Banks are open from 8am to 2pm on weekdays.
Shops in Zante Town are open Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday from 9am to 2pm and then again from 6pm to 9pm. On Wednesday and Saturday shops only open from 9am to 2pm and do not reopen in the afternoon. On Sunday shops do not open at all.
Shops in the tourist resorts are generally open everyday from 9am to 10pm, if not later. Bear in mind that in the first weeks of May and the last weeks of October some of the tourist shops may not have opened, and towards the end of October some start to close.
Gas stations are open from 7 am to 10 pm and some are open 24hours a day.
Government offices are open from 8 am to 3 pm on weekdays only.
Luggage Requirements
Every airline has slightly different luggage requirements, generally 20kg per person. Check with your airline before you start packing.
Greek Time
Greek time is two hours ahead of Greenwich Mean Time, an hour ahead of Central European Time and seven hours ahead of Eastern Standard Time.
Using the Telephone in Zante
There are telephone boxes in most of the resorts, and plenty around Zakynthos Town. You need to purchase a prepaid phone card from one of the local stores to use these phones.
Alternatively, you can normally use the phone in your hotel room. Make sure you find out the cost of calling the UK before you use the hotel phone as you might find it is much cheaper to use a local phone booth.
To reach the UK from Greece dial 0044 followed by the local UK telephone number.
Postal Service in Zakynthos
The main Zante post office is located in the centre of Zante Town. Most of the locals will help to point you in the right direction.
Signs denoting post offices and post boxes in Greece are usually bright yellow with blue writing.
What is the travel time by bus from Athens to Zakynthos?
KTEL buses depart from Kifisos central bus station in Athens throughout the day. Travel time is approximately four hours between Kilini harbour and the Athens bus station. The boat between Zante and Kilini is approximately one hour and fifteen minutes.
So the total duration of the bus trip is around five hours, allow for some fluctuation depending on traffic in Athens.
Are there direct ferries from Italy?
Ferry Boats sail daily from Ancona, Bari and Brindisi to Patras. It is then a fifty minute drive to Killini harbour, followed by an hour and fifteen minute ferry boat ride to Zakynthos.
What is the flying time from the UK to Zante?
Direct flights, from most UK airports take about three and a half hours to Zakynthos (Zante) airport.
What is the flying time from Athens to Zante?
For many international and European destinations outside of the UK, the easiest way to get to Zakynthos is to fly to Athens and take a connecting flight to Zakynthos with Olympic Airways or Aegean.
There are daily flights into Zante from Athens, often in the summer months flights are even more frequent.
The flying time is approximately fifty minutes from tarmac to tarmac.