Kefalonia Bus Tour

A Kefalonia bus tour is a guided sightseeing day on the island of Kefalonia by coach or minibus, with stops at the Melissani and Drogarati caves, the Myrtos viewpoint, Assos and Fiskardo, and on wine routes the Robola cellars, plus full-day bus tours that cross by ferry to Ithaca. Tours across the rest of the country are listed on Greece Tours.

The sections below cover the formats, the full-day route stop by stop, the caves, the drive north to Myrtos, Assos and Fiskardo, the wine and monastery stops, the crossing to Ithaca, the length of the day, pickups and booking, with links into the Kefalonia pages. The tours shown are checked on GetYourGuide and Viator.

What is a Kefalonia bus tour?

A Kefalonia bus tour is a guided day trip by coach that links the island’s caves, harbour villages, coastal viewpoints and wine stops in one booking, with pickup from the resorts and a guide who explains each stop along the route.

Kefalonia is the largest of the Ionian Islands, with 773 square kilometres of land and Mount Ainos rising to 1,628 metres in its centre. Skala lies 39 km south of Argostoli, Assos lies 36 km north of it, and Fiskardo sits at the northern tip, 24 km north of Sami. A Kefalonia bus tour joins these points on one road loop, so the mountain bends are the driver’s job, not the visitor’s.

Public transport does not cover the same ground in a day. The KTEL bus cooperative runs services from Argostoli, Lixouri and Poros to the mainland, and its rural lines reach outlying villages as rarely as twice a day. A Kefalonia bus tour replaces those timetables with a fixed route, a set return and a seat held from pickup to drop-off. Visitors based in Argostoli, the island capital, join at the port or at a hotel pickup point.

The coach sits next to a hire car, a boat trip and a hike in the Mount Ainos national park on the list of things to do in Kefalonia. The Kefalonia bus tour is the option with no driving, no parking at the cave car parks and no route planning for the day.

Which Kefalonia bus tour formats can you book?

Each Kefalonia bus tour format falls into one of four groups: full-day island loops of 7 to 9 hours with or without wine tasting, a half-day tour of 5.5 hours from Argostoli, Ithaca crossings of 9 to 10 hours, and private versions.

The island loops share a core of caves and northern villages, then differ in starting area, length, group size and extras such as a wine tasting or a boat ride. The listings name departures from Argostoli port, Skala and Katelios, and every Kefalonia bus tour on sale offers pickup. The six island formats are:

• Kefalonia island tour: 9 hours, with Melissani Lake, Drogarati Cave, Fiskardo, the Myrtos Beach view, a Robola tasting and local food at The Greek Experience.
• Assos and Fiskardo island tour: 8 hours, with Melissani Lake, the villages of Assos and Fiskardo and the view over Myrtos Beach.
• Island highlights tour with the Robola winery: 8 hours, with a wine tasting, the Agios Gerasimos monastery, both caves and Fiskardo.
• Highlights tour from Skala: 7 hours in a small group, with Drogarati Cave, a boat ride on Melissani Lake, Assos and Fiskardo.
• Highlights and local delights from Argostoli: 5.5 hours from Argostoli port, with the caves, village stops and a tasting of local products.
• Full-day island tour: 8 hours, with the monastery of Saint Gerasimos, Drogarati Cave and a boat ride on Melissani Lake.

Two Kefalonia bus tour formats leave the island. The Mythical Ithaca Island Full-Day Bus Tour lasts 10 hours and visits Vathy, Stavros and Kioni, with a panoramic stop at the Kathara Monastery. The Ithaca Island Full Bus Tour lasts 9 hours and pairs the sea crossing with a bus tour and swim stops. Private versions complete the range: the half-day Argostoli format has a private option, and private highlights tours run as half-day trips and as shore excursions from the Fiskardo area.

How does a full-day Kefalonia bus tour run, stop by stop?

A full-day Kefalonia bus tour follows a road loop: pickup, the two caves near Sami, the drive north to Fiskardo, and the west-coast stops at Assos and Myrtos, with a wine or monastery stop on the formats that include one.

The first leg crosses the island on the Argostoli to Sami national road, the EO50, to reach the east coast and its two caves. On the formats with a boat ride, a Kefalonia bus tour spends the Melissani stop on the water inside the cave. The stops run in this order:

• Pickup: collection at the hotel or the port, then the cross-island drive on the EO50.
• Drogarati Cave: a stepped walk down to the main chamber, 5 km from Sami near Chaliotata.
• Melissani Lake: the cave lake on the Sami to Agia Efimia road, about 5 km south-east of Agia Efimia.
• Fiskardo: free time in the harbour village that serves the ferries to Ithaca and Lefkada.
• Assos and Myrtos: a stop in Assos village and a viewpoint over Myrtos Beach.
• Return: the drive south on the Argostoli to Fiskardo road, with a wine or monastery stop where the format includes one.

Guests staying in Lixouri add one step at the start. The town sits 4 km across the bay from Argostoli, and the ferry between the two runs every hour, every half-hour in the season, while the road route is a 30 km detour. Booking a Kefalonia bus tour from Lixouri therefore means checking whether the listed pickup area covers the peninsula or starts at Argostoli port.

Which caves does a Kefalonia bus tour stop at?

Melissani is the cave named in the Kefalonia bus tour titles: a lake 2 km north-west of Sami, toured by small boat. Drogarati, a dry show cave 5 km from Sami, appears in the half-day caves tours that pair it with Melissani.

Three listings carry the lake in their names: the Kefalonia Island Tour with Melissani, Myrtos, Fiscardo and wine tasting, the island highlights tour with the Robola winery, and the highlights tour with a boat ride in Melissani from Skala in the south. On each Kefalonia bus tour the coach parks beside the Sami to Agia Efimia road, near the fishing village of Karavomylos. The Melissani cave lake page covers its legends; the boat circuit passes these parts:

• A 70-metre artificial tunnel down to the boat landing
• The open lake, 20 metres below ground, lit through the collapsed roof at midday
• An islet about 30 metres long with a fig tree, where finds show worship of Pan and the Nymphs
• Brackish water 10 to 30 metres deep, fed in part by sea water that sinks at Argostoli

Drogarati sits at Chaliotata, 5 km from Sami, with its entrance 120 metres above sea level. Steps lead down a sloping corridor to a hall 21 metres underground, about 65 by 45 metres and 20 metres high, at a steady 18°C. The hall is set up for concerts with 500 listeners. No full-day Kefalonia bus tour title names Drogarati, so check the itinerary before booking if the cave matters; the Drogarati cave page lists its details.

How does a Kefalonia bus tour reach Myrtos, Assos and Fiskardo?

A Kefalonia bus tour reaches all three on one northbound road: up the west coast past Divarata for the Myrtos bay, on to Assos 36 km north of Argostoli, then to Fiskardo, the northernmost port, 24 km north of Sami.

Myrtos lies below Divarata, where a 2 km road with hairpin bends drops to the sand. The beach runs about 800 metres between Agia Dynati and Kalon Oros, a 901-metre peak, and fine marble from its white pebbles turns the water turquoise. The Kefalonia Island Tour names Myrtos in its title. In high season the Pylaros municipality also runs a public bus to the beach from Agia Efimia harbour. The Myrtos beach page covers swimming conditions on this open bay.

Assos is the first named stop on the Assos and Fiscardo Island Tour. The village stands beside an isthmus only 50 metres wide that joins Kefalonia to a steep peninsula crowned by a Venetian castle, built in the late 16th century by the engineer Marino Gentilini. Under Venice, Assos served as the administrative capital of northern Kefalonia. Its small harbour is a shallow cove on the north side of the isthmus.

Fiskardo closes the northern leg of the Kefalonia bus tour route. It was the only settlement left standing after the great Ionian earthquake, and builders have uncovered a Roman grave complex near its centre. The port serves ferries to Frikes on Ithaca and to Lefkada. The ride back south is long: Fiskardo lies 61 km by road from the airport, about one and a half hours. The Fiskardo harbour village page covers the waterfront.

Which Kefalonia bus tour adds Robola wine and the Agios Gerasimos monastery?

The Kefalonia bus tour that adds Robola is the island highlights tour with a Robola winery stop; the Kefalonia Island Tour adds a wine tasting. The Robola zone shares the Omala area with the Agios Gerasimos monastery at Valsamata.

Two titles on the second booking platform carry the wine: the Kefalonia Highlights tour with the Robola winery, Melissani Lake and Fiscardo, and the island bus tour with wine tasting, Melissani and Fiscardo. On each Kefalonia bus tour the tasting is one stop inside a full island day, not a separate wine tour. The Kefalonia wine tasting page covers the wineries that take independent visitors. The glass poured on a Kefalonia bus tour comes from this grape:

• Grape: Robola, a white variety grown on ungrafted vines in limestone soil
• Status: Protected Designation of Origin, made only on Kefalonia
• Zone: the Omala to Troianata area, up to the fir forest of Mount Ainos National Park
• Harvest: from just after mid-August to mid-September
• Style: dry, light to medium body, with a lemon note

The island produces more than 500 tonnes of Robola a year, and about 70 per cent of it is made into wine by the Robola Producers’ Cooperative. The grapes grow in the Omala zone, the same valley that holds the monastery of the patron saint, so a Kefalonia bus tour with a winery stop and a monastery stop keeps both visits in one inland area.

The monastery of Agios Gerasimos stands at Valsamata, a village at about 400 metres, 9 km east of Argostoli. Gerasimos is the patron saint of Kefalonia, and his body lies in a silver casket in the church. A near-vertical iron ladder 3 metres long leads down to his underground cell, and the grounds keep three plane trees and three wells that tradition credits to him. His feasts fall on 16 August and 20 October. No Kefalonia bus tour title names the monastery, so confirm the stop in the itinerary.

How does a Kefalonia bus tour cross to Ithaca?

A Kefalonia bus tour to Ithaca crosses the Strait of Ithaca by sea. Sami is the Kefalonia port with links to Ithaca, and the ferry from Sami reaches Pisaetos in 20 to 30 minutes. On Ithaca, the Mythical Ithaca route visits Vathy, Stavros and Kioni.

Four listings sell the Ithaca crossing as a Kefalonia bus tour. The Mythical Ithaca full-day bus tour runs for 10 hours, stops in Vathy, Stavros and Kioni, and climbs to the Kathara Monastery for the panoramic view. The Ithaca full bus tour runs for 9 hours and adds a cruise with swim stops. The other two are Ithaca Island Guided Bus Tour from Kefalonia and Full-Day Discover Ithaka Bus Tour from Kefalonia.

• Pisaetos: the ferry port on the 600-metre Aetos isthmus, about 7 km from Vathy.
• Vathy: the island capital, set in a deep natural harbour.
• Kathara Monastery: 550 metres up Mount Nirito, about 14 km north-west of Vathy.
• Stavros: the second-largest village, close to the Polis Cave.
• Kioni: a harbour village 24 km from Vathy, with three ruined windmills.

The Ithaca leg of a Kefalonia bus tour runs the length of an island 23 km long and up to 6 km wide. Heinrich Schliemann identified the Polis Cave near Stavros as the cave Odysseus visited on his return home. The full sightseeing plan sits on the Ithaca day trip from Kefalonia page, and the port town has its own page on Sami in Kefalonia.

How long does a Kefalonia bus tour last, where does it pick up, and what is included?

A Kefalonia bus tour lasts from 5.5 hours on the half-day route from Argostoli port to 10 hours on the Mythical Ithaca tour. All eight tours offer pickup, and each names its own extras, such as a Melissani boat ride or a Robola wine tasting.

• 5.5 hours: the half-day highlights and local delights tour from Argostoli port.
• 7 hours: the small-group highlights tour from Skala or Katelios, with a boat ride on Melissani Lake.
• 8 hours: the Assos and Fiskardo tour, the Robola Winery, Melissani and Fiskardo tour, and the full-day island tour.
• 9 hours: the Melissani, Myrtos, Fiskardo and wine tasting tour, and the Ithaca full bus tour with a cruise.
• 10 hours: the Mythical Ithaca full-day bus tour.

Every Kefalonia bus tour on the list marks pickup as available. The half-day tour leaves from Argostoli port, and the small-group highlights tour starts from Skala or Katelios in the south-east of the island. Guests staying in Lixouri, Lassi or Fiskardo confirm the pickup point for their hotel on the listing before paying.

Inclusions on a Kefalonia bus tour follow the route. The Assos and Fiskardo tour and the full-day island tour run with a guide, and the Skala and full-day island tours include a boat ride on Melissani Lake. The two wine routes pour Robola wine, and the Argostoli half-day tour ends with a tasting of local products and offers a private option.

How do you book and cancel a Kefalonia bus tour?

Book a Kefalonia bus tour through its availability calendar: choose a date, set the number of adults and children, and check availability. All eight listed tours carry free cancellation, and each sets a booking cut-off between 1 and 10 hours before departure.

The cut-off decides how late a Kefalonia bus tour still takes orders: 1 hour for the full-day island tour, 2 hours for the Argostoli half-day tour, 5 hours for the Melissani, Myrtos and Fiskardo wine tour, and 7 hours for the Ithaca full bus tour. The Assos and Fiskardo tour, the Skala tour, the Robola Winery tour and the Mythical Ithaca tour close 10 hours ahead.

Each Kefalonia bus tour on the list carries the free cancellation label, and the deadline for the chosen date shows in the booking details before payment. Travellers who prefer their own timetable skip the coach, arrange Kefalonia car rental and drive the EO50 Argostoli to Sami National Road, then head north to Assos and Fiskardo.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can children join a Kefalonia bus tour?

Each Kefalonia bus tour sets its own age bands. The Mythical Ithaca tour sells child tickets for ages 3 to 11 and infant tickets for age 2 and younger. The Argostoli half-day tour counts children from 6 to 16 and infants at 5 and younger. The Robola Winery tour and the full-day island tour set the child band at 12 and younger.

Which languages does a Kefalonia bus tour use?

English is the guide language on seven of the eight Kefalonia bus tour listings; the Skala small-group listing names no language. The Mythical Ithaca full-day bus tour runs in English and Greek, and the booking calendar lets the guest pick one. On the Ithaca full bus tour, the guide tells the myths of Odysseus during the cruise, including his return after the Trojan War.

Does a Kefalonia bus tour run in October?

Yes, on four routes. In mid-October, the full-day island tour, the Robola Winery tour, the Melissani, Myrtos and Fiskardo wine tasting tour and the Argostoli half-day tour still show open dates. The two Ithaca tours, the Assos and Fiskardo tour and the Skala highlights tour show their next Kefalonia bus tour dates in late spring, for the new season.

Can the KTEL public bus replace a Kefalonia bus tour?

Not for a full sightseeing day. The KTEL network on Kefalonia runs rural lines as rarely as twice a day, and its long-distance services link Argostoli, Lixouri and Poros with the mainland. Linking Melissani, Myrtos and Fiskardo in one day by public bus is hard, while the 9-hour Kefalonia bus tour with wine tasting covers all three with pickup available.