Skorpios is the most famous private island by the Ionian Islands. It is situated on the eastern side of Lefkada, in front of Nidri village.
The history of Skorpios island
The island was a private property of Aristotle Onassis, a Greek billionare, who had the largest privately owned shipping company in the 60’s.
Thanks to this fact Onassis was one of the most richest people in the world, and at the same time one of the most famous of course. Skorpios island was the memorable place where he married his love, Jacqueline Kennedy.
Onassis was built a few buildings like luxury residence, tennis court, landing site for helicopters, a small marina, and a guesthouse. Skorpios beside Lefkada was the summer residence of Aristotle Onassis, where he and his close family members relaxed a few weeks in a year. After the death of Onassis the small island remained in the hands of the descendats.
In the story of Skorpios there was a huge change in 2012, because the island was sold by the heirs of Onassis.
The new island owner became Dmitry Rybolovlev, a Russian billionaire, and Skorpios was a birthday gift to his daughter, Ekaterina Rybolovleva. It was a great celebration, when the business woman Ekaterina and his fiance was married on Skorpios island in 2015. The wedding on the island was a private event, only with the participation of the family and the closest friends, but some celebrities, like famous pop stars were also invited.
In Lefkada, and of course in Nidri the locals organized several parties in that period, and made the event famous far and wide.
Today the owners have some business plans to make Skorpios open to public. According to plans there will be several upgrades with renewed buildings, apartments, restaurants, and some luxury villas next to the emerald beaches.
Geography of Skorpios
The island is an 1500 meters long and 1200 meters wide area, which forms an irregular shape like a giant octopus or a squid.
Skorpios is filled with trees and bushes, as long as you can see the island is totally green. On the coastline there are some small natural bays with crystal-clear, emerald coloured waters. These small beaches of Skorpios are mostly rocky places with pebbles and sand, but these are still closed for the public, tourists are not allowed to go ashore. This may change in the future, when the owner opens the island for the pleasure of visitors.
Only a few hundreds meters from Skorpios there is a sister island on the north, which is known as Skorpidi. This island is much smaller than Skorpios, and it is totally uninhabitated. Skorpidi is filled with evergreen mediterranean trees and bushes, like as other islands in the area of Nidri.
Skorpios island on Lefkada map