Nightlife in Lefkada Island

Lefkada's nightlife divides fairly cleanly between two places. Lefkada Town, the capital at the northern end of the island, has the bars; Nydri, halfway down the east coast, has the clubs and the beach parties. Between them sit wine bars, cocktail bars and village taverns where the music is live and the dancing is not staged for visitors.

A Glimpse into Lefkada's Night Scenes

• Beach bars and clubs: mostly a younger crowd, concentrated around Nydri and the east coast beaches, with DJ sets and themed nights.
• Bars and restaurants: a slower evening, generally along the seafront in Lefkada Town, where dinner and a bottle of Greek wine come with a view over the water.
• Traditional taverns: local dishes, classic Greek music, and dancing that tends to pull in the guests as well as the staff.

Top Nightlife Spots in Lefkada

Baccara Cocktail Bar

A small bar in the centre of Lefkada Town and a fixture of the island's nightlife. The neon sign, the lampshades and the velvet seating make it photogenic, but what brings people back is the drinks list and the music.

De Blanck Wine & Champagne Bar

A seafront terrace in Nidri with a wine list built around small Greek producers, taking in organic, sparkling and dessert bottles. The bar runs tastings in the evening, open to walk-ins as well as booked privately.

Taratsa Open

On the port of Lefkada, with an open-air terrace looking over the water. It trades on the view and on well-made cocktails, and it makes a quieter start to an evening than the bars nearer the bridge.

Cubana Ron Y Puro Cubano Bar

In the town centre, with murals, low lighting and wooden fittings. Cuban rums, cigars, tropical cocktails and live Cuban music.

Mavros Lagos

A wine bar in a restored nineteenth-century building in the middle of Lefkada Town, with a garden and Latin music. More than eighty Greek wines are on the list, and the kitchen sends out Greek dishes to go with them.

Xartes Bar

Housed in a 1920s neoclassical building, Xartes is one of the older establishments on the island. Blue shutters, a view over the lagoon, a long drinks list and snacks to go with it.

Karma

Part cafe bar, part club, and open for around twenty years in the capital. The outdoor terrace looks out to sea; later in the evening a DJ takes over.

Capital Club

The main nightclub in Lefkada Town, with a pool, a large garden, regular DJ nights and a long list of spirits and soft drinks. It opens around midnight and runs into the early hours, mixing Greek and international pop.

Lefkada Town: The Heartbeat of Nightlife

Most of the bars in the capital sit along the seafront, so an evening here usually starts with dinner and drifts along the water. The concentration is heaviest near the bridge, where bars and clubs stand close together. For anyone who wants conversation rather than a dance floor, there are smaller lounge-music places a street or two back.

Nydri: A Cosmopolitan Nightlife Hub

Nydri is the busiest resort on the island and draws people who are not even staying there, on the strength of its restaurants, its beaches and the sheer density of venues. Its main road is closed to traffic from the afternoon until the early hours, and the whole length of it is lined with bars, clubs and tavernas. Some of the clubs run a dress code; the beach parties do not.

Traditional Taverns

Away from the bars, the taverns are where the older form of a Greek night out survives: regional dishes, classic music, and dancing that the staff and other guests will invite you into rather than perform for you. It is a slower evening and usually a cheaper one.

Local Festivals: Experiencing Authentic Lefkada

The island's panigiria, the saint's day festivals, fall on set dates through the year and take over village squares and town waterfronts. They run on live music, dancing, locally made spirits and food cooked in quantity, and outsiders are expected to join in rather than watch from the edge. If one falls while you are on the island, it will outdo anything the bars are doing that night.

Nydri's clubs, the town waterfront and the village festivals all sit within half an hour of one another, and most crews work through them in the evenings after a day exploring the Greece coast by gulet.