After visiting the Unesco World Heritage site of Meteora, we headed down towards Lefkada (or Lefkas—and if you’ve ever wondered about the two names, it’s basically just Greek vs. Anglicized Greek. Officially, it’s Lefkada, but the British have called it Lefkas for years. Same island, same gorgeous beaches, so take your pick!).

Leaving Meteora we took the A2 Motorway for a bit of Tunnel-hopping!: exit a tunnel, cross a gorge on a soaring bridge, and plunge right into the next tunnel. Bypassing the dangerous Katara Pass, the motorway has no less than 73 twin-bore tunnels (!) which turn a treacherous, full-day trek across the Pindus range into a fast, seamless drive. Tunnel-hopping always drives us crazy, but I suppose that’s the price you pay for modern travel! We arrived at Lefkada bridge around 5:30 PM, crossed over, and drove straight to our apartment near Kalamitsi beach. First order of business? A well-earned glass of wine.

Historically, Lefkada actually used to be connected to the Greek mainland. Back in the 7th century BC, the Corinthians dug a canal right through the narrow strip of land joining them, effectively turning it into an island. Fast forward to modern times, and we didn’t need a ferry—we just rolled across the Santa Maura floating drawbridge. It’s a pretty cool piece of engineering that swings open every hour to let boats pass through, connecting the island back to the mainland.

We spent a week exploring. One of the best things about Lefkada is that you won’t find massive, soulless resort complexes hogging the coast. It’s mostly small hotels and apartments scattered across the island. The roads are narrow, but generally fine—until you hit a tiny mountain village, where two cars inevitably meet face-to-face and gridlock ensues. Without fail, though, some local hero always jumps out of their car, takes charge, and directs traffic until everything’s moving again.

We hit plenty of beaches, with Porto Katsiki and Egremni (or Galios) taking the top spot. You definitely had to respect the strong currents, but jumping into the huge waves while staying reasonably close to shore was absolute fun.

As for towns, Agios Nikitas was a bit unremarkable, as was Nikiana. However, Nikiana redeemed itself completely: we stumbled upon a classic, no-frills Greek taverna right on the beach, where I ate what was hands-down the most amazing seafood spaghetti of my life.

One morning, we attempted an early walk from Lazarata to Spanochori—a tiny old village full of steep stone steps and ancient buildings. We followed a trail down into a deserted woodland area that felt surprisingly eerie. Our original plan was to trek all the way up to the church of Profitis Ilias, but the morning sun quickly turned up the heat and defeated us. We gracefully surrendered and headed back to the town square in Lazarata for an ice-cold cola instead.

In the evening, we had reservations at Restaurant Amente—aka an influencer’s absolute paradise. It’s fine dining at its best, with unbelievable food and wine pairings in a ridiculous setting where the tables are literally arranged around a swimming pool perched on the cliffs overlooking the ocean.  You do have to hit a minimum spend per table, and the prime sunset slots were completely booked out, so we ate a bit earlier. Still, the sea views were incredible, the whole experience was 100% worth it, and we ended up repeating the splurge later in Kefalonia!

All in all, the great thing about Lefkada is how easy it is to dodge the crowds. You can easily find traditional Greek tavernas that exist for locals, not just tourists. It might not have a hyper-luxurious, polished feel everywhere you go, but it is authentically, wonderfully Greek.

Our next stop was to Vaskiliki where we jumped on a boat and headed off to Kefalonia.