Cefalonia Island Transportation

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The islands main airport is just South of the capital Argostoli and has some pretty basic amenities. I'd to spend a few hours extra on arrival and departure as my flights didn't quite match up with my friends and witnessed the confusion of the boarding scrum.

For some reason, the staff seem to only open the check-in desks for a minimum period so there are always long queues, the holiday reps also buy into this and hustle all of their customers into standing unnecessarily, this procedure is then repeated at the passport control (our flight was rushed through to the departure lounge then had to hang around whilst 2 other flights left in front of us).

My advice is to get a seat with a view of the check-in & passport control desks then chill out until your queue tails off. There are definitely no prizes for being first in line.

Now I didn't actually hire a boat - I spent all my money on food. But hey, no regrets!

Boat hire is pretty expensive, a not-very powerful motorboat will cost about 90 euros for the day (from Makris Yialos beach, Lassi).

But I'm sure it would be money well spent - you'd be within reach of some of Kefalonia's finest beaches, many of which you can't get to without a boat.

I think there's a few boat hire places in Lassi, and I saw one other in Fiscardo, with more powerful looking boats.

Apologies for the not-very-good picture - if you look in the background you can see a small cluster of boats. One of these could be yours... for a day.

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The flight from London Gatwick to Kefalonia is fairly pleasant, and lasts around three hours. One tip would be to make sure you're on the right side of the plane for the best views as you come in to land or take off...

If you're arriving at Kefalonia, you'll want to be on the left-hand side of the plane. Many travellers will be staying around Argostoli/Katavothres/Lassi and you'll get some pretty impressive views as you descend.

The Argostoli-Lixouri ferry is the easiest way to get between Kefalonia's two largest towns, and at 1.80 euros, it's excellent value (if you have a car, I think it costs about 4 euros).

Ferries leave every half an hour, and run right up until midnight. Each crossing takes about twenty minutes.

They crossing is very pleasant, with views of the Katavothres peninsula from Lassi right down to the airport.

The most used route is from Patras to Sami. If possible, I think it would be wise to book in advance.Unfortunately I have lost that ferry because there was no place left for my car.

The operator of this route is Strintzis Lines.
You can find the timetables on this link:
http://www.ferries.gr/strintzis-ferries/timetable-patras.htm

If you want to reach Lixouri from Argostoli or vice versa it is absolutely useless to drive. The road trip will take over 45 mins, it is very windy and pretty long. You can take the local ferry which goes every 30 mins up to midnight. The price was 10 Euros for 2 people and a car, and the ride takes about 25 mins.

Cefalonia's road network is rumoured to be in bad condition and even dangerous. Compared to other Greek islands it's certainly not the worst. Signing can be tricky especially in key junctions: it needs some guesswork in order to find the access towards Lixouri or Fiskardo. The trickiest part is the part of the road on the steep hillsides of the west coast - Cefalonia like all the Ionian islands is a seismic zone and those hillsides are typical "difficult" areas.

During summer months one can get to the port of Sami (as well as Ithaca island) from the mainland Greek harbour of Astakos.
This is a little-known alternative. Driving from the Rion-Antirion Bridge to Astakos takes little more than an hour. Boats are rather slow (3.5 hours to get to Sami, compared to just 2.5 from Patras). However the advantages are the lower price (for passengers and cars) as well as the far more interesting scenery: the boat sails through a cluster of small islands just off Astakos and skirts the south part of Ithaca. If time is not pressing, then go for it.