Last updated on March 14th, 2023 at 06:29 pm
Where are Benitses Village and the tourist resort?
Benitses is an old traditional village and a modern tourist resort in Corfu, Greece. It provides everything a tourist needs for a perfect holiday, in a charming combination of mountains and sea.
When speaking of tourism in Corfu, this is where it started.
The village is found on the east coast in the center of the island, the road from Corfu town to Benitses is only 12 kilometers long, and 9 kilometers separate the village from the international airport Ioannis Kapodistrias.
Benitses have a traditional part located in a beautiful location, in the middle of a green valley that sweeps down to the sea.
The best sandy beaches which are located on the west and southern coast of Corfu are just a few miles away.
And the old city of Corfu is just 8 miles away, and there is a frequent connection with the city by blue bus. Of course, you can always rent a bike or a car for your transportation.
Perhaps, Benitses is one of the most famous seaside villages in the country, due to the strange and strong attraction exerted on almost every visitor to Corfu that is difficult to describe in words.
Maybe it’s because of the lush vegetation in the surrounding mountains, or the notorious nightlife of the recent past. Perhaps the beautiful history of the place or the shine of the famous first guests and residents in the 50s and 60s. No one can say.
Useful emergency and first aid numbers
Pharmacy
Maria Kontostanou
Tel: 26610 71161
Emergency – Ambulance
Tel: 166
General Surgery
Dr. Dimitris Tsevas
Tel: +30 2661 071204
TAXI Station
Tel: 26610 33811
Police station
Tel: 26610 72222
What is Benitses Like in 2023?
In Benitses of today, the resort with the notorious nightlife is nothing but a distant memory.
Focusing on safety and infrastructure, Benitses offers sea and sun on blue flag beaches and clean air on green mountains. Benitses today is an idyllic lively place, with a great past and future, that every visitor to Corfu will want to discover and share with their friends.
The village has strengthened its traditional color and has expanded in recent years into a large tourist resort in Corfu. After all, it was already the top destination in Corfu during the 60s to 80s
There are many traditional customs and cultural events that happen throughout the summer.
Benitses boasts a wonderful yacht harbor (Marina), a project that, among other things includes a large parking area and has berths for hundreds of private boats, as well as the local pleasure craft and other facilities.
Hotels, apartments, villas, and rooms are ideal for cheap holidays in this wonderful place, which is a perfect marriage of mountain and sea.
Restaurants and tavernas cater to every taste, from traditional Greek cuisine with local Corfu food to pizzas, pasta, and even Chinese food.
Benitses offers a low-key but pleasant nightlife with many bars, most of them around the new yacht harbor (Marina).
Benitses offers a relaxing and unforgettable vacation and is the perfect destination for families and young and older couples. Also, is appealing to anyone who is looking for a relaxing time in the sun, whilst enjoying good hospitality from the friendly and hospitable locals.
Check out this video of Nektarios Spinoulas, here is his youtube channel
Where does the name come from?
Since the 13th century, the area was referred to as Penitisai, a word derived from the Ancient Greek word “Penio”, which means a place that has rivers and is generally rich in water.
Indeed, Benitses is rich in water and used to have two small rivers which reached the sea where the harbor is now.
Later the name Penitisai changed over the years into Penitsai and finally into the current Benitses.
The official name of the village is Benitses in the plural because it refers to a set of settlements or regions.
NOTE: Benitses or Mpenitses is the same place written in a slightly different way.
But the village is more familiar to locals in the singular as Benitsa (Mpenitsa) or Binitsa (Mpinitsa). It’s obvious that there are several variations of the name that might confuse visitors.
However, any way you name it is the same.
Benitses consists of five settlements
1) The traditional part is located between the mountains and is called Panochori (that means “the upper village”).
2) Another settlement around the aqueduct, at an altitude of 50-60 meters, on the slopes of Agioi Deka mountain, is named Vaska (reservoir).
3) The settlement around the old port is called Skaloma and it is the current commercial center of the village, as it holds the most shops and restaurants.
4) The village expanded south through the 4th settlement called Chontrakia or Kontrakia, along the main road to Lefkimi.
5) Finally, the Tsaki area, is the southern and last settlement, and where Benitses ends.
Population and The Friendly Residents
The village’s population is 1,000 residents, friendly and hospitable, most of which deal with tourism.
But in the past, their traditional occupations were fishing, cultivating olives, and citrus fruits.
In addition, another activity of the past was the operation of watermills that produced flour, in the mountainside of the village.
Some old occupations like fishing are reviving now, especially during winter.
Residents of Benitses are familiar with most foreign cultures, hospitable, and friendly. Because they like helping you to enjoy your holiday to the full!
Best Reasons to Visit Benitses
1. Safety, natural beauty, Tourist infrastructure, Shops, and Facilities
There are many restaurants where you can have great meals and a few pubs where you can enjoy a drink. But, Benitses is not the right place for frenzy nights, as the clubs of past decades are all closed.
Compared to the 80s and 90s, there are vast improvements in infrastructure, in accommodation such as hotels, apartments, and rooms as well as in the shops, the roads, and beaches.
Every hotel or group of rooms, small or large, provides free broadband internet access to all customers.
Also here are some of the best for their food quality and flavors restaurants on the island. We could say that Benitses is now a culinary paradise, and these are at surprisingly low prices!
Benitses is also one of the safest destinations, don’t worry if you lost something, even money, someone will find them for you.
The main street offers the visitor every kind of facility, like stores, Supermarkets, travel agencies, tourist shops, car rentals, restaurants, cafes, bars, etc.
The village has also Doctors, Pharmacies, Surgery, Travel Agencies, laundry, Water Sports, etc.
The intense building activity and large touristic development started with mass tourism in the 1960s, but despite this, the village has retained almost intact all its natural beauty. Similarly, the old buildings are preserved, and the village still combines the attractions of both sea and mountains.
2. The clean sea in Benitses
The sea in Benitses is remarkably clean, owing to a marine plant named Posidonia which you may see on the sea bed.
This may not appeal to swimmers because of the dark color. But it cleans the water by filtering toxic substances, heavy minerals, and carbon dioxide. It provides oxygen and also valuable shelter and food for the small fish.
Generally, it is responsible for the delicious seafood available, as well as for the purity of the water.
The Posidonia meadows are green, but when the leaves get old they take a dark brown color. Separate from the plant and with the help of the tides they end up on the beaches which are cleaned after the winter storms so that they are beautifully clean and visitors can enjoy them.
Posidonia is not seaweed as some people mistakenly think, but a valuable marine plant that, grows, blooms, and multiplies, like terrestrial plants. Its biggest enemies are trawlers, intensive fishing, and human ignorance.
A wealthy Posidonia is a sign of a clean sea and a well-balanced environment because it thrives only in the cleanest waters of the Mediterranean sea.
3. What is the beach like in Benitses?
Benitses beaches have improved significantly and have grown in width and length compared to the past decades. They are comfortable and with supportive infrastructures such as lifeguards and are well maintained for the visitor’s enjoyment.
With water sports and above all with the most crystal clear waters of the Eastern coast of Corfu.
These beaches are a mix of shingle and sand, well organized. In other words, sunbeds can be rented, and water sports are enjoyed here.
Beaches in Benitses
Benitses beaches with their crystal clear water can satisfy every taste. Guests can enjoy a relaxing time with plenty of opportunities for water sports and other activities.
There are quite a few beaches along Bentses’ main road.
1. Laopetra beach
Starting with Laopetra beach just at the north entrance of the village, a few yards before the yachting marina port.
Here you can enjoy the tranquility of the landscape as it is the quietest of the beaches with pebbles and a little sand on the edge of the seashore. There are no water sports here but the sea is very clean and the scenery is spectacular as the large Laopetra rock dominates the landscape.
2. The Beach at the port area
Just after the port, or to better say out of the port, there is the main settlement’s beach, with very clean waters and a little of water sports such as skiing and pedaloes or boat rentals.
3. Chontrakia beach
At the area of Chontrakia after 200 more yards to the south, there is the larger beach of Benitses, called Contrakia or Loutrouvia, between Potamaki hotel and Koutsomaroula bay at the south end.
It is the most organized beach, along the main road, with many shops, and several water sports such as water skiing, banana rings, flying paragliding, and more.
4. Small Beaches in the Tsaki area
But this isn’t all, down to the south the wider area is full of small cute coves, with rocky seaside where the green rages. These remote peaceful paradises can be your refuge, so close and at the same time far from the hustle and bustle of the busy beaches.
They are still close to the settlement and are quite many all the way down beyond the Tsaki area, the last Benitses settlement.
Note: All beaches in Benitses have free access.
Sights to See in Benitses
Nature has been very Generous and the village is literally resting on the green mountains, where there are several isolated small churches hidden inside the lush vegetation. For instance Agia Paraskevi, Agia Triada on an amazing knoll, and others.
Therefore conditions are ideal for biking and hiking, on numerous trails leading to the mountainous village of Stavros. As a result, when arriving there you will get rewarded with breathtaking views of the middle and south parts of the island.
The existence of water sources created a river that many years ago passed through the current path of the old village. But the river had to become a road, so the diversion of the river was done earlier last century.
These sources are until today the cause of the aqueduct’s existence. In addition is the reason that Benitses is inhabited since ancient times, plus for the origin of its name.
Some more details can be found on the page dedicated to the history of Benitses.
There are many things you can do and sights to admire in the wide area of the village.
Achilleion Palace
Don’t forget to visit Achilleion palace as it is in close proximity, just three km north of the village center.
The Shell Museum
Also, don’t miss the famous Shell museum, or else the Sea museum, housed in the lobby of the Potamaki hotel.
Laopetra rock
Admire and get some photos of the large rock with a thin base called Laopetra (people’s rock) in the sea at the north entrance of the village.
Roman baths
Don’t forget to take a look at the ruins of the hot Roman baths in the Kapsokavadis family land in the center of the village.
The famous old buildings
You won’t miss some beautiful neoclassical old buildings right on your path on the inner main road, some still in place for centuries.
Mountain paths and Outdoor Activities
Or you can use the plethora of small mountain paths through the lush vegetation, in order to walk between old abandoned churches and other buildings that may lead you to the mountainous villages of Stavros and Agioi Deka.
There are some walking events on those trails, organized by some hotels, ask for them at your hotel reception.
In Benitses you can do many outdoor activities. For instance, you can go fishing, windsurfing, sailing, snorkeling, and almost all watersports. So, if you’re a real outdoor enthusiast, Globo Surf has some great tips and guides for almost every outdoor activity.
Finally, take the small path to the old traditional part of the village with friendly residents and enjoy the exceptional beauty of the area.
Daily excursions or boat trips
You can freely walk inside the vast yacht marina to observe the hundreds of sailing boats and yachts, mooring at this picturesque Benitses harbor.
From here sail daily large and small boats for small excursions-cruises to every beautiful part of the island, or to the island of Paxos.
Book one of those excursions, so heavenly places such as Sivota on the mainland is only one to two hours away.
You can book your ticket for a daily cruise with some small travel agents across the road.
For more details about all the above check the page: Everything, you can do in Benitses.
Large and complete Benitses Map
More maps of Benitses’ wide area can be found here.
This is Your Best Guide to Benitses for 2023
On this website, you will discover everything you need to know about Benitses! All sightseeing, activities, and mountain-hidden treasures, as well as the great restaurants and the high-quality accommodation scattered around the area.
Read our complete cultural guide about the celebrations, events, and festivals in the village.
See a great number of photographs, aerial photos, and above all a unique collection of historical very old black and white photos, showing what the village used to be like, and how our ancestors lived in the past.
Below you will find more useful recommendations for your ultimate holiday experience in Benitses!
More about Benitses
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Benitses: The Celebration of Agia Marina
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Activities of Benitses Cultural Association
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Benitses Festivals Celebrations and Events
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Ruins of Roman Villa with Baths in Benitses
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Foundation of Benitses Football Club
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Benitses History from Roman Times to Today
History of Benitses begins when it was first inhabited,
This was in ancient times and was because of the abundant freshwater springs with which the area was favored… Read More
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