Porto Timoni from the Afionas ridge

At the north-western tip of Corfu the land narrows to a strip of pale stones with a bay on either side, joining the mainland to a green headland. From the ridge path just below Afionas the shape is unmistakable: two crescents of different blues meeting at a thread of beach. Locals call it Porto Timoni, and it is the one Corfu view that no photograph has managed to make ordinary.

It is a viewpoint frame first. The couple stands or sits on the ridge with the double bay several hundred metres below, and the picture works precisely because they are small in it. If there is time and appetite, the path continues down to the spit itself, where the two beaches give a completely different, sea-level set — clear water, pale stones, no buildings.

The ridge faces west and south-west, so the afternoon rakes across the headland and sunset is the strongest hour of the day; the sea keeps its colour until quite late because the water is deep and clean. Morning is workable but flatter, with haze over the channel. Spring is the pick of the seasons — green slopes, wildflowers on the ridge and a sea that has not yet filled with boats.

Practical: the viewpoint itself is a five-minute walk from the parking at the edge of Afionas, on an easy path. The descent to the bays is another matter — fifteen to twenty minutes down on steep, loose stone, and a harder climb back with no shade and no water at the bottom. In July and August do the walk early or not at all, and keep the ridge for the evening. It is exposed up there, so a dress and loose hair will move.