Shipwreck beach in Zakynthos

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If there is one thing we remember most from our visit to Zakynthos last year, it is its magical waters and endless beaches. There are so many beaches on the island that it will definitely not take you a week to visit them all and of course enjoy them all even if you say that I only want to see the most touristy ones or the more “relaxed” and remote ones.

The “relaxed” of course will depend on the period you go to Zakynthos, as even in mid-September most of the ones we went to were quite crowded.

The Shipwreck Beach

The most famous and world famous beach of Zakynthos is none other than the Shipwreck. Although I had seen so many photos from all seasons of the year with almost all possible weather conditions and shades of sunlight, the experience of going to Navagio and swimming in its enchanting waters cannot be described.

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The moment you slowly arrive by boat as you watch the vertical slopes that literally surround this unique beach rise higher and higher, combined with the unique color of the Ionian Sea waters, the most intense turquoise you may have seen, is truly unique! When you set foot on the white sandy beach you feel really lucky to be in this unique landscape as the huge slopes rise above you, something you can’t understand of course by looking at photos.

At the back you have the beach with the rusty carcass of the ship with the smuggled cargo that was wrecked there in 1980, hence the name Shipwreck, while in front of you a sea “Siren” is “singing” that challenges you to discover all the shades of blue and blue!

Rooms in Zakynthos

“Issues for discussion”

The world of course enough. We went in the middle of September and we were impressed by how crowded it was for this time of the year and by the time we left there were several tourist boats lined up next to each other on the shore of this magnificent beach.

The abundance of people and especially the boats may have some negative effects on the water quality as in some places and in the deeper waters we saw foam and some oil spots, without being able to know if they are dirty or not from the daily parade to and from Navagio beach. Anyway, we would suggest you visit Navagio as early as possible in the day to avoid the large crowds of tourists (although we doubt that this is possible during the “hot” tourist months of July and August.)

How to enjoy the Shipwreck more?

Another alternative is to rent a small boat for the whole day, you will be the driver, so you can go and sit in the Shipwreck as long as you want.

This has the added benefit that you are not forced to stay on the beach as long as the boat and the ticket you pay to take you to the beach but can stay as long as you wish, even all day. Unfortunately, we paid to stay on the beach for 45 minutes but over half an hour we were told to get on the boat and leave.

This of course may also have to do with the number of tourists on the beach on that particular day or time, meaning that if it is full of boats and small boats, some who are already there will have to leave a little sooner than they had originally agreed.

Are you a sucker after all?

Surely, better planning by the people in the fishing village of Agios Nikolaos and the owners of the transport to and from the Shipwreck would enhance the experience and the beautiful memories of the beautiful Shipwreck of Zakynthos.

It would also be advisable not to blame each other in Agios Nikolaos in order to convince that they offer the best transfer package to and from Navagio beach. We unfortunately fell into such a case where he blamed us (he called us verbatim “suckers”) because according to his own judgement we made a hasty choice since he offers the same and at a better price. Generally such attitudes blaming either customers or colleagues only cause bad impression and comments.

We do not have more details about renting a small individual boat for the whole day so it would be better to ask either in Zakynthos town, Agios Nikolaos or other smaller fishing villages where this option is offered.

Access to Navagio beach

As mentioned above, the main volume of boats and floats in general that transport tourists to the Shipwreck starts from the picturesque fishing village of Agios Nikolaos which is located 33 km from the capital of the island, the town of Zakynthos. So allow at least an hour if you start from there. It is best to arrive as early as possible to have your comfort in order to see and choose the best transfer offer to and from Navagio beach to your liking. (see map for access to the fishing village of Agios Nikolaos and for the exact location of Nafagio.)

It is worth asking the following:

How long will it take your boat to get to the beach
How much clean time you will spend on the beach.
How many people can the boat hold or how many are scheduled to be with you. This matters because when you arrive at the beach, if there are 30 people in the boat you may be delayed quite a bit in getting out to the beach (same with getting back to the boat when it’s time to leave) This means that you will most likely significantly reduce your net time on the beach.
What else is included in the price, we for example stopped at the beautiful Blue Caves for a swim in the unique blue waters of the Ionian Islands. We only stayed for 10 minutes and it would really be good to arrange to stay longer, say for half an hour at least because the blue caves are beautiful and quite worth it to combine it that way.
Of course the price for the whole package.

After returning from the small excursion to Navagio beach, we chose to have lunch at the taverna at the edge of the small beach. We didn’t regret it since it’s literally on the sea, we ate watching small schools of fish swimming in front of us, which doesn’t happen every day, right?