Sally and Miles hiked the whole trail over six days using accommodation along the way. Here is their very helpful advice from their Facebook page (with their kind permission).
“Having finished The Lefkada Trail we thought it might be helpful to others thinking of doing this trail on a self-guided basis to share our learning/reflections. For those preferring a guided option then contact Grant and Dionne https://www.greekislandwalking.co.uk/ who are knowledgeable about the island and excellent guides.
Our main reflection is JUST DO IT! It’s a wonderful trail and showcases all the glory of Lefkada and its people.
By way of context we are a ‘mature’ couple, either side of 70, who are experienced walkers with a reasonable level of fitness ( we are comfortable up to around 15 miles per day walking in the UK ). We’ve done a few organised week long trails in the Greece, Albania, and Australia as well as self- guided in the UK and Portugal. The Lefkada Trail is very well described and the GPS works fine along the whole trail. Colin has done an amazing job in finding these old monopati routes and mapping them accurately.
The following observations may be helpful:
a) Good trail walking footwear ( shoes and socks ) is essential. There is a fair amount of rocky paths and scree. We carried our kit for the six days but kept it light using travel wash every day as walking clothes dried overnight. We had a hot week ( 30 deg + every day ). In these temperatures you want to be on the trail by 8 am at latest. We always carried a minimum of 2 litres of water each and topped up where we could.
b) Use Gaia or equivalent (Guru GPS may be easiest – Ed) to download the GPS daily routes as this will give you the mapping background ( we used OS maps which only gave us the walking route with no background )
c) We pre-booked accommodation through . https://www.booking.com/
We’d recommend 5 overnight stays at :
- Nikiana
- Karya ( Villa Vostistis worked well for us – 2 nights see below)
- Sivros ( Studios Lefkada again worked well with an amazing breakfast )
- Agios Petros
* There was no accommodation to be found in Eglouvi so we walked the day 3 trail and returned via the downhill ridge road to Karya . There are other routes back and they all make for a great days circular walk.
This plan left us with the problem of getting early morning transport back to Eglouvi for the long day’s walk over the two peaks. There is one taxi driver in Karya called Lefteris ( tel +30-697-921-9262 ) but he couldn’t take us that day so we had to get a taxi from Nidri ( we recommend Areti. She is really reliable. Phone number: +30-693-838-0920 ) Or maybe you could arrange a transfer from an accomodation provider ( its only 6km by road)
** No accommodation to be found in Agios Ilias either so we extended day 4 to Sivros making it the toughest day. The hike over the two peaks is stunning. Stavrotas is quite steep ( and optional! ) and a bit of a scramble . We left our packs tucked away at the bottom of the climb which made it easier!
*** The walk to Agios Petros is then relatively short but we would recommend this for recharging batteries after day 4 and before day 6!
**** The last day is quite long and not much shade. Start early – the end point is worth the walk!
d) There are museums at Karya , Sivros and Agios Petros which may be of interest.
Apologies for the length of this but hope it is of use/interest !”