Preveza

Preveza sits on the northern tip of a peninsula at the mouth of the Ambracian Gulf, in the Epirus region of north-western Greece. The old town is a walkable grid of narrow lanes, small squares and waterfront tavernas, and it makes an easy, unhurried base for exploring a stretch of coast that most visitors reach on their way to somewhere else.

The city's great advantage is access. Aktion National Airport (PVK) lies just across the water on Cape Actium and is linked to Preveza by the Aktio-Preveza Immersed Tunnel, the only undersea road tunnel in Greece. That short crossing puts Preveza within reach of the wider Ionian, and the neighbouring island of Lefkada is joined to the mainland by a causeway a little to the south, making it an easy day trip.

Just north of the city stand the ruins of Nikopolis, the 'City of Victory' founded by Octavian in 29 BC to mark his defeat of Antony and Cleopatra at the nearby naval Battle of Actium. The sprawling site holds Roman walls, early Christian basilicas with mosaic floors and a theatre, and its finds are gathered in a modern archaeological museum on the road into town. The Ambracian Gulf itself is a protected wetland, home to Dalmatian pelicans, herons and one of the Mediterranean's small resident populations of bottlenose dolphins.

Preveza is known locally for its seafood, especially the sardines grilled at the waterfront tavernas, and for a gentle, everyday rhythm rather than resort polish. Beaches such as Monolithi, one of the longest continuous sandy strands in Europe, and the quieter Kanali run south along the open Ionian shore. The town wakes up in summer without ever losing its working-city feel.

Most travellers use Preveza as a comfortable first or last stop: a night or two to eat well, wander the harbour, see Nikopolis and organise onward travel to Parga, the Acheron or the Ionian islands. It rewards a slow evening more than a packed itinerary.