Crossing the Issos Dunes to Chalikounas Beach

GoogleMaps Route from Agios Georgios to Kite Club Corfu (Chalikounas Beach):
www.google.com/maps/d/edit?mi...
Entry point into the cedar forest:
goo.gl/maps/MvZvrbrXs6KTxoRF8
Northwest of Agios Georgios Argyrades are Issos Beach and Dunes. The beach is a very popular destination, but the dunes are also interesting with their petrified sand formations and unique flora and fauna.
The dunes are boarded by Agios Georgios from the Southeast, Lake Korission from the North, Chalikounas Beach to the Northwest and the Ionian Sea splashes onto Issos Beach from the South.
It is about 3.5 km long and 700 meters at its widest point with a total area of about 169 hectares.
It is part of the Limnothalassa Korission Natura 2000 protected area on Corfu (natura2000.eea.europa.eu/Natu.... It is quite arid and home to forest of Juniperus phoenicea or cedar trees (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juniper....
Although it may seem simple, crossing the Issos Dunes to Chalikounas can be tricky if you can‘t find the entry to the path through the Cedar forest that ends at the Tayo-Lake Korission’s outlet to the Ionian Sea.
That is why we decided to put together this video and GoogleMap links to help you find the way.
In the description of this video you will find two links to GoogleMaps. The first link is a GoogleMaps route from Agios Georgios to Kite Club Corfu in Chalikounas via the Tayo:
www.google.com/maps/d/edit?mi...
Click on it, assuming that your smartphone has GoogleMaps installed, you will be able to follow the route on your phone.
And this is what the route looks like on a browser on my computer.
The second link is pin to the entry into the cedar forest, but we will get to that in a minute.
The fastet and easiest - in our opinion - way to cross the dunes is to walk along Issos beach as shown here.
After about 1.7 km from the Sandy Beach Hotel you will come to this point where my lovely wife is waving. Note the outcropping and the trees. This is where you make a right turn and head up into the dunes.
As the dunes come to an end, we now you need to find the entry point into the cedar forest. As I mentioned before, the second link in the description of this Videos lists the coordinates of this point:
goo.gl/maps/MvZvrbrXs6KTxoRF8
My wife and I are now at the entry point into the cedar forest.
And from here we move to a first-person point-of-view through it.
The path then leads you to the shore of Lake Korission and if you are lucky, you might stumble on a flock of greater flamingos.
Eventually you will reach the the fishermen‘s hut and the wooden bridge over the outlet.
It took about and hour to walk the 3.7 km the Sandy Beach hotel to the here.
And if you cross over the bridge and continue northwards, you will end up in Chalikounas.
Of course, this isn’t the only way to the Tayo from Agios Georgios. If you wanted to, you could follow the beach until it ends and then transverse the shore to the bridge. We‘ve done it and it takes a long time, but it you are not in a hurry and sure-footed, the rugged shoreline is beautiful.
We hope you enjoyed this video and we would love to hear from you with any comments or suggestions. Thanks for watching!
Notes
First, a couple of words of caution. Crossing the dunes in the summer can be dangerous. Make sure you bring plenty of water and a hat to protect yourself.
Second, in spring and the early summer, there are lots of spiderwebs in the cedar forest. We suggest bringing a stick with you so can push the webs away. If you don’t like spiders, then it would probably be best to wait until the late summer or fall to go into the forest.
Third, traversing the shoreline to the Tayo can be hazardous. We have customers from time-to-time attempt to cross the dunes to our kite station in Chalikounas and it usually doesn’t go well. We had a customer try to transverse the dunes via the shoreline it two summers ago and she, alone, fell, hit her hit and got scrapped up a bit. Once she reached the Kite Club, we took her to the doctor for medical attention. She was pretty lucky.
Forth, this route through the dunes is part of the Corfu Trail.
Fifth, did you catch the three Hellenic Air Force F-16s fly by us while we were on Issos Beach? Here is a link in the video where the first jet flys by: 2:04
Sixth, wear proper shoes -- flip-flops will not protect your feet in the hot summer sand (thanks, Geoff, for mentioning this!).
And lastly, you cross the Issos Dunes at your own risk!