One of the gifts of staying in the Old Town is that everything worth eating cheaply is a five-to-fifteen-minute walk from your front door. Our apartment sits inside the Venetian walls, which means we live alongside the bakeries, the gyros shops, the municipal market and the back-street tavernas that keep the city fed — none of them are the ones in the guidebooks, and all of them are cheaper and better.
This guide is organised by walking distance from the Old Town, so you can use it as you wander.
The Three Essential Walks
To the Market (10 min, northwest): down to the municipal agora next to the Old Fortress — Corfu's best cheap-food destination.
To the Bakery Circuit (5-10 min, in the Campiello): a handful of bakeries hidden in the Old Town alleys, each one cheaper than the last.
To the Gyros Grid (8-12 min, behind the Spianada): where locals go for the island's best pork rotisserie.
Five Foods Worth Walking For
Gyros Pita — €3.50
Walk southeast from our apartment, past the Spianada, and turn inland. The shops that locals actually use are in the backstreets around Theotoki Street and the New Fortress side of town. A gyros here is dramatically better than anything near the Liston — and a third of the price. Pork is the classic; chicken is a solid alternative.
Bakery Pies — €2.20
The Campiello (the old Venetian quarter behind our building) has at least three neighbourhood bakeries. Spanakopita, tiropita, and — if you ask — a Corfu specialty noumbulopita with local cured pork. Arrive at 7-8 AM, the phyllo is shattering, the cheese still melting, and the older women at the counter will correct your Greek with affection.
Bougatsa — €3
The dedicated bougatsa shops (look for the word bougatsatzidiko or the queue of locals clutching paper bags) sit just off the main shopping streets. Custard with cinnamon is the breakfast classic. Take yours and a Greek coffee to the Spianada bandstand and you've had the kind of morning you'll remember for years.
Market Picnic — €8 for two
The centerpiece of any Corfu Town cheap-eats day. Our suggested itinerary: bread from the market bakery, 200g of graviera cheese, a handful of olives from a wooden barrel, a kilo of tomatoes at the peak of the season, and a slice of local cured Noumboulo. Assemble it on a bench by the Old Fortress; lunch, with a view, under €10.
Loukoumades — €4
One specific back-street shop behind the Town Hall does the best loukoumades we've found in Corfu. Hot honey doughnuts with crushed walnuts and cinnamon, portions of ten. Perfect afternoon stop when the midday sun has driven everyone off the streets and you're looking for an excuse to sit in the shade.
Tavernas the Tourists Miss
The critical distinction in the Old Town is between restaurants on named squares (the Liston, Spianada) and the ones on the tiny unnamed courtyards three streets inland. The latter are where the neighbourhood actually eats. Menu signs are usually hand-written in Greek only, and that is the single best quality indicator.
Rule of thumb: look for the tray of cooked food (mageirefta) at the front. Gemista (stuffed tomatoes and peppers) at €6-7, pastitsio (Greek lasagna) at €7-8, fasolada (white bean soup) at €5. A two-course taverna dinner with wine, at a place the tourists never find, costs €12-15 per person. Same meal on the Liston: €35 minimum.
From our apartment, a tip
The bread-and-cover charge (kouvert) is standard — €1-2 per person, for bread, water, sometimes olives. This is not a scam; it's part of the deal. What to watch is whether the taverna explicitly includes or excludes it on the menu. Good places are transparent.
Drinks on a Budget
House wine (chima) at a taverna: €4-6 for a half-litre, perfectly drinkable. Beer: €3-4. Greek coffee (ellinikos) in the Old Town alleys: €1.50-2. Coffee on the Liston: €4.50-6. This is the single biggest price jump in Corfu Town and also the easiest to avoid — the Liston is five minutes' walk from genuine neighbourhood cafes.
Arrival Day Logistics
If you're arriving by plane or ferry and heading to the apartment hungry, leave your bags at Lock and Walk near the Old Port — a small fee, saves you wheeling suitcases across cobblestones on the way to your first gyros.
When You Want to Go Further
The very cheapest eating on Corfu is at the interior village tavernas, where prices are local not tourist. Those need a car. For a day-trip eating itinerary (Doukades, Pelekas, Ano Korakiana), a car hire from our partner is the answer:
Car Hire: Herbie
Delivery to the apartment door. Day trips to the interior villages get you the island's cheapest meals — prices drop another 20% once you're outside Corfu Town.
Book a carWant a Kitchen?
Our apartment has a full kitchen, and plenty of guests pair a market morning with cooking dinner at home. If you prefer a beach setting with a bigger kitchen, our sister property Corfu Beach and Town has a beach house on the north coast.
Further reading: traditional Corfu dishes, our Old Town walking guide, and cooking classes.