Survival guide for rainy days in Corfu

"If by your art, my dearest father, you have
Put the wild waters in this roar, allay them.
The sky, it seems, would pour down stinking pitch."

The Tempest, W. Shakespeare

So, after you have planned your holiday in green Corfu for so long, the weather there has turned like one of these scenes in Odyssey where the wrath of Poseidon is about to crash on Odysseus, or like the beginning of The Tempest, which has been linked to Corfu not entirely without reason. Dark skies and seas, torrential rain, and roaring waves and thunders make for a sublime and scary sight, but it also means that you have to stay in and not enjoy the open Corfiot landscape, the sea, and sun as you had been planning to do for so long. And this is when you start feeling disappointed.  

Behold! Rejoice! Do not despair!. All is not lost!  

Unless you are in the middle of an actual weather emergency–which you can find out about from local media and forecast channels, and in which case you should obviously remain safely inside–the island offers a surprisingly big variety of things to do on a rainy day, like the opportunity to visit a museum. If it seems to you that visiting museums while in Corfu would be such a bore, perhaps you are now invited to rethink that because there are quite a few museums in Corfu and many of them are interesting to visit also in the non-raining days. One example is the Achilleion, which is only a short drive from Psaras and Thalassa Garden. Or, visit the various olive presses of the area that have been transformed into visible museums, like the Mavroudis olive oil and the Governor’s olive oil press, or even the local winery, which are even closer. You can also check out one of the great museums of Corfu town, like the famous Archeological Museum, the Byzantine Museum, the Banknote Museum, the Serbian Museum of Corfu, the Casa Parlante Museum, the Asian Art Museum, or one of Corfu’s galleries.

Or, why not treat yourself in a cafe or a restaurant? On a rainy day, you can visit one of the many cafes or cafe-bookstores that are in the heart of the historical town of Corfu, or you can visit one of the close-by cafes and tavernas, –but not without calling them before in order to be sure that everything is alright with the roads– like Balis in Chlomos, the 75 steps in Spileo, or Chris in Pentati, or even one of the famous cafes of Pelekas (the one with my favorite view is the one in Hotel Levant), that will offer a more than a majestic view of the Corfiot stormy skies for a truly unforgettable experience, while you enjoy a tasty meal, pastry or a coffee. Or, you can find shelter in the tents of one of the cafes of the villages of Corfu, like that of Agios Matthaios, Synarades, or Kynopiastes, and enjoy a warm beverage, like a Greek coffee with a dash of ouzo, which is a local peculiarity that will raise a few brows in the local kafeneia about your “inside” knowledge of local habits. This beverage is also a very interesting taste combination to enjoy with a local pastry like a fig-pie, or a kadaifi, or even with some “spoon-sweet”-fruits preserved in syrup, while the rain is drumming away on the old streets and roofs. Or, you can enjoy fresh fish and a glass of wine or ouzo in the shelter of a veranda in a garden setting or of the sea-side bars and tavernas of Messonghi, Bukari or Petriti while watching the wild, foaming Ionian sea.

Although all those options will not help if you were after that suntan, they might help you not only to utilize the time of your holidays with interesting experiences and images but to actually make it into an opportunity to find about a side of the island of which it has also been known for.  

*This guide is by no means exhaustive. If you think there is someplace we should add, just email us, we’ll be happy to add your recommendation(s).