We recently booked a last-minute holiday and when we were thinking of where to go, Corfu was our first choice. Corfu is one of our most favourite places in the world and we always have the best time there, so there wasn’t much competition when thinking of a last-minute getaway destination.
Having travelled and always stayed north of Corfu town, we decided to go for a change and try the south. We stayed in the very small village of Messonghi in a very modest and small hotel called Aquarius Beach Aparthotel. Visit it by clicking the link below:
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We got a super cheap deal and really didn’t have high expectations at all as we only paid £150 for the hotel and £100 for flights for two people for 6 nights in July. We just wanted to get away and have a cheap and relaxing break in the summer sun.
We arrived in Corfu in the evening, and it was late by the time we got to our hotel, so we just checked in and went straight to bed.
On the first day of our holiday, we thought we would get out and explore and check out the local area and what it had to offer. Messonghi is very small and wouldn’t take you longer than 15 minutes to walk the length of it, but this suited us perfectly as all we wanted was a relaxing time in the sun. The beach was only a 2-minute walk from our hotel, and we had some very nice restaurants surrounding us that served a yummy breakfast.
We wanted this holiday to just be a relaxing getaway and this town certainly offered this. We wouldn’t recommend going here if you wanted a livelier holiday.
Messonghi Corfu Food
One thing that we love about Corfu, and Greece as a whole, is the food! Moussaka, Gyros, Greek salads … we love it all. It’s always so fresh and brilliantly cooked and after doing our research before arriving we noticed that 3 of the top 5 restaurants in the whole of Corfu on Trip Advisor were located very near Messonghi – so you could call Messonghi a foodie heaven.
The first night we decided to try the top-rated restaurant in Corfu which was George & Elena’s Taverna. This was a short 10-minute walk from our hotel and once arriving we were very surprised. It was such a basic restaurant in very basic surroundings.
When the food arrived, we enjoyed it, but we were not blown away and it certainly wasn’t what we expected from the Trip Advisor top rated restaurant in Corfu.
After seeing such highly rated restaurants so close to us we thought we have to go to try them, and I must say we were very happy we did. The next night we decided to try a restaurant called Archonitko as when we looked through the pictures on Trip Advisor it really stood out to us. Transport is required to get to this restaurant as it’s located high on a mountain (we hired a quad bike which was very fun.)
We booked a table online and were glad we did as this place gets very busy. We would recommend going at sunset as this gives you the best views from the top looking over beautiful Corfu settings! The food at this restaurant was amazing!
The staff were so friendly and for every meal you ordered they would bring out a small free taster dish which we thought was such a nice added extra. After trying this restaurant, we thought this should definitely have been rated above the one we had tried the night before, the setting, good, views and service were just perfect.
When we arrived in Corfu and were in a taxi on the way to Messonghi from the airport, we drove past a stunning restaurant which was built out at sea on a bridge. We thought to ourselves we must try it! After doing some research we found the name and decided to go on our last night of our holiday to make it a special evening.
Kaiser bridge restaurant is located about 10minutes north of Messonghi. We pre-booked a table a few days in advance and this is a must if you want the best seats on the few tables with the best views at the back of the pier.
With the sun setting and the fish swimming around in the sea below us, this was by far our favourite setting we had been to, especially for a couple it was just so perfect. The food was delicious, but the settings and the views of this restaurant are what make it so unreal and a completely beautiful and romantic spot.
Messonghi Corfu Travel
We decided we wanted to travel into Corfu Town one day which was too far for us to walk, so decided to go with the cheap option of getting the bus. The bus stop was right outside of our hotel and the green bus came roughly every hour, running more frequently in the morning and evenings.
The bus was fantastic, it was fully air conditioned and there were plenty of seats, but it did get busier the closer to Corfu Town we got. The route takes you to the foot of the hill outside Achillion palace (Not sure how far of a walk it is from the bus stop but looked quite an uphill walk).
The route also took us past Mouse Island and then into Corfu town with the travel taking around 45 minutes and seeing some beautiful views along the way.
We also decided one day to hire a quad bike from a local seller for €20. The best advice that we can give to anybody who is thinking of travelling to Corfu is to get out and explore more of the island if you get the chance. Corfu has so much to offer and travelling around seeing as much as you can of this stunning island is a must.
We thought that to do this by quad was such a cheap, easy and fun way to do it and we felt safer on a quad than a scooter. We’d highly recommend this method of travel to anybody who wants to explore more of the island but may not feel comfortable doing so on a scooter.
We first travelled over to Lake Korission on the west coast. This has a stunning beach and is very isolated.
We then travelled back to the east coast and went all the way to the bottom of the island, stopping and checking out every back road to make sure we didn’t miss a thing.
Aquarius Beach Aparthotel Messonghi Corfu
We booked this hotel last minute and really wasn’t expecting much from it in terms of luxury, it was cheap and looked nice and clean on the photos and this is all we wanted and needed. We ended up having one of the best weeks we could have had. Sometimes the more spontaneous places where you have the least expectations end up being the best.
The receptionist was called Spiros (everyone is called Spiros in Corfu!!) and was very polite and helpful. On arrival he told us we had an upgraded room from the one we had booked which we were super pleased about. We were expecting a small double room but were given a large studio with a kitchen and dining area and air conditioning, this was very welcome as it was 35c+!
Having the kitchen area was so great for us as we were on a budget, and this allowed us to make our own breakfast and lunch some days in the room as the supermarket was only across the road so this saved us lots of money.
Even though the beach was only a 2-minute walk from the hotel we generally enjoyed staying by the pool, which was so clean, and, on most days, we were the only ones using it! The sunbeds were lovely and comfortable and clean towels were provided daily.
The rooms were cleaned and re-towelled every day and kept to a very nice standard. The kitchen consisted of a hob and sink with plenty of cupboards with plates and cutlery provided. There was also a fridge and slot freezer which was great for keeping bottles of water cool.
Best Things to Do in Messonghi Corfu
- Go to the beach
- Take a boat trip
- Rent a boat
- Rent a quad bike or scooter to explore more of Corfu
- Go to a restaurant for a delicious Greek meal
- Go to a bar for some drinks and a night out
Messonghi Corfu Review
We would like to say how pleasantly surprised by this area of Corfu we were and the Hotel and restaurants we visited were our favourite ever in Corfu. If you enjoy being in a quiet, relaxing area and don’t mind walking or paying to hire out transport then this place is a must visit. It completely exceeded our expectations, and we would love to go back one day!
Please let us know in the comments if you have been to Messonghi or a different area of Corfu before and how your experience was, we’d love to hear more from you about one of our favourite countries!
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I love everything about travel, from seeing new places, learning about new cultures and trying new foods! I believe that travel is one of the best forms of education you can get, I have learnt so much about myself and about the world from travelling all over. Travel is something I feel so passionately about, and I love the fact that we are now lucky enough to have this opportunity to do what we love as much as we can, it’s a dream come true.
Before we started travelling, I worked in local government in administration. I had been in this job for several years and had reached a complete brick wall where I was so fed up, but didn’t know what else to do. The only thing I knew that I wanted to do was to travel, and had wanted to do that for many years.
There were hundreds and hundreds of places on my wishlist that I wanted to go to, and I knew that going on a weeks holiday maybe twice a year if we were lucky wasn’t going to cut it.
After being in lockdown due to the Covid pandemic, and working from home staring at the same 4 walls every day, 2021 seemed like the perfect time for us to take the risk to finally do what we had dreamed of for so long.
It was a hard decision to completely change our lives, but so far it has been the best decision we have ever made!
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