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Friday 23 August 2019

Travel | Best Things To Do In Zante



We're at the final post of the Zante Travel series! Ever since I left I want to go back. Me and Adam have even spoke about when we are older we would even retire there it's such a beautiful place where you can even find adventure or just purely relax. It's that perfect mixture for all ages. I've put this guide together to show you a lot of the places we went to that were what made Zante for us, including the tourist spots, but also the little things we found ourselves. So tips from the tourist side but also from the explorers side. Hope this makes you to want to visit Zante!



Best Things To Do In Zante
Best Things To Do In Zante

Cameo Island


This lovely little island you can only go on if it's for a special occasion like a wedding or with a special company. We thankfully saw the front and back of this little island from hiring a quad bike and riding down the the little harbour and see this place for ourselves, as well as being on a boat trip to see turtles, we saw the back of the island coming back to shore. The interesting thing about this island is the fact a few years ago it drifted from the island to where it is now, how strange!

Best Things To Do In Zante
Best Things To Do In Zante

Olive Press Museum


We found this the day we hired out the quad bike, as we don't tend to always use the maps so we were just spontaneous and adventurous, so we just followed the road signs and found this Olive Press Museum. We had a nosey around all the big machines they used to use many years ago that were presented outside, alongside all these different trees with oranges, lemons and other plants. Inside the museum you can taste the different olive oils they did, like garlic, organic, a spicy one too from what I remember. There was also a skincare section with some beautiful creams. The hand cream was just perfect so Adam picked up a tub and I bought some olive oil to take home with us as it's something I always love to cook with, due to it being so much healthier.

Best Things To Do In Zante
Best Things To Do In Zante

Marathonisi Island


Otherwise known as 'Turtle Island'. This day we booked a trip with a company where we went to see the turtles on a boat trip, which was such a lovely experience seeing the turtles in person! I love animals so this honestly made me so happy to see them, we didn't just see one, we saw two as it was mating season apparently. Once we saw the turtles for a good half an hour, we went over to the Marathonisi Island. One tip on a trip like this and booking the excursion, always looking around at the prices as they are all different and we found the cheapest deal out of every tourist place we found. Best thing to do when booking this excursion is, always go on the morning boat trip as the afternoon trip, the sea can be choppier and for people who aren't the best on boats with sea sickness, not the one that's for sure. But the morning ones are best as you see more and it's not as hot which is better and bearable. Another tip for a boat trip, as hot as Greece is, it certainly gets cold in that sea wind! So makes sure you bring a towel or a cover up to stay warm as well as snacks and drinks to stay hydrated. Luckily on the island there are boats that sell drinks, snacks and best of all, ice lollies! So we took full advantage of this as we certainly didn't take enough food.

Best Things To Do In Zante
Best Things To Do In Zante
Best Things To Do In Zante

Keri Caves


The Keri Caves are very similar to the Blue Caves which I will talk about further on in this post. But we had the chance to stop by the caves and jump into the water. Me having a fear of deep water I was terrified of jumping in or even getting into the water. But it was such an incredible opportunity that isn't likely to come up often, I took it. I didn't jump in, but I took a swim around the boat, took me some time to make myself do it after dunking my head under the water and seeing how deep it really was, but you know what, I faced my fear and was so glad the fact I swam round the the whole side of the boat like a frog, and you know what? I was dam proud of myself for facing my fear! Especially in such a stunning location.

Best Things To Do In Zante
Best Things To Do In Zante
Best Things To Do In Zante

Shipwreck Beach - Navagio Beach


The one place on my bucket list that I was constantly pinning on my Pinterest for a few years now, I finally went to in person. I was so happy and content sitting on this little pebble beach with a rusty old boat, with such an incredible view of the stunning blue ocean, white cove surrounding us with my one true love, Adam. I have never felt so happy to be in one place before. Going to shipwreck beach was my holiday made. It truly did make me so happy that we went there as that was the one place I wanted to go to whilst we were there and we did it. We got an excursion for I think either 20-25 euros for a half day boat trip to Shipwreck beach and the Blue Caves, which we will chat about next. Honestly though, if your heading to Zante, you must go see this place whether it's by boat to the beach or by transport to the view from the top, something I'm still yet to do!

Best Things To Do In Zante
Best Things To Do In Zante
Best Things To Do In Zante

Blue Caves


How stunning is this part of Zante, the ocean colour was just incredible against the white rocks and walls of the caves. We managed to get this big boat we were on right inside the cave and touch the top with our hands at one point. Once again we set anchor and was able to swim by these caves too, once again I faced my fears of deep water and swam in this part too! There were little fish swimming below us too so that was a lovely sight to see. But I was also more bothered about keeping myself a float and trying not to panic and just enjoy being in the lovely clear blue ocean. Certainly one to experience! Jumping off the boat is also something you can do, I didn't but Adam did. Kind of wish I did that too but I just couldn't, but just swimming I was happy enough with.

Best Things To Do In Zante
Best Things To Do In Zante
Best Things To Do In Zante
Best Things To Do In Zante

Zakynthos Town Centre


We took a trip out on the quad bike again to Zakynthos Town Centre. It was around a 10-15 minute drive from Laganas to Zayknthos town centre. It was a rather quite town, with a large harbour, lots of little souvenir shops as well as their own designer and boutique shops. The streets were small but nice to roam around. We didn't see many places to eat or little cafes. But it was nice to have a wander around the town to see what its like.

Best Things To Do In Zante
Best Things To Do In Zante

A Locals View


After our trip to Zakynthos Town Centre, we decided to venture up to higher ground by following the roads upwards, after a short ride from Zakynthos to this beautiful view, we stopped and looked at the view lower down. A local greek pub owner approached us and told us about this even better view up a walkway and what a view it was. Talking to the locals and seeing what's best to do within the area it honestly opens up your eyes to what you can really find within places like Zante. The view was magnificent and you could even see the ocean from the amazing view.

Best Things To Do In Zante
Best Things To Do In Zante

Paddle Boats


These are so much fun and it only cost us 10 euros to hire out for an hour. We stayed quite close to shore as, you know sharks and that - LOL. I don't like deep water as we have figured out,  especially when I can't see underneath it. We were drifting quite a lot and Adam had to test out how deep the water was before I would even get in it. And when he did this he said "Why is there a rock floating towards me?" then he shouted happily & excitedly, "ISOBEL THERE'S A TURLTE COMING TOWARDS US!" Me getting panicked and thought he was going to say shark, by this point I was already in the water, and my gosh, I've never panicked so much and looked more like a slippery fish whilst trying to get back in that boat...Moral of the story, Adam couldn't stop laughing at me and then I wanted to see the turtle and thankfully I didn't miss this opportunity! Goes to show, you don't always have to pay for these turtle spotting trips when you could rent out your own boat and find them yourself and even swim with them. How lovely and it's not something you can do everyday now is it?

Best Things To Do In Zante
Best Things To Do In Zante
Best Things To Do In Zante

The Strip


Ahh the strip. The place where all the drunken mess of a night happens. This is the one thing we didn't fully experience, but from what we did experience of the Zante strip did kind of put me off. One night was brilliant, but the next not so much. You really have to watch it down the strip with the promoters trying to literally talk you into coming into the club, some are nice though don't worry and there's some extremely cheap drinks like cocktails and shots are SO cheap, like 1 euro for a shot or 2.50 euros for a cocktail - great right? Defo good for those that love to go on holiday and get rather drunk shall we put it nicely haha. Myself and my partner aren't big drinkers so we just had a few just to experience all the places and nightclubs that were down there. Worth a night out honestly, but you'll noticed Zante's strip is like no other!

Hope this guide to the best things to do in Zante has been helpful, but one more thing, if your looking to rent whilst your out in Zante, especially quad bikes or scooters, Hot Wheels was the best place we rented from. Local people who were so lovely, helpful and did everything correctly, and they were the cheapest place to rent from for 25 euros to rent a quad bike out for a whole 24 hours! Brilliant right?! Definitely recommend them more than the rest of the companies there as the rest were so expensive and a lot of people had quads and scooters breakdown. Our quad bike was well maintained and regularly checked, which we saw from when we drove past so often them checking them in the garage etc. One thing I would say if you are going to rent, take pictures of everywhere around the vehicle no matter what you rent out, so you have proof that it was the same as when you rented it out.

You can read about the hotel we stayed in, Hotel Agrilia here & Best Places To Eat In Zante here.

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