The beautiful little Greek island way off the tourist map and almost halfway to Italy | Travel News | Travel

A beautiful little Greek island is way off the tourist map and close to Italy. Othonoi is a small inhabited island in the Ionian Sea, located northwest of Corfu, and is the westernmost point of Greece. 

It is the largest and most populated of the Diapontian Islands and is also known as Calypso Island, in reference to Homer’s The Odyssey. The enchanting nymph who lives on the island keeps Odysseus captive for seven years, preventing him from returning to his wife.

Ammos is the most populous settlement and has a number of restaurants, cafes, markets, and hotels. The rest of the island consists mainly of villages that are little more than a cluster of houses.

Most beaches on the island are accessible by boat, including Molos, Kamini, Kanoula, Kontoskes, and Aspri Ammos. Many have white sands and turquoise waters to enjoy..

Othonoi is well-known for underwater photography because of the peculiar geomorphology of the seabed and the many caves. Other points of interest are the Cave of Calypso, Moshopontikas, Xylosermi, and Fyki Bay (where the sunken wreck of the Sarah ship is located).

The walking trail was created by the first inhabitants. Visitors can now use it to reach almost every part of the island on foot, including Mount Imerovigli, the highest peak of the island at over 390 metres, with views of the other Diapontian Islands, the Ionian Sea, and the Adriatic Sea.

The island is almost completely covered by 300-year-old trees that produce a small species of olive, the “Elea the cherry”. This olive produces the high-quality oil common in all the Ionian Islands. 

Othonoi can only be accessed by ferry from Corfu, which runs a few times weekly and takes three hours. There are also services from Agios Stefanos, which take one hour and go to the other Diapontian islands.