One of the first Greek islands to suffer from vulgar mass tourism in the 1960s, Corfu has squandered much of its natural beauty to demands of cut-price holiday firms. Beautiful bays have been scarred by cheap hotels, happy hour bars and noisy discos. Yet some of the loveliest beaches and most romantic villages can be found just a few minutes walk away. The remote west and north west, in particular, can still lay claim to unspoiled beaches and some impossibly beautiful scenery.
favourite since Victorian times Corfu is still the most popular Greek island for Brits. Around 490,000 went at the last count, more than Crete or Rhodes and 10,000 Brits now live there. Cheap air travel once made it a major target of downmarket package holiday firms and in the 90s its lager-and-chips reputation was a byword for the vulgar face of the British abroad. Cement replaced cypress as heartless hotels and sprawling holiday resorts proliferated. Beaches were scarred and once-peaceful hamlets heaved with the cream of the UK's brain dead drunks. Fortunately the worst was contained along the narrow coastal strip north and south of Corfu town, leaving many parts of the island relatively unscathed. That said beaches are some of the best in Greece and with 31 of them designated blue flag they are the cleanest and safest. The resorts that avoided the cement mixer are still the loveliest in Greece and the regenerated Corfu town itself is one of the finest, if most expensive, to be found in the Greek islands. The north is dominated by mountains while the centre and south are home to lush farmland and islanders that are famously friendly - even by Greek standards. It is also the nearest Greek island to the UK with around three hours flight time.