There are many cruise ships that visit Corfu every day, stopping here for a few hours, mostly from 9am to 5-7pm as part of a Mediterrenean cruise.
Corfu Port is located very close to the Historic Corfu center, some may even like to walk from the cruise ship pier, out the port entrance and to their left ,by the seaside. Others may take the free bus dropping them off close to the center or may even get a taxi, available outside the passenger terminal.
Since visitors will only have a few hours available to see Corfu, it is best to stick to town, or closeby, unless they take an organized bus tour, that will pick them up at the port and at the end it will drop them off at the pier. You would not want to miss your departure time, would you?
A usual question is : "which beach should I choose to go for these few hours?" ,and the answer is that most of the good sandy beaches are located on the other side of the island, so it is either sightseeing around Corfu Town, or go to a beach and not have time for anything else.
For the first choice, you can walk around the historic town center, along it narrow streets, the "cantounia", do some shopping, visit a couple of museums, one of them being the Asian Art Museum at the Old Palace, on the left of the Spianada square. Also visit the Old and/or the New Fortresses, on top of them you will enjoy the scenery. Sit down and have a refreshment or a ice coffee at the Liston cafeterias and later pick a taverna that serves local dishes and enjoy your lunch. If you like to squeeze in a short visit to Achilleion or Palaiokastritsa, a 20min drive outside Corfu town, do that first, and have the taxi drop you off close to the center, so you can best organize your remaining time, until you have to get back on the ship.
If you are a beach type, then you have to visit Glyfada or Kontogialos( below Pelekas village), but even if it will cost you a bit more to go there by taxi ( best if there are 4 persons to share it), it's better to take one, than using the Green Buses (Suburban bus) which will waste a lot of your valuable time on shore.. If you like to take the bus, the Bus Station is close to the Port, you can walk there in 5 min. Green buses serve the whole island rather efficiently, south and north part, but traffic and frequent stops will double your journey time.
A few links to visit on Corfu :
Reveal Corfu by INAOSSIEN Travel Guide
Digital Corfu -virtual visit http://www.digitalcorfu.com/default.a...
Pick and organize your favourite places to visit http://www.kerkyra.gr/
Get an idea about the cost for a taxi. Corfu Taxi association http://www.corfutaxi.gr/content/view/...