Between the heel of Italy and the west coast of mainland Greece, green, mountainous Corfu (Kérkyra) was one of the first Greek islands to attract mass tourism in the 1960s. Indiscriminate exploitation turned parts into eyesores, but much of the island still consists of olive groves, mountain or woodland. The majority of package holidays are based in the most developed resorts, but unspoiled terrain is often only a few minutes' walk away.

 

Corfu is thought to have been the model for Prospero's and Miranda's place of exile in Shakespeare's The Tempest , and was certainly known to writers like Spenser and Milton and - more recently - Lear and Miller, plus Gerald and Lawrence Durrell. Lawrence Durrell's Prospero's Cell evokes the island's "delectable landscape", still evident in some of the best beaches of the whole archipelago.

The staggering amount of accommodation (over 5000 places) on the island means that competition keeps prices down even in high season, at least in many resorts outside of Kérkyra Town. Prices at restaurants and in shops also tend to be a little lower than average for the Ionians