Xylokastro of Corinth in Peloponnese

September 2021

38°7′N 22°36′E

 

So, everyone needs some time off the everyday life`just to have fun and relax with friends. That is why we went to Xylokastro Xylokastro of Corinth in Peloponnese with a lady friend of mine.

Xylokastro is a seaside town of the regional unit of Corinth. It is close to Athens`only 120km away (1h 40`). Hence, we did not waste time on the road, nor did I get tired from a lot of driving.

Xylokastro of Corinth in Peloponnese is a nautical city with a harbor and about 5.500 residents. Moreover, it is famous for its agricultural products in general and for raisins in particular. Its name means wooden castle and it took it from an old wooden castle-barrack. In conclusion, we loved it. To clarify, we loved the unobstructed view of the Corinthian Gulf.

Xylokastro Accommodation 1/4

For our accommodation we chose the Gardens Gallery Hotel. It is really close to the seaside walk with all these taverns, bars and restaurants but away enough, so do not be bothered from the music during night.

In addition to that, you can reach the beaches by feet. 50meters away there is a small pebble-stoned beach. 1km away is Xylokastro’s organized with sunbeds beach and only 15minutes walking through the beachfront forest of Pefkias starts the next village’s beach, called Sykion.

The atmosphere at the hotel was cozy and homie. Furthermore, the personnel were truly kind and really helpful.

The central door closes for the night, so you are feeling very safe. The hotel was pretty with all these paintings at the walls. Moreover, the patio where the breakfast was served was nice and cool under the trees. Also, they tried to stick to the procedures of covid-19, so they gave as disposable gloves for filling in the breakfast. And they divided the rooms to groups, in order to avoid crowding.

But, you can read even more details at my review on google maps.

Bonus: It has parking lot (unattended though).

 

Xylokastro Beaches 2/4

Xylokastro is a seaside city. So basically, it has a narrow strip of beach along the entire length of the beachfront road. Over there, you can also have a walk before dinner, in order to choose your favorite restaurant.

The Xylokastro’s beach itself though is at the left side of the harbor. It has pebbles outside and few meters inside the sea. But, after that it has soft sand to swim. Certainly, it is an extremely clean sea. You can seat at the sunbeds without charge. They only charge you with your beverage’s consumption.

On the other hand, if you are feeling sportif, you could walk inside the seaside forest of Pefkias and then go to this beach for swimming. Similarly, it is so-sooo clean that you can see little fishes coming to your feet. Likewise, it has round shinny pebbles and the most clean beach bar I ran into. My belief comes from the fact that, at Sikyon, they are putting a disposable cover to the sunbeds for each customer. I do not know if it is a measure against covid-19, but it is suitable and useful. However, you will pay a fee of 10€ for the set. But, Sykion beach is large and you can walk further where there are no sunbeds and put your own mat. Either way, you will definitely enjoy the calmness of the clear transparent light blue sea.

Ohh…and do not forget to take a canoe for a ride or to do another water sport during summer.

PS: All beaches at this area are pebble-stoned, as we informed. On the last day of our whirling, we visited Kiato’s beach, which has also round pebbles and clear sea.

 

Xylokastro Eateries 3/4

What better way to enjoy the holidays than to eat tasty traditional food? So, we followed this belief. And…we enjoyed every single bite of it. Both taverns that we ate (Elladiko & Rendez-vous sto psito BBQ) had delicious plates and big portions. They both had extremely polite personnel and most importantly they were at the seaside road and you had this cool breeze refreshing you.

Read more about these two, on my google maps profile, where you can see more photos of the dishes.

Continuing our walking around we ate from 3 different ice cream stores. My friend and I came to the conclusion that Grand Gelato has the most light -I mean without too much heavy cream- and flavorful ice cream.

Concerning the nights, there are many bars at this seaside road to sit or frantically dance. We chose Rouvera, for two reasons. Firstly, we notice that they were keeping enough distance between the tables due to covid-19. Secondly, on Saturday 11^th of September they had a live performance from Giannis Savvidakis whom we both love. Personnel were too kind. We tried their monkey cocktails, which were very saporous.

 

Xylokastro Activities 4/4

Even if you are not the sportif type, you should pay a visit to Pefkias forest. It extends along the coast and you can walk under the trees. The sun will not ‘see’ you and you will have your promenade sniffing around the smell of all different types of pine. Kudos to the kids from the elementary school, who they adopted the area and plant few more trees.

Notice

You are not allowed to bicycle inside the forest.

Most important of all

The emblematic Aggelos Sikelianos Villa. At the end of your walking inside the forest you will find Sikyon coast hotel, where Sikelianos villa belongs. You will enjoy starring at this antiqu-y look that emerges harmoniously from the forest. For a moment, stop and think about the great work of his.

Moreover, at the seaside road you can enjoy a movie at the open cinema Electra.

For those who are religious, remember….this area is famous for religious monuments. Even if you are not, it is totally worth it to pay a visit at least to one of them to gaze at the grandeur of the temples. We saw Panagia Faneromeny and we remained speechless in front of the majesty of Jesus’ mother.

If you are bored and do not care to move, then you can go a little outside Xylokastro. Over there at the plain, you can go for horse riding.

Toddlers

Are you traveling with your kids? Then you should definitely pay a visit at the traffic education park called Ksilino Kastro (meaning wooden castle). Consequently, they will have fun in a safe environment.

To sum up, you are not going to get bored if you choose Xylokastro of Corinth in Peloponnese for a gateway.

 

Read more about close getaways from Athens to: Poros, Kymi, Tyros and Skala. All within 2-3h away from Athens.

 

Travel tip: useful telephones for Xylokastro

1.  Folklore museum’s tel: no museum
2.  Municipal Health center’s tel: +30 27433 60000
3.  Police’s tel: +30 27430 29237
4.  Port police’s tel: +30 27420 22212 (at Kiato)
5.  Taxi’s tel: +30 27430 22663