Join a walking, bike, or driving tour of Corfu to take in the town’s vibrant Spianada, or visit on your own as part of a hop-on-hop-off bus tour of Corfu’s highlights. As you stroll through the expanse, be sure to admire the Royal Palace of Corfu (also called the Palace of St. Michael and St. George) at one end—today home to the Museum of Asian Art—as well as the Peristyle of Maitland, a circular monument honoring the first English Commissioner Thomas Maitland in the early 1800s. The Venetian citadel known as the Liston, notable for its covered arcade, runs along the edge of the square facing the old town, and a significant part of Spianada is taken up by a cricket field, a sport made popular on the island during British rule in the early 19th century.
The Spianada is set between Corfu’s old town and the Old Fortress, and is easy to reach on foot or via hop-on-hop-off bus from the top attractions in the city. Visit as part of a walking, bike, or driving tour of the city or explore on your own on foot.
The square is thick with locals and tourists from morning to night, though is particularly pleasant to visit in the cooler hours of the early morning or late afternoon. Pair a stroll through the square with an evening aperitif in one of the cafés at the nearby Liston.
Lining the northern half of the Spianada, the Liston arcade was built by the French during the 19th-century Napoleonic occupation of Corfu and its portico hosts a number of fashionable cafés and restaurants that open to both the Spianada square and to Kapodistriou on the opposite side of the building.