Myrtos Beach

Myrtos is the image on half of Greece's travel posters: an arc of white pebbles roughly 800 metres long, pinned between sheer green-and-grey cliffs on Kefalonia's northwest coast, with water that grades from swimming-pool turquoise to deep Ionian blue in a few strokes. The famous photograph is taken from the viewpoint on the Divarata road before you even descend - stop there first, because from above the beach performs its full geometry. The descent itself is a tight ribbon of hairpins that delivers you to smooth white stones (marble-bright, sand-free) and a sea that shelves quickly into serious depth. Afternoon is Myrtos's hour, when the western sun fills the amphitheatre of cliffs and the sunsets go molten; mornings leave much of the beach in shadow and are correspondingly calmer.

What you actually see

• The road viewpoint - the classic aerial composition from the cliff bend.
• The white pebble arc - some 800 metres of bright stones and blue gradient.
• The cliff amphitheatre - walls rising sheer behind the strand.
• The sunset - the west-facing bay at full molten volume.

When to go

June to September for settled swimming weather; afternoon for sun on the beach and evening for the sunset. Early season and late season trade facilities for solitude.

Honest expectations

It is pebbles, not sand - water shoes save your soles - and the sea deepens fast with occasional swell and undertow, so keep children close and respect rough days. Natural shade is nearly zero and summer afternoons fill the parking; the beach's scale absorbs the crowd better than the road does.

Nearby

Assos village on its peninsula, Fiskardo's harbour and the Melissani cave beyond Sami.