Cephalonia

Cephalonia is large and its harbours point at different neighbours:

• Poros — the Kyllini gate on the southeast coast. Year round.
• Sami — east coast, for Patras and Astakos on the mainland. Year round.
• Fiskardo — the far north, seasonal, for Nydri on Lefkada.
• Pessada — the south, seasonal, for Zakynthos.
• Argostoli — the capital, seasonal traffic.

The mistake is choosing by crossing time and then discovering that your port is an hour's drive from your village on an island where the roads go around mountains.

Cephalonia to Ithaca runs at 20 to 30 minutes with 12 sailings across both directions, on Levante, Kefalonian Lines and Ionian Sea Ferries.

That is frequent enough to make Ithaca a genuine afternoon rather than an expedition, and it is the reason to base on Cephalonia rather than on the smaller island: you get the Homeric one as a day trip and a real supermarket to come home to.

There is a link between Cephalonia and Bari, one sailing each way in our timetable, with Ventouris Ferries.

For most travellers this is a curiosity. For anyone driving between Italy and the Ionian, it removes the mainland entirely — no Patras, no Igoumenitsa, no drive across the Peloponnese. It is thin and seasonal, so confirm before planning around it.

Pessada to Zakynthos is the only direct island-to-island link south, at about 80 minutes with two sailings.

It is seasonal, it is small, and both its harbours are inconveniently placed for the towns they serve. Island-hopping the Ionian is not the smooth chain that the Cyclades offer — more often you go back to the mainland and come out again.

Hire a car. Cephalonia is mountainous, the villages are spread thin, and the bus network exists for residents rather than for a beach itinerary. Myrtos, the beach in every photograph of the island, is reached by a road that descends a cliff in switchbacks; there is no bus that makes it a casual outing.

Distances look small and take twice as long as they should. Budget accordingly, particularly if you are catching a ferry from a port at the other end.

Melissani cave, where the roof collapsed and left a lake lit from above. Assos, a village on an isthmus below a Venetian fort. Myrtos, which really does look like that. And a great deal of quiet interior that the coach tours never reach.

It is also the island of the 1953 earthquake, which flattened almost everything except Fiskardo — which is why the north looks old and the rest of the island looks like the 1950s.

Poros and Sami run year round. Fiskardo, Pessada and Argostoli are summer services and disappear entirely in winter, which narrows a five-port island down to two.

June and September carry the full network with room on the boats. If you are travelling outside those months, check which of the five ports is actually open before booking accommodation near it.