Corfu (Kérkyra) tide times

Corfu (Kérkyra) is the northernmost of the main Ionian Islands, sitting in the channel between northwestern Greece and Albania. The island is long and narrow — 61 km from north to south, 4–30 km wide — oriented roughly north-northwest to south-southeast. The Corfu Channel, the passage between the island's eastern coast and the Albanian mainland (at its narrowest approximately 3 km wide), is the main maritime corridor for vessels moving between the Adriatic and the southern Ionian Sea. Most ferry traffic — including the daily routes to the Italian ports of Brindisi, Bari, Ancona, and Venice — passes through this channel.

Corfu has the largest tidal range in Greek waters. The mean range in the Corfu Channel runs 0.4–0.6 m, significantly higher than the near-zero tides of the Aegean or the central Mediterranean. This elevated range is a consequence of the channel's orientation and its position relative to the Adriatic's tidal resonance: tidal energy from the northern Adriatic propagates south and amplifies slightly in the restriction of the Corfu Channel. The tidal current through the narrowest section runs at 0.5–1.0 knots at mid-tide ebb and flood, with the ebb running south-southeast and the flood north-northwest. The Hellenic Navy Hydrographic Service (HNHS) publishes official tide tables for Kérkyra port; TideTurtle uses Open-Meteo Marine modelled data (±45 min, ±0.2–0.3 m accuracy) as the display source.

Kérkyra town (Corfu Town) is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, listed for the Venetian-era fortifications and the urban fabric of the old town. The New Fortress and the Old Fortress frame the harbour; the Liston — a Venetian-era arcade along the Esplanade — is the social spine of the old town. The Old Fortress occupies a rocky promontory on the eastern edge of the town, projecting into the Corfu Channel; its seaward walls drop directly to the sea, and the tidal range here is sufficient to leave a visible tide mark on the masonry at the base of the foundations. At low water (0.3–0.4 m below mean in a normal tidal cycle), the rock bench at the base of the Old Fortress is partially exposed — enough to walk along in calm conditions.

The Corfu Channel crossing is monitored by the Albanian and Greek coastguards. The channel is deep — minimum charted depth is 18 m — so the tidal range has no effect on vessel passage. The tidal current is the relevant variable for small boat operators: kayaks, sailing dinghies, and RIBs transiting the channel benefit from timing the departure to use the flood or ebb current. A 1.0-knot current over a 2-hour crossing adds or subtracts 2–3 km of distance made good, which is significant in a sea kayak.

The beaches of the northwest coast — Paleokastritsa, Glyfada, Agios Gordios — face the open Ionian Sea and are exposed to long-period Atlantic swell that wraps around the northwest tip of the island. In summer, when the Meltemi wind system dominates the Aegean, a residual southwesterly swell persists along the Ionian coast. The northwest beaches see 0.5–1.0 m of surf periodically, which is unusual for the Mediterranean and gives them a surfing and boogie-boarding season in late September–October when swell frequency increases. The tidal range on the exposed Ionian coast is similar to the channel side: 0.4–0.6 m.

The interior of Corfu is unusual for a Greek island: high olive groves, cypress trees, and a verdant, damp landscape produced by winter rainfall totals of 1,200 mm or more — the highest of any Greek island and a direct consequence of the wet Adriatic weather systems that track south through the channel in winter. The island was under Venetian control from 1386 to 1797 and the architectural and cultural imprint of that occupation is total: the fortifications, the cricket pitch on the Esplanade (introduced by the British in the 1800s), the coumquat liqueur production, and the density of olive trees all date from or were accelerated by these occupations.

For diving, the Corfu coast offers wall dives off the northwest headlands, cave systems in the limestone, and anchor chain sites from ancient vessels recorded in the offshore sediment surveys. The Ionian University runs a coastal monitoring programme; the data feed contributes to the HNHS tidal record. Sea temperature in summer runs 26–28°C; in winter the channel water drops to 14–16°C.