The village of Arillas was founded in the late nineteenth early twentieth century, when residents of Magoulades village moved to the area now known as Arillas.

One of the first houses, if not the first, was the ancestral home of Kaloudis family (Biroulieon, ancestors of Spiros Kaloudis of Corfu beer and Eftihias Kaloudi of EFTIHIA tavern) in the area of SGOYROI.
Near the beach the first houses were of Seremetaion of Broukli,of Manthos and Kolios at the area behind the present Thetis Palace.
The first shop on the beach of Arillas was a small cafe on the site now occupied by the Hotel Marina, was sold to the grandfather of the present owner of the hotel and became a warehouse.
Then followed the café Kopidogiannou, maintained and evolved into today’s Kostas on the Beach, and then the Arillas In and Brouklis Taverna
The first hotels were built in the 70’s, which marked the official start of the tourism prospects of the village.
First opened the Marina Hotel and after a couple of months the Hotel Akti.

Before engaging residents in tourism, the main source of income and livelihood were agriculture and animal farming.
The “big houses” that had the most land in their possession were self-sufficient and autonomous in ensuring the daily food.
Families who hadn’t estates usually worked as laborers on the estates of the richest families.

Characteristic of old times when arranging a marriage was the “subsidy of the groom with the bride’s dowry,” The “evil-minded” father’s habit was to give up the most arid land, which were the plots by the beach, because of the sandy content.
The “revenge” of the unhappy bridegrooms came several years later, when found owning high value tourist seaside plots

Festivals in the village and around the villages of Arillas were the main source of entertainment and social interaction for all the family but only for the men was the daily visit in the village cafe.

The village school was located in the area where now is the Church of the Ascension and reached in the postwar period around 60-70 children.
Today, Arillas school no longer operates. The number of students that dropped and the effort to create central school complexes brought the closure at the 80’s.

In the 60′s we had the first emigration, primarily, to US and Germany.
The funds earned by residents of Arillas were invested in the village and were the main boost for tourism development.

The tourist office that brought visitors for the first time into the village was the British TIMSWAY in 1982, which remained in the area until 1990 not withstanding competition from large Tour Operators like Thomson, Thomas cook, Sunmed.
The tour operators of the new millennium tried and often succeeded in creating new complexes subsidizing them, in times of great purchasing power of the BRITISH POUND, which were a great source of profit for them but also for the locals .Luckily in Arillas this phenomenon did not spread, thereby keeping the traditional, intimate and family character of the village and avoided commercialization of every activity.
This in my opinion has been and will continue to be the MAIN AND EXCLUSIVE REASON FOR EXISTENCE AND CONTINUATION OF THE VILLAGE and it is confirmed each time that every visitor of our village says:” I came back home!!”