Greek Island Ferryboats

There is good news and bad news about the Greek ferry system and finding schedules to the islands. The good news is that the boats are improving. They are faster, cleaner and more comfortable. The bad news is they cost more to run so ticket prices are higher and finding reliable schedules more than 2 weeks in advance is still a problem.

There seems to be quite a demand for ferry schedules for the Greek islands. Every time I get my hands on a travel agent directory the schedules are out of date. Someone told me about a website that has the schedules but when I went there all they had were the hydrofoils. Another site offered to send the software for the ferry schedules that would be continuously updated, so I ordered one (it cost $30) but I never heard from them. So I bought a copy of Naytemporiki  which is the newspaper of the merchant marine and for three days I copied the ferry schedules. It was boring and tedious but I thought in the end it would save me work because when people ask me for the times of a specific boat I can just send them to that page. That schedule lasted a week before it changed completely.

As you may or may not have heard, a few years ago Minoan Lines bought just about every ferry company in the Cyclades with all the money they made off the Greek stock market. Then as you may have heard the stock market crashed leaving everyone scrambling and many in debt. Right about that time the older ferries reached their age limit for service and had to be retired but now this old-ferry-rich but cash-poor company had no money to replace them. Of course it did not help when one of the ferries sunk and the owner of the company jumped out the window but in a country where a ferry owner can shoot another ferry owner, go to jail for a couple years and then get out and start a new ferry company, this is relatively normal. In the meantime the big beautiful highspeeds bought by NEL, of which they were so proud (people in small boats hate them because of the waves they create) had been repossessed by the bank. So the two aging ferries Mytilini and Theofilos (this boat needs to be retired) were pretty much carrying the company. But help was on the way. NEL was sold to another company, their highspeeds began running again and they even bought the old inter-island ferries that connect the Cyclades doing a different route every week, known as the 'agonia' routes (which mean just they way they sound: long, slow and torturous but sometimes the only way to get to a neighboring island without going back to Pireaus). Minoan changed their name and are now Hellenic Seaways and seem to be doing quite well as are Blue Star with their modern fleet of ships.

So what is the current state of the Greek ferries? Actually its pretty good considering. Lots of new fast boats joining the fleet and old ones finally being retired or sold to some far away country that does not have the same standards and laws about how long a ship can remain in service, replacing them when they finally sink. The Blue Star Lines, NEL and Hellenic Seaways have gobbled up the lucrative (popular) routes and the other companies with their older ships have settled for the dregs and are making a go of it. There are a few boats that have reached the end of their careers and look like it but for the most part the ferry experience is a pretty good one. The new boats are not only bigger and faster but cancellations are less frequent since no ferry company wants to lose money by keeping a boat from sailing. So cancellations can only happen when the Greek Port Authority believes it is too dangerous to sail, (rare in the summer but it happens) or if a ship breaks down.

If you are planning to go to several islands you may want to consider going to those with regular connections to each other. What does that mean exactly? Well look at the schedules (like in the Athens News) and notice which islands a particular ferry goes to. Generally those are the islands you will have no trouble finding service between. For example if you go to Mykonos you will find it easy to go to Syros and Tinos. Santorini has daily connections to Paros and Naxos. In the summer there is a daily boat between Santorini and Crete. Sifnos has daily boats to Milos, Serifos and Kythnos. Rhodes is connected daily to Patmos, Leros, Kalymnos and Kos. Lesvos has daily ferries to and from Chios. And my little island of Kea has no daily connections to anywhere except Lavrion.  If you have a week to spend on the islands pick the one you like best and take day trips around the island and to nearby islands or visit an island on your way back. In my opinion 'island hopping' is over-rated.  You may have a richer experience by getting to know one island in depth, than bouncing around from one port to the next.

Ferry Schedules on the Internet

How accurate are the schedules you find on the net? A few years ago the Minoan office did not even know they had a Flying Cat going to Paros until a customer called Dolphin Hellas Travel to report that he was standing in front of one that was leaving in 10 minutes. When Dolphin called Minoan to ask about it, they insisted there was none. Clearly a case of one hand not knowing what the other is doing. So if the ferry companies themselves don't know then how can the schedules on the net (or anywhere) be correct.

I asked Apostolis, the owner of Aegean Thesaurus Travel in Sifnos and he said "With ferry schedules there is a simple rule. If it is static it is probably wrong." Regardless of what the written schedules and those on the net say, a travel agent when booking a hotel for a client will call the ferry company and make sure that the schedule for a particular boat for a specific day is correct. So you can go to the web and find the schedule and happily make your plans, just as long as you also call the ferry company to make sure. (Be prepared to wait on hold).

So how is it that in this modern age a simple thing like a ferry schedule can be so unsure? Well as it was explained to me, the ferry companies submit their proposed schedule for the week to the ministry 2 weeks in advance for approval. So if you are booking in January for a trip in July the schedules posted are not approved which means they can be changed. So in other words it is a 'projected' ferry schedule. If you are going to a popular island with several ferries a day then booking a ticket on-line is not such a risk. The worst that could happen is there will be a slight hassle of exchanging it for another ticket on a ferry leaving that day. But if you are going to an island that does not have daily connections to Pireaus or another island that you are planning to go to and have booked your hotel then you may have problems.

Yes we all love the ease in which we can go to a website and click on a few hotels and have an instant holiday on the Greek islands. As someone wrote to me "I have successfully booked my hotels through exped-o-locity and now I need to book my ferries". My reply was "how do you know you were successful?" Nine out of ten e-mails I get are cries for help from people who have booked hotels and now can't find the ferries to go with them or vice-versa. Do yourself a favor. Unless you have an aversion to working with someone more knowledgeable than you about a country go to www.greecetravel.com/create-an-itinerary  

 Ferry Tickets

If you are contacting a travel agent to book just ferry tickets, good luck. They probably won't do it. The commissions are too low and it's too much work for nothing. However they do it for the customers who book accommodations with them. If you are going deck (don't take it literally. It just means without a cabin, usually the cheapest ticket) you can usually buy your tickets a day before and in many cases right at the boat. Cabins you will need to do in advance. As you may have figured out, the people who book their accommodations in advance with an agency will most likely have the cabins booked up before you get there. Anyway it's only the overnight boats that you will need a cabin for. Go for the 1st class ones or the Lux, especially if you are a couple. The 2nd class cabins are not co-ed. What that means is that you may end up in a cabin with 3 strangers (though all of the same sex). If you are 3 people in a cabin of 4 you can find yourself with a roomate you don't know. But you have the option of buying that last berth for half price.

Dolphin has a site for booking tickets which I recommend using if you are traveling with a car, want a cabin, coming from or going to Italy, or are traveling during a busy weekend or in August. See www.greecetravel.com/tickets which will also tell you when it is recommended that you buy ferry tickets in advance and when it is OK to just buy them when you get to Greece or even at the boat.

There are now companies that sell ferry tickets that advertise on the internet that are worth checking out. Its probably a good idea to try several before you settle on one in case some ferry companies are represented on one website and not on another. Be sure to read the section on ticket pick-up and delivery before you book.

Children under the age of 5 travel free of charge deck class on most normal ferries and all classes on the highspeeds. They pay half price for a berth in a cabin. Children from 5-10 years of age travel half price on the highspeeds. Only students from Greek public universities are entitled to student's discount. Almost all the ferries charge a cancellation fee of 50% but they also give you the option of using the ticket at a later date. Also if the ferry is cancelled because of bad weather, by government order or because the ferry company has decided not to go that day, passengers are entitled to a full refund. However, the ferry booking site may not be the one responsible for your refund so always read the General Terms and Conditions carefully.

High Speed Ferries to the popular Greek Islands

By the time you read this the new high-speed ferry Aeolis Express shown in the top photo which was going to Lesvos in six hours, half the time of the ferries as well as the Cyclades will have been repossessed by the bank and most likely sold. This ship is like a giant speed-boat and revolutionized Greek island transportation, not to mention tourism on the islands of Lesvos and Chios. However buying three of them was a little too much for the company to survive at a time when fuel is up and travel is down. There are a number of other highspeeds which are like airplanes on the sea getting to the islands in half the time of a regular ferry and twice the price. One of them, the Speedrunner, is the first to break the all Greek monopoly of the sea and flies the British flag. The Blue Star ships are something in between a highspeed and a ferry as are Hellenic Seaways Nissos Chios and Nissos Mykonos.

Also there are Flying Dolphins which are small high speed Hydrofoils that go to the Saronic Gulf islands which are protected from rough seas by the mainland. There are about 3 ferries a day to Poros, Hydra and Spetsis, and dozens to Aegina. They pretty much go back and forth all day until nightfall. There is also a large Catamaran that goes to the Saronic Gulf islands too.

Getting to and from Pireaus

Many packages include transfers from your hotel to the port and from the port to your hotel but if you want to do it on your own its not such a big deal. You can book a pre-arranged transfer with George the Famous Taxi Driver which should cost about 35 euros to Pireaus and more to Rafina or Lavrion. You can also get the concierge at your hotel to book a radio taxi which will be about half the price to Pireaus. If you are at a hotel near the Omonia, Monastiraki or Thission metro stations you can take the train and be in Pireaus in about 15 minutes. From any other metro station you have to change trains which is not a big deal unless you have a whole pile of luggage. When you get to Pireaus you just cross the street and the ferries are there. Look for the signs that point the way to the ferries for each island group.

Getting a taxi from the ferry in Pireaus to your hotel or the airport can be difficult. Usually there are a couple hundred people getting off the boat and half a dozen taxis waiting. If I am on the ferry one of the taxis is for me. I always book a transfer from the ferry to my hotel because sometimes I just don't feel like lugging my bags to the metro and I definitely don't feel like competing for the few taxis available. See www.greecetravel.com/taxi

Final Ferry Comments

If you are booking directly with the hotels keep in mind that if you can't reach the hotel because there is no ferry when you thought there was one and you can't get to the island you will most likely still be charged for the room. I strongly recommend that unless you are a backpacker staying in youth hostels or campsites or are prepared to stay anywhere you find upon arrival, use a travel agency in Athens to book your hotels on the islands. They can get the schedules and won't book a hotel for a day that there is no boat. If you are going to more than one island this is especially true. If you think it is hard getting the schedules from Pireaus try getting them for the boats that go between the islands. Many agencies offer island-hopping combinations. If you are going to the popular islands (Mykonos, Santorini, Paros, Naxos, Rhodes, Crete etc) by doing one of these combinations of 2, 3, 4, of 5 islands you are letting the agent deal with the hassles of finding the ferry schedules and all you have to do is show up on time. It is not a tour. These itineraries are set up individually and you can choose the hotels and the islands. For more info on these island-hopping combinations see www.fantasytravelofgreece.com or www.greecetravel.com/dolphinhellas

If you know what islands you want to go to try www.greecetravel.com/create-an-itinerary and if you are not sure try www.greektravel.com/suggestions

Any questions? E-mail me at matt@greecetravel.com

More Helpful Ferry Pages:

Weekly Ferry Schedules from Pireaus, Rafina and Lavrion
Athens Guide: Ferries
How to go to a Greek Island

Greek Island Guide
Travel Agents
Sailing in Greece
ferry boat photos

Athens Survival Guide

Greece Travel Guide

Greek Island Guide

Sailing in Greece