Zakynthos Sea Turtle Rescue & Information Center in Pyrgos

I only gave one star. I wanted to give none but theres no such option. I agree we have to protect the sea turtles but then just close this horrible beach there and stop people from getting into huge boats chasing turtles.The center itself is just a shame. In dirty small tanks they keep fish ( well of cause you just rescue the trutles so no problem to catch and keep the fish in a tiny cramped tank then?!). Ive seen two tiny turles lurging in their waters and they did not seem at all like they were protected, more like they need to be rescued from this place. Ive seen a lot of protection and rescue centers from non profit organizations and am happy to help them out with money. But if you have to go through a gift shop with tons of turtle gifts wrapped in plastic, you visit the bar with plastic straws and a restaurant with heaps of paper tablecloths youll ask yourself if they harm the sea and animals more than actionally protecting them... I dont know how can this be acceptable for a place like this??Its just horrible how they scam tourists with overrrated prices for bad food and drinks, no price list, lecturing everyone really unfriendly even though in my eyes they are the worst as they take profit in this mass tourism and do not think bout the nature at all.

Great what these folk are doing but definitely not advertised enough. We found it while exploring. No actual sea turtles here as the numbers are in serious decline, quite upsetting tbh. Main message was to avoid the turtle watching trips as thats why turtles number are falling drastically. Anything sold or bought here all goes towards the rescue centre......the only 1 in Greece apart from in Athens.

Nice center with hand made souvenirs and a bar where you can buy drinks and food. Everything you pay goes to help the seaturtles and preserve their nesting areas nearby.

Nothing more than around two turtles in an aquarium and a couple fishes. Furthermore its hard to see the large amount of tourists on the nestling turtles beach... who put the sunbeds there?? It is supposed to be a nestling beach

There wasnt much to see whilst I was there. Wrong time of year. Still worth a visit as this is a charity more than a tourist business. They do excellent work. No entrance fee either. Its more about educating, and raising awareness and sacing these fantastic ancient creatures.As I say the dont charge but no ask for donations so they can continue the good work so give generously.I timed it so I could also have lunch here to help them out even more.Excellent work guys 👏 👍

A nice place. Very informative about the work they do to help sea turtles. And the damage, us as a human race have caused in the decline of these beautiful creatures. Only had Terrapins on display no Turtles. But opens your eyes to their struggle. Visit is free, with anything you buy either from gift shop or cafe goes to supporting their valuable work.

Tip if the island. Nice views and a good beach! Amble free parking too

Amazing experience! Worth a visit. I spend quite a bit of money in the gift shop (as you shouldto contribute to keep the place running. Wonderful staff and great food at the tavern!

They do a very good job here! Really recommend a small visit, only if its to see the cute turtles🥰Make sure to drop a donation as well. These folks do an important job!

This place is amazing there’s not really a lot to see but what you can is worth it.The restaurant next door helps funds the the centreWell worth a visitCheersHHT

Eye opening and very sad. Had planned to do a boat tour but this has changed our minds and am very happy to have come here. Gorgeous animals.

Very informative and eye opening place. Have been coming here for years and really hope they eventually get it fully up and running

Theyre doing a great job protecting and nursing the turtle population. They tell you all about it if you want to.Please pay them a visit and buy something from the giftshop or just donate a little money.

Turtle rescue centre. There is also a small bar there, there is a large parking lot in the area. There is also a gift shop.The people here do an incredible job and any small donation helps a lot.Since Caretta-Caretta turtles are the emblem of Zakynthos, everyone pays to see them in their natural environment, out at sea. But theyre called in with ultrasound and cornered by boats for people to take pictures.With any luck, you can see baby turtles at this centre without contributing to the animals torment by seeing them in the sea.

I appreciate this turtle rescue center. It is also an excellent information center about endangered turtles. Yannis and his team do an exceptional job.Exemplary cleanliness and kindness. The coffee is delicious.

Its should be the very first to visit when you come to Zakynthos. Gives allot of important information about the sea turtles, and how to behave on the beaches when you are here.Its free and a great experience.

Nice facility. Not many turtles. But that is a good thing. They need to be in nature:)

Interesting to visit. Nice snackbar beside. Business runner by volunteers, this is commendable, but they should be more transparent about the donations they receive

Lovely place where you can learn a lot about the sea turtles. The founders are working to conserve the endangered species Caretta Caretta. The entry to the museum/information centre is free, but I do encourage everyone to support them with donations! All income from the gift shop and the restaurant goes directly to the turtle rescue centre. 🐢

If you’re a responsible tourist, you must visit. Very informative about the work this organisation does and the importance of preserving sea turtles on Zante. It’s not big, but the little exhibition is very informative. There were luckily no sea turtles currently in the facility, but we did saw some fresh water turtles that had been rescued. Includes a small gift shop and tavern for after the visit.

Good information here and its free to visit, but the bar is expensive, 14e for 2 orange juices! I just hope that money goes towards their mission as off-putting as it was after donating 20e in the gift shop...

You can learn more information about carreta carreta but not many things to do

Im rating the restaurant of the turtle center (think it was called McVardas or so): the food is not so bad, but also not very remarkable. Unfortunately, the menu is outdated (you get two menus - the older one with the price list and the newer one without prices). You have to check the price in the older menu - but unfortunately not every food or beverage from the new menu is listed there. So basically you dont really know how much it costs overall. Besides, they do not accept card payment.

You can see exactly 2 🐢 in the aquarium, very sad to visit. The best thing to help the turtles is to avoid visit them by boat.

Very nice little centre. Not loads to see/do however they are doing great work and its free. Nice beach where they protect the nests, a centre with info on the turtles and some recovering turtles in tanks. Gift shop and kids section.

A small sanctuary at the southern tip of the island. Several resued terrapins and a mind opening exhibition of what damage and disruption we are causing to the breeding areas. Watch and learn from the videos if you go nice little gift shop and adjoing cafe with a good menu choice all supporting the resuce centre. Stay away from the sight seeing boat tours.

Interesting place to visit and buy suveniers, but during my visit there were no turtles to see, all the tanks were empty

This is such an important place! They work to save and preserve the sea turtle population in Zakynthos which is an important breeding ground! You can see some small rescue turtles and learn a lot sbout the turtles here. The entry is free and they are completely relying on donations and the sells they do in the souvenir shop and the restaurant.

Ran by locals with support of volunteers. You can feed the turtles, get a local souvenir. Our kids loved this place. Free entry.

You must definitely visit this place if you come to Zakynthos. The work they do to safeguard the leatherback turtles is amazing.

Dont support this self-proclaimed "rescue", they have nothing to do with the sea turtle protection society! All the money goes into their own pockets, you will never see any sea turtles there. Also the bar is a scam with inflated prices. Only Archelon is doing meaningful conservation work on Zante. Find their information kiosk in town at Solomos square or take one of Nefis travels eco-friendly turtle tours to learn more.

Just up from one of the best beaches on Zante so why not take an hour out and visit the sea turtle centre. Its free to enter you get a better understanding on what we all can do to help sea turtles survive for future generations.

The restaurant next to the centre is an absolute scam. It’s really the worst food I got in Greece for over 14 years of travelling around! The centre is cool, but the restaurant is to be avoided at any cost!

Small with bored staff and a whopping one turtle to see with some quite negative and patronizing messages about saving the turtles. Dont get me wrong, I wholly condone the message theyre trying to convey, but it almost feels like youre being told off for just being here.

Amazing beach, no Turtles today tho!

Be prepared for rip off prices at the café which they tell you helps the sea turtles. Quite a scam. 27 Euros for 3 smoothies!

About the restaurant next to the rescue center: SCAM !! Gyros chicken pita “off the menu” the lady said. Turns out €7,50 - piece! All of Greece this would be around 3 euros.

This little sanctuary has a free museum, a few tanks with rescue turtles in. The gift shops and bar/cafe all have stuff you can buy which helps the sanctuary to help turtles.We were going to go to the beach but were informed that the more people who go on the beach , the worse it is fir the turtles, as there is little sand there now , and it’s harder to lay eggs and hatch.We had a nice time there tho in the museum

More people should visit this place and the beach. But dont disturb the turtles. Super amount of information at the visitor centre. Stop and chat, you will learn more than is on the notice boards.There is also a interesting geological erosion formation on the right of the beach. The stony bit. If you follow it along. Very "another planet"

Everybody should visit this place before entering the Beach. Very informative place! Hope for more places like this one to inform turists!

A lot of information about different species of turtles about which species are endangered and how you can protect the turtles and the nests great rescue center and experience definitely a place to visit when in Zakynthos!

The place itself is easy to get to and I have the greatest respect for the work that the people do there.Its nice there and also freely accessible without tickets, which is nice and positive. But personally I was hoping to see a little more. When we were there, we only saw 4 small 🐢 in 6 or 8 pools. Perhaps we were there at the wrong time or expected too much.Nevertheless everyone who is at the 🏝️ has to go there and donate, because the conservation of the species is important!

This place is worth a visit to get to know and educate children. the whole island is commercial and sells only what nature has given. Nothing to offer your own. Worth thinking about.

Beautiful people who try to save the turtles. Before you go to Marathonisi island, better pass through here.

Great that it is there but not that much to see. Most bassins dont hold any turtles. Only personnel is behind the register of the giftshop.

On this beach turtles are coming and put theirs eggs. Is a beach with sands and a few rocks, here you can find sunbeds. To reach the beach you need to walk down a few steps but are not too difficult. Personally when i was there i couldnt view any turtle and i stayed there 2 hours.

The center is not very big, but it looked better than I expected. Its not really worth to drive all the way here for just the center, but if youre in the neighbourhood, then Id recommend walking in. Theres a small information center inside and you can see terrapins in the aquariums outside. They also have Greek tortoises, which I enjoyed seeing.

The place is free and has great initiative, but I wish there are more information about the conservation effort. I think the red ear sliders they have on display are not really exotic if not invasive? I understand we visited on low season but for a place like this it would really make a difference if they try a bit more to educate visitors avout the nature around the island.

This is a little out of the way but worth the visit. I knew we had an effect on the turtles but did not realise to what extent before visiting. Donations only, make sure you spend in the bars or gift shop as every penny is spent on the turtles. Well done Yanni and the people that help run this little hidden gem.

Love this place and so pleased i finally got to get here on my recent holiday. Such important work they do and I will definitely be back to offer my support as a volunteer. Was truly inspired! Gerakas beach is 2mins away. I spent some money at the bar too as the income goes back to support this amazing rescue centre. No rescued turtles on my visit which was dissapointing yet glad as it means that non needed rescuing this time.Please help and sign thw petition to loby the Greek government! The video of insensitive tourists inside the museum is truly heartbreaking