A swimming pigs Lefkada trip is a boat cruise from Nydri to Atokos. Pigs live on the beach of this small uninhabited island. Below you find the island, the route, the rules around the animals and the season. The homepage lists more Greece Tours like this one.
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What is a swimming pigs Lefkada trip?
A swimming pigs Lefkada trip is a boat cruise to Atokos, a small uninhabited island near Ithaca and Lefkada. Black pigs live on its beach and swim in the bay. Visitors swim beside them or watch from the shore.
Atokos lies in the Ionian Sea, off the coast of Acarnania, and belongs to the Echinades group of islands. It sits 9 kilometres north-east of Ithaca and 8 kilometres south-west of Kastos. The shipping and ferry channel between Brindisi in Italy and Patras runs just south-west of it.
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A swimming pigs Lefkada outing ends on an island where nobody lives. Atokos has no hotels and no ferry port, so boats are the only way to its beaches. Visitors are allowed to land. Piggy cruises from Lefkada make the crossing, while the municipality of Ithaca administers the island.
The island is private property, and a shipping businessman owns it. The island lies inside a European network of protected nature areas. Goats roam freely on the land as well. Steep cliffs mark the south-western end, and ships in the channel can see them from the water.
The beach for a swimming pigs Lefkada visit is One House Bay, on the east coast of Atokos. From the beach, a short path passes a well of brackish water. It ends at a small chapel with an open door. The bay is named after a simple two-storey house at its northern end.
The pigs are black and live free on the island. They walk the shoreline in search of food, and the herd seems used to people. Reports call the same animals black pigs, feral pigs and wild boars. The beach where they gather is popularly called Pig Beach.
The swimming pigs Lefkada herd cools off in the sea when the air gets hot. The pigs take a short dip, paddle out into the shallow water and ignore nearby boats and wading visitors. Their natural buoyancy and paddling instinct carry them through the water without effort.
Nobody knows how the pigs reached Atokos, and accounts differ. Local stories give two answers. Sailors left the animals behind, or the herd descends from livestock that swam ashore from a shipwreck. Neither story is proven, so treat both as local lore.
On a swimming pigs Lefkada trip, visitors swim near the herd, watch it from the beach and film it. The island became a travel draw after photos and videos of the pigs spread on social media. People joke about the place as Piggy Island.
A swimming pigs Lefkada booking comes in different cruise kinds. The adventure cruise adds cave visits and island stops to the swim near the pigs. The all-inclusive cruise puts a reserved sunbed, a lunch and drinks into the ticket and includes the Atokos visit.
The island-hopping cruise is a general tour of the islands around Lefkada. Check its stop list for Atokos before you book. Only a cruise that names Atokos reaches the pigs.
Where does a swimming pigs Lefkada cruise start and what does the route cover?
A swimming pigs Lefkada cruise leaves from the harbour of Nydri, a town on the east coast of Lefkada. The route calls at the Papanikolis Cave on Meganisi, then goes on to Atokos. The full day ends back at the Nydri port in the late afternoon.
Nydri is a town on the east coast of Lefkada. In the sea in front of the town lie small islands, including Madouri, Skorpios and Sparti. The swimming pigs Lefkada boats leave from the Nydri port. Cruises to Meganisi, Ithaca and Kefalonia leave from the same port.
Drivers follow the signs to Nydri harbour. Plan to be at the port at least half an hour before boarding. On the Kefalonia and Ithaca cruise, hotel transfers come with the ticket. On the forgotten islands cruise they do not, so you reach the harbour yourself.
The first stop of a swimming pigs Lefkada excursion is the Papanikolis Cave. It lies on the south coast of Meganisi, the island just east-southeast of Lefkada. The cave can be reached only by sea. The trip from Nydri takes about 45 minutes by boat.
After the cave, the boat heads for Atokos. On the full-day excursion it stays at anchor off the beach, and small boats carry guests ashore. The VIP cruise adds a priority transfer to the pig beach. Stop lengths at Atokos differ between timetables, so check each swimming pigs Lefkada booking.
A standard piggy cruise runs on a local-style boat with an upper sun deck, a main saloon and a bar. The boat also has a shower and toilet, umbrellas and snorkelling gear. The ticket for this cruise leaves out food and drinks.
The all-inclusive VIP version of the swimming pigs Lefkada cruise lasts eight hours. Its stops are Atokos, the Papanikolis Cave and the islands of Kastos, Kalamos and Skorpios, with time to swim. The ticket covers a Greek lunch, unlimited beer, wine and soft drinks, bottled water and waiter service.
Nydri sells day cruises with other routes beside the swimming pigs Lefkada trip. The traditional boat cruise with lunch runs seven hours, from ten in the morning to about five. It begins at the Papanikolis Cave and goes on to Spartochori on Meganisi. A Greek buffet lunch comes with wine, ouzo or soft drinks.
The beach BBQ sailing cruise lasts eight hours. Its wooden boat leaves Nydri at half past eight in the morning. After the cave and a walk in Spartochori, the crew prepares a BBQ on the beach. Wine and soft drinks are unlimited. After lunch the boat passes Skorpios, a private island just east of Lefkada.
Other cruises sail further afield. The Kefalonia and Ithaca cruise takes about nine hours. Swim stops are Porto Katsiki and Egremni beaches on Lefkada. Guests get free time in Fiskardo on Kefalonia. On the way back the boat passes Skorpios and Madouri. Food and drinks are not in the ticket.
The forgotten islands cruise also lasts about nine hours. After the cave it swims at Formikoula and visits the village of Kastos. A buffet lunch with local wine and soft drinks is served on board. Then the boat goes on to Kalamos and swims at Asproyiali and Skorpios.
The full-day pigs excursion returns to Nydri at about five in the afternoon. A cruise programme can change with the weather. The swimming pigs Lefkada programme and the traditional boat cruise both carry that note.
How do you behave around the animals on a swimming pigs Lefkada trip?
On a swimming pigs Lefkada trip, treat the animals as wild. Keep your distance, never touch them, never feed them, and follow the crew’s instructions. The pigs can bite, and food from visitors can make them aggressive.
Distance comes first on a swimming pigs Lefkada cruise. Local skippers enforce strict rules that include keeping apart from the animals and not touching them. The same advice adds that visitors never disturb the pigs while they sleep or eat. Above all, visitors follow the instructions of the boat’s crew.
Experts class the animals as wild, not as farm pets. Wild animals are capable of biting and of passing on infection if people feed, touch or corner them. The warning applies especially to sows with piglets. Their instincts stay unpredictable, and the pigs are not a staged tourist show.
Feeding needs its own rule on a swimming pigs Lefkada outing. Tour operators forbid feeding and touching. They warn that handouts can make the pigs aggressive and raise the risk of bites. Visitors offer no human food, and processed snacks and alcohol are named in particular.
Boats do not all follow one rule. Skippers on other boats carry fruit to coax the pigs closer to the water. Visitors swim alongside the animals or feed them. Videos show tourists handing fruit to the pigs, yet that is the habit the operators ban.
Animal welfare is the second reason for the no-feeding rule on a swimming pigs Lefkada trip. From a welfare view, feeding encourages constant scavenging and dependency on visitors. Altering the natural diet can have long-term consequences for the colony.
Health is a third reason for care on a swimming pigs Lefkada beach. Studies of city wild boar and feral pigs show that both can carry germs. These germs pass to people and to other animals. The Atokos pigs have not been part of the same large disease surveys. Any bite or scratch that breaks the skin needs medical care.
Children need extra care around the pigs. The animals seem docile, yet close contact with children calls for caution. A calm look does not make a wild animal tame, and the pigs can still act on instinct without warning.
The beach itself needs care too. On a swimming pigs Lefkada stop you walk on large pebbles that are tricky to navigate. The water shifts from pale emerald to deep sapphire close to the shore. Seagrass meadows cover the sea bed around the island.
Rubbish is the last rule. Visitors take all rubbish back with them, and nothing stays behind on the beach.
- Keep a respectful distance from every animal, because the pigs are wild and can bite.
- Leave sleeping and eating pigs alone.
- Do not touch the pigs. Skippers enforce this rule on the water.
- Offer no human food, above all processed snacks or alcohol.
- Follow the crew’s instructions at every stop.
- Take all rubbish back with you.
When does the swimming pigs Lefkada season run and what do you bring?
The swimming pigs Lefkada season starts in late spring and lasts until the end of September. Midsummer brings the highest heat and the biggest crowds. Pack swimwear, sunscreen, sunglasses, a hat and your own towel, and book ahead, because wind cancels sailings.
Boat excursions from Lefkada start in late spring and last until the end of September. Nydri port is the departure point for the majority of boat trips to other islands and beaches. A climate source puts the beach-holiday window at June to mid-September, which sits inside that season.
The edges of the season are less certain. In late spring and in October, a departure depends on how full the boat is and on the weather. If your swimming pigs Lefkada dates fall in those months, confirm the sailing with the operator before you travel.
July and August bring the heat. Average daily highs on Lefkada reach 30 degrees Celsius in July and 31 in August. The hottest days climb to 35 to 37. Rain is very rare in summer, so a swimming pigs Lefkada day seldom ends in a downpour.
August is the hottest month of the year, and July and August are the two busiest. Early October suits excursions because the heat is less intense. Late spring and early autumn bring thinner crowds than midsummer.
The sea follows the same calendar. A climate source marks July to September as the months when the sea temperature suits swimming. Sea breezes also blow in summer. Heat waves are rare in July, because the island sits on the Ionian Sea.
Wind decides whether a boat sails. In case of wind, excursions from Lefkada are cancelled, and the money is refunded or the date is changed. On one Nydri day cruise, a sailing stopped by bad weather is rebooked free, or the guest gets a refund.
Intercity buses link the port of Nydri with Lefkada Town, Lygia and Nikiana. Every bus in or out of Lefkada Town stops at the marina stop near the harbour. Timetables change with the season and the day of the week. Parking at Nydri port is hard in the morning, when all the excursion boats leave.
Aktion airport, on the Aktion peninsula near Preveza, serves Preveza and Lefkada. Lefkada Town is about 25 minutes from the airport by car. A causeway with a floating bridge joins the island to the mainland. From Athens, the road is about 380 kilometres, and the coach ride takes about five hours.
A day cruise from Nydri calls for swimwear, a towel, sunscreen, shades and a cap or hat. Beachwear that is easy to get into and out of works well. On one Nydri day cruise, beach towels are not provided, so bring your own on a swimming pigs Lefkada day.
During the season, secure excursion tickets in advance. On one day cruise from Nydri, seats are limited, and pre-booking is essential in peak season. For a swimming pigs Lefkada cruise, the all-inclusive version lets you choose a date. You get instant confirmation, with no queue at a ticket desk.
- Swimwear and a towel
- Sunscreen, shades and a hat
- Beachwear that is easy to get into and out of
- A ticket booked for a set date, with confirmation
- A bus time or a parking plan for Nydri port