Villa Petros, Vassiliki, Lefkada

Getting there.

The first thing to you need to know about travel to Lefkada, is that there are plenty of options!

Lefkada is an island, but unlike most Greek Islands, you can actually drive onto it because the north of the island is very close to the mainland. The two are linked by a swing bridge over the yachting channel. This makes for easy access – no rushing from the airport to find you’ve just missed a ferry onto the island.

The drive from Preveza airport to the villa takes around an hour, and we will provide you with directions.

The route you choose depends of course where you start from, but here are the most likely options for travel to Lefkada:

By Air

Preveza

The nearest airport is Preveza (also know as Aktion International). There are direct flights from the UK (currently Gatwick, Heathrow, Stansted, Manchester and Birmingham), which take around 3 hours 30 minutes. There are also direct flights from a number of other countries.

Athens

If you fly into Athens, there are three options for getting to Lefkada - hire car (around 4 hours 30 minutes - possibly less as there is a new road), bus to Lefkada town, or internal flight from Athens to Preveza.
(If you do travel by road the journey from Athens to Lefkada is spectacular).

By land & sea

There are a number of possible routes for driving from Northern Europe. The most straightforward is to drive to Italy and then travel by ferry to Igoumenitsa in Greece. From there it’s about a 2 hours 15 minutes drive to Vassiliki.

Ferries to Igoumenitsa run from several ports in Italy - Ancona, Bari, Brindisi or Venice, and also from Corfu.

It is also possible to drive down without using a ferry, but please check your car insurance will cover the various countries you travel through.

Rail

The railway network in Greece isn’t particularly extensive, but you can travel to Italy by train and then on by ferry.

Car hire

You will need a car at the villa, so unless you are travelling in your own vehicle, the best option is to hire a car from your arrival airport or ferry terminal. We strongly suggest you book this in advance, especially in high season.

We have a local car hire company we use and are happy to pass on their details to you.

Driving on Lefkada

Driving

You will want a hire car when staying at Villa Petros to get out and about and transport food and drink to the villa.

You’re unlikely to do a lot of mileage on Lefkada - for the simple reason that the whole island is only 35 kilometres long. The main road around the island is tarmac, and traffic on the island is relatively light. The island is mountainous, so you will find a few hairpin bends, but the spectacular views more than compensate.

The access road to the villa is quite steep, with two sharp bends, but it’s not very long and is perfectly drivable in a normal car. Some of the smaller roads down to beaches are not tarmac and can be bumpy, so our only suggestion would be that the island roads aren’t well suited to ‘low slung’ cars like sports cars! (It's also worth considering the 'full' insurance option of you're hiring a car so you don't have to worry.)

Travel Tips

We have been travelling regularly to Lefkada ourselves since 2017 and whilst we are not travel agents (and therefore can't book travel for you), we do have some tips to share!

Don't leave booking your flights to the last minute. As mentioned we are not travel agents, this tip is simply based on personal observation since 2017.

Several airlines operate scheduled flights to Preveza throughout the season, with more flights per week during July and August.

'Low cost' operators such as Easyjet often offer really good prices on early bookings and mid week flights. Usually, as flights fill up nearer the date of travel, they increase the prices.
You may be lucky and find a cheap late flight - but it can work the other way. Which is why we recommend booking flights at the same time or as soon as you can after booking the villa.

If you're flying and have no other reason to go to Athens, choose a direct flight to Preveza. It's a small airport and usually quick to get through. The car journey to the villa should take you about 1 hour 15 minutes, and we provide detailed driving instructions.

Be wary of anyone telling you to fly to Kefalonia or Corfu (and that includes travel agents and well-meaning people on social media!) Kefalonia is a much larger island, the airport is at the opposite end of the island to Fiskardo where the ferry to Lefkada departs from. You would either need a taxi or possibly to pay extra for the hire car as you would be taking it to a different island. And of course you would have to coordinate your arrival and departure with ferry times - there's honestly no need.

Corfu is three islands north of Lefkada - and about a 6 hour ferry ride. Unless you're planning a two centre holiday, it's not the best way to reach Lefkada.

The northern end of Lefkada is so close to the mainland there is a floating bridge and you simply drive across - no need to wait around for ferries. If you fancy going on a boat our advice is take a boat trip during your holiday rather than adding to your arrival.

I made the little graphic right for a social media post after hearing the advice someone in a Facebook group was given about how to get to Lefkada.

It's a little homemade, but hopefully you can see the point!