Vathy is the capital and the only town, gathered around its deep bay in the south.
Diagram by Greece Trips. Free to reuse with credit - CC BY 4.0.
This is where the ferries and services concentrate: the shops, the boat tickets, the widest choice of rooms and places to eat, and a waterfront that stays awake in the evening.
Base here if you want somewhere with a pulse, easy connections and the shortest walk to a morning boat.
Why the choice matters more here than elsewhere
Ithaca is really a handful of harbour villages and the winding roads that join them, and where you sleep sets the tone of the whole trip. There are three broad choices, and Vathy is the one that trades quiet for convenience.
Nowhere on Ithaca is far in kilometres and you can drive between the villages inside an hour - but the roads are slow and dark at night. That is what turns “where you sleep” from a preference into a plan.
The shape of the island behind it
Ithaca is really two mountains tied together by a thread.
The island is two hilly lobes, a smaller one in the south and a larger one in the north, joined at the narrow waist of the Aetos isthmus, where the road runs on a few hundred metres of land with the sea close on both sides.
Vathy sits in the southern lobe, on its deep natural harbour. The interior is mountainous and green, and the villages were largely rebuilt after the August 1953 Ionian earthquake - which is why an island this old looks the age it does.
What Vathy is not
It is not a resort, and our own guide is direct about the trade:
If your idea of a beach day is soft sand, a row of loungers and a bar serving frappe to your towel, Ithaca will disappoint you, and it is honest to say so. What it offers instead is clear water, small crowds and the sense that you found the cove rather than booked it.
The easiest swimming from town is Filiatro and Dexa, a short drive from town with room to park. The island’s most admired beach, Gidaki, is reached on foot over the headland from Vathy or by the little boat that shuttles across in summer.
Getting here, and getting about
No airport, and no direct ferry from Piraeus. Almost everyone flies to Kefalonia and crosses on the short ferry, Sami to Pisaetos, about 20 minutes, daily year-round. Pisaetos also takes year-round boats from Astakos and Patras; Frikes takes summer services from Astakos and Lefkada.
A rental car or scooter is how most people cover the island. The bus is a small operation running out of Vathy that links the northern villages on a handful of departures, taxis run around the clock and meet the boats at Pisaetos and Frikes, and several villages and beaches are easiest reached by boat or on foot.
When to come
May to June and September to early October for warm days, swimmable sea and cool-enough hills. July and August are warmest and busiest, though never truly crowded.
Come outside that window and the island turns inward. Many of the small tavernas, rooms and rental outfits close for the winter, ferries drop to a trickle, and Vathy becomes a working village rather than a harbour full of visitors. Spring and autumn give you the best of both, open doors and quiet lanes.
Common questions
Is Vathy the main town? It is the capital and the only town on Ithaca.
Should I base myself there? If you want shops, boat tickets and the shortest walk to a morning ferry, yes. The northern villages trade that for quiet.
Is there an airport? No. Almost everyone flies to Kefalonia and takes the 20-minute ferry from Sami to Pisaetos.
Next
Our Ithaca guide has the crossings and the timing, the beaches sort the coast by effort, and Gidaki covers the one you walk to.