Corfu
Corfu is the soft Greek island: Ionian rather than Aegean, green to the waterline, Venetian in its old town and Italian in its cooking. Its all-inclusives sit on the sheltered east coast, in bays that face the mainland across a narrow strait and stay calm when the open Ionian does not. It carries the country's best luxury all-inclusives and a proper city for the evening, and it pays for its olive groves with more rain than any other island on this site, almost all of it outside the season you would visit.
- Airport
- Corfu (CFU), beside the town
- the east-coast resorts are 20–40 min away
- The coast
- East, facing the mainland: calm bays north and south of Corfu Town
- Best for
- Luxury all-inclusives, scenery, an old town worth an evening, calm water
- Season
- May–October
- June and September are the sweet spots
- Weather risk
- None tropical
- the wettest Greek island, but the rain falls October–March
When to go to Corfu
Climate normals for Corfu (east coast), and our verdict on each month.
| Measure | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Average daily high | 57 degrees Fahrenheit | 58 degrees Fahrenheit | 61 degrees Fahrenheit | 67 degrees Fahrenheit | 75 degrees Fahrenheit | 83 degrees Fahrenheit | 88 degrees Fahrenheit | 88 degrees Fahrenheit | 82 degrees Fahrenheit | 74 degrees Fahrenheit | 65 degrees Fahrenheit | 59 degrees Fahrenheit |
| Rainfall | 5.5″ | 4.6″ | 3.5″ | 2.4″ | 1.4″ | 0.6″ | 0.3″ | 0.7″ | 2.7″ | 5.3″ | 7.4″ | 7″ |
| Verdict | Off-peak | Shoulder | Shoulder | Good | Good | Prime | Good | Good | Prime | Shoulder | Off-peak | Off-peak |
Sweet spot. June and September; July–August is hottest and busiest; rainy season runs October–March.
Storm risk. No tropical systems: the wettest Greek island over the year, with almost all of it falling between October and March.
Figures are long-term climate normals for Corfu (east coast), good for planning. They are not a forecast.
North or south of the town
Corfu Town sits halfway down the east coast with the airport beside it, and the resorts spread out on either side. North, the bays of Dassia, Gouvia and Ipsos face the mainland across the strait, with pebble-and-sand beaches, water that stays flat, and the road on to Barbati and Kassiopi, where the coast turns dramatic under Mount Pantokrator. South, past Benitses, the shore around Agios Ioannis Peristeron and Moraitika is gentler and the beaches longer. Both sides are under forty minutes from the plane, so the choice is between the north's scenery and the south's sand.
The west coast, with Paleokastritsa's coves and the long beaches beyond, is the day trip, not the base: it takes the Ionian swell and the sunsets, and it holds none of the island's all-inclusives.
When to go
June and September, with warm sea and the town's lanes still walkable. July and August are hot and busy, with Italian visitors arriving in force in August. Corfu is the wettest island in Greece, which is why it is the greenest, but the rain is a winter affair: the summer months are as dry as the Aegean's, and May and October carry the first and last showers of the year. The sea warms a little later than the Dodecanese and stays swimmable well into October.
Beyond the resort
Corfu Town is the evening out that most Greek islands cannot offer: a Venetian old town with two fortresses, arcaded streets and a cricket pitch on the esplanade, listed by UNESCO as a whole. The Achilleion, the palace the Empress of Austria built above Gastouri, is a short run south. Paleokastritsa's monastery and coves are the west-coast day, and the road up Mount Pantokrator is the view of the whole island and the Albanian coast. Boats cross to Paxos and Antipaxos in a day.
Where the Corfu resorts are
4 resorts mapped stars are five-star properties
The best all-inclusive resorts in Corfu
The Corfu properties we would actually book.
Resort chains in Corfu
The brands operating here. The ones we rank in full link through to the chain, what its plan really covers, and every resort of theirs we track.
Where these companies came from
Almost nobody in this category publishes it. Read oldest first and the list is a short history of how Corfu came to look the way it does.
Corfu, head to head
Price, flights, sand, food and safety, compared honestly.
Corfu vs JamaicaMexicoDominican RepublicMaldivesSpainTurks & CaicosArubaBarbadosSt. LuciaItalyPortugalTurkeyAntiguaCuraçaoBrazilCosta RicaPhilippinesFrench PolynesiaMoroccoEgyptSouth AfricaMauritiusKenyaTanzaniaMozambiqueThailandIndonesiaMalaysiaPunta CanaCancúnRiviera MayaLos CabosPuerto VallartaMontego BayNegrilOcho RiosGuanacasteCreteBahiaBora BoraMalé AtollsRodney BayBarbados South CoastBarbados West CoastViti LevuVanua LevuCanary IslandsBalearic IslandsCosta del SolSharm el-SheikhHurghada & the Red Sea CoastBelekRhodesLara & AntalyaMaldives Outer AtollsHalkidikiKosSoufrière & South St. LuciaGrenadaFijiCroatiaU.S. Virgin IslandsSri LankaSeychellesBahamasChileArgentinaUnited States
Frequently asked questions
Corfu or Crete for an all-inclusive?
Corfu for scenery, calm east-coast bays, a short transfer and the country's best luxury all-inclusives; Crete for the depth of choice, a longer season and more to do inland. Corfu is the smaller, greener, easier island. Our ranking below orders every Corfu resort in our catalog by real guest data.
Does it rain a lot in Corfu?
Over the year, yes, more than any other Greek island, which is why it is so green. Almost all of it falls between October and March; June, July and August are close to dry, and the summer sea stays calm on the east coast where the resorts are.