ZANTE ACTIVITIES
Horse-riding
Zante is a wonderful place to go riding, and whether you're a Zara Phillips or a complete beginner you'll love the experience of taking your horse along trails and onto sandy beaches and through crystal blue waters. And don't worry, you'll have an experienced rider with you every step of the way.
Biking
Not everyone is into sun, sea and sand, so an exciting alternative is to hire a mountain bike and head for the hills. The best areas are the hills inland from Vassilikos and the central mountain range east of Zakynthos Town.
Watersports
For watersports, head for St Nikolas beach in Vassilikos. You'll find jet-skis for hire as well as a whole host of novelty watersports such as bananas. Zante is also a great island for scuba diving so you might be able to get close to the loggerhead turtles. Facilities are available in a number of locations.
ZANTE SIGHTS
Beaches
Laganas lies beside a 4 kms stretch of sand which ajoins with the resort of Kalamaki, and gently shelves into the calm waters, making it ideal for families. Tsilivi has one of the best resort beaches on the island with a long stretch of golden sand leading into calm waters. St. Nicholas Beach in Vasilikos is very popular, ideal for those looking for a bit of action or to simply relax. Sunbeds are for hire and they operate the best selection of watersports on the island. Porto Zorro is a quiet, secluded beach and if you're lucky you may find the hidden clay pit amongst the towering rocks.
Smuggler's Cove
Set into Zante's southwestern shores, this amazingly beautiful beach is the island's number one sightseeing excursion. Only accessible by boat, it's a dazzling, white-sand cove framed by 100 metre cliffs and washed by ultramarine waters, and is pure heaven for sunbathers, swimmers and snorkellers. Set in the centre of the sands is the massive hulk of a freighter that was shipwrecked here whilst carrying contraband in the 1970s and lent the cove its name. The boat journey here is spectacularly scenic - if you're lucky, you might glimpse the island's famed turtles and dolphins - and if you have a head for heights, you can climb to the clifftop viewing platform to soak up the exquisite vistas over the cove and Mediterranean.
Blue Caves
These magical caves on Zante's north coast below Cape Skinari are well worth taking a boat trip to see. A series of enchanting, small grottoes cut in the steep limestone cliffs by the pounding of the sea, their crystalline waters are an incredible neon blue and electric emerald in colour, a phenomenon caused by sunlight as it refracts on the water and surrounding rock walls. The best time to visit the caves - also known as the Caves of Keri - is in the middle of the day when calm seas allow tiny, underwater particles of sand to tint the waters to amazing effect, creating a kaleidoscope of ever-changing colours. The kids will love it!
Loggerhead Turtles
Zante is famous for its Caretta-Caretta, otherwise known as rare loggerhead sea turtles, which come here between June and August every year. These beautiful, graceful creatures arrive in Laganas bay during the summer to nest and lay their eggs in the soft sands. Classed as an endangered species, they're rightly protected and monitored by the National Marine Park of Zakynthos, which restricts watersports from the beaches along the bay and closes the sands to visitors at night. However, you can take turtle-spotting glass-bottomed boat trips from Laganas and may even get a glimpse of these rare creatures from a pedalo. If you do, treat them with the utmost respect - they've been around for 90 million years and sadly, their numbers are dwindling.
