Corfu is one of Greece's green, bitey islands. Its disease picture stays low.

Yes, more than on most Greek islands. Corfu is green, and its olive groves, gardens and coastal lagoons keep mosquitoes busy all summer, with the tiger mosquito adding daytime bites. The disease picture is low. Corfu had no human West Nile case in 2023–2026, even in Greece's record 2026 season, and the disease to know about is leishmaniasis, spread by sand flies at night.

A green island, day and night

The Ionian Islands get far more rain than the Aegean, about 39 inches (1,000 mm) a year against 24 inches (600 mm), and that keeps Corfu green and its mosquitoes in business from May to October. Three biters share the work. The tiger mosquito, first recorded in Greece on Corfu and in Thesprotia on the mainland in 2003–2004, bites by day in gardens, olive groves and shade, mostly at the ankles. House mosquitoes come out at dusk and bite through the night in rooms with open windows. Sand flies, tiny and silent, bite from dusk to dawn.

The Korission lagoon, behind the dunes of Issos Beach on the southwest coast, has the island's worst reputation. Visit by day and leave the lagoon edge before sunset, or cover up. Elsewhere, bites vary from one resort and one summer to the next, and a cruise-day walk through Corfu Town's stone old town tends to be light.

Make repellent a daily habit, once in the morning for the tiger mosquito and again before dusk for house mosquitoes and sand flies. Close the shutters at dusk and run the plug-in vaporizer most rooms supply, or pick a room with screens or air conditioning. Our picaridin vs. DEET comparison helps you choose the spray.

West Nile and leishmaniasis

West Nile, spread by Culex house mosquitoes in the evening and at night, had its worst season on record in Greece in 2026. The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) counted 457 locally acquired cases as of October 21, centered on Athens and Attica, and 46 deaths as of October 7. Corfu had no human case listed in 2023, 2024, 2025 or 2026, and neither did Zakynthos or Kefalonia and Ithaca. Lefkada is the Ionian exception, with 6 cases in 2024, 2 in 2025 and 1 probable case in 2026, and the mainland around Preveza had a few each year from 2023 to 2025. Most infections cause no symptoms, and older travelers face the most risk of severe illness.

Leishmaniasis is what sets the Ionian apart. The parasite travels on sand flies, and CDC's Greece page lists it with the advice to avoid bug bites. It is endemic across Greece, and a 2024 review placed the Ionian Islands among the regions with the highest rates of visceral leishmaniasis, the form that affects internal organs, from 2004 to 2021. Dogs are the main reservoir. Older nationwide surveys found antibodies in about half the dogs tested on Corfu, and on Paxos a study published in 2020 found the highest rate of the four islands it sampled. The risk to a visitor is likely low, and the evening repellent and closed room that handle mosquitoes cover sand flies too.

Greece has no local dengue, chikungunya or Zika. CDC lists no malaria medicine, and the yellow fever vaccine is neither recommended nor required.

Where you're going

How the main stops compare for a June–September trip.

The Greece briefing covers the Cyclades and Crete, and our Athens briefing covers the city where West Nile hit hardest in 2026. Taking the ferry across? See the Albania briefing.

What travelers report

Paraphrased from TripAdvisor reviews and forum threads and linked so you can read them in full. None gives a year, and Corfu bites vary a lot with the spot and the evening.

• Issos Beach (Korission Lagoon)

  A reviewer called the beach nice but spoiled by litter and said the lagoon was a mosquito paradise: they had to hurry along the last stretch beside the lake because the mosquitoes came in clouds. TripAdvisor ↗

• Acharavi (north Corfu)

  Asked whether mosquitoes were especially bad that year, one reply said they are always around and another found them worse than usual; a traveler who had just spent a week in Acharavi using spray and wristbands was hardly bitten and noticed no difference from other years. TripAdvisor ↗

• Paxos (Gaios)

  Asked whether to bring mosquito spray, the reply was simply yes; another poster suggested taking an antihistamine before and after the trip and said they spray during the day as well. TripAdvisor ↗

One rule outlasts the trip. Any fever during or within two weeks after the trip means a doctor visit, and you tell the doctor you were in Greece and which islands you visited.

Traveler questions