How to stroll from island to island in Greece

There are only two ways to move from one island to another; By plane or by boat.

This is not an easy way of travel. First of all there are only a few flights between the Islands, most flights go between Athens and a given island. These flights are quite frequent and use small planes ( about 20 seats ). Because of the limited number of seats they are hard to get and you might have to order several months in advance. However, it is quite cheap to use domestic flights in Greece, but the airport tax are steep. Look for the link to Olympic Airways for schedules and prices on the link page.

The most common way to move stroll between the Islands, is by boats. You can choose between the traditional ferries or by faster boats like hydrofoils and catamarans. The faster boats cost at least twice as much as the ferries and are usually not that much faster. An example; The ferry between Athens and Paros takes 5.5 hrs while the catamaran trip use 4.5 hrs. The small difference is due to that fact that the faster boat makes many more stops. If that is not so the faster boat get to its destination in half the time of the ferry.

When it comes to ferries there are great diversities in size, classes, destinations, departures and shipping agencies. If you arrive in Athens and are travelling to the islands south you go to the Port of Piraeus and leave by boat from there. Here you have the chance to experience something quite strange. First of all you will find "ushers" working for the different travelling agencies. If you ask for a specific destination at a given agency they might tell you that it is not possible to reach this destination, while the neighbour agency will tell you that there is a ferry leaving after all. These contradictory answers are due to fact that each travel agency is an agent for a certain shipping agency. This is a situation that is now changing with each travel agency working as an agent for several shipping agencies. But be aware, there is still some time to go before its perfect. The same situation is also true when you get to an island and wants to depart from this island.

As already told, the selection of ferries is large, especially from Athens. In the morning, between 08:00 and 10:00 there are many departures, even to the same island. Beware this, and

Remember that if you get on the wrong ferry but to the right destination you will have to make full payment for the ticket over again if you are on a boat owned by a competing shipping agency than the one you where supposed to use. Check your tickets carefully, they are written in Greek with Greek letters. Look for the name of the boat which is also written in Greek. Take plenty of time and don’t be afraid to ask. The harbour police is used to answer hundreds of questions every day.

Back to	Further on to Greek ferries
Back to Island Strolling in Greece
Please write in our Guest book, or read what others have written
If you have any tips, advice or memories from island strolling, or if there is a question you haven’t found the answer to, use the discussions group.
Thanks to Kjell Inge Gjesdal, Oslo for his translation into English!
© Jan Bergtun, 1. January 1999	Updated, 09.24.2011
You are this page guest no. since 1. January 1999