The single most useful fact about Greek ferries is that islands connect within their group far better than between groups. Cyclades to Cyclades is easy and frequent. Cyclades to Dodecanese usually means going back through Athens, losing a day and possibly a night.
Almost every island-hopping plan that falls apart falls apart for this reason. People choose islands from photographs, discover that two of them are on opposite sides of the Aegean, and end up with an itinerary in which the boats are the holiday. Understanding the shape of the network first, and choosing the islands second, is the whole of the planning problem.
The groups, and how they connect
- Cyclades — Santorini, Mykonos, Naxos, Paros, Milos, Ios, Syros, Folegandros and a dozen more. The best-connected group by a wide margin, radiating from Piraeus and from Rafina, and the obvious choice for a first trip.
- Dodecanese — Rhodes, Kos, Symi, Patmos, Karpathos. Strung along the Turkish coast and connected north to south rather than to Athens. Rhodes and Kos both have international airports, which changes how you enter and leave.
- Ionian — Corfu, Kefalonia, Zakynthos, Lefkada. On the west side of the country, reached from mainland ports like Patras and Kyllini rather than from Athens. Green, Venetian, and a completely different feel from the Aegean.
- Sporades — Skiathos, Skopelos, Alonnisos. Compact, wooded, close together, reached from Volos or Agios Konstantinos on the mainland.
- North Aegean — Lesvos, Chios, Samos, Ikaria. Large, quiet, agricultural, and much less visited than their size would suggest.
- Crete — big enough to be its own destination, with onward links north to Santorini and the Cyclades.
Pick one group. Mixing groups on a two-week trip usually means a night in Athens you did not plan and a day spent on a boat you did not want to be on.
The two Athens ports
This catches people out often enough to deserve its own section. Athens has more than one ferry port, and turning up at the wrong one is unrecoverable.
Piraeus is the main port, reached by metro line 1 and by bus, and it handles most Cycladic and Cretan sailings. It is enormous — the gates are spread over a long waterfront and a shuttle bus runs between them — so allow considerably more time than the walk looks like it needs.
Rafina is a smaller port on the east coast, closer to the airport than to central Athens, and it serves Mykonos, Tinos, Andros and some Naxos and Paros sailings. If you are flying in and going straight to an island, Rafina is often the faster departure. If you are staying in Athens first, Piraeus is easier.
Lavrio, further south, serves a handful of routes including Kea. Check which port your ticket says before you book the transfer.
Fast versus conventional
High-speed catamarans cut journey times roughly in half at roughly double the price. Conventional ferries are slower, cheaper, considerably more stable, and much more pleasant.
The case for the fast boat is simple: on a short trip, three hours saved is a swim and a dinner. The case against it is longer. Fast craft cancel more readily in wind, which in July and August means the meltemi decides your schedule. They have no usable outside deck, so a two-hour crossing is spent in an aircraft-style cabin. And they pitch more in a swell, which matters if anyone in your group is prone to seasickness.
If you do get seasick, take the conventional boat, sit low and towards the middle of the vessel, stay outside where you can see the horizon, and take medication before departure rather than after symptoms start.
One more practical difference: conventional ferries carry vehicles and load slowly, so they leave and arrive with more ceremony and more margin. Fast boats often dock for under ten minutes. Be at the door with your bag when the announcement comes.
Booking, and when to do it
Summer schedules are typically published in stages between February and April, and they are subject to change until surprisingly late. Booking a full itinerary in January is not possible and attempting it usually means buying the wrong thing.
For July and August, book popular routes and any vehicle space well ahead. Foot passengers can usually find space closer to the date, but not reliably on the day, and not on the Santorini and Mykonos runs.
In May, June, September and October, buying a day or two ahead is generally sufficient, and there is real value in keeping the last leg flexible.
Two rules that prevent most of the problems people actually have:
- Keep at least three hours between a ferry arrival and a flight, and preferably a night. Ferries run late routinely, and the delay is not always announced in advance.
- Never plan a same-day ferry-to-flight connection in high summer. A cancelled sailing in August cannot be re-accommodated the same day, because everything else is full.
Tickets bought online usually need collecting as a paper boarding pass at the port or at an agency in town, though this varies by operator. Check what your confirmation actually says rather than assuming a QR code will work.
How many islands
On a two-week trip, four islands is the maximum before travel becomes the trip. Three is better, because it allows real days rather than arrival-and-departure days.
The arithmetic is unforgiving. A moving day costs you the morning to check out and get to the port, the crossing itself, and the afternoon to reach and settle into the next place. Two nights on an island is one usable day. Three nights is two usable days and the first point at which you stop feeling like you have just arrived.
Two routes that work
Cyclades, two weeks, first trip. Athens for two nights, then Piraeus to Milos for three nights — volcanic coastline, a lunar beach at Sarakiniko, and boat trips to sea caves. On to Naxos for four nights, which is the largest Cyclade, has mountains and villages inland as well as a long sandy west coast, and is the easiest island in the group to stay put on. Then Santorini for three nights, and fly home from there. Every leg is a short Cycladic hop.
Dodecanese, ten days, quieter. Fly into Rhodes, three nights in the old town and the south of the island. Ferry to Symi for two nights, which is a single spectacular harbour of neoclassical houses and very little else. Then Kos for three nights and fly out. Short crossings, small islands, and almost no backtracking.
On the boat
Conventional ferries have an outside deck, a cafeteria that is better than it looks, and airline-style reserved seating that most people ignore in favour of a table. Deck class on a long summer crossing is genuinely the best seat in the house.
Bring water and something to eat on longer legs, keep a warm layer accessible because the deck gets cold once the sun drops, and put a small bag with your documents and phone somewhere you can reach — hold luggage is stacked at the vehicle deck and you will not get to it during the crossing.
For where to stop first, see Santorini in the shoulder season; for the mainland stopover almost everyone underrates, two days in Athens.
