Ithaca Private Tour

An Ithaca private tour is a car tour of Ithaca, the island of Odysseus, for your group alone, with a driver or a licensed guide, starting in Vathy or from Kefalonia by ferry, with the Homeric sites, Vathy and the northern villages on the route. Tours across the rest of the country are listed on Greece Tours.

The sections below cover the formats, the day from Kefalonia, the Homeric sites, Vathy, the northern villages, hidden gems, speedboat and sailing options, the vehicle and guide, duration and booking, with links into the Ithaca pages. The tours shown are checked on GetYourGuide and Viator.

What is an Ithaca private tour?

An Ithaca private tour is a full-day journey across the island of Odysseus with a dedicated vehicle, driver and guide, booked for your group alone. The day follows a set route or an itinerary you shape, with ferry tickets, door-to-door pickup and village stops included.

Ithaca lies east of the north-east coast of Kefalonia, separated from the larger island by the Strait of Ithaca and reached by a short ferry crossing. The island covers 117.8 square kilometres and runs 23 kilometres from north to south, with a maximum width of 6 kilometres. Two mountain masses meet at the isthmus of Aetos, 600 metres wide, and an Ithaca private tour crosses that narrow neck twice in a single day.

The format suits travellers who want the island explained rather than simply shown. A guide names the bays as they open out, ties the villages to the Odyssey and points out the turnings that lead to the beaches. Roads on Ithaca are limited and follow the coastlines, so a private car or minibus moves between the stops without waiting for a coach, and the driver sets the pace at each village.

Which Ithaca private tour formats can you book?

An Ithaca private tour comes in six formats: a guided day in the footsteps of Odysseus, a tour from Kefalonia by ferry, a day trip with ferry tickets, a custom tour of quiet places, a speedboat from Sami and a sailing day from Agia Efimia.

The guided day runs ten hours on Ithaca with an English-speaking guide and a private vehicle, and it takes a group of up to sixteen travellers. It pairs the Naval and Folklore Museum in Vathy with the monastery of Kathara, a viewpoint above Vathy bay, the village of Stavros, the School of Homer, a traditional lunch in Kioni and a swim at Polis Bay.

The crossing formats differ in what they include. One private day leaves from a hotel anywhere on Kefalonia, takes the ferry from Sami and returns the same way, and walks through Vathy, the monastery of Kathara, Anogi, the School of Homer, Stavros, Kioni, Polis Bay and a viewpoint at Chani. Another builds the ferry tickets into the booking, and an Ithaca private tour of this kind then covers the round trip by sea.

• A ten-hour guided day on the island with a live guide and a private vehicle.
• A ten-hour private day from Kefalonia by ferry, with hotel pickup.
• A ten-hour private day trip with return ferry tickets included.
• A ten-hour custom day with a driver and a route you choose.
• A seven-to-eight-hour private speedboat day from Sami.
• An eight-hour private sailing day from Agia Efimia.

How does an Ithaca private tour from Kefalonia work?

An Ithaca private tour from Kefalonia starts with pickup at your hotel on Kefalonia, drives to the port of Sami and crosses to Pisaetos on Ithaca by ferry. The islands sit about 11 kilometres apart and the crossing takes 20 to 30 minutes.

Pickups run from Argostoli, Lassi, Skala, Sami, Agia Efimia and Fiskardo, and the ten-hour day starts around 7:00 in the morning. The Sami to Pisaetos route sails every day through the year under two ferry companies, one crossing in 20 minutes and one in 30. Full details of the port, the car park and the timetable sit on the Sami in Kefalonia page.

Pisaetos sits below the isthmus of Aetos, a short drive from both halves of the island. A vehicle waits at the quay, so the island leg begins the moment you step off the ferry. An Ithaca private tour from Kefalonia then turns north through Stavros or south through Vathy, and returns to the same quay for the evening sailing. Guests who stay on Kefalonia pair the day with other private days across the island, set out in the Kefalonia island guide.

Which Homeric sites does an Ithaca private tour visit?

An Ithaca private tour visits the Homeric sites of Ithaca: the School of Homer above Exogi, the cave of the Nymphs at Dexia, the Arethusa spring below the rock of Corax, Alalkomenes on Mount Aetos and the harbour of Vathy.

The School of Homer stands on the eastern slopes of the mountain of Exogi in the north of the island, where a walled complex was built across two terraces joined by staircases cut into the rock. A three-part building 21.5 by 11.5 metres recalls the palace plans of Mycenae and Pylos. Cyclopean walls with four gates enclose the site, and a prehistoric well sits beside the southern gate.

The cave of the Nymphs, known on the island as Marmarospilia, lies above the shore at Dexia, and the Odyssey places the hiding of the Phaeacian gifts inside it. Excavations at the turn of the century brought out figurines of the Nymphs and of Pan, pots with dedicatory inscriptions and two rings. A guide on an Ithaca private tour points the cave out from the road, because the entrance is closed.

• The School of Homer, with pottery from the Middle Helladic period through the Mycenaean age.
• The cave of the Nymphs at Dexia, closed to visitors but visible from the coast road.
• The Arethusa spring at the foot of a steep rock, the rock of Corax.
• Alalkomenes, the walled settlement on Mount Aetos, where coins carrying the head of Odysseus were dug up.
• The harbour of Vathy, named after the sea god Phorcys.

What does an Ithaca private tour show in Vathy?

An Ithaca private tour starts or ends in Vathy, the capital, whose deep harbour has been identified as the Homeric harbour of Phorcys. A guided hour or two covers the Archaeological Museum, the Folklore and Nautical Museum, the square and the waterfront.

Vathy fills the head of its gulf and has been lived in since the time of the Venetians. The square holds a statue of Odysseus in two poses, carved by the Ithacan artist Korina Kassianos, and a bust of Homer beside it. On the quay, the Monument to the Sailor marks the seafaring trade that carried Ithacan captains into the merchant marine.

Both museums repay the time. The Archaeological Museum of Vathy keeps clay pots from the pre-geometric and geometric periods, an early wine bowl carrying an inscription in Homeric hexameter, a small bronze head of a bearded man in a conical hat read as Odysseus, and silver and bronze coins stamped Ithakon.

The Folklore and Nautical Museum fills the island’s old power station, with ship paintings, uniforms and instruments from the Ithacan merchant fleet on the ground floor. Upstairs, a rebuilt Ithacan home shows furniture, cooking gear and a working loom. The Lazaretto islet at the harbour mouth once held ships in quarantine under Venetian rule, and every vessel waited forty days before it entered. Vathy takes between ninety minutes and two hours on an Ithaca private tour, which leaves room for the shops that sell local lace.

Which northern villages does an Ithaca private tour reach?

An Ithaca private tour reaches the northern villages in one loop: Stavros, the commercial centre of the north 17 kilometres from Vathy, then Kioni 5 kilometres beyond it, Frikes 5 kilometres west again, and Exogi on the north-west peninsula.

Stavros holds the Byzantine church of the Saviour, a park with a bust of Ulysses and a scale model of the palace of Odysseus built by the Italian architect Bruno Mazzali. The archaeological collection on Pilikata hill keeps pottery from the early Bronze Age and a fragment of a Hellenistic mask engraved with a prayer to Odysseus. Kioni sits at the head of a bay 24 kilometres by road from Vathy, entered at the upper village of Rachi, with three windmills at the mouth of the bay.

• Stavros, with its church, its bust of Ulysses and the Pilikata collection.
• Kioni, with windmills at the bay mouth, pebble beaches and tavernas on the water.
• Frikes, with a working harbour and a ferry to Kefalonia in the summer.
• Anogi, with the monoliths of Mount Niritos, one of them 9 metres high.
• Exogi, the northernmost village, at 340 metres above the sea.

Anogi keeps the church of Panagia, which took its present shape at the end of the seventeenth century, and a field of megaliths around the village. Frikes, 19 kilometres from Vathy, keeps two windmills above its harbour and a summer boat service to Lefkada. Exogi stands 22 kilometres from Vathy, settled under Venetian rule in the early sixteenth century, and its people once shipped flax, oil, wine and raisins out through Frikes. The summer ferry to Fiskardo in Kefalonia crosses from Frikes in 45 minutes between June and September.

What does a custom Ithaca private tour of the quiet corners include?

A custom Ithaca private tour keeps a vehicle and driver for a full ten hours and builds the route around what your group wants, with Vathy, the monastery of Kathara, Kioni and a swim at Frikes or Filiatro on the list.

The day opens wherever you stay on Kefalonia, since the driver meets guests at the hotel, the villa or the port and agrees the plan on the way to Sami. Languages on the listing run to English, German, Italian and Spanish. Once on Ithaca, the order of the stops is yours, and the driver adds places that match the interests of the group.

Quiet corners on the island reward a custom route. The medieval settlement of Palaiokhora rises on the slope opposite Perachori and keeps three Byzantine churches with murals inside. Above Perachori, the forest of Afentikos Logos holds evergreen oaks that reach twelve metres. Near Marmakas, the Alykes salt marsh is the only wetland on Ithaca, and egrets and grey herons rest there on migration.

• Palaiokhora, the abandoned medieval town above Perachori.
• The evergreen oak forest of Afentikos Logos.
• Alykes, the salt marsh used by migrating birds.
• The megalith field around Anogi on Mount Niritos.
• A late swim at Filiatro, 3 kilometres east of Vathy.

A custom Ithaca private tour also fits a slower day. Guests who want lunch beside the water stay longer in Kioni, where tavernas line the quay and local olive oil, honey and cheese appear on the table. Guests who want the archaeology take the longer stop at Stavros. The driver holds the schedule, and the return ferry sets the only fixed time.

How does an Ithaca private tour by speedboat or sailing boat work?

An Ithaca private tour by water uses a speedboat with a skipper or a sailing yacht. The speedboat day runs seven to eight hours from Sami and covers Gidaki, Filiatro, Pera Pigadi, Kioni and Atokos; the sailing day runs eight hours from Agia Efimia.

The speedboat leaves Sami in a seven-metre Italian hull with a professional skipper at the helm, and the route stays open between the coves of Ithaca and the island of Atokos, with fuel, drinks, snorkelling masks and fins, a sun deck and a freshwater shower included. The sailing day leaves the end of the harbour at Agia Efimia at nine in the morning with a maximum of eight travellers, cooks lunch on board or at the port of Lygia, and supplies snorkelling gear, a paddleboard, drinks and hotel transfers.

Both water formats stay weather-dependent, so the skipper or the port authority makes the call, and a full refund follows when the day cannot be resailed. Guests who want to compare cruises, speedboats and sailing days in more detail, including the Atokos run, can read the Ithaca boat trip page before an Ithaca private tour is booked.

Which vehicle, driver and guide come with an Ithaca private tour?

An Ithaca private tour arrives with an air-conditioned car, minivan or minibus, sized to your group, with a local driver. A licensed guide joins in English, and the driver doubles as a guide on the days that list a guided tour.

Group size decides the vehicle. A guided day on Ithaca takes up to sixteen travellers, which fills a minibus, while a couple or a family of four travels in a car with the seats to spare. The driver holds a local licence for the island roads, knows where the surface breaks up after rain, and finds parking at Vathy, Stavros and Kioni in the middle of the season.

• A car for two to four travellers.
• A minivan for four to eight travellers.
• A minibus for a group of up to sixteen.
• An English-speaking driver-guide, with extra languages on the custom day.
• A licensed step-on guide where the listing names a guided tour.

Passengers stay inside the same vehicle for the whole day, so bags, cameras and swimming gear travel with them. Air conditioning, bottled water and, on the crossing days, private transport from door to door come as standard. Ferry tickets are included in one format and charged separately in another, so the listing decides that point on an Ithaca private tour.

How long does an Ithaca private tour last, and what is included?

An Ithaca private tour runs nine and a half to ten hours from pickup to drop-off. The private days by boat run seven to eight hours. Ferry tickets, transport, a driver and, on the guided days, lunch and a guide come included.

A land day fills its hours in a set order. Pickup comes around seven in the morning, the drive to Sami follows, and the ferry takes twenty to thirty minutes. Vathy takes between ninety minutes and two hours, the monastery of Kathara forty-five minutes to an hour, Stavros forty minutes to two hours, and Kioni an hour and a half. A swim at Filiatro or Polis Bay closes the island leg.

Inclusions vary with each listing, so the page decides. One crossing day lists an air-conditioned vehicle, private transport, ferry tickets both ways, coffee or tea, lunch and snacks, with gratuities left to the guest and the guide offered as an extra. A guided day includes the guide, the vehicle and a traditional lunch in Kioni, with museum entries left aside.

Timings shift with the sea and the season. The last ferry back to Sami sets the hard limit on an Ithaca private tour that crosses from Kefalonia, and the driver builds the afternoon around it. Guests who want the ferry mechanics, the port and the timetables first can read the Ithaca day trip from Kefalonia page, which follows the same crossing from Sami to Pisaetos.

How do you book and cancel an Ithaca private tour?

You book an Ithaca private tour online or through a local operator, choosing a date, a pickup point and a group size. Free cancellation applies up to twenty-four hours before the start on the listed days, and a reserve-now option holds the date.

Private days are booked far ahead. One crossing listing reports an average booking window of 159 days, so the popular weeks of July and August fill early. Payment is taken later under a reserve-now arrangement, and confirmation follows within 48 hours on one listing and at the time of booking on another. Pickup details are fixed by message before the travel date.

• Choose the date and the number of travellers.
• Fix the pickup point, the hotel or the port.
• Check the inclusions, from ferry tickets to lunch.
• Note the start time against the drive from the resort.
• Keep the booking reference and the operator contact.

Cancellation terms stay simple across the listings. A guest who cancels at least 24 hours before the start receives a full refund, and a no-show inside that window receives nothing back. Boat days add a weather clause, so a call by the skipper or the port authority that the sea is unsafe brings a full refund if a new date cannot be found.

An Ithaca private tour works well beside a second private day on the larger island, and the Argostoli private tour page shows how a day out of the capital of Kefalonia is built. Guests who travel with a fixed flight home confirm the return ferry time first, because the last sailing of the day sets the end of the island leg.

Frequently Asked Questions

How far ahead do you book an Ithaca private tour?

Private days fill months in advance, and one crossing listing records an average booking window of 159 days before travel. July and August go first. Guests who travel in late spring or October find far more choice of dates, vehicles and guides. A booking made a couple of weeks ahead still works outside the peak weeks.

Can you visit Ithaca without a ferry on an Ithaca private tour?

Yes. A private speedboat or a sailing yacht crosses the Strait of Ithaca under its own power, so no ferry ticket is needed. Speedboat days leave from Sami and sailing days from Agia Efimia. Both formats run shorter hours than the land days, at seven to eight hours, and both stay dependent on the weather.

Is an Ithaca private tour suitable for families?

Families travel well on these days, because the vehicle stays private and the pace bends to the group. The swim stops at Filiatro and Polis Bay keep children busy, and the museum stops are short. Infant seats and strollers are noted as available on the crossing listings. The vehicles are not wheelchair accessible.

What is the difference between an Ithaca private tour and a shared day trip?

A shared day trip carries a mixed group on a ferry, a coach or a boat with other travellers. An Ithaca private tour keeps the vehicle to your own party, with a driver who waits at each stop and a route that changes if the group asks. Guided private days also include lunch and a live guide.