Ionian Islands Sights Caves & castles

Kefalonia Sights: Caves, National Park and Castles

Kefalonia (Cephalonia), Ionian Islands, Greece

Kefalonia's main sights are the underground cave lakes of Melissani and Drogarati, the Ainos National Park, the Venetian castle of St George, the fortress of Assos and the Roman villa at Skala. Kefalonia is a large island, and its best sights combine dramatic caves, a mountain nature reserve and Venetian castles, most of them a short drive apart. The beaches have their own Kefalonia beaches guide. Hire a car to explore Kefalonia at your own pace, covered in our Kefalonia car hire guide.

Cave lake: Melissani
Deep cave: Drogarati (~100 m)
National park: Mount Ainos
Fortress: Assos

The Melissani cave lake

The underground lake of Melissani lies in the so-called blue cave, close to the coastal village of Karavomilos, and you reach it by boat into the caves. The lake was once fully covered, but the 1953 earthquake made part of the roof collapse, and you can look into several chambers. Many objects from antiquity have been found in the water, so it was probably once a shrine to the god Pan. At Katavothres, thousands of litres of water disappear each day into a crack in the earth, travel 17 kilometres under the island and rise again in the lake of Melissani.

The Drogarati cave

The Drogarati cave near Sami is reached by descending about 45 metres into the ground. Almost 100 metres below the surface lies its largest and most beautiful chamber.

Mount Ainos National Park

The Ainos National Park sits on the mountain of the same name and makes for spectacular walks through nature. The eastern part of the park is a bit rougher and holds several rare plants, and one of the trees growing there, a kind of fir, is found nowhere else in the world.

The castle of St George

The Venetian castle of St George stands on a hill in Livathos, not far from the capital, and dates from the 16th century. It was built on top of a Byzantine church, from which the castle takes its name, and it was once the Venetian capital of the island; the 1953 earthquake destroyed parts of it.