Best Things to Do on Kefalonia: A Perfect 24 Hours

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Greetings Internet Stranger, and welcome to the best things to do on Kefalonia. Kefalonia is not quite as famous as some of the other islands in Greece, unless you are a super fan of Captain Corelli’s Mandolin. But that just means that it’s not as swarmed with tourists, which is all to the good.

I personally spent my day of the best things to do on Kefalonia as a shore excursion from a Royal Caribbean ship. I suggest booking a tour of Kefalonia because it will make it much easier for you to get around.

You can book my favorite tour of Kefalonia by going here.

However, even if you’re spending the night on Kefalonia or visiting with a different cruise ship company, this itinerary should be able to introduce you to the best things to do on Kefalonia.

Let’s go! I guarantee you’ll find something amazing to love on this island of mystical caves, beautiful beaches, and screaming Americans. (That would be me. But more of this anon.)

Best Things to Do on Kefalonia

Where to Stay?

Kefalonia is an entire island, so you can stay pretty much anywhere for your day of the best things to do on Kefalonia. However, if you want to explore, I suggest staying in Argostoli. You’ll be centrally located, and if you want to take a tour around this island, this is going to be the best starting point.

That’s why I recommend staying at the Mouikis Hotel Kefalonia. It has a perfect location right in Argostoli, so it’s a great base for exploring all of this stunning island. It’s also got modern amenities like wifi, air conditioning, and a 24-hour staff, so your stay here will be both convenient and charming.

If you want a great deal on this hotel, click here.

And if you’re looking for great deals on thousands of other hotels in Kefalonia, click here. This search engine will help you find the perfect place to stay for your day of the best things to do on Kefalonia. With hundreds of options to choose from, I’m sure you’ll find something for your schedule and budget.

Best Things to Do on Kefalonia

Morning: Monastery of Agios Andreas

Greek Orthodox churches are some of the most spectacular buildings in the world. Even if you are not Greek Orthodox (I’m not), you can appreciate the majesty of the sacred icons and gorgeous metalwork. The island of Kefalonia is home to several gorgeous monasteries, and you won’t find their exact like anywhere else in the world.

That’s why I suggest visiting some of these beauties the Monastery of Agios Andreas when you are looking for the best things to do on Kefalonia. Look for a tour guide who can take you to the monasteries.

Kefalonia is difficult to explore on your own, so I do suggest booking a tour to get around. This tour will take you to some of the monasteries, as well as the caves that we’ll visit later on our itinerary.

Check rates and availability of the tour by going here.

Then get ready to have an amazing day with the best things to do on Kefalonia. You’ll learn much more than…

Three Fun Facts: Monastery of Agios Andreas

1) Why Should I Visit This Monastery?

Well, for one thing, it’s one of the only Greek Orthodox monasteries I have been to where you can actually photograph the interior. In many sacred places, photography is not allowed out of respect. But our guide encouraged us to take photos, so I assume there’s no problem!

It’s always a good idea to follow rules about whether or not photography is allowed in a place. It’s respectful of other cultures, and it also stops angry ghosts from following you home and haunting you. However, if your guide or other local person tells you that it’s okay to take photos, jump right in!

There is one thing you are not allowed to photograph in the monastery, and that is the relic of a saint’s foot. In medieval times, people believed that the body parts of saints had healing powers and would go on pilgrimages to visit them.

And I think even if you don’t believe in saints, it’s the right thing to be respectful of a deceased human being and their severed foot and not go putting creepy photos of them everywhere.

But do you really need to see a picture of a severed foot on this blog to convince you to go to Kefalonia? I sincerely hope not.

2) Why is the monastery so full of treasures?

It really is full of gold, isn’t it? And yet monks take a vow of poverty. How did this situation occur. Like all good stories, this one revolves around a princess. This story doesn’t involve any frogs or sleeping spells, but it’s still a doozy.

In the 1630s, the Greek-Romanian princess Roxanne decided to renounce the Princess Life and become a nun. My tour guide didn’t say why she made this decision but I assume a broken heart was involved, or possibly her dad wanted her to marry an enchanted frog and she resisted.

In any case, when she moved to the monastery, she brought a whole bunch of treasure with her, which enabled the monastery to obtain beauties like this stunning silver icon of the Virgin Mary you see above. So it all worked out for the best, and I hope that enchanted frog prince found a nice princess/frog to marry.

Princess Roxanne also brought the severed foot of the St. Andrew to the monastery with her, and I have so many questions about that. Why did she just have a saint’s foot lying around? Did she have any other feet hanging around her palace or just this one?

How did she verify that it was a saint’s foot? And why hasn’t Disney made a princess movie about this? I can’t wait to hear Peabo Bryson and Celine Dion duet on the theme song to The Princess with the Severed Foot! (Tale as old as tiiiime! Foot as it can beeee!)

3) What is the Deal with These Frescoes?

So if you’ve ever visited an Orthodox church, you know that one of the most stunning features is the colorful frescoes that cover the walls. But something looks wonky with these frescoes, yes?

Well, it’s not just because they are super old. Somebody did something bad to these frescoes, and as is usually the case with Greek Art Drama, the malefactor was the Brits. This island was actually occupied by the British at the time of the Great Fresco Disaster.

The British felt like the Greeks didn’t appreciate their benevolent overlordship enough…so they took their revenge and covered the sacred Greek frescoes with asbestos.

I genuinely can’t think of anything worse than simultaneously defacing a church and poisoning a whole bunch of nuns with asbestos, unless it’s that story I heard in Providence, Rhode Island about a cardinal being caught in a hotel room with a dead 11-year old prostitute.

And between this and the British Museum stealing the Elgin Marbles from Greece, I feel the time has come to make a movie about the ancient enmity between Greece and the UK. It would be almost as successful as My Big Fat Greek Wedding or The Princess and the Severed Foot. Opa!

Check rates and availability of the tour by going here.

Best Things to Do in Kefalonia

Afternoon: Melissani Cave

Are you a fan of the dark and mysterious? Do you dream of sailing away upon a lake of secrets? Then come to Melissani Cave, one of the best things to do on Kefalonia. You’ll have to wait on a long line to explore the wonders of the underground lake, but I promise it’s worth it.

You will need to be with a tour group if you want to come here because I think it would be difficult to drive from Argostoli here, and I don’t know if the parking situation would be manageable.

If you’d rather visit wineries as well as the Melissani Cave, you can go ahead and book this tour, which has great reviews.

Check rates and availability right here!

I can’t spill all of the secrets of the lake, nor can I spill all the lake’s water, but I can spill…

Three Fun Facts: Melissani Cave

1) Where Should I Stop For Lunch?

The best place to stop for lunch in between the monastery and the cave is the adorable village Agia Effimia. This lovely spot is both a traditional fishing village and a gorgeous place for tourists to go boating and relax on the water.

The novel/film Captain Corelli’s Mandolin takes place on Kefalonia–I imagine in a village just like this one, only with a lot fewer tourists and a lot more Nicholas Cage.

I’m loathe to recommend a specific lunch spot because they get filled up quickly and you won’t want to spend 1000 years here waiting for a table.

Just find a place that has an open seat outdoors, get a refreshing Greek salad with lots of feta and a glass of white wine, and enjoy watching the boats drift by. This view is definitely one of the best things to do on Kefalonia. It’s the perfect little break before you descend into the depths of the cave!

Your tour might take you to a different village, but I’m sure the food and views will be pretty no matter where you are. If you’ve lunched in one little fishing village on Kefalonia, you’ve lunched in them all, as my grandmother used to say.

2) How Do I Get to the Caves?

Again, just find a tour of Kefalonia that will take you here. I think driving here on your own would be tricky and who wants to deal with parking?

You can also just take a taxi from Argostoli, the main city on Kefalonia, but that would cost about 50 Euros one way. It’s cheaper to take a guided tour! And the entrance fee for the caves is cheap–under ten Euros as of this writing.

Once you get there, you’ll wait on a lengthy line to enter, even if you are with a tour, but there will be fascinating views as you wait! That’s because the Melissani Cave was created by water slowly eroding the rocks, creating gorgeous patterns in the walls as it formed a cave.

No wonder the ancient Greeks believed that nymphs resided here. Maybe if you look closely, you will see one. (There are also public toilets, so one member of your group can hold your spot on the line while you use the facilities.)

3) What is There to Do in the Cave?

Aside from the gift shop, really the only thing to do in the cave is ride a boat. That might not sound that impressive, especially as the boat ride is only about 15 minutes and you have to share the boat with strangers.

But how many times do you get to ride a boat around an amazing secret underground lake? How about an underground lake that is filled with sleeping bats? Plus you get an experienced boat driver who is full of local knowledge about the cave.

Just be warned that the boats can be a little rickety. The boat conductor insisted that I stay on one side when we were loading the boat and put three extremely large people on the other side. (I am a fairly petite person.) Of course, this caused the boat to tip over, and I screamed as my tushy rose in the air.

The boat pilot chastised me for screaming, and everyone asked me if I was scared of boats. I am not at all scared of boats, but I am scared of flipping over and showing a whole bunch of strangers my panties. I think all right-thinking peoples are scared of that.

24 Hour Tip

Those are all the secrets of the best things to do on Kefalonia that I can share with you for now. You’ll have to go ahead and book a tour if you want to find these secrets on your own!

Check tour rates and availability right here!

Best Things to Do on Kefalonia

Evening: Relax on the Ship!

In just about any of my other 24 hour itineraries, I’d be telling you where to get the best ouzo at some late night bar in Argostoli or how to find the best jazz in the Ionian Islands.

But since I visited Kefalonia as part of a cruise ship shore excursion, I can just suggest what to do on board a Royal Caribbean ship in the evening.

First you need to kick back with a cocktail and a mystery novel on the deck for at least an hour. This step is very important.

Next, since Kefalonia used to belong to Italy, why not get dinner at Royal Caribbean’s Italian restaurant, Giovanni’s Table?

Start with the decadent baked mozzarella, then move on to the pasta with shrimp. Finish the whole meal off with a cannoli, which everyone knows is the best of all Italian desserts.

Best Things to Do on Kefalonia

Tools For Travel

• A portable cell charger so that your phone won’t die a miserable death during your day
• The best international travel adapter because if you’re American like I am, you’ll need one to be able to plug in electronics
• I always get good advice from Lonely Planet’s guide to Greece, including Kefalonia. They divide the guide into sections by neighborhood, which is very helpful.
• The most reliable travel umbrella that is small enough to fit in my purse, but strong enough to stand up to powerful winds.
• These great TSA approved clear toiletries bags, so I can always keep spare toothpaste and travel sized toiletries in any carry-on.
• My book Get Lost, that I wrote myself with all my best travel tips. This book will show you how travel can take your life from blah to AMAZING!

That’s 24 Hours of the Best Things to Do on Kefalonia!

What do you think are the best things to do on Kefalonia? Are you ready to start booking your hotel in Kefalonia right now? Email me at stellajane@aroundtheworldin24hours.com and let me know!

Note: If you want to know how I put my travel itineraries together, just click here. Keep in mind that while each article is about how to spend 24 hours in a place, that doesn’t mean you should ONLY have 24 hours on Kefalonia.

You can also try a one day in Corfu itinerary. You can also try a one day in Mykonos itinerary. Why not experience the best Corfu shore excursion?