The Nydri pig island cruise is a full-day boat trip from Nydri harbour on Lefkada to Atokos, the Ionian island where pigs roam the beach and swim in the sea. Add more tours in Greece from our list for the rest of your days on Lefkada.
Below you find what the Nydri pig island cruise includes, the day’s times, the Atokos pigs and their beach rules, Papanikolis Cave, Kastos and Kalamos, Skorpios and what to bring for the day.
What does the Nydri pig island cruise include?
The Nydri pig island cruise is a full-day boat trip run by the operator Nidri Star. Its listing includes a visit to Papanikolis Cave and swimming at Atokos. It adds a visit to Kastos and Kalamos with swimming, and swimming near Skorpios Island.
The base of the day is the full-day cruise itself, which the listing places in the Ionian Islands. Two hosts, Tony and Stevey, lead the day on board. The listing counts their commentary and stories as part of the trip. It also says the cruise has more than one swimming stop and that an experienced local crew runs the boat.
Swimming is the core of the Nydri pig island cruise. Three of the five includes lines name swimming: at Atokos, at Kastos and Kalamos, and near Skorpios Island. The other two lines are the full-day cruise and the cave visit.
Lunch is part of the cruise when you pre-book it. The listing calls it a traditional Greek lunch, freshly prepared. In short, the Nydri pig island cruise covers the boat day, the cave visit and the swim stops. Lunch and the VIP upgrade are options you add.
An optional upgrade, called VIP All-Inclusive, sits on top of the standard cruise. The listing names four extras:
- reserved sunbeds;
- unlimited drinks, with beer, wine and soft drinks named;
- priority access to Piggy Beach;
- waiter service on board.
Infants are free of charge on the Nydri pig island cruise. They do not get a sunbed, lunch or the drink package. The listing calls these paid extras on the boat. A cancellation made at least 24 hours before the start costs nothing. You can change your plans early without a loss.
How long is the Nydri pig island cruise, and when does the boat leave?
The Nydri pig island cruise lasts 8 hours. The listing gives the departure at 09:15 from Nydri port and the return at 17:15. The boat is back in the late afternoon.
Nydri port is the only departure point the listing names. It adds that the location depends on the option you book. The details show when you check availability. The listing also states 09:15 in its trip notes and tells you to check availability for the starting times. Read both before you plan your morning.
From 09:15 to 17:15 is exactly eight hours, which matches the length the listing gives. The Nydri pig island cruise is a full-day trip. The whole eight hours count from the departure to the return, and the swim stops sit inside that time.
The includes block of the listing sets out the day one stop after another:
- the visit to Papanikolis Cave;
- swimming at Atokos;
- the visit to Kastos and Kalamos, with swimming;
- swimming near Skorpios Island.
Treat that row as the list of what the day offers. The listing gives no swim time for each stop. It also gives no timetable that fixes the order. Plan around the full eight hours of the Nydri pig island cruise. Do not count on one set stop at one set time.
What is Atokos, the island where the pigs live?
Atokos is a small, uninhabited Greek island in the Ionian Sea, off the coast of Acarnania. The Nydri pig island cruise includes swimming at Atokos, the island the listing names for its swimming pigs.
Atokos belongs to the Echinades, also called the Echinean Islands. It covers 4.7 square kilometres, and its highest point reaches 334 metres. The island lies 9 kilometres north-east of Ithaca and 8 kilometres south-west of Kastos. It sits just north-east of the shipping and ferry channel between Brindisi in Italy and Patras.
Wikipedia says safe mooring is available only in calm weather, at one of two anchorages. One House Bay is on the east coast, and Cliff Bay is on the south coast. Visitors are allowed to land. A short path from One House Bay leads to a small chapel with an open door.
The Nydri pig island cruise sails from Lefkada, yet Atokos is administered by the municipality of Ithaca. It is a private island, and Wikipedia names its owner as the shipping magnate Panayiotis Tsakos. The island also lies inside a Natura two thousand area. A locked but habitable two-storey house gives One House Bay its name.
Nobody lives on Atokos, and goats roam freely there. Wikipedia says a shepherd appears to visit the flock every fourth day. It also says the island has become remarkable because of the wild boars that roam its beaches. They sometimes swim in the sea. The listing for the Nydri pig island cruise calls the animals swimming pigs instead.
What are the rules for the pigs on Atokos beach?
The listing for the Nydri pig island cruise gives five rules for the beach at Atokos. Do not touch the pigs, and do not feed them. Do not crowd them, do not smoke, and leave your bag off the beach.
The operator behind the Nydri pig island cruise says it takes animal welfare seriously. For that reason, you must follow its instructions while you stand on the beach at Atokos. The listing numbers the five rules one to five and places them in its know-before-you-go notes.
Rule one says you must not touch any of the pigs. Rule two says you must not feed them, and you must not take any food to the beach. On a Nydri pig island cruise, hands stay off the animals and food stays away from the sand.
Rule three is about space. You must not surround the pigs, chase them or crowd them. Instead, the listing asks guests to use the whole beach rather than gather around the animals. Every guest on the Nydri pig island cruise must follow these instructions at Atokos.
Rule four bans smoking on the beach at Atokos. Rule five says no bags are permitted on the beach, because there is wildlife on the beach. Together, the rules cover touching, feeding, crowding, smoking and bags. So a Nydri pig island cruise means a beach visit without a bag and without a cigarette.
What is Papanikolis Cave on Meganisi?
Papanikolis Cave is a large sea cave on Meganisi, an Ionian island beside Lefkada. The Nydri pig island cruise lists a visit to the cave in its includes block, next to the swim stops.
A Lefkada tourism page gives the size. The cave is 120 metres long and 60 metres wide, or 23 metres wide at its narrowest part. The entrance is very big, and the roof is 30 metres high. The same page names stalactites and sparkling water inside, and says boats still shelter there in bad weather.
The cave on the Nydri pig island cruise carries the name of a Greek submarine. The same page repeats a story: the submarine Papanikolis used the cave as a base in the Second World War. Wikipedia says the submarine survived the war. Its conning tower is on display in the Hellenic Maritime Museum at Piraeus.
The Nydri pig island cruise listing gives the cave as a visit. It does not say whether the boat enters the cave. Another cruise operator says its own boat sails inside, but that is its offer, not a promise of this tour.
Meganisi itself lies immediately east-southeast of Lefkada, and its Greek name means big island. It has three villages: Katomeri, Vathy and Spartochori. A car ferry links Vathy and Spartochori with Lefkada. Wikipedia says researchers, including Wilhelm Dörpfeld, believe Meganisi was Krocylea. Krocylea is a Homeric island, part of the kingdom of Odysseus.
What are Kastos and Kalamos, the islands of the swim stops?
Kastos and Kalamos are two Ionian islands east of Lefkada, close to the Greek mainland. Both belong to the municipality of Lefkada. The Nydri pig island cruise lists a visit to both islands, with swimming.
Kastos is the smaller of the two islands on the Nydri pig island cruise. It is 7 kilometres long from north to south and 800 metres wide. Its highest point is 142 metres. The island has one village, also called Kastos, on the east coast. About 40 people live there, working mainly in tourism and fishing.
Two churches stand on Kastos. Agios Ioannis Prodromos, in the village centre, has wall paintings by the painter Spyridon Gazis. The island has a mini-market, three bars, four restaurants and a small gift shop, all open in summer. Two harbours serve boats, and one lies in Sarakiniko bay.
The Nydri pig island cruise pairs Kastos with Kalamos, the larger island. A deep channel separates the two. Kalamos is mountainous, and its highest point is 754 metres above sea level. About 500 people live there in winter, and tourists swell the number in summer. A regular ferry links the island with Mytikas on the mainland.
The name Kalamos means reed in Greek, and in antiquity the island was called Karnos. Its port town, also named Kalamos, has 454 residents and lies on the east coast. The island sits in the core of the inner Ionian marine protected area, the largest marine protected area in Greece.
Both islands have villages, harbours and churches. So a visit on the Nydri pig island cruise is a visit to living places, not empty shores.
What is Skorpios, the island you swim near?
Skorpios is a private island off the western coast of Greece, in the Ionian Sea, just east of Lefkada. It belongs to the municipality of Meganisi, in the Lefkada regional unit. The Nydri pig island cruise lists swimming near Skorpios Island among its inclusions.
Wikipedia describes an irregular shape, with main axes of about 1,500 metres and 1,000 metres. The island covers 83.2 hectares, and its highest point is 81 metres above the sea. On it stand three residences, a landing pad for helicopters and a boat quay. Its smaller islet is Sparti. Wikipedia also calls Skorpios a protected area.
Skorpios is known as the private island of the Greek shipping billionaire Aristotle Onassis. He was born in Smyrna, in the Ottoman Empire. His shipping fleet eventually exceeded seventy vessels. He married Jacqueline Kennedy, the widow of President John F. Kennedy, on the island on 20 October. Onassis is buried there beside his son Alexander and his sister Artemis.
Forest covers the island from south to north. Wikipedia says Onassis brought in over 200 varieties of trees for a nearly barren island. East Beach is his work, built with sand from Salamis Island. In the north bay he built harbour facilities for his yacht, the Christina O. After his death the island passed to his daughter Christina.
The island is private, and the listing words this stop as a swim near it. Another cruise operator in Nydri ends its own route with a sail around Skorpios. Its tour leader tells the island’s history and stories. Skorpios is not the pig island. The Nydri pig island cruise meets the pigs on Atokos, a separate island.
What do you wear and bring on the Nydri pig island cruise?
The Nydri pig island cruise listing names six things to bring. They are swimwear, a towel, sunglasses, a hat, a camera and sunscreen. The listing also asks for money to spend at the bar on board.
Swimwear and a towel are the base of your kit. The listing repeats both in its notes for the day. Sunglasses, a hat and sunscreen are the sun kit. A camera is on the list too. The sea and the islands of the Nydri pig island cruise give you plenty to photograph.
The listing itself names no shoes. In a public reply to a guest, the operator calls coral shoes a good tip for the rocky swimming spots.
The Nydri pig island cruise also asks you to bring money for anything from the bar on the day. Another cruise operator in Nydri asks its own guests for swimwear, a towel and sunscreen. It adds drinking water and snacks if they like. Check your own booking for what the boat provides.
Leave no litter on the Nydri pig island cruise: the listing’s “Not allowed” list names littering. Read the Atokos beach rules above before you pack, because they limit what you take ashore. The listing also says the location varies with the option you book, so check availability for details.
What else do travellers ask about the Nydri pig island cruise?
Where is Nydri, the starting town of the Nydri pig island cruise?
Nydri is a town on the eastern coast of Lefkada, in the municipal unit of Ellomenos. Greek National Road 42 passes through it, and Wikipedia calls Nydri a popular tourist town.
Another Wikipedia page names Nidri as the largest resort on the island. It sits in a sheltered spot, with views across to Skorpios, Meganisi and the Greek mainland. So the Nydri pig island cruise starts in that resort.
Can you drive to Lefkada?
Yes. Lefkada, the island of the Nydri pig island cruise, lies in the Ionian Sea on the west coast of Greece. A long causeway and a floating bridge join it to the mainland. Wikivoyage says the bridge moves aside every hour on the hour to let yachts cross.
The island is 35 kilometres long and 15 kilometres wide. The mountain Stavrota, in the middle of the island, rises to 1,158 metres.
What is Madouri, the islet opposite Nydri?
Madouri is a Greek islet with no residents, only 700 metres from the east coast of Lefkada. It lies opposite Nydri, so it faces the town where the Nydri pig island cruise begins. The islet is heavily forested and about 400 metres across.
Skorpios, Skorpidi and Sparti are its neighbours in the sea in front of Nydri. The Valaoritis family holds Madouri. The 19th-century poet Aristotelis Valaoritis grew up there, and its mansion was his home. The villa was also the main location of Billy Wilder’s film Fedora.
What are the Echinades, and which region do they belong to?
The Echinades are a group of islands in the Ionian Sea. Wikipedia says the group has three clusters. The Drakoneres lie in the north, the Modia in the middle and the Ouniades in the south. The name comes from the echinus, or sea urchin, because the islands have sharp, prickly outlines.
Today the group belongs to two regional units, Ithaca and Cephalonia, inside the Ionian Islands region. That region is the smallest by area of the thirteen regions of Greece. It covers 2,307 square kilometres, and its seat is Corfu.
What do Ithaca and Odysseus have to do with the Nydri pig island cruise?
Ithaca is a Greek island off the north-east coast of Kefalonia. Wikipedia says modern Ithaca is generally identified with Homer’s Ithaca, the home of Odysseus.
Nydri adds a twist. The German archaeologist Wilhelm Dörpfeld believed that Lefkada was Homer’s Ithaca, with the palace of Odysseus west of Nydri. He dug at Nydri and found Mycenaean tombs, walls and ruins.
Dörpfeld spent his last years in Nydri and is buried there. The Nydri pig island cruise therefore starts in a town that one archaeologist linked to Odysseus.