Corfu Shopping Tips
These Corfu shopping tips include advice on buying souvenirs like ceramics, jewelry, gold, silver, wood carvings, and food and drink, with tips on haggling.
Colourful Ceramics Make Good Souvenirs
Corfu has quite a good range of shopping options. Although it is primarily a mass-market tourism destination, it also attracts a number of cruise ships whose passengers have money to spend. The best variety and quality is to be found in Corfu Town, and if you're based outside the capital you should certainly include a visit there if you want to find some good souvenirs.
Ceramics
There are some excellent ceramic items available all over the island. Some are mass-produced but there are also good work from local artists. You should shop around as not all shops stock the same goods.
Food and Drink
Extra virgin olive oil can be found everywhere, some in elaborate bottles suitable for buying as gifts, but make sure it is olive oil from Corfu as a lot is imported from mainland Greece. If you simply want to buy in quantity to use yourself, consider getting a large tin of it.
Honey is also good, although not necessarily a cheap buy. You’ll see hives all around the island, and some of the mountain honey is really delicious, flavoured by wild herbs and flowers.
Kumquat Liqueur Bottles on Corfu
Liqueur made from the island’s kumquats is an unusual and very special gift. Watch for the different strengths available, as it’s usually a case of the stronger it is, the better and richer it tastes. Some restaurants will give you a complimentary glass of the liqueur at the end of a meal, but these are usually the weaker and cheaper varieties. If these don’t impress you, do try to sample the stronger versions. Many shops will let you try a taste.
Other specialities to look out for include local olives, herbs, spices, nuts, and cheese.
Some Cool Corfu Souvenirs
Paleokastritsa Luggage Tag
Corfu Cypresses Capri Leggings
Gold, Silver, and Jewellery
You’ll find silversmiths all over Greece. There is a long tradition of the craft in Epirus, and in particular in the city of Ioannina, across from Corfu on the mainland. Some of the work makes its way to the island, so do ask about it.
Some Greek jewellery is rather too flamboyant for many people, but there are young designers today creating more subtle work with a wide choice of rings, ear-rings, and necklaces.
Museum replicas are usually very well-made, and make good personal souvenirs.
Icons
There are few more typical Greek gifts than icons, a centuries-old Greek tradition. Most are machine-made, but you will still find a few artists producing these by hand. You can find the best choice when visiting the island’s monasteries.
Our Pick of Greek Islands Guides
Leather Goods
Leather is a good buy almost everywhere in Greece, and Corfu is no exception. Look for sandals, shoes, bags, and belts in the Old Town in Corfu Town.
Weaving
Good quality hand weaving and embroidery can be found throughout the island, as it is quite a cottage industry here. You are just as likely to find top class items in some quiet village as in Corfu Town – and at a much cheaper price. Kassiopi is a centre for lace and crochet work.
Wood Carvings
With so many olive trees on Corfu, it is only natural that the islanders should want to make use of the wood too. There are now many wood carving workshops, almost one in every town, where you can buy items like walking sticks, light pulls, beautiful bowls, and kitchen utensils.
General Corfu Shopping Tips
- Haggling is an option in some places, but nothing like it is in Greece’s neighbour to the east, Turkey. Corfu is far more like its western European counterparts, where the price shown is the price you pay, and discounts are only to be had if buying several items.
- Greece has a high sales tax, and it may be possible for non-EU residents to reclaim this by shopping in stores displaying ‘Tax-Free for Tourists’ stickers.
- Not all local crafts are actually made locally. There is a flourishing market in Asia producing local souvenirs for countries all over the world, so look closely before buying. If you see a colourful plate with Corfu written on it, you might turn it over and find ‘Made in China’!
Other Corfu Pages
Kassiopi is a popular tourist resort on the northeast coast of Corfu with a sandy beach, Byzantine fortress, old church, and lots of places to stay and to eat.
The history of Corfu and cricket goes back to 1823 when the island was under British rule, which left them with a legacy of loving both cricket and ginger beer.
North-West Corfu’s beaches and villages include busy resorts, quiet beaches, hill villages, and places ideal for watching the sunset,
The Corfu Climate page describes the hours of sun, the rain, the winds, to help you plan the best time to visit this Ionian island.
These fun facts about Corfu include how the island got its name, who wrote the Greek National Anthem, and the eccentric Englishman, the Earl of Guilford.
Mount Pantokrator is the highest mountain on Corfu and it’s easy to drive to the top for spectacular views of Albania, Corfu, and even sometimes to Italy.
Kalami in north-west Corfu is a hidden gem which many people know about because writer Lawrence Durrell once lived here in The White House.
Donna Dailey of Greece Travel Secrets visits Albania by boat from Corfu Town, staying overnight and seeing archaeological sites with Sipa Tours.
Corfu’s wildlife includes rare and colourful birds, snakes, lizards, fireflies, and insects, with plenty of places to watch the wildlife like lakes and lagoons.
If you want to tour northern Corfu in three days you can see busy resorts, quiet fishing villages, Mount Pantokrator, and the Andinioti Lagoon.
Sidari is a popular holiday resort on the north coast of Corfu with beaches and unusual rock formations as well as plenty of places to eat and to stay.
There are three islands off the northwest coast of Corfu, Erikouusa, Othoni and Mathraki, popular with day-trippers from resorts like Sidari.
Greece Travel Secrets recommends where to stay in north-west and central Corfu including luxury mansions, inexpensive rooms, and resort hotels.
Angelokastro is a 13th-century hilltop fortress with breath-taking views near Paleokastritsa on the Greek island of Corfu in the Ionian Islands.
Corfu olives are an important part of this Greek island's economy, with an estimated 3-4 million trees producing olive oil of exceptional quality.
Southern Corfu has busy beach resorts like Benitses, historical buildings like the Achilleion Palace and Gardiki Castle, and wildlife at the Korision Lagoon.
Greece Travel Secrets picks the best time to visit Corfu, with a monthly summary of the weather, plus hotel prices and special events to help plan a visit.
The Corfu Trail runs from the southernmost point of Corfu at Cape Asprokavos and winds for 220km (137 miles) to the northernmost point near Andinioti Lagoon.
The Achilleion Palace is one of the most visited sights on Corfu and contains a museum and impressive gardens with wonderful views over the coast.
The best things to do on Corfu include visiting Palaiokastritsa, a day trip to Albania, seeing the Achilleion Palace, and the museums in Corfu Town.
Information for travelers on Corfu Food and Drink including restaurants and tavernas, Corfiot specialties, desserts, wine and other Greek drinks like ouzo.
Corfu or Kerkyra is the main island in the Greek Ionian islands with Corfu Town being one of the most attractive of Greek island capitals.
This Southern Corfu drive starts and ends in Moraïtika, taking in hill villages, secluded beaches, lovely views, and a visit to Gardiki Castle.
The best beaches on Corfu, chosen by Greece Travel Secrets, include Paleokastritsa, Mirtiotissa, Sidari and Cape Asprokavos.
This guide to southern Corfu’s beaches and villages includes busy resorts, quiet beach, hill villages and the southernmost tip of Corfu at Cape Asprókavos.
Enjoy this page? Please pay it forward. Here's how...
Would you prefer to share this page with others by linking to it?
- Click on the HTML link code below.
- Copy and paste it, adding a note of your own, into your blog, a Web page, forums, a blog comment,
your Facebook account, or anywhere that someone would find this page valuable.
-
Visitors to the Kerameikos archaeological site in central Athens will soon have new access through an entrance-exit point being developed on Agion Asomaton Street, directly across from Dipylou Street.
Read More
-
A new section of the E65 motorway, often referred to as the “backbone road” of Central Greece, was opened to traffic in the second week of July, with 136 kilometers now operational. This road provides…
Read More
-
Iceland, Monaco, the UK, Greece, and Spain are Europe’s most expensive countries for short-term rentals, according to analytics experts AirDNA.
Read More
-
Greek seaplane company Hellenic Seaplanes on Friday laid the groundwork for some of the Greek islands that will welcome seaplanes and carried out its first flights between three islands of the Sporade…
Read More
-
The World’s Best Awards by Travel + Leisure recently ranked four Greek hotels among the best in the world and Europe, honoring them for their luxurious atmosphere and top-notch hospitality.
Read More
-
Santorini is now coping with the repercussions of overtourism generated by cruise ships and day-trippers from Crete and other adjacent islands.
Read More
-
Restaurants, tavernas, and grocery stores that highlight the local flavors of the Cyclades.
Read More
-
Greece Travel Secrets picks where to eat on Symi, down by the harbour or in the upper town, and whether you like fish, meat, vegetarian, traditional or modern.
Read More
-
Greece Travel Secrets chooses its top ten Athens restaurants with Acropolis views, perfect for dining by day or by night, including places with Michelin stars.
Read More
-
The former Hilton Athens is being transformed into a multi-faceted destination that aspires to forge exciting new connections between the Greek capital and the rest of the world.
Read More