Navagio Beach, known colloquially as Shipwreck Beach or sometimes, Smugglers Cove is located on the west coast of
Zakynthos, up in the north of the island. It’s about an hour away from the capital
Zakynthos Town.
One of the most photographed beaches anywhere in Greece, let alone Zakynthos, Navagio is the beach that’s on the front of almost all the travel brochures for the Greek islands and it’s not hard to see why. This picturesque beach with stunning azure waters, high cliffs on all sides and a shipwreck on the beach itself is certainly unique.
There’s no steps or path down from the hillside to the beach so if you want to visit you need to hire a boat or get on one of the many excursions that stop here. Despite this it’s usually quite busy with tour boats stopping regularly so don’t expect to enjoy the place to yourself unless you can hire a boat and get there really early.
There are tours leaving from
Alykes,
Argassi and other beaches and resorts elsewhere on the island. Usually the cruises offered are a day trip out over the impossibly blue waters of the Ionian Sea to explore the legendary
Blue Caves and stopping off at the shipwreck beach, you’ll normally get a BBQ and a Greek salad somewhere along the way and stop a few times to jump off the edge of the boat to cool off.
The beach itself is pebble rather than sand and has no facilities, there’s no sun loungers, no water sports and no music. You come to Navagio beach to take in the amazing scenery not for the normal beach comforts that you get on the tourist beaches.
If you want to take the usual beach photo from atop the cliffs then head for one of the viewing platforms above the beach. Be extra careful when taking these photos as you really don’t want to slip off the edge and getting that perfect picture isn’t worth the risk so stay behind any barriers that are in place.
Shipwreck cove is a popular place for base jumpers, you’ll find several videos on youtube of people running and jumping off the top of the cliffs here and there can’t be many more spectacular places for this kind of activity.
Also in the area is
Anafonitria village and
Agios Georgios Krimnon Monastery so why not make a day trip and visit those places before or after taking your photos of the beach.
