Off the main shipping routes, its splendidly mountainous landscape, a meager lure for conquerors, Lefkas is a little discovered but gorgeous backwater. Scholars argue about its status as an island - Lefkas is joined to the mainland by a causeway - and maybe this has helped to keep it off the well-worn 'Greek Island' tourist track. Yet the beaches are sublime, the verdant landscape a delight and the island a paradise for windsurfers and sailors as well as beach-lovers.
In the south, at Vassiliki, reliable winds blow for exciting windsurfing, whilst in the east an archipelago of enchanting islets set in sheltered, crystal clear waters provides truly idyllic cruising grounds.
You don't need to be a sailor to enjoy chugging around this sea since caiques from Nidri, the closest to a busy resort of which Lefkas can boast, run out to Skorpios, Onassis' private island and to Lefkas' near neighbour, Meganisi. Here you can spend a day exploring sleepy fishing harbours, tranquil bays and picturesque hamlets. From the caique you can marvel at the manicured landscape of Skorpios, still kept immaculate despite the near extinction of the Onassis dynasty, and even enjoy a swim from one of its beaches, from which, under Greek law, even the richest man cannot exclude the populace. Even without venturing across the water the views from Lefkas across the dazzling sea, with its flotilla of graceful yachts, to the myriad islands and to the majestic outline of 'Akarnanika' (mainland Greece) are completely mesmerising. .