The Afternoon I Drove to Egremni and Forgot Everything Else
The road sign said Egremni with an arrow pointing down. Down being the operative word. The road from the main highway to the beach descends so steeply that my rental Fiat Panda's engine made noises I'd never heard a car produce. The rearview mirror showed nothing but sky. The windshield showed nothing but cliff.
I was on Lefkada because a friend had shown me a photo of Porto Katsiki and I'd booked a flight to Aktion within the hour. Impulsive, yes. But when someone shows you water that color and tells you it's in Europe and you don't need a ferry — you go.
The Descent
Before the 2015 earthquake, reaching Egremni meant descending 347 steps carved into the cliff face. The earthquake destroyed them, and for years the beach was inaccessible. Now there's a road. I use the word "road" loosely. It's a single lane of cracked asphalt that switchbacks down a cliff, with no guardrail and oncoming traffic that's invisible until you're face-to-face with it.
I honked at every blind turn, like the rental car guy had told me. The sound echoed off the rock walls. Nobody honked back. I didn't see another car until I reached the small gravel area at the bottom that serves as parking. There were two other vehicles — a Greek-plates pickup truck and a campervan with German stickers.
The parking is free, which almost felt wrong given the effort required to reach it.
First Contact With the Water
I walked through a gap in the rocks and the beach opened up. Two kilometers of white pebbles stretching in both directions under cliffs that must have been 200 meters high. Three people. I could see three people total, reduced to specks at the far end.
The water was the problem. Or rather, the problem was that I'd been to beaches in Italy, Croatia, and the Caribbean, and none of them had water that looked like this. It was emerald where the light hit the shallows and a deep, ink-like cobalt further out. The transition between the two colors happened in a line, like someone had drawn it.
I stood at the water's edge and the pebbles shifted under my feet — rounded, smooth, bleached white by millennia of waves. The temperature was perfect. Not the gasp-inducing cold of the Atlantic or the tepid nothing of a pool, but a solid 24°C that made me want to just keep walking in.
So I did. I waded out until the water was chest-deep and then floated on my back, staring up at the cliff face that rose vertically from the waterline. A seabird — I don't know the species, something white — circled overhead. The only sound was the water lapping against pebbles.
I stayed like that for twenty minutes. It felt like five.
The Logistics of Paradise
Egremni has zero facilities. None. No taverna, no beach bar, no sunbed rental, no lifeguard, no shade. The cliffs occasionally cast shadow in the late afternoon, which is your only reprieve from the sun.
I'd packed a cooler bag with water, sandwiches from a bakery in Lefkada Town, grapes, and a beer. I'd brought a beach umbrella that took fifteen minutes to anchor in the pebbles. I'd brought a towel, sunscreen, a book, and shoes for walking on hot stones.
If I'd forgotten any of these things, the day would have been miserable instead of perfect. Egremni rewards preparation and punishes optimism.
I ate my sandwich sitting on a sun-warmed boulder. The bread was from a bakery on Mela Street — the pedestrian shopping area in Lefkada Town where the earthquake-proof buildings have corrugated metal upper floors painted in pastels. The baker had recommended the olive bread. She was right.
The Afternoon Light
Around 3 PM, the sun shifted and the water changed color again. The cobalt sections deepened to almost navy. The emerald shallows turned a lighter, almost Caribbean green. The cliffs behind me began to glow a warm gold.
This is the thing about Lefkada's west coast that photos can't capture: the color of the water literally changes throughout the day. Morning is bright turquoise. Midday is a harsh, bleached blue. Late afternoon brings out the emerald and gold. It's the same beach, the same water, looking completely different every two hours.
I swam again. Then I dried off on the pebbles. Then I swam again. This cycle repeated three or four times. I lost count because I'd stopped checking my phone — partly because there was no signal, partly because it didn't seem important.
The Drive Back Up
Leaving Egremni is the reverse stomach-drop. First gear, the engine screaming, the road impossibly steep. I passed one car coming down — we stopped, I reversed to a marginally wider spot, they squeezed past with approximately 15 centimeters of clearance, the driver waving his thanks.
At the top, back on the main road, I pulled over and sat for a minute. The Ionian Sea stretched out below, impossibly blue. I could see the white line of Egremni's beach far below, now empty — the German campervan and the pickup had left.
I drove to Vassiliki for dinner. Sapfo restaurant on the waterfront. Fresh red snapper, priced by the kilo — about €45 for two with a carafe of Vertzami wine. The sun set over the bay while windsurfers caught the last of the "Eric" wind, their sails bright against the darkening sky.
The waitress asked how my day had been. I said I'd been to Egremni. She smiled in a way that suggested she'd heard this before. "Everyone comes back different from Egremni," she said.
I didn't argue. She was right.
If You Go
Getting there: From Lefkada Town, drive south on the main highway, follow signs to Athani, then Egremni. The descent starts after Athani. Total drive: 40-45 minutes
Bring: Water (2+ liters per person), food, sunscreen, shade, proper footwear, towel, cash (in case)
Don't bring: Expectations of facilities, flip-flops (the pebbles are brutal), vertigo
Best time: Arrive mid-morning to mid-afternoon. The beach is east-facing, so mornings get direct sun. Late afternoon the cliffs provide some shade
Season: June to September for swimming. The road may be closed in winter
For practical tips on navigating the rest of the island, read our complete Lefkada tips guide. If you're exploring more of the Greek islands, Corfu is a short ferry ride away, and the beaches on Crete's south coast give Egremni serious competition.
