Corfu full-day private tour (8 hours)

What fits in eight hours?

Four stops and 88 minutes of driving in all, routed on OpenStreetMap without traffic from the cruise terminal: 30 min and 22.9 km across the island to Paleokastritsa, with two and a half hours there for the bays, a swim and lunch; 35 min and 28.9 km to the Achilleion at Gastouri, 70 minutes; 15 min and 12.8 km to the Kanoni viewpoint, 25 minutes; 5 min and 3.4 km to the Old Town, two hours on foot; 3 min and 2.4 km back to the terminal. Half an hour is left for a photo stop on the west-coast road. From a hotel the first and the last leg follow the address. This is the 4-hour tour and the 5-hour tour laid end to end, with the swim and the meal that neither has time for.

Paleokastritsa, with a swim and lunch

The west-coast village of small bays under a monastery headland is where the day’s long stop is: two and a half hours for a swim, the walk up to the monastery and lunch by the water at your own expense, with the driver waiting. Lunch is here, in the middle of the day, not in town; tell us if you would rather eat in the Old Town and the minutes move with it.

The Achilleion after lunch, and the order of the day

From April to October the palace is open until 20:00, so the afternoon visit fits; from November to March it closes at 16:00, and the driver turns the day round, the palace first and Paleokastritsa after lunch. The general admission is 7 EUR (checked 14 Oct 2026, achillion-corfu.gr), paid at the gate or as an e-ticket on the palace’s site, reduced tickets only at the counters; the hours as the palace lists them:

• 1 Apr to 31 Oct: 08:00 to 20:00
• 1 Nov to 31 Mar: 08:00 to 16:00

Checked 14 Oct 2026, achillion-corfu.gr.

Seventy minutes cover the gardens with the two statues of Achilles, the Peristyle of the Muses and the rooms of the Empress and the Kaiser. The palace was built for Empress Elisabeth of Austria and completed in 1891, bought by Kaiser Wilhelm II in 1907, and has belonged to the Greek state since 1919, as its own history page tells it.

Kanoni and the Old Town at the end of the day

Twenty-five minutes at the Kanoni terrace, above the islet of Vlacherna and Mouse Island, then two hours in the Old Town: the Spianada, the Liston, the lanes, and the Old Fortress if you want it, with its own ticket of 10 EUR (checked 14 Oct 2026, hh.gr) and the last admission 20 minutes before closing; the Corfu page prints its hours by season. The town is the last stop because it is 3 min and 2.4 km from the terminal: a cruise guest ends the day a few minutes from the ship.

Driver or licensed guide?

Our driver drives, waits at every stop with the vehicle and gives practical orientation; inside the Achilleion, a museum, and the Old Fortress, a monument, guiding is the work of state-licensed guides under Law 5121/2024, and the palace admits a licensed guide free with the professional ID, as it does the group’s driver. A guide for the palace is added on request and quoted with the day. The driver-or-guide guide explains the rule.

Steps, shade, toilets and lunch

Lunch is settled above: Paleokastritsa, by the bay. For the rest we print only what an official page states, and the palace’s and the fortress’s pages give tickets and hours, not steps, shade or toilets; nobody official describes the path to the water at Paleokastritsa or the lanes of the town. Ask your driver at each stop, wear walking shoes, the office’s advice for every tour, and use the bottled water in the vehicle; a swim needs your own towels.

What does it cost for our group?

The 8-hour day is 700 EUR per group for up to three guests and 800 EUR for four to seven, per person from eight, as the ticket prints from the rate card; the form shows your total, the office confirms it by email, and nothing is paid until it does. Paid on the day and not in the price: the Achilleion’s admission, the Old Fortress’s ticket if you go in, lunch, and a licensed guide if you ask for one. The price guide prints the rate card by hours and party size.

Where do we meet the driver?

At the passengers’ exit of the cruise terminal with a sign with your name, or at your hotel or villa anywhere on the island. From a ship the day needs a call of eight hours plus the 90-minute margin before all-aboard, which the card prints and the form checks: a long call, and on a shorter one the 5-hour or the 4-hour tour is the answer. The cruise port page has the two terminals, the road to town and the port facts with their sources.