anyone been to corfu recently?

[biggreentree]

We are heading there this summer and have a few questions as we haven't been on a foreign package holiday for years. Nowadays do you need to book day trips (eg a boat trip for the day) in advance online or can you still pick one up when you are there and there is availability?
How expensive was it to rent a car?
How easy is it to get to the big water park, again, should I book online in advance?
How easy was it to get buses around the island and were they reliable?
Thanks!

Hi I've been to Corfu a few times. It's gorgeous! Which area are you staying at? We've always hired a car before we left UK from Sixt or similar, picked it up from the airport and had it for the trip.

Last year our friends went and hired a boat for a week instead of a car. From Kassiopi in the north-east.

I guess buses are probably good too, but maybe not if you want to go somewhere different every day.

@biggreentree Surely you can book car and find the prices on line in advance? I think you would get the best selection of cars by doing it asap . My DD went there but booked the car for the trip too. Not everywhere is on a bus route. Ask your hotel? I think they did a boat trip when they got there. Booked it locally.

Don’t know about water park.

We went last year - there were places in the town to rent cars, boats, all the day trips inc water parks- all bookable for a day or two in advance for what seems like fair prices.
Mostly we just enjoyed the beach 🏝️

To add, we hired a car just for a day - didn't need it but fancied a bit of exploring

We went earlier this year. We booked a car to collect at the airport but friends with us had prebooked one slightly off site with a shuttle which was cheaper. But definitely pre-book whatever you do. Warning that car hire prices are fairly eye watering - £500+ for a week in half term.

There seemed to be loads of trips on offer but we didn’t try to book anything so not sure how available they were. The water park is a bit cheaper booked in advance and has a separate line to collect the tickets but we were there on a quiet day so no idea if it books out in the season.

Car hire has gone up loads. Shortage of cars as they didn’t fully replace fleets after COVID. Friends paid £600 for a week in France last year - not in school holidays.

DD was in a group of 6 with one car. Several drivers registered so they split up to use it!

Love Corfu, what area are you going to be staying in? I'm heading back there in August with a friend for 4 nights, we're near Corfu Town.

1. No need to book in advance. Look at local tours or book via Viator on the app the day before.
2. We had a Tesla included for the day at our resort (Ikos) so not sure on car hire price.
3. Always best to book online as it's usually cheaper than on the door price.
4. We didn't use buses sorry.

This is all very useful, thank you! Will check our car rental now, there are 6 of us so expect it will be quite pricey. We are staying in Ipsos and looks like a 27 minute drive, wonder whether it’s less hassle just getting a taxi there and back. Sounds like boat trips are easy to book there, quite nice to speak to the person running the trip and get a sense of what it involves rather than online booking

struggling to find a decent online car rental company that covers Corfu, does anyone have any recommendations? X

We’re recently back from Corfu - been going to Ipsos for 10 years now and absolutely love it! What accommodation are you staying in? This year there was 6 of us and we used firstclasscorfu.com to pick us up from airport. Sorry can’t help about car hire as we always hire quads from Daytona rental in Ipsos - they are a great way for getting round the island. The no 7 bus goes from the centre of Corfu town to Ipsos and it’s a cheap and fairly regular service- there are other buses available from the town that will take you round the island. You can still pitch up to most things like the water park, pirate ship etc but normally cheaper to book online and at least you are guaranteed a place. Ipsos beach also has its own inflatable water park during the summer months too - https://m.facebook.com/people/IPSOS-AQUA-ARENA/100063654631636/. Any other info you want about Corfu and especially Ipsos please feel free to ask!

We've been to Corfu three times in recent years. We use a car hire company called Corfu Explore - seems to be a small operation but we've found them cheap and had a good experience each time. They greet you had the airport and take you to genie office which is just outside the airport perimeter fence. We dealt with them direct.

We've always stayed in Kalami and always hire a boat for the day rather than go on an organised trip. We usually just book the day before. There are water taxis that you can just hop on and pay onboard.

@AngelsWithSilverWings can you tell me where you stay in Kalami please? I haven’t been there for about 15 years! But Dh and I still talk about how that is our favourite place in Corfu. We’ve been to many Greek islands and had wonderful holidays but we would like to return to Kalami.

I often look at the TripAdvisor travel forums for the area I’m visiting, before I go. You’ll often get locals answering questions on there. I’ve found out about several local attractions/restaurants that I might have missed through local recommendations on there.

@MissyB1 we've stayed in Villa Chrysoula which is on the road above Kalami and The White House in Kalami right on the beach ( they have hotel rooms but also a self catering apartment above the boat house)

We've also stayed in Nissaki and just driven the 10 mins to Kalami or taken the water taxi. We've stayed at Ioannas house ( lovely big villa) and at Nissaki Bay apartments ( small self catering accommodation on Krouzeri beach)

@AngelsWithSilverWings thank you! I’m going to look all of those up now!

Just seen this. Love Corfu. There are green buses which go all over this island, will even take you to Athens
It has its own app.
Main station is seafront of Corfu town, they have buses from the airport which will take you there.
I love them, and a lot cheaper than a taxi