What these pages are for
Most Greek trips fail on the joins rather than the destinations. You know you want Santorini; what you do not know is which of Athens’s three ports your ferry leaves from, whether the fast boat is worth double, how far ahead the crossing sells out, or what happens to your connection when the wind gets up.
That is what this layer is. One page per journey, covering the parts that stay true: which port, which class of vessel, how long the crossing takes by boat type, when flying wins, and how far ahead to commit.
What you will not find here
We do not print timetables or fares. Schedules are set per season by each operator and fares move within a season, so any number we published would be wrong by the time you read it - and a confidently wrong departure time is worse than no departure time.
Every crossing time on these pages is a range by vessel class, sourced and dated. Everything perishable - the actual sailings, the actual price, today’s availability - routes to the operator, which is the only place it is ever current.
We also do not tell you a route does not exist unless a source says so. Where a service thins out of season, we say it thins and tell you to check.
The routes
From Athens to the Aegean islands
- Athens to Santorini - the big one. Five hours on a fast boat, seven to eight on a conventional ferry, fifty minutes in the air.
- Athens to Mykonos - the route where the port matters more than the boat. Rafina usually beats Piraeus.
- Athens to Paros - the Cyclades crossroads, and the sanest base for a first island-hopping trip.
- Athens to Naxos - the biggest of the Cyclades, and the crossing worth taking slowly.
- Athens to Milos - the western Cyclades line, which behaves differently from the main chain.
- Athens to Ios - one line, and no airport.
- Athens to Sifnos - one line, and no airport.
- Athens to Syros - two to four hours to a very different island.
- Athens to Tinos - check which Athens port you need.
- Athens to Amorgos - a long crossing, and two different ports.
- Athens to Crete - the overnight boat with cabins, and the Heraklion-or-Chania decision.
- Athens to Rhodes - the far south-east. Long by sea, an hour by air.
- Athens to Kos - an overnight boat, or an hour in the air.
- Athens to Patmos - the long way to a quiet island.
- Athens to Samos - overnight by sea, an hour by air, three ports.
- Athens to Hydra - an hour or so to an island with no cars.
- Athens to Poros - an hour by sea, or five minutes from Galatas.
- Athens to Spetses - the boat, or the ten-minute back door.
From Athens to the Ionian
The Ionian surprises people. These islands sit off the west coast, so you do not sail to them from Piraeus at all - you cross the mainland to a western port first, or you fly.
- Athens to Corfu - not a Piraeus route. The crossing is from Igoumenitsa, and most people fly.
- Athens to Kefalonia - the Ionian is not reached from Piraeus.
- Athens to Lefkada - no boat is involved.
- Athens to Zakynthos - the boat leaves from Kyllini in the Peloponnese, about three and a half hours away.
From Athens to the mainland and the Sporades
- Athens to Nafplio - two hours to the prettiest town in Greece.
- Athens to Monemvasia - four hours, then you walk in.
- Athens to Kalamata - a motorway, and what is at the end of it.
- Athens to Meteora - the monasteries on their rock pillars, and the train line that has been out since the 2023 floods.
- Athens to Thessaloniki - the one Greek journey where the train beats the plane door to door.
- Athens to Volos - the port for the Sporades, and for Pelion.
- Athens to Skiathos - the boat does not leave from Piraeus.
Between the Cyclades
- Naxos to Paros - twenty minutes. The one crossing you can improvise.
- Mykonos to Naxos - the scene, then the island that grows its own food.
- Mykonos to Paros - forty-five minutes from the most expensive island to a much cheaper one.
- Mykonos to Santorini - the busiest island hop in Greece, and the one most worth booking early.
- Paros to Santorini - the southbound leg that ends most Cyclades trips.
- Naxos to Santorini - the quiet island to the famous one, in the right order.
- Santorini to Ios - forty minutes to a different crowd.
- Santorini to Milos - two volcanoes, one crossing.
- Santorini to Folegandros - an hour to the quiet version.
- Milos to Sifnos - a short hop, and a very different island.
- Naxos to Amorgos - take the slow boat.
- Naxos to Koufonisia - an hour or two, and a much smaller island.
- Tinos to Mykonos - twenty minutes, and a complete change of subject.
Between the other islands
- Crete to Santorini - the seasonal crossing that saves you a day of backtracking.
- Crete to Rhodes - the boat is a whole day, the plane is an hour.
- Rhodes to Kos - the main Dodecanese link.
- Skiathos to Skopelos - a short hop, and two possible ports.
- Corfu to Paxos - an hour, and then a different pace.
- Corfu to Kefalonia - the two ends of the Ionian, and why the reliable version is overland.
From Thessaloniki
- Thessaloniki to Halkidiki - the drive is easy, the choice is not.
- Thessaloniki to Meteora - how to get there, and whether to stay.
- Thessaloniki to Skiathos - check the season before you plan.
- Thessaloniki to Thassos - no airport on the island; drive east and take the car on the ferry.
From the airport to where you are actually staying
The leg every flying visitor makes, and the one that goes wrong at one in the morning. Athens airport to Piraeus is not here because airport transfers in Greece already covers it in full.
- Heraklion Airport to Chania - a two-hour cross-island drive, and usually a sign you booked the wrong airport.
- Rhodes Airport to Lindos - the long way down the east coast; the bus is 1h40 from town.
- Santorini Airport to Oia - two legs, not one, because everything radiates from Fira.
- Corfu Airport to Corfu Town - one of the shortest runs in Greece; the real question is the car.
- Mykonos Airport to Mykonos Town - about 4 km, and Chora is pedestrian-only.
Leaving Greece
- Corfu to Albania - the short crossing to Saranda.
- Kos to Bodrum - the shortest international crossing in Greece.
The three things that apply to every route
1. Know your port. Athens has three - Piraeus, Rafina and Lavrio - and they are scattered around Attica. Piraeus is on the metro and closest to the city. Rafina is about 25 km from the airport with no city crossing. Lavrio, about 37 km from the airport, serves the western Cyclades. Turning up at the wrong one costs you the day. Detail in the Greek island ferries guide.
2. Fast boats stop first. High-speed catamarans are quicker, pricier, enclosed, and the first vessels stood down when the meltemi blows - the northerly that is hardest in July and August. Big conventional ferries keep running in conditions that ground them. If your plans have no slack, the slower boat is often the safer one. See when a ferry is cancelled.
3. Never connect on the last day. Do not schedule a crossing for the day before an international flight home. Leave a night of margin. This is the single cheapest insurance in Greek island travel.
Planning the whole trip
Individual routes are the joins; the shape of the trip is a separate problem. The island hopping guide covers sequencing - how to order stops so every boat moves you forward instead of doubling you back through Athens, and why flying home from the far end beats sailing back the way you came.
For the mechanics of the ferry system itself - operators, vessel classes, ports, booking and boarding - start with the Greek island ferries guide. For everything else about moving around the country, getting around Greece.