Kouloura bay is one of the many gorgeous and unspoilt beaches lining the northeast coast of Corfu between Ipsos/Pyrgi and Kassiopi, and is easily walked to from Kalami beach in about 10mins. Kouloura bay is owned (I think) by a branch of the Agnelli Fiat family. The family has a beautiful, large villa on one of the headlands and a lovely little harbour for their boats, with extra room for a few owned by local residents and people visiting for the day. Just on the road, about 30m uphill from the harbour is a small taverna imaginatively called the Kouloura Taverna (see separate journal entry), which is a lovely relaxing place to have a drink or ten and a snack or meal. In the bay itself is a lovely but small beach (pebbly), which is shaded the whole way around by cypress trees and an olive grove, and nearly overpowered by the sound of crickets.
Although the entire bay and headlands are privately owned, the public is allowed to use the beach and obviously the taverna is there to be used as well! The beach is a lovely place to relax if an empty beach and some peace and quiet are wanted. There are no sunbeds and umbrellas for hire (although the trees lining the beach are good for shade), or pedaloes or manic watersports disturbing the calm of the bay. The water is as clear and clean as anything, and, as the bay has a rocky bottom, it is brilliant for snorkelling and scuba diving. One warning though - it’s a good idea to wear sandals or other shoes into the water, as we did spot some of those spiky sea anemones lurking around the place, and, apparently, they can give a nasty sting.
The little harbour is as quaint as it is practical. There is a harbour wall that juts nearly halfway across the mouth of the bay and then comes back around, so that the harbour itself takes on a horse-shoe shape when looked at from the road above. The harbour wall acts as a breakwater during the winter storms and protects most of the bay from the storm waves. Thankfully, the harbour is too small and shallow for the larger tourist cruiseboats to dock, which means that even at the peak of the summer, the peace and tranquillity of the area is never ruined.