The two festivals in Kardamyli

A long weekend of talks on literature, history and whatever its speakers happen to know, held partly at Patrick and Joan Leigh Fermor's house. Mornings are the talks, afternoons are yours, and it ends with a dinner by the sea.

It is deliberately small, about 400 places, and it sells out. The 2026 edition ran from 1 to 5 October and is sold out with a waiting list rather than extra tickets. If you want it, ask the festival for next year's dates the year before you travel, not in the spring of the year you go.

The opposite in character: mostly free concerts in the cafes and bars of the village, with a basket sent round for donations. It is run with the Sarpsborg Jazz Club in Norway and Bar 1866, supported by the Municipality of Western Mani.

Its dates move. It ran in May for years and its own site gives 11 to 19 October 2026. It is the one thing about this region we would check before fixing anything else, because a week either side of it is a different village.

Both weeks are marked on our availability calendar with a copper dot. They go first, and they go earlier than you would expect for a peninsula this quiet.

If either festival is the reason you are coming, say so when you write to us. We will tell you honestly whether the week is still there.