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Spetses: pine, shipowners’ houses and no traffic

A wooded Saronic island two hours from Athens where private cars are restricted, the old harbour still builds wooden boats, and the grand houses were paid for by shipping.

An at a glance card for Spetses. What it is: A pine-covered Saronic isle. The difference: Private cars are restricted. The good half: The Old Harbour boatyard. The houses: Built on shipping money. Shore: Pebble, backed by pine. One row is marked out as the thing that decides the visit. The conclusion reads: Two hours from Athens, and no traffic. No prices appear.
Two hours from Athens, and no traffic.

Diagram by Greece Trips. Free to reuse with credit - CC BY 4.0.

It is also the one where private cars are restricted. Horse-drawn carriages still work the front, scooters and bicycles do the rest, and the result is an island whose main town you hear rather than dodge.

The town

Spetses Town runs along the north coast in two parts.

Dapia is the modern harbour and the arrival point, with a defensive gun battery, cafes and the main square. The Old Harbour, twenty minutes east on foot, is the better half: a working boatyard where wooden hulls are still built and repaired on the quay, with tavernas along the water and yachts moored between them.

Between and above them are the shipowners’ mansions that the island’s eighteenth and nineteenth-century wealth paid for, several of them still private and one, the Bouboulina museum, open.

Laskarina Bouboulina

Spetses is unusually attached to one person. Bouboulina was a shipowner who commanded her own vessels in the Greek War of Independence, and the island commemorates her heavily: a museum in her house, a statue on the front, and an annual reenactment of the naval battle of 1822 that closes the season.

The coast

A road rings the island and most people ride it. The beaches are pine-backed and pebbly rather than sandy: Agia Marina, Agioi Anargyroi, Zogeria and Xylokeriza are the ones people name. Water taxis run to them from the town, which is often quicker than the road.

Getting there and how long

Fast ferries run from Piraeus in about two hours, and Spetses also connects to Hydra and the Peloponnese coast, which is close enough to reach by small boat.

Two nights is the usual, and it is one of the few islands that genuinely works as a weekend from Athens.

Last checked August 2026. Ferry schedules and seasonal services change - see our editorial policy.

Common questions

Are there cars on Spetses?

Private car access is restricted. Horse-drawn carriages, scooters, bicycles and water taxis do most of the moving about, which is a large part of the island’s character.

How do you get to Spetses from Athens?

By fast ferry from Piraeus, in roughly two hours. It also connects to Hydra and to the nearby Peloponnese coast.

What is the Old Harbour on Spetses?

The original harbour east of the modern one, still a working boatyard where wooden hulls are built and repaired, with tavernas along the quay.

Who was Bouboulina?

A Spetses shipowner who commanded her own vessels in the Greek War of Independence. The island keeps a museum in her house and reenacts the 1822 naval battle each year.

Does Spetses have sandy beaches?

Mostly pebble and pine-backed rather than sandy. Agia Marina, Agioi Anargyroi, Zogeria and Xylokeriza are the ones people head for.

Plan by category

The Spetses guides

2 guides, each scoped to a decision you actually have to make.

  • Ancient marble temple columns against a blue Greek skyAttractions

    Things to do

    What is worth your time here, and what to skip.

    See the attractions →
  • A turquoise Greek bay with a beach below dry hillsBeaches

    The beaches

    Which shore, which sand, and how you actually get there.

    See the beaches →

Next

Read Hydra, the Saronic islands, or Poros.