Kalamaki
Every night, between May and October, once the last sunbathers have left the beach, female loggerhead sea turtles slowly climb the...
Updated 8 July 2026
This season · July · Summer
What to do in Kalamaki now
The story
The story of Kalamaki
From reeds to the Lion of St Mark: the origins of Kalamaki
The name Kalamaki recalls the kalami, the reeds that once grew thick at the mouths of the streams flowing down toward the Gulf of Laganas, on the southern coast of Zakynthos, an island already mentioned by Homer among the kingdoms linked to Ulysses. Before becoming a seaside destination, Kalamaki was a small settlement of fishermen and farmers, a satellite of the larger village of Laganas, with low houses scattered among vineyards and olive groves. Its history is interwoven with that of the whole island, a borderland between the Greek and Latin worlds, which passed over the centuries under the Byzantines and the Angevins and finally, for over three hundred years, under the Republic of Venice.
From 1484 to 1797 Zakynthos was a possession of the Serenissima, which nicknamed it the 'Flower of the Levant' for the fertility of its soils and the wealth of its trade in oil, wine, and currants. The Venetian legacy can still be read in the local dialect, dotted with Italian terms, in the architecture of the noble villas scattered across the hinterland, and in the coexistence of Catholic and Orthodox rites, rare elsewhere in Greece. After the fall of Venice, the island passed briefly under France and Russia, then became a British protectorate from 1815 to 1864, the year of its union with the Kingdom of Greece. Even Kalamaki, though it remained a marginal village compared to the island's capital, benefited from these decades of exchange: the local farming families sold currants to English merchants, shipped from the port of Zakynthos to the markets of Northern Europe.
The 1953 earthquake and the birth of seaside tourism
On 12 August 1953 a sequence of earthquakes devastated the Ionian Islands, and Zakynthos was among the hardest hit: within a few hours the island's capital, rich in Venetian palaces and baroque churches, was almost entirely destroyed by the fires that followed the tremors. The reconstruction, carried out with earthquake-resistant criteria and in a more sober style, changed the face of the island. It was precisely in the following decades, between the 1970s and 1980s, that the coastal villages of Laganas Bay, Kalamaki among them, began to transform: farmers' houses gave way to small family-run hotels, and seaside tourism became the new economy, standing alongside, without erasing, the traditional crops of the hinterland.
The Zakynthos National Marine Park and Kalamaki beach
Kalamaki beach, over a kilometre of golden sand sloping gently into a shallow, turquoise sea, is part of the Zakynthos National Marine Park, established in 1999 to protect Laganas Bay: here lies one of the most important nesting colonies of the loggerhead sea turtle in the Mediterranean. From May to October the females come ashore at night to lay their eggs, and the sand is dotted with nests marked and monitored by volunteers from the Archelon association. The rules are precise and must be respected: sun loungers are removed at sunset, artificial lights on the shoreline are forbidden, and boats slow down offshore. It is a daily coexistence between tourism and nature that has made Kalamaki a case study across Europe.
Marathonisi and the Keri caves
A short boat ride from Kalamaki brings you to Marathonisi, an uninhabited islet that from above resembles the shape of a turtle and which, fittingly, is itself home to protected nesting beaches: it can only be reached by the traditional flat-bottomed boats, and landing is forbidden in the evening hours. Further south, at Cape Keri, the coastline turns rocky and the waters have carved out sea caves with turquoise reflections, which can be explored by boat on calm days; Herodotus himself wrote of natural bitumen springs seeping from the ground in this area, a rare geological phenomenon documented since antiquity. Keri lighthouse, on a headland high above the open sea, is the spot on the island where the sunset can be admired without obstruction, the Ionian Sea turning red all the way to Cephalonia.
Vasilikos and Laganas, the area around Kalamaki
Immediately east of Kalamaki stretches the Vasilikos peninsula, the greenest and least developed part of the area: pine forests running down to the shoreline, coves such as Porto Roma, Agios Nikolaos, and Banana Beach, the latter known for its shallow waters suited to families. To the west, on the other hand, Laganas is the largest hub of the bay, with a seafront of bars, restaurants, and nightlife that draws mainly a younger crowd. Kalamaki lies exactly halfway between these two worlds and represents a quieter synthesis of both: close enough to Laganas for an evening out, yet intimate enough to remain, by day, a family-friendly village.
Flavours, currants, and the kantades of Zakynthos
Zakynthian cuisine tells the story of the island as much as its monuments do: sartsokeftedes, meatballs in a spiced tomato sauce, are an almost identity-defining dish, alongside ladotyri, a cheese aged in oil, and sweets made from Corinthian currants, cultivated for centuries on the terraces of the hinterland and once the island's main export. Also worth trying is mandolato, a soft honey and almond nougat of Venetian origin, and Verde di Zante, a liqueur made from herbs and citrus fruits. On the musical side, the island gave rise to the kantades, multi-voice serenades accompanied by guitar and mandolin, born from the encounter between Greek folk tradition and the Italian bel canto brought over by the Venetians: they can still be heard at patron saint festivals, such as that of Saint Dionysios, the island's patron saint, on 24 August.
- A boat trip to Marathonisi to observe the turtle island up close
- The Keri caves and the sunset from the lighthouse, among the most spectacular in the Ionian Sea
- A day at the beaches of the Vasilikos peninsula, from Porto Roma to Banana Beach
- An evening stroll in Laganas, just minutes from Kalamaki
- A tasting of mandolato and Verde liqueur in the local shops
- A visit in May-June or September, when the turtles are nesting or the eggs are hatching, away from the August crowds
FAQ
Come si arriva a Kalamaki?
Qual è il periodo migliore per visitarla?
Cosa vedere in una giornata a Kalamaki?
Dove si parcheggia?
È una meta adatta alle famiglie con bambini?
Si possono portare animali in spiaggia?
Getting there
- Aeroporto Internazionale di Zante 'Dionysios Solomos' (ZTH), circa 3 km da Kalamaki
- Da Zante città si seguono le indicazioni per Laganas/Kalamaki, circa 9 km lungo una strada che attraversa l'entroterra agricolo dell'isola; nei mesi estivi il villaggio è collegato anche da autobus locali KTEL.
- In alta stagione l'aeroporto è a pochi minuti di taxi: prenotare il trasferimento in anticipo evita attese nelle ore di punta dei voli charter.
Perfect for
Acque basse e sabbia dorata, ideali per famiglie e per chi cerca un bagno tranquillo lontano dalla mondanità di Laganas.
La spiaggia fa parte del Parco Nazionale Marino di Zante ed è uno dei principali siti di nidificazione della caretta caretta nel Mediterraneo.
Secoli di dominazione veneziana hanno lasciato un'impronta nel dialetto, nella musica delle kantades e nell'architettura dell'entroterra.
Uva passa, mandolato e liquore Verde raccontano una tradizione gastronomica che unisce influenze greche e italiane.
Le grotte e il faro di Keri, a pochi minuti d'auto, regalano uno dei tramonti più ammirati dello Ionio.
To see
