There are many beaches on the island of
Zakynthos in
Greece. Among them there are both famous beaches, which appear in all tourist booklets and guidebooks, and less famous ones, but at the same time they are no worse, and sometimes even better than informationally promoted beaches.
Once on the island of
Zakynthos, it will be difficult for you to force yourself to rest the entire vacation only in the vicinity of your hotel, knowing that there are so many amazingly beautiful beaches around. Therefore, you will definitely jump off your seat to visit them. And you will most likely start with those beaches that every tourist who travels to
Greece to the island of
Zakynthos has heard about. One of these famous beaches is
Porto Zorro Beach.
How to get there
Porto Zorro Beach is located in the
Vasilikos area, in a picturesque mountainous area, just 10 km from the island's capital
Zakynthos. The road to the beach is slightly winding, with small ups and downs along the mountain serpentine, but not difficult, especially if you know the way. The only difficulty was that at the last stage, when we were already somewhere near the destination, the auto-navigator could not direct us in the right direction, because of this we could not figure out where to turn off the main road to the secondary, leading down to the beach. I had to look for the exit visually, focusing on all kinds of "homemade" road information signs. Yes, yes - it is homemade, tk. there were no official signs, which is generally not surprising, since such "home-made" for the island of
Zakynthos is a ubiquitous norm.
But homemade signage and road signs are not accurate. If you look closely at the photographs above, then they all carry only advertising information of this or that restaurant, and they have no direct relation to the official entrance to the beach, even if the sign says
Porto Zorro and this beach is drawn (as in the first photo ). Such signs are found at exits from the main road. So the Greeks are trying to lure travelers by car into their taverns adjacent to the beach. And it misleads any driver.
But what is even more interesting is that even at that road junction (in the second photo), where you really have to leave the main road to get to the
Porto Zorro Beach parking lot, there is no normal official sign either, and instead of it there is a large wooden board with an advertisement for the
Porto Azzuro Beach Bar bar / restaurant. And besides: Did you notice the difference in the spelling of the name? - Not
Porto Zorro, where we were heading, but a little differently -
Porto Azzuro. So think about whether this exit is correct or not, and to which beach does it lead?
As a result, it turned out that
Porto Zorro and
Porto Azzuro are one and the same. And as it turned out later, if you look for this beach on different geographical maps, then on some this beach may appear with the name -
Porto Zorro Beach, and on other maps -
Porto Azzuro Beach. In general, the Greeks confused everyone. Perhaps they themselves do not even know the correct name of this beach 🙄.
Beach parking
So, turning off the main road, we go down the mountain down to the dead end, which is the beach parking lot. The parking is small, but convenient - not far from the beach, and absolutely free.
If you arrive on a weekday, and not at rush hour, then parking is not difficult, there are few tourists - and there are few cars.
Locals also love to relax on
Porto Zorro Beach, especially young people. Therefore, more cars arrive on weekends, the main beach parking lot is packed to capacity, there is no free space on it, but the additional parking located a little higher solves this problem.
In the photo: a view from the parking lot. The beauty!
We take literally a few steps - and we are on the beach.
Beach
The beach is sandy, but the sand is imported. The beach area is clean and well appointed. Sun loungers are paid. But you can stay for free on the beach anywhere, even on the sand, even on the lawn, but just not between the paid sun loungers. This is normal, everyone does this when there are no free seats, or do not want to spend on a sun lounger.
Sea water
Probably the most beautiful place on the beach is where there are huge stone boulders in the sea. When you get to the beach, it’s in that direction and pulls to sit on the sun loungers closer to the boulders, it’s beautiful. But right away I would like to note that it is in this place that the water at the edge of the beach is slightly muddy. Because of which? - More on that later.
The entrance to the sea is shallow. The bottom is made of medium-sized pebbles mixed with imported sand. Sometimes you come across large stones under your feet, so you need to go into the water carefully, deliberately, without haste.
Perhaps the most inconvenient thing is taking a family selfie while being in water up to your neck. Either the arms are not long enough to move the camera further away, or at the slightest wave you are afraid to drown it. But somehow we did it.
Edge of the beach
On the right, outside the serviced part of
Porto Zorro Beach, in the wilderness, the landscape is more colorful. There are almost no vacationers there, and they go there only for beautiful photographs. Naturally, we also went there to arrange a photo session and take some shots.
The water here is clean and transparent, but only as long as one of the tourists does not smear himself with clay, deliberately. The thing is that in this place there is a seabed with clay. Clay, some kind of rammed, hard as stone. But you just can't see it at the bottom. She hides under a layer of bottom sand. And if you dig your foot in the sand, you can feel a solid slippery base - this is clay.
The two above photographs show what happens to the water when a group of "pigs" begins to search for clay at the bottom. The water instantly becomes dirty, and the dregs begin to spread in different directions, reaching the official
Porto Zorro Beach area, and even further, but in a less concentrated form.
VIDEO: Going to the beach
The video shows both
Porto Zorro Beach itself and a fragment of the way to this beach, by car, from the
LOCANDA Beach Hotel, through the picturesque area of the island of
Zakynthos.
When is it better not to go to the beach?
We have been to
Porto Zorro Beach twice, but rested on it only once - during the second trip.
For the first time: we arrived, looked around, were horrified by the number of people, and after 25 minutes we left for another beach, without even swimming in the sea. It was a day off. And on weekends, as it turned out, here - Full house! There is almost nowhere to park a car. All sun loungers on the beach are occupied. Even on the lawn of people there is darkness.
But, before getting out of this human anthill, we decided to go to the
Porto Azzuro Beach Bar, and in vain ...
Beach cafe "Porto Azzuro Beach Bar"
Since the beach was packed with tourists, we decided to have a snack at the beach cafe.
Porto Azzuro Beach Bar is located directly in the beach area, in the shade of trees and artificial shelters, from the terraces which offer a magnificent view of the
Ionian Sea.
The place is really beautiful. But the restaurant service in this cafe leaves much to be desired. During 15 minutes of waiting, none of the waiters came to our table. We didn't even have a menu on our table to get to know the kitchen. Once, when the waiter was bringing something to the next table, we called him, but he pretended not to notice us and ran away. Our patience ran out and we left.
We were not able to eat in this cafe, because the service at
Porto Azzuro Beach Bar is clearly lame. Perhaps we were just out of luck. Or maybe, on weekends, because of the large influx of people, they always have a mess, God knows !?
Hotels nearby
Porto Zorro Beach Hotel
If you are planning to stay here for a few days, rent a hotel room, then the closest and only hotel is
Porto Zorro Beach Hotel. The hotel is located on the edge of
Porto Zorro Beach, on the right side of the beach as viewed from the sea.
There is a separate road leading to the hotel, which is not connected in any way with the one that leads to the official parking lot of
Porto Zorro Beach. The road ends with the hotel's own car park. The entrance to the hotel parking is free, there are no barriers.
The distance between the official parking of the beach and the hotel parking is only 50 meters. There is no direct car connection between them, so in order to move from one parking lot to another, you need to make a detour along the mountain paths 1.5 km long. This information is useful for those traveling tourists who are not going to go to the hotel (for check-in), but just relax on the beach. As a rule, everyone goes to the official parking lot, and often there is a shortage of free spaces, and at the same time they do not realize that there is another parking lot nearby (at the
Porto Zorro Beach Hotel), which is less congested. The most important thing is to know where to turn onto it.
Porto Zorro Beach Hotel is definitely in luck! Its convenient location allows you to cling to the glory of
Porto Zorro Beach, which is enough for the hotel to always have guests, without much difficulty, because it is the only hotel on the beach. No competition.
Below are some photos of the interior of
Porto Zorro Beach Hotel, from people who have stayed at this hotel. Such photos, of course, you will not find on the website of a hotel or travel agency. A sad sight.
Of course, it is impossible to draw a final conclusion from these photos, but, you must admit, they say a lot. Perhaps now the situation with this is better, and everything has already been fixed, but, as they say: - Be careful! Read the latest reviews from different tourists who have been there before heading there.
Villa Julia
Few people know, but on
Porto Zorro Beach there is another object in which you can stay - this is
Villa Julia. This small stone villa is located at the very, very end of the beach, right behind the parking lot of the
Porto Zorro Beach Hotel. The villa is designed to accommodate only one family. Therefore, in order to get there, you need to book it in advance.
Villa Julia has its own private road, which is 350 meters higher, in the mountains, which starts from the barrier, and therefore no outsider drives on it.
A fantastically beautiful landscape. Very calm secluded place, no people in the morning and evening. If you don't like people, then you will definitely like
Villa Julia!
Villa Julia has its own part of the beach with all the necessary equipment (umbrella and sun loungers). The location is perfect - next to the beach with two restaurants (5 minutes walk) and at the same time secluded. The sea is located (as you can see in the photo) a stone's throw from the villa.
Villa JULIA is equipped with all the necessary utensils (dishwasher, air conditioner, washing machine, TVs, and much more).
If you want a quiet, secluded getaway without the crowds, this villa is perfect.
Advantages and disadvantages of the beach
Advantages:• beautiful place
• well-groomed beach area
• availability of toilets and showers with fresh water
• availability of free parking lots near the beach
• there are cafe-restaurants with a sea view
Disadvantages:• there are a lot of people at rush hour and on weekends, because of this it becomes a little crowded on the beach and noise appears (of course, this is a relative assessment, depending on which beaches to compare with)
• the service staff of the beach cafe does not know how to work
• music spreads from the cafe along the beach, and sometimes it is very loud, drowning out natural sounds - the singing of the Cicadas
Coordinates of
Porto Zorro Beach on the interactive map • Get directions
Summary
Porto Zorro Beach, undoubtedly for a change, should be in the piggy bank of every curious tourist who finds himself on the Greek island of
Zakynthos. But is it worth resting there every day, focusing on one
Porto Zorro Beach, when there are so many different beaches around the island? - Most likely no. Plus, due to its popularity, the beach is often jam-packed, especially during peak times.
We recommend, just once!
If you arrive on a weekday, and not at rush hour, then parking is not difficult, there are few tourists - and there are few cars.
We take literally a few steps - and we are on the beach.
The entrance to the sea is shallow. The bottom is made of medium-sized pebbles mixed with imported sand. Sometimes you come across large stones under your feet, so you need to go into the water carefully, deliberately, without haste.
But, before getting out of this human anthill, we decided to go to the Porto Azzuro Beach Bar, and in vain ...
