The red sand
An unusual reddish-brown from the area's clay soils.
Splendid entry — CC BY 3.0 · CC BY-SA 4.0 · ChristosV — CC BY 4.0 · Tigerente — CC BY 4.0
**Red sand under a white cliff — and the only genuinely sandy beach on Kefalonia** — on the Paliki peninsula south of Lixouri. Kefalonia is **a pebble island**: most of its famous beaches (Myrtos, Antisamos, Platys Gialos) are beautiful shingle that hurts bare feet. **Xi is the exception**: **fine sand of an unusual reddish-brown**, produced by the area's clay soils. Behind it are **white chalky cliffs**, giving a strange colour contrast: red below, white above, blue in front. ✅ The water is **very shallow**, staying knee-deep a long way out — **among the island's best beaches for small children**. ✅ People dig **white clay** from the cliff and coat themselves in it — a common local habit here. ⚠ It is **exposed to the west wind** at times.
An unusual reddish-brown from the area's clay soils.
A chalky wall behind the beach giving a sharp colour contrast.
Knee-deep for dozens of metres — rare safety on Kefalonia.
Xi, 28100 Paliki, Kefalonia, Greece
**The forgotten half of Kefalonia — quieter, cheaper, and holding its best sandy beaches.** ✅ **What it is**: **Paliki** is a large peninsula west of the gulf of Argostoli, with **Lixouri** as its town — Kefalonia's second largest. **The 1953 earthquake destroyed it** as it did Argostoli, so it was rebuilt modern. ✅ **Why visit**: first, **the beaches** — sandy red **Xi**, **Petani** in its astonishing bay between two cliffs, and long **Megas Lakkos**; **the best group of sandy and semi-sandy beaches on the island**. Second, **quiet and price**: Paliki is **clearly less touristy** than the north and east, and cheaper. Third, **the scenery**: western coasts of red and white cliffs and sunsets straight out to sea. ✅ **The best way to get there**: **the ferry from Argostoli to Lixouri** — 20–30 minutes, **carrying cars**, running regularly — **far shorter** than driving round the whole gulf (about 35 km). ⚠ **Check the ferry timetable** and the last sailing before you cross.
**Generally yes on healthy skin — but with three reservations, one of them environmental rather than medical.** ✅ **What it is**: **white chalky clay** from the cliffs behind the beach; people take it, spread it on their skin, let it dry and wash it off in the sea — a common local habit, credited in tradition with **benefits for the skin**. ⚠ **The first reservation is medical**: that is **folk belief, not a demonstrated result**. The clay is **untreated and unmonitored** — so anyone with **a known skin sensitivity**, open wounds or delicate skin **should avoid it**, do not put it near eyes or mouth, and **wash it off thoroughly** afterwards. ⚠ **The second**: **do not apply it and then sit in the sun** until it dries hard — it increases drying and irritation. ⚠ **⚠ The third is environmental and the most important**: **do not dig into the cliff** to get it. The cliffs are **fragile chalk** and eroding, **and rockfall is a genuine danger** to anyone beneath them — use what you find fallen on the ground, do not gouge the wall, **and do not stand directly under the cliff**.