impressive, and the blue water is lovely.
There was a swimming stop at the Keri Caves. So everyone could jump off the boat into the water and swim closer to the caves, and also swim to a small beach that’s only accessible from the water. We had about 20 minutes in the water, which was enough to swim and enjoy the views.
Turtle Island
Back on the boat, we headed off to Turtle Island. Turtle Island is a small island, just off the coast of Zakynthos. It looks like a turtle, with its head and shell rising out of the water. The views of the island as we headed over in the boat were lovely.
Once we got to Turtle Island, the boat drove up to the beach so we could get off the boat onto the beach on Turtle Island. We then had about 45 minutes of free time on the beach on Turtle Island. Most people went swimming in the clear blue water. You could go snorkelling as well, and see some fish in the water.
I loved the white sand beach on Turtle Island. The views from the water were lovely as well. The sea was so calm and so clear.
It was also nice to get back on the boat and enjoy the views of Turtle Island from the boat. I really enjoyed this stop on Turtle Island. It was a really beautiful part of Zakynthos.
After the swimming stop here, everyone got back on the boat and we headed back to the harbour at Laganas. We then got back in the minibus to get dropped off back at our hote.
Dinner in Kalamaki
In the evening, I recommend heading back into Kalamaki main town for dinner at a different restaurant. This time, I went to the restaurant called Olive Garden. It’s a really pretty restaurant, with lots of plants and lots of outdoor seating.
For dinner, I had moussaka. This famous Greek dish is layers of potato, aubergine and minced meat, cooked with cheese on top. It’s one of the most famous Greek dishes, and it’s so good. For dessert, I had Baklava, which is another famous Greek dish. It’s layers of pastry with nuts and sweet honey. It was another great meal, and a great end to my third day of my itinerary for Zakynthos in one week.
Day 4: Walk along the beach from Kalamaki to Laganas
On day four of my itinerary for Zakynthos in one week, I wanted a more chilled day. I’d done some amazing activities and seen so many of the top sights in Zakynthos in my first three days. So on day four, I wanted a more chilled and relaxed day. So I decided to explore the south of the island more, from Kalamaki to Laganas.
Walking from Kalamaki to Laganas
It’s really lovely to walk along the beach from Kalamaki to Laganas. The beach is quite easy to walk along, especially if the tide is going out so you can walk along the damp sand. The views out to sea, and to the cliffs at both ends of the beach, are lovely.
Another highlight of this walk is that you can spot turtles in the sea as you walk. On a calm day, when the surface of the sea is flat, you can often spot turtles as they come to the surface to breathe. They don’t stay at the surface for long, so it’s really hard to get a photo. But you can still see their cute little faces as they come to the surface to breathe. And sometimes you can even hear them breathe as well.
You can also swim in the sea at any point on the beach from Kalamaki to Laganas. The Laganas beach in Zakynthos is really gentle and easy for swimming. It gets deep really gently, so you need to walk quite a long way out to be able to swim. This makes it a perfect beach for families with kids, or anyone who wants a gentle beach and gentle swim.
When you’re swimming in the sea, you can see the turtles as well. There were a few times when I was swimming that I could see one of the turtles coming up to breathe, really close. And I could hear them really breathe really clearly as well. It was amazing to be swimming in the sea and have a turtle swimming really close. I think I got better views of the turtles from swimming in the sea in Laganas Bay than I did from the turtle-spotting boat trip.
Cocktails in Laganas
The town of Laganas is at the other end of the beach to Kalamaki. It has a very different vibe to Kalamaki. It’s clearly the nightlife capital of Zakynthos. The area is full of beach bars and night clubs. If nightlife is your thing, then you’ll definitely want to spend more time in Laganas. Or, if you’re not so keen on the nightlife, you could just stop here for an early evening cocktail. There are lots of nice cocktails to choose from. It was lovely to sit with a Pina Colada in Laganas.
You can also do some souvenir shopping in Laganas as well, although I preferred the souvenir shops in Kalamaki.
Personally, I wasn’t keen on Laganas. It felt like a town that was entirely based around tourists getting drink and going to seedy shops and nightlife. I was glad to walk back along the beach and get back to Kalamaki.
Dinner in Kalamaki
For dinner, I decided to try the restaurant at the Marelen Hotel in Kalamaki. The restaurant has outdoor seating right next to the swimming pool.
The food at the restaurant was great as well. For a starter, I had Spanakopita. It’s a traditional Greek dish, made of crispy layers of filo pastry and a filling of spinach and feta cheese. And for the main course, I had sea bass with Mediterranean vegetables.
The food was great, and the views of the hotel and the swimming pool at night were lovely. It was another great meal in Zakynthos.
Day 5: Jeep tour of Zakynthos mountains, with wine tasting
On day 5 of my trip to Zakynthos in one week, I decided to do another full-day island tour. This tour involved exploring more of the mountains and the centre of Zakynthos. Unfortunately, the weather wasn’t so good on this day. It was very cloudy, with a few light rain showers. Visiting Zakynthos in early May, it was inevitable that the weather might not be perfect all week. But this tour of Zakynthos was ok enough to do in poor weather, although of course a sunny day would have been even better.
The tour was a closed jeep tour of the island of Zakynthos. You can find details about the closed jeep tour in Zakynthos here (affiliate).
Closed jeep tour of Zakynthos -the first stop
The tour picked us up from the hotel in the closed jeep. It was a good vehicle, with space for 6 passengers plus the driver. Straight away, we started driving into the centre of the island along winding mountain roads.
The first stop on this tour was at Fagia restaurant in a small village. We met up with the other jeeps here – there were five jeeps in total on the tour. We had about 30 minutes break here, so we could go for a little walk around the village and also get a coffee at the cafe. It was a cute village with a nice little church, and flowers in the springtime. And the cafe was nice as well. I had a Greek coffee, which is a really strong, black coffee. It was really nice.
Driving up to the highest point on Zante
Back in the jeep, we continued driving into the centre of the island. Soon after leaving the cafe, we started driving off-road to get up to the highest point on the island. The highest point in Zakynthos is Vrachionas, at 758m high. The road up was interesting, with some great views from the jeep. Of course, on a sunny day the views would have been even better. But even in the cloud the view was nice. The jeeps bounced up the road, but the drivers were all careful, so it was an easy off-road driving experience.
Unfortunately, on the day I visited, the top of the highest mountain in Zakynthos was in a cloud. So when we stopped at the summit, there wasn’t any view. All we could see what the cloud. We all got out the jeep and took some photos of the cloud…
On a sunny day, the view from here would be amazing. You’d be able to see the whole island. This was the only stop on the tour that felt like the bad weather ruined it, which was a shame. But the drive was still nice, and as we got further down, we were back out of the cloud so could still get some views.
Lunch stop at Galaxy Restaurant
The next stop on the tour was the lunch stop. It was quite an early lunch stop – we got to the restaurant at 12pm, and had an hour for lunch. The restaurant was the Galaxy Restaurant in the small mountain village called Anafonitria.
The restaurant was nice, and it was nice to see the cute village. I had Chicken Souvlaki – a traditional Greek grill dish. It was nice, but the highlight of the meal here was the dessert. I had orange cake, which again is another traditional Greek food. The orange cake was great.
The next stops – Shipwreck Beach, Monastery and Xigia Beach
Back in the jeep, we drove the short distance to the Shipwreck Beach viewpoint. It was a short stop here – we couldn’t walk out to the end of the cliffs like on first day. Instead, we could just walk to the small viewing platform that you need to queue for, to get the photo of the beach. It was still a nice view, but the experience here wasn’t anywhere near as good as on the first day tour I did. If you’re short of time on the island, this tour will give you the chance to get a quick photo of this iconic beach. But if you want time to enjoy the view, and walk to the better viewpoint at the end, then I definitely recommend booking the other tour.
Normally this jeep tour would then give you the opportunity to do a short 30 minute boat trip to the Blue Caves. However, on the day I did the tour, the boat trips were cancelled because of the weather. So instead went to monastery
The monastery is called Spilaiotissa monastery. The Zakynthos Monastery of Spiliotissa is a small site, but it’s an interesting place. The church inside is lovely. And the views from the outside are nice as well. I really liked the bells, and the views of the surrounding mountains. You can find out more about the monastery here.
Then we were back onto the jeep for another short drive to the next stop. This time, we stopped at Xigia Sulphur Beach. We had about 40 minutes here, which felt a bit too long because the weather wasn’t great. But the views were still nice, and it was nice to see the beach again (even though I’d seen it on the first day tour as well).
Wine and olive oil tasting at Therianos Family Farm
The final stop on the jeep tour was my favourite stop of the day. We stopped at the Therianos Family Farm. It’s a small family-run farm.
The owners welcomed us, and gave a short introduction to the farm. We then had some free time to look around the farm. There were lots of farm animals, which were lovely to see. The farm also had some great views of the mountains around. It was really green, with some lovely farm animals.
Then, we went inside and sat around big tables for the wine and olive oil tasting. The owner of the farm gave a presentation about the farm’s products, and we were invited to try some. We started off with the award-winning olive oil that the farm produces. It was really nice. And then we tried three wines that are produced on the farm – one white, one rose, and one red.
Then we moved onto trying some cosmetic products. There was a variety of different soaps and body lotions that we could try. A lot of these smelled nice at first, but after a while all of the smells mixed up and it started smelling a bit weird. But it was still really nice to see and try all the local products on the farm. There was some free time as well to browse the farm shop, and lots of people bought products to take home.
After the farm visit, we got back on the jeep on last time to get dropped off back at the hotel in Kalamaki.
Dinner in Kalamaki
For dinner, I wanted to try another of the great restaurants in Kalamaki. I went to the restaurant called Greek Stories. It’s a really nice restaurant, with lovely blue colours.
For starter, I had the feta cheese wrapped in filo pastry with honey. It’s definitely one of my favourite foods in Greece! And for main course, I had Lamb Kleftiko. It’s a Greek dish, with lamb and vegetables cooked together, with cheese on top. It was really nice, and another great meal to end the day.
Keep reading on the next page for days 6 and 7 of your itinerary for Zakynthos in one week.