Corfu. Two kilometres to the old town, an hour and a half to the far end of the island.
Corfu Airport is unusually close to Corfu Town and unusually far, in time, from the villas and bays people actually book. The island's roads decide the day, so the transfer is worth planning before the flight is.
The airport
Ioannis Kapodistrias at a glance
- CodesCFU / LGKRIoannis Kapodistrias Airport, about two kilometres south of Corfu Town, on the edge of the Halikiopoulos lagoon.
- RunwayOne, 16/34, about 2,373 metresWater at both ends and a low, flat site barely above sea level. It takes light, midsize and most large business jets comfortably; the very heaviest need a look at the numbers.
- TrafficScheduled, charter and general aviationThe airport handled more than four million passengers in 2024. Almost all of it falls between May and October, which is the single most useful fact about arriving here.
- SettingHalf a kilometre north of PontikonisiThe approach over the lagoon and the islets is one of the good ones in the Mediterranean, and worth the window seat.
Ask your handler in advance exactly where passengers will come out and where the car may wait. At Corfu that varies with the season and with the traffic on the day, and it is the detail that decides whether a transfer starts well.
Journey times
From the airport by road
| To | Quiet roads | Summer and changeover days |
|---|---|---|
| Corfu Town and the Old Fortress | 10 to 15 minutes | 20 to 30 minutes |
| Kontokali and Gouvia Marina | 15 to 25 minutes | 25 to 40 minutes |
| Kommeno and Dassia | 20 to 30 minutes | 30 to 45 minutes |
| Barbati and Nissaki | 35 to 45 minutes | 45 to 65 minutes |
| Kassiopi and Agios Stefanos | 45 to 60 minutes | 60 to 85 minutes |
| Paleokastritsa | 40 to 55 minutes | 50 to 70 minutes |
| The new port, for Paxos and the mainland | 10 to 20 minutes | 20 to 35 minutes |
Realistic ranges rather than promises. Saturday is the island's changeover day and the coast road north of Dassia narrows to one lane in each direction through every village on it.
Why clients come
The island and the water beyond it
Corfu works as two different places. There is the town, Venetian, walkable and close to the runway, and there is the north east coast, the strip of villas and small bays between Barbati and Agios Stefanos that most private visitors are heading for. They are twenty five kilometres apart and an hour apart in August. Guests who arrive expecting the first number and get the second are the ones who remember the transfer, so we quote the honest one.
The other reason people fly here is the water. Gouvia Marina is the island's main yacht base and sits twenty minutes from the runway, which makes Corfu one of the easier places in the Mediterranean to put an aircraft and a yacht within the same morning. Paxos and Antipaxos are a short passage south, the Albanian coast is visible from the north of the island, and the Ionian opens up from there towards Lefkada and Kefalonia. See the Ionian and Corfu and yacht charter.
Our own cars and our own chauffeurs are in London and Manchester. On Corfu, cars are arranged through operators we know, and the vehicles are chosen for the roads rather than for the brochure: the lanes above Nissaki and around Kassiopi are steep, narrow and shared with delivery vans, and a long saloon is the wrong tool there. A people carrier with a proper driver who knows the villages is the right one. See the V-Class for the equivalent we run at home.
Planning it well
What we ask before a Corfu arrival
Six things that decide whether the car is in the right place at the right time.
- The exact villa or hotel, with a pin rather than a village name. Several bays on the north east coast share a name with a road that does not reach them
- Whether the last stretch is a private track, and if so what it will take. Some of the best houses on the island are reached by a lane that a large vehicle cannot turn on
- Luggage counted properly, because the difference between four cases and eight changes the vehicle and sometimes the number of vehicles
- The flight number or tail number and the handler, so we can track the arrival and move the car rather than leave it standing
- Whether a yacht is part of the trip, and if so which marina and which pontoon. See Gouvia and the Ionian bases
- For a Saturday in July or August, an earlier start than feels necessary. That one day carries most of the island's changeover traffic
Getting here
By private aircraft, and what else is nearby
From London, Corfu is a flight of roughly three hours and twenty minutes to three hours and forty five in a midsize or super midsize jet, and a little less in something faster. That puts it inside a comfortable day's travel from the UK and well inside a hop from Rome, Milan or Athens if the trip starts elsewhere in the Mediterranean. See midsize jets, super midsize jets and on demand charter.
If Corfu itself is full, or the timing does not suit, the practical alternatives are Preveza on the mainland opposite, which suits Lefkada and the southern Ionian, and Athens for a connection onward. Neither is a short drive from Corfu, so treat them as different trips rather than as a fallback for the same one. See Athens.
For departures, the airport is small and the summer schedule is dense. A private departure is quick at the aircraft and slower everywhere else, so we build the road time on the conservative side and hold the car on the field until the passengers are aboard rather than releasing it early.
Onward
Around a Corfu trip
Request a proposal
Tell us the arrival
Dates, the flight or tail number, how many of you, how much luggage and the exact address you are heading for. Tell us if a yacht is part of the trip. We will set out the cars on the island, the timings that actually work in the season you are travelling, and the aircraft if you would like us to arrange that too. Nothing is booked or charged online.
Prefer to talk? +44 2030 048300 or WhatsApp, at any hour.
Questions people ask
About Corfu arrivals
How long is the drive to the north east coast?
Between thirty five minutes and a little over an hour, depending on how far north you are going and on the season. Kassiopi in August is a genuine hour or more from the runway.
Can a large business jet land at Corfu?
The runway is about 2,373 metres with water at both ends, which suits light, midsize and most large business jets. The heaviest aircraft need the numbers checked for the day, which your operator will do. We can arrange the aircraft if you would like. See private jet charter.
Are these your own cars?
No. Our own fleet and our own chauffeurs are in London and Manchester. On Corfu cars are arranged through operators we know, with vehicles suited to the island's lanes.
Can the car meet us at the aircraft?
Where the airport and your handler permit it for that movement. Otherwise the car waits at the terminal and the chauffeur meets you inside. We confirm which it is before you travel.
Is Corfu a sensible place to join a yacht?
Yes. Gouvia is about twenty minutes from the runway and the Ionian opens south from there. We can hold the flight, the car and the yacht in one place. See yacht charter.
What about getting to Paxos?
By sea, from the new port in Corfu Town or by tender from a yacht. The drive from the airport to the port is ten to twenty minutes outside the summer peak.
One contact, wherever you are