Shipwreck Beach Zakynthos

Certainly one of the most photographed beaches in the world, on most postcards representing Greece there is the image of this spectacular beach, Navagio beach.

Also called Shipwreck Beach or the Wreck beach, it is located on the northwest side of the Zakynthos island near the Anafonitria village.

It is a small bay with a beach of small white pebbles, surrounded by high cliffs also white in color, bathed by a sea that seems almost surreal of an intense blue that contrasts strongly with the surrounding landscape.

Before the shipwreck that was stranded on the beach, it was known by the name of Agios Georgiou Stra Gremma (St. George of the Cliffs) as there is a monastery dedicated to the saint. The conformation of the coast suggests that once this inlet did not exist in Nature but that it was formed due to a violent earthquake which caused the ground to collapse collapsing into the sea creating the small bay. As for the particular color of the water from the tone that goes from pale blue to turquoise, it is attributed to the numerous sulphurous caves around the beach that release large quantities of sulfur when the sea gets bigger, while where the sea is an intense blue is due to the poseidonias.

The Navagio beach is very recent, in fact it comes to light only on October 1, 1980, when the Greek cargo ship MX Panagiotis, sailing from the Turkish coasts with a load of contraband cigarettes and liquors, chased by the Hellenic Coast Guard, takes refuge in the bay to avoid the controls and because, in the meantime the irascible God Poseidon decides to get angry making the sea shake and making navigation or rather the escape impossible for the crew, who took advantage of the dark of night to hide. In the morning, however, upon awakening they found themselves stranded in a dry formed with the undertow and the sand. Obviously the smugglers could only escape by leaving the precious cargo on the ship. In the days that followed, the inhabitants of Zakynthos spotted lots of cigarette sticks in the water and many with their boats decided to collect and take possession of the loot. Whether it is myth or reality as for all Greek stories, we will never know, but never mind, the story is already beautiful and adventurous.

The wreck to date is a tangle of rusty iron where tourists love to leave a dedication or an incision of their passage, someone even ventures to enter it but always be very careful because there are parts that cut and full of rust.

Is quite simple, it can be done only and exclusively by sea. There are many agencies that organize the excursion  which, depending on the port of departure, range from € 30/40 to € 15 (2022). The service usually includes only the transfer from the port to the beach and vice versa. We always recommend that you check the weather conditions on the day you would like to have this experience, because the Navagio area often tends to have a little rough water especially in the afternoon and navigation may not be pleasant.

However, one thing remains to be said, the best place to admire this beauty of Nature is definitely from above, either because the beach is always very crowded especially in the summer and then for the fact that the view is certainly much more suggestive. Here you can get there independently with a moped or a car. You have to pass the village of Anfonitria, turn left immediately after the Monastery of San Giorgio and reach the parking lot where there is a small terrace which has only a partial view, then go down the steps and reach the suspended balcony where you will take pictures crazy. The ideal would be to come there at different times of the day because according to the light the colors change and give life to dreamlike past.

Needless to say, you should include Navagio beach in your travel program during your holidays in Greece on the Zakynthos island, you would never forgive me.