Igoumenitsa

It is worth being straightforward about Igoumenitsa. The town is under ten thousand people, it is a working ferry terminal first, and if you came expecting a resort you will be disappointed. What it actually is, is a genuinely pleasant small port with one of the best ferry connections in the country, sitting in a bay under the mountains with Corfu filling the horizon.

The Egnatia motorway — the A2 — ends at the quay. That is why the town is here. From the port there are ferries to Corfu, and to Italy: Ancona, Bari, Brindisi, Venice. The crossing to Corfu takes roughly fifty minutes to Lefkimmi and a bit over an hour to Corfu town, and in summer there are sailings every half hour or so. It is one of the easiest international connections in Europe.

The town is small enough to walk in an afternoon, and the walk is pleasant: a waterfront that curves around the bay, low hills behind, and the view out to Corfu. The beaches are the reason to stay an extra night rather than pass through, and they are fifteen minutes away, not next door.

The port is ancient in use if not in survival. The classical city of Gitana stood nearby and was the seat of the koinon, the federation of the Thesprotians; the earliest evidence for it as an administrative capital is an inscribed decree from its agora dated between 350 and 300 BC, and the last written mention is from Livy in 172 BC. The city itself is founded in the mid-fourth century BC, and it has not been continuously inhabited since the Roman period.

The modern town grew in the Ottoman period as a small coastal settlement and later as a port, and it became significant in the nineteenth century as the point where the road from Ioannina reached the sea. The Albanian border is a few kilometres inland and the area has a long, complicated modern history as a border region.

Ferries to Corfu and Italy are what made the town what it is. The arrival of international ferry routes, and later of the A2 motorway which terminates at the quay, consolidated its position as the western gateway to Greece.

Igoumenitsa is a coast town, and the beaches are the reason to stop rather than drive through.

Drepano is the nearest, about four kilometres out, a sand spit with a lagoon behind it and the mainland hills in the background — it is not a famous beach but it is the one you can walk to. Plataria, about six kilometres south, is the smallest and most relaxed of the near bays. Sivota, at about eleven kilometres, is the one people actually come for: a proper bay broken into several coves, with boats, and the natural base for day trips out to Paxos, Antipaxos and the sea caves along that coast.

Perdika, at roughly fifteen kilometres, is the other one worth the drive — a headland village built around a small bay with a chapel on the islet off the point, and the sunset side of the coast. Neochori, at a similar distance inland, is an olive-grove village that makes a quiet lunch stop.

Parga is twenty-seven kilometres south and in Preveza regional unit; it is a good day trip but it is a half-day rather than a stroll, and on a summer weekend the road is slow.

This is Thesprotia, and it is one of the more distinctive cooking regions in Epirus. The coast gives you the seafood — the harbour supplies it, and the tavernas along the waterfront grill whatever came in that morning.

Inland, the Thesprotian food is the real interest: rich pies and baked dishes, grilled meats, the local cheeses, and good beans and olive oil from the groves around Neochori and Sivota. Epirus does its slow-cooked lamb in pastry better than anywhere, and you will find it here too. Eat inland of the waterfront, where the tavernas are Epirus rather than port.

June, September and October are the best months. May and June are good, with the sea warm enough and the town not yet at full volume. July and August are hot and the ferries are extremely busy — good if you are crossing, less good if you want a quiet town. September is the sweet spot: the sea is at its warmest, the summer crowds have thinned, and the light on the bay in the evening is the best of the year. Winter is wet and many waterfront businesses close.

Igoumenitsa sits at the end of the Egnatia motorway, which is the main road approach to the town and to its port, facing Corfu across the Ionian. The town is also a ferry port, with sailings booked through the operators rather than at the quay.

If you are catching a ferry, book ahead for July and August and for vehicles, and arrive at least forty minutes early for an international sailing. The port, the town and the beaches are all within reach without a car, but a car makes Sivota, Perdika and Parga straightforward. Book the ferries through the operator rather than at the quay. Stay a night rather than a few hours — Drepano and Sivota are both worth it, and the town is pleasant in the evening. And take the A2 back east rather than assuming the coastal road, which is slower.