Weaving through a maze of sun-kissed tables and sky-blue chairs, ebullient host Freiderikos Errikos leads me inside his eponymous family restaurant on the little-known Greek island of Meganisi to a wall of photos featuring famous diners who have graced his tables.
Amid the montage of framed snaps, Errikos is pictured smiling proudly with Hollywood actress Demi Moore, Italian designers Georgio Armani and (the late) Roberto Cavalli, as well as a host of Greek dignitaries worthy of the VIP status the picture wall commands.
We’ve anchored at Vathi, the pretty main port of this hidden Ionian gem off the west coast of Greece, reputedly a haunt for the rich and famous who moor their billionaires yachts nearby and arrive quietly to explore.
Sampling raw tuna, melt-in-the-mouth calamari and other seafood delights by the quiet harbour fringed with restaurants and stylish shops, you can understand how stars who want to remain anonymous are lured to this pint-sized patch of paradise.
Earlier, we stop at a secluded pebble and sand beach on the island, deserted apart from a smattering of empty sun loungers and a small bar, where two young locals are serving ice-cold frappes and espressos for less than it would cost at a famous coffee chain at home.
Asking if any celebrities have visited their bar, they talk of Sarah Jessica Parker and show me a TikTok on their phone of rapper Travis Scott trying his hand at Greek dancing with the Meganisi locals, which they say has gone viral.
My gen Z kids are probably more impressed than me, but leaving this under-the-radar celebrity haunt, our skipper Dasos puts the throttle down on his rib to give us a tour of neighbouring Skorpios, once the private island of late Greek shipping billionaire Aristotle Onassis (he married Jackie Kennedy there in 1968), now leased long-term by a Russian oligarch.
There’s a James Bond vibe to Skorpios – even the name sounds like it could come out of a movie – as Dasos points out the security men looking ominously at us, plus the cameras at every possible entry point. He tells us that when the oligarch is in residence, security boats patrol the area to ward off unwanted visitors.
Enough of the drama. Meganisi is just a watery detour from where we are actually staying, on its larger sister island Lefkada, nicknamed the ‘Greek Caribbean’ because of its vivid blue waters and glorious beaches, but less well known than the popular Ionian islands of Kefalonia, Corfu and Zante.
Lefkada is the only Greek island that you reach by a causeway (via a small bridge) from Preveza airport on the mainland – so no ferry journey is needed to get here.
In just half an hour you’ll find yourself on a verdant mountainous island awash with olive trees and tall skinny cypress, with Mount Elati, the island’s highest peak, rising 1158 metres above sea level. Stalls selling local honey, thyme and olive oil are dotted along the roads.
Thanks to an abundant storage of underground water, coupled with historic mild rainy winters, Lefkada is unusually green in summer compared with the barren landscapes of the Cyclades islands including Santorini and Mykonos, so hiking the hills is popular. But it’s the beaches that really stand out – many accessible by land, others easier to reach by sea – set against a backdrop of majestic limestone cliffs.
It’s a family holiday and we’ve opted for a villa with Vintage Travel, which has properties in both Lefkada and Meganisi. Villas can be an economical option if you have grown-up kids who are working and you split the cost.
Preveza is also served by budget airlines Ryanair and easyJet, while Tui also offers competitive flight prices, and if you shop around you can rent a car for a week in June for around $300.
Heading past the famous Faneromeni Monastery in the north and 10 minutes from the more touristy capital of Lefkada Town, we arrive in the traditional village of Tsoukalades, where locals put the world to rights over strong coffee in simple, workaday cafes and go about their business unfettered by hoards of holidaymakers.
Several bakeries offer homemade spanakopita (spinach and feta pie) and bougatsa (custard-filled filo pastry) for a few euros.
While it isn’t picture-postcard pretty – there are no whitewashed houses with eye-catching blue roofs – there’s a certain charm to a village that seems to have stepped back in time.
Tavernas here offer authentic dishes such as souvlaki, saganaki, Greek salad topped with slabs of feta cheese, baby grilled octopus, sea bream and sardines, washed down with a glass of palatable local wine – a meal will set you back around $30 a head.
Thrill-seekers can head for the more commercial centres of Vassiliki in the south, famed for its kitesurfing and windsurfing, and the tourist town of Nidri in the east that offers many boat trips from its small port.
More sophisticated Instagrammable cafes and restaurants have sprung up in pretty Sivota in the south, as customers negotiate their acai bowls while admiring the yachts passing through the picturesque little harbour.
The west coast is windier but has the most spectacular beaches including Porto Katsiki, Kathisma, Pefkoulia and Milos, although some are easier to access by boat.
The most stunning – and probably the toughest to reach – is Egremni in the south-west, a vast expanse of white pebble beach that sits below sheer limestone cliffs. From the nearest car park, we walk a kilometre down a winding road to the steps, around 400 of them, which lead to this majestic beach.
With a sea the colour of Powerade, the vista certainly gives the Caribbean a run for its money. Once on the beach, thankfully there are sun umbrellas for hire, which we gratefully pitch before heading for the crystal clear water (although take beach shoes because the pebbles are hard underfoot).
Struggling back up those endless steps and the winding road at the end of the day, we agree that a water taxi or boat from Nidri or Vassiliki would have been a less arduous way to experience this idyllic spot.
Boat hire on Lefkada is cheap and you can get to Meganisi in 20 minutes from Nidri. We rent a 30hp craft without a boat licence for $150 plus fuel costs (Ionian Boats) for up to six people, complete with canopy and ice box to put our own drinks and food in.
Finding hidden coves and swimming off the boat in the waters around both Lefkada and Meganisi proves a highlight, thanks to the lack of water traffic and the pristine Ionian Sea.
Dragging ourselves away from the sea for a morning, we set out to explore the famous Dimossari waterfall nearby, scaling a trail of uneven stone steps, only to discover that in the height of summer the fall has run dry. Best to do this hike in spring or autumn, when the water is likely to be cascading and visitors can dip in the cooling pool at its base.
If you’re searching for real celebrity treatment on Lefkada you can find it. On our anniversary we blow the budget at an expensive, sophisticated hotspot, Amente, high in the hills beyond Agios Nikitas.
There we enjoy elegant cocktails and dine on scallops and black pork loin before being shown past the pool and the resident harpist to cosy viewing spots under the trees to watch the most spectacular sunset. We could have been in the Caribbean.
How to plan your trip Vintage Travel (vintagetravel.co.uk) offers nine villas in Lefkada, with 2025 lead-in prices of $1300 for seven nights based on five sharing; and eight villas on Meganisi, with a lead-in price of $1500 for seven nights based on six sharing. Flights extra.
Have you travelled to the Greek islands? Which was your favourite? Why not share your experience in the comments section below?
Also read: The Greek island you should skip
– with Hannah Stephenson
