Corfu - Achilleion

[sandravb79]

Hello all,

 

We will probably do a Med cruise in September/ October, one that has a stop in Corfu.

 

Does anyone know how easy it is to visit the AChilleion (emperess Elisabeth's house/ palace/ whatever you may call it) by yourself?

Is it easy to get there, is it far from the port, ...?

 

We will take this cruise instead of an all-in vacation in Turker, so we don't feel like doing "heavy" port days, we just want to be "kitsch tourists". SInce both me and my mom (with whom I'll travel) are Elisabeth fans, this is one thing we certainly want to do!

 

Thanks for the input.

[Fafos]

Hello all,

 

We will probably do a Med cruise in September/ October, one that has a stop in Corfu.

 

Does anyone know how easy it is to visit the AChilleion (emperess Elisabeth's house/ palace/ whatever you may call it) by yourself?

Is it easy to get there, is it far from the port, ...?

 

We will take this cruise instead of an all-in vacation in Turker, so we don't feel like doing "heavy" port days, we just want to be "kitsch tourists". SInce both me and my mom (with whom I'll travel) are Elisabeth fans, this is one thing we certainly want to do!

 

Thanks for the input.

 

 

Achilleion is 7 miles from Corfu town center.. you can go there with bus (blue bus from Theotoki square, 1.5 miles from port, see map)

 

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=d&source=s_d&saddr=Unknown+road&daddr=Plateia+G.+Theotoki%2F%CE%A0%CE%BB%CE%B1%CF%84%CE%B5%CE%AF%CE%B1+%CE%93.+%CE%98%CE%B5%CE%BF%CF%84%CF%8C%CE%BA%CE%B7&hl=en&geocode=FVWpXAIdq7gvAQ%3BFdqVXAId-OsvAQ&mra=cc&dirflg=w&sll=39.623788,19.911754&sspn=0.011702,0.01929&ie=UTF8&ll=39.625788,19.909587&spn=0.011701,0.01929&z=16

 

 

or with taxi: http://www.ctts.gr/

[sandravb79]

Thank you so much!!

[Ship's Wake]

It's also easy to reach by rental car. You can park on the side of the road near the palace.

 

We arrived around 10am, and it was very busy with cruise ship tour visitors. If you arrive after 11am the crowds should be almost gone by then and will make for a much more pleasant visit.

 

Joe

[sandravb79]

Thank you Joe.

I don't think we'll rent a car. My mom doesn't feel comfortable driving in places she doesn't know if she doesn't have to, and she's not comfortable about me driving either, haha!

We'll take the bus.

 

I want to avoid a cruise excursion because they are usually expensive, and we want to be able to spend as much time there as we want, yk.

[nparmelee]

We rented a car and went to Achillion and then Paleokstra area before going back to Corfu Town. We thought Achillion was over-priced for what it was. It was nice, but not worth the 7 euro/person entry for what you get to see which is basically just the first floor and the gardens area. We spent about 30-45 minutes there, it would be hard to spend more than an hour there. It is easy to get to, parking can be tricky though. The bus can take a bit longer to get there but seems to run fairly regularly. You can also take a taxi if you want to try and beat any cruise tours or other tour groups, the taxis were all waiting just outside of the building where the shuttle drops you off, just agree on a price before you get in.

[sandravb79]

Thank you nparmelee.

I don't think we'll rent a car, bus should be fine for us.

We are "Sissi-groupies", so this is kind of a must-do for us. :)

 

ETA: Could anyone give an indication about how long the bus ride is? Is it like 5 minutes, 15 minutes, an hour? Thanks!

[CintiPam]

Thank you nparmelee.

I don't think we'll rent a car, bus should be fine for us.

We are "Sissi-groupies", so this is kind of a must-do for us. :)

 

ETA: Could anyone give an indication about how long the bus ride is? Is it like 5 minutes, 15 minutes, an hour? Thanks!

 

Well, as Fafos posted, it only is 7 miles from town, so definitely should not take an hour!:)

 

(We only had a morning in Corfu, so we spent it in Corfu Town.)

[sandravb79]

I think I need new glasses, I read over the 7 miles :)

 

I got my mom so far that she thinks she doesn't have to visit all the archeological sites in every port (TG! I ahve done it once and have no intention to do it all over again. i'm going to scream if I have to look at old rocks for more than a day, lol), but there is no way I'll talk her out of the Achilleion.

Besides, I'm a Sissi fan myself. We went to Paris this weekend and on the drive back, we listened to the CDs of the ELisabeth musical :)

 

How is Corfu town? Is it big? Is it very touristy? (i.e. lots of shops?)

[CintiPam]

How is Corfu town? Is it big? Is it very touristy? (i.e. lots of shops?)

 

I thought it was pretty charming, perhaps because the Esplanade seemed so British and really set it apart from some of our other ports. Also, we enjoy old forts, and the views from the Old Fortress at the corner of town were spectacular.

 

The winding streets with shops are very touristy, but we enjoyed stopping at the little gem of a church, St. Spiridon, as well as the old synagogue, both in the midst of the kumquats or wooden objects in every window!

 

Our cruise only had a morning in Corfu, so we decided not to visit other parts of the island, and indeed enjoyed wandering around the town. If we had a full day in Corfu, I would have drive around the island, and spent no more than two hours in town.