7 Day Sailing Holiday through the Ionian Islands from Lefkada - Catamaran Itinerary to Meganisi, Ithaca and Kefalonia

The Ionian Islands stretch along the western coast of Greece in a chain that runs from Corfu in the north to Kythira off the southern Peloponnese, and the central section of this chain, from Lefkada southward through Meganisi, Ithaca and Kefalonia, represents one of the most complete sailing circuits available in Greek waters. The distances between islands are short enough to leave most of each day available for swimming, eating and exploring ashore, while the variety of landscape, culture and atmosphere between stops keeps the week from feeling repetitive.
This sailing holiday departs from Lefkada Marina, the most practical base port in the central Ionian, connected to the mainland by a retractable bridge and positioned at the northern end of a sheltered lagoon that has served as a sailing hub for generations. The marina offers full provisioning facilities, a supermarket within walking distance and road access from Preveza Airport approximately 35 kilometers to the north.
The Ionian Sea in summer is governed primarily by the Maistros, a reliable northwesterly thermal wind that builds through late morning, peaks in the afternoon and drops away toward evening. The wind is consistent enough to give every day a natural sailing window and predictable enough to plan departures around it, but moderate enough that it rarely creates conditions that would compromise comfort for guests with no sailing background. The combination of these characteristics, along with the short inter-island distances and abundance of protected anchorages on the eastern, lee sides of the islands, makes this one of the most beginner-friendly sailing areas in the entire Mediterranean while remaining genuinely enjoyable for experienced sailors.
The islands along the route are layered with distinct identities. Meganisi is a small, green island directly south of Lefkada with a quiet agricultural character and bays that remain calm even when the Maistros is blowing across the open sea to the west. Ithaca carries the weight of one of the most enduring myths in western literature as the homeland of Odysseus, but the island's real attraction is the quality of its silence: deep fjord-like harbours, stone villages built without concession to mass tourism and a waterfront pace that belongs to a different era of Greek island life. Kefalonia is the largest island in the Ionian chain and the most varied, with Fiskardo on its northern tip preserving a cluster of Venetian architecture that survived the 1953 earthquake intact. Kastos, a small island off the central Ionian coast, rounds out the circuit with the kind of unhurried fishing village atmosphere that is becoming genuinely rare in Greek sailing waters.