If you’ve ever been to Zante before you have probably gone straight for the south eastern part of the island. This is where some of the main beaches are, dotted along the smaller and narrower part of the island.

But this is just one of the things that Zante has to show you, if you are prepared to go beyond the obvious and the familiar and explore elsewhere as well. If you head away from the beaches and go diagonally across Zante to the north west region, you will find yourself in mountainous territory instead. Here there are villages which are able to show you a slice of the more traditional side of Zante.

Take Volimes for example, and Anafonitria, which is home to Zante’s oldest monastery. Navagio Beach is also very close to Anafonitria, and indeed you can go to the look out point to get an amazing view down to this famous Shipwreck Beach.

You will remember from the title of this article however that we mentioned the three faces of Zante. We’ve seen two of them already, so what is the third one?

The answer lies in the central part of the island. Sandwiched in between the more rustic and traditional north west and the beach venues of the south east, you’ve got olive groves and lush green scenery galore. Tragaki is a village that lies quite near to the coast, but it has been blessed with many olive groves and is also home to more than one vineyard. Katastari is another excellent example of what the greener side of Zante looks like, with lush scenery wherever you look.

As you can see there are three distinct sides to this particular island. If you are visiting for a week or more you should definitely take the time to explore each area in turn. Zante is much more than just sensational beaches, and it would be a shame to see these and nothing else. If you love to see what an island is really all about, you should make time to see all that it has to show you.