The bucket-list things to do — and who runs each one.
Here’s the bucket list for your day ashore: the most extraordinary thing to do at each stop, who runs it, and how to book it direct — so you can weigh it against your ship’s excursion and pick what suits you.
In port at Sami, the bucket-list move is Melissani Cave: Private Boat Tour of the Cave of the Nymphs. Below: 2 bucket-list things to do on a Sami port day — worth weighing against whatever your ship offers.
Glide by rowboat through the ethereal turquoise waters of Melissani Cave, where a collapsed roof floods the grotto with shafts of midday sunlight. One of Greece's most otherworldly natural wonders, just minutes from Sami port.
Book itKefalonia: Melissani, Drogarati & Beach Small-Group Tour$75 per person
Sail Homer's own sea to the mythical island of Ithaca, dropping anchor at the wild, road-less Gidaki Beach before exploring the charming Venetian harbour of Vathy. This is Homeric Greece lived, not just read about.
Book itIthaca Day Cruise: Gidaki Beach, Filiatro & Vathy Village$93 per person
Descend into Drogarati Cave's vast concert hall — a 65-metre-wide chamber adorned with 150-million-year-old stalactites and stalagmites of extraordinary scale. Internationally renowned for its acoustics, it has hosted operatic performances.
We have not yet verified a bookable operator and price for
this one, so we are not quoting either.
The emerald cove made famous by the film Captain Corelli's Mandolin, flanked by forested hills plunging into impossibly clear Ionian water. Add a sea-kayak and snorkel session and you have a perfect half-day of active luxury.
We have not yet verified a bookable operator and price for
this one, so we are not quoting either.
Climb to the twin hilltop acropolis overlooking Sami — ancient Same, one of the four city-states of Homeric Kefalonia — for panoramic views over the Ionian Sea and the ruins of a Mycenaean and Classical city few visitors ever seek out.
We have not yet verified a bookable operator and price for
this one, so we are not quoting either.
End your Sami day at a harbourfront taverna where the catch was landed that morning — cephalopods grilled over charcoal, sea bream baked in rock salt, and local Robola white wine poured cold. Pure, unhurried Ionian dining.
We have not yet verified a bookable operator and price for
this one, so we are not quoting either.