Zakynthos, called Zante by most of the people who holiday here, is the southernmost of the main Ionian islands and it has two things almost everyone comes for. One is Navagio, the cove with a rusting smuggler's freighter on white pebbles under two hundred metre cliffs, which is on the cover of a great many travel brochures. The other is the loggerhead turtle, since the bay of Laganas is one of the most important nesting sites in the Mediterranean and is a protected marine park.
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Both come with rules and hazards that are worth knowing before you arrive rather than discovering on a clifftop. And the island has a third face that the brochures also sell: Laganas is one of the most intense package nightlife strips in Greece, a short drive from a nature reserve, which is a combination that surprises people who booked without checking which end of the island they were on.
What Makes Zakynthos Different to Pack For
Ionian weather: greener and wetter
The Ionian islands get considerably more rain than the Cyclades, which is why Zakynthos is green. Summer runs 23°C to 32°C and is reliably dry; winter runs 9°C to 16°C and is genuinely wet, with most of the tourist infrastructure closed from November to April. May, June, September and October are the good months.
A packable rain jacket earns its place in the shoulder seasons, and a merino wool base layer for women covers the evenings, which cool off quickly on a boat or an exposed terrace.
The beaches are pebble, not sand
Navagio is white pebbles, and many of the best coves are shingle or rock. That makes water shoes far more useful here than on a sandy island, both for getting in and out and because the pebbles are painfully hot by midday.
The cliffs are unfenced
The viewpoint above Navagio has sections with no barrier and a drop of around two hundred metres, and people have died there taking photographs. There is a built platform with railings; the danger is the unofficial spots on either side of it where the ground is loose limestone and undercut at the edge. This is the single most important safety fact about the island.
Recommended Tours and Experiences
The Zakynthos Packing List
Footwear
Water shoes for the pebble beaches and the rocky entries, sandals for the evening, and grippy walking shoes for the clifftops and the paths in the north, which are loose limestone and gravel. If you intend the walking around Volimes or the Keri cliffs, waterproof hiking shoes are the right call.
Sun and sea
High factor sunscreen, a wide brim sun hat and sunglasses. Swimwear and a quick drying towel. A dry bag if you are doing the boat trips, which most people do, since the caves and Navagio are reached by sea and you will get wet transferring.
Reef safe sunscreen is worth choosing here specifically, given the marine park.
Clothing
Light layers with something for a boat and a cool evening. Two merino tops cover a week. Covered shoulders and knees for the monasteries, including Agios Dionysios in the town and the Anafonitria monastery in the north, where the code is enforced.
For the boats
A layer, something for motion sickness if you are prone, and a bag that closes. The sea on the exposed west coast can be rough enough to cancel Navagio landings.
What to Wear at Key Sites
Navagio
The cove is reachable only by boat, from Porto Vromi, Agios Nikolaos or the town, and the beach itself has been closed to landings in some seasons because of rockfall from the unstable cliffs above. Check the current position before booking, since it changes.
Practically: white pebbles that reflect the sun ferociously, no shade, no facilities, and a landing from a boat into shallow water. Water shoes, a hat and water. The viewpoint above is a separate trip by road.
The viewpoint
Above the cove near Anafonitria, reached by a road that is narrow and busy in season. There is a proper platform with railings and there are also worn paths to unprotected edges where the limestone is undercut.
Practically: stay on the platform, and do not step over a barrier for a photograph. The ground gives way. It is windy at the edge, and it is the one place on this island where a moment of carelessness is genuinely fatal.
The turtles and the marine park
Loggerheads nest on the beaches of Laganas bay between roughly May and August, and the hatchlings emerge into October. The National Marine Park regulates the bay, and the rules exist because the species is threatened: no umbrellas or sunbeds in the nesting zones, no digging, no lights on the beach at night, no boats in restricted areas, and no going onto certain beaches after dark at all.
Practically: choose a licensed operator for any turtle spotting trip rather than a boat touting on the quay, since unlicensed boats chase the animals. Do not use a flash, do not touch a turtle, and if you are on a nesting beach, leave the nest markers alone.
The caves and the north
The Blue Caves at Cape Skinari are sea caves where the water refracts an extraordinary blue, visited by small boat. The north around Volimes is the quiet half of the island, with the Keri cliffs and lighthouse in the south as the other good viewpoint.
Zakynthos Town and Laganas
The town was rebuilt after the 1953 earthquake that destroyed most of the island, so it is more modern than its Venetian history suggests, with the Solomos museum and the church of Agios Dionysios. Laganas is the nightlife strip and is a different proposition entirely.
What Not to Bring
Leave the idea of stepping past a barrier for a photograph. Leave a flash near the turtle beaches. Leave the assumption that Navagio is always open, since landings close with rockfall risk.
Leave delicate feet unprotected on the pebbles, and leave a booking made without checking whether you are near Laganas or somewhere quiet, because the two experiences have very little in common.
Essential Resources for Women in Zakynthos
Emergency numbers in Greece: 112 is the European emergency number and works from any phone. Police 100, ambulance 166, fire 199, coastguard 108, which matters here given how much of the island is seen from a boat.
Tourist police: Greece operates a dedicated tourist police service on 1571 with English speaking officers, handling visitor complaints, overcharging and lost property, and Zakynthos has a presence given the visitor numbers.
US Embassy in Athens: 91 Vasilisis Sophias Avenue, 10160 Athens, telephone +30 210 721 2951, at gr.usembassy.gov. Zakynthos is a flight or a ferry and a drive from Athens. Enrol in the Smart Traveler Enrollment Program at step.state.gov before you travel.
Main hospital or clinic: the Zakynthos General Hospital in the town has a 24 hour emergency department, and there are private clinics in the resorts. Serious cases are transferred to Patras or Athens. EU visitors should carry the European Health Insurance Card; everyone else needs travel insurance, and it is worth checking that it covers quad and scooter use, which many policies exclude.
Official health authority: the Greek Ministry of Health at moh.gov.gr.
US State Department travel advisory for Greece: current advisory level and detail. Read it directly rather than relying on this page.
UK FCDO travel advice for Greece: entry requirements, safety and health guidance, which carries specific warnings about balcony falls, quad bike hire and alcohol in Greek resorts, all relevant here.
Official tourism authority: the Greek National Tourism Organisation at visitgreece.gr, with the municipality of Zakynthos at zakynthos.gov.gr. For the turtles specifically, the National Marine Park of Zakynthos publishes the beach rules and the nesting season restrictions, and licensed operators display their permit.
Solo women safety assessment: Zakynthos is a safe island for a woman travelling alone in terms of crime, which is low, and Greek hospitality toward solo travellers is real. Where you stay changes the experience completely, and that is the honest advice here. The north and west of the island and the town are quiet, family oriented and easy to be alone in. Laganas is a package nightlife strip with heavy drinking, aggressive bar promotion and the associated problems, and the UK FCDO publishes specific warnings about Greek resorts covering drink spiking, balcony falls and accidents under the influence; if that is not what you came for, book elsewhere, and if it is, apply the ordinary precautions firmly. The physical risks are more likely to hurt you than anything else. The Navagio clifftop is first and it is genuinely lethal: the edges are undercut limestone with no barrier away from the platform, and fatal falls have happened there. Second is vehicle hire, since quads and scooters are pushed hard to visitors here, the roads are narrow with loose gravel, and injuries are common enough that the advisories name it. Third is the sea, where the west coast has swell and current and many coves are unpatrolled. Finally, respect the marine park rules rather than treating them as suggestions; they exist because the loggerhead population depends on these few beaches.
Reading On
Zakynthos is the southern Ionian and a greener, wetter proposition than the Cyclades. The Greece travel guide for women is the parent for the whole country and covers the island groups, the ferries and the seasons, and the Greece packing list for women covers a multi island itinerary. In the same group, the Kefalonia packing list for women is the next island north and the Corfu packing list for women is at the top of the chain. For the drier islands, the Paros packing list for women and the Santorini travel guide for women cover the Cyclades, and on the mainland the Athens travel guide for women is where most trips start. The travel packing guide for women is the parent for all destinations. For why merino works for a hot beach day and a cold boat back, the best merino wool base layers for women explains the fibre, and the Roman Trail collection is where the tops themselves live.
If the outer journey is calling you, the inner one usually is too. Explore SoulMap at romantrail.com/blogs/soulmap.
