Navagio Beach will be closed to entry for the entire 2025 summer season due to dangerous rockslides.

The famous shipwreck beach is clearly the most famous, most interesting and most beautiful beach on the island, if not in Greece. Some even call it the most beautiful in Europe. It can only be reached by boat, and cruises from the ports of Porto Vromi and St. Nikolas run all day.

Book your car rental Zakynthos

Navagio Beach (read as "Navajo") attracts visitors with its breathtaking scenery of steep white limestone cliffs, azure blue crystal clear water and iconic shipwreck, making it one of the most famous beaches in the world. The beach used to be called Agios Georgios, but the shipwreck is what gave it the name Navagio, or shipwreck.

The Panagiotis shipwreck

One of the main attractions of this famous beach is the wreck of a shipwreck located right in the middle of the beach. The history of this ship is shrouded in mystery and inaccuracy, if only because it was sailing illegally through Greek waters.

The Panagiotis was wrecked here in a heavy storm in 1980 on its smuggling trip from Turkey to Italy, filled with untaxed cigarettes and alcohol. Some of the still-living crew members of the Panagiotis claim that the ship never wrecked and was brought to the beach after its decommissioning by the Greek authorities to increase the attractiveness of Zakynthos and boost tourism.

However, court documents and photographs released around 2015 rather confirm the version of the shipwreck during its smuggling journey.

You are free to visit the rusting wreck, which is about 30 meters long, during your stay.

Shipwreck on the beach

Beach and bathing facilities

As the beach is not accessible by boat and is located in the most remote part of Zante, don't expect any services or facilities. There are no sun lounger rentals and no refreshments available for purchase. You have to take everything with you from the hotel.

The beach is covered with coarse white sand combined with small pebbles, the entrance to the water is quite steep but safe. The sea here is crystal clear and, thanks to the enclosed bay, extremely calm without large waves. Thanks to the deep bottom, the water in the bay at Navagio Beach is slightly colder than in the resorts in the southeast of the island, which is only a plus on hot summer days.

Navagio bathing

Boat to Navagio Beach: prices and timetable

There is no other way to get directly to the beach than by boat. There are basically two options for trips: a group tour together with other travelers or a private tour where you have the whole boat to yourself. The private tour has the advantage that it leaves the ports earlier in the morning (between 7:00 and 8:00) and therefore there will be significantly fewer people on the beach to take photos.

Even so, you probably won't be alone on the beach as more luxurious yachts dock in the bay overnight.

Most boats leave from the marinas:

Skinari - about 20 minutes sailing
Porto Vromi - approx. 20 minutes cruise
Agios Nikolaos - approx. 45 minutes cruise

There are no regular timetabled ferries to Navagio beach, so it is not possible to come here in the morning and return in the evening unless you have paid for a full day private tour. With organised cruises you'll usually spend 40-90 minutes on the beach , and often the journey from Agios Nikolaos includes a stop at the Blue Caves.

There are a number of different companies offering tours in both ports of call, and with a Group Tour it is not strictly necessary to book in advance, in fact some companies do not even allow online booking. Boats leave for the beach from both wharves approximately every 20-30 minutes from 10:00 to 15:30.

Prices are around 30 eur, always include only the round trip and are the same from Porto Vromi and Agios Nikolaos. A private tour costs around 200 eur.

Examples of companies sailing from Agios Nikolaos are Theodosis Cruises or Actipis Cruises, from Porto Vromi you can use for example Porto Vromi Maries or Golden Star Cruises.

But cruises are also organised directly from Zakynthos town, usually full day cruises with stops further up the coast, with the lowest prices starting at 80 eur per person, for example with Zakynthos Cruises.

If you don't have a rental car, you have no choice but to take the more expensive boats from Zakynthos Town, as there are no regular public buses to the ports of Agios Nikolaos or Porto Vromi.

Optional tours - Navagio

If you're heading to Zakynthos with a tour operator, you have two options for visiting Navagio beach. Either you can rent a car on your own and discover other places on the island on the way to the ports, or you can take advantage of the optional tours.

Prices for optional tours are around 40 eur.

View of the beach

The view of Navagio from the adjacent 100m high cliff is also popular.

Great care must be taken here, as apart from a small viewing platform, there are paths all along the cliff that are not fenced in any way (except for a poofider tape that nobody pays much attention to).

If you want to avoid the crowds, either up or down, head out in the morning or later in the afternoon.

The viewpoint is often more popular than the beach itself, as it offers some truly breathtaking views, some of the best in Europe. There is no safe way to get to the beach from the viewpoint.

There is a road leading directly to the viewpoint and it can only be reached by car, there is no public transport to the viewpoint. The turn off the main road is in the villages of Volimes or Anafonitria.

From Zakynthos Town: 33 km (see route map)
17 km from Alykes (see route map)

Boat on Navagio beach

View of Navagio beach

Accommodation near Navagio beach

To ensure that you arrive at the viewpoint as early in the morning as possible, we recommend staying as close to the coast as possible. There are basically two options in the two nearest villages, where you can find mostly private apartments or villas with prices starting from 110 eur per night.