Less known Greek Islands: How to get there? Everything you need to know about ferries in Greece

There are 6,000 islands in Greece, and over 200 are inhabited islands.

One thing is certain, Greece has more islands than the most famous and visited ones. And they are just as worth seeing. There are no flights to many of them, many even don’t have an airport.

So how to get there yet? By water!

As befits a country with so many islands, water transport is very developed, and there are plenty of passenger ferries, especially in the summer season. Some tips on how to use ferries in Greece are below.

Everything you need to know about ferries in Greece: Schedule

The ferries arrive on all inhabited islands. Much more often (even several times per day) to larger or more touristic ones. For the smaller ones, less popular, there are fewer ferries. It’s also not always possible to get to them directly from Athens, sometimes you need to change the ferry.

The best place to check the full timetable and connections between the various islands is on the Ferryscanner and Ferryhopper websites. On both of them, you should find ferries from all carriers, and the option to buy a ticket or a link to the company’s website. Of course, you can also check the timetable on the companies’ direct websites, but general websites have the advantage that you will find all possible ferries there, even smaller companies, and you can compare prices easily.

Remember to choose the date carefully, the schedule often differs depending on the day of the week.

Where to start your ferry trip

It depends on which islands you want to go to. If these are islands closer to Athens, it is easiest to fly to Athens. If the islands are further away, it is worth flying directly to one of the islands and moving on from there. You should be able to fly to Athens from most airports.

Athens has three ports: Piraeus, Rafina and Lavrio. From the largest one, Piraeus, you can reach most of the islands. It is also easy to reach the port by taking a direct metro from the centre. It may not be the nicest district, but the port (and buses to terminals) is close to the metro station.

Rafina is much closer to the airport, less than half an hour by direct bus. Ferries sail mainly towards the Cyclades.

The smallest one is Lavrio Port, close to the airport, although about two hours from the city centre.

You can also plan a trip by direct flight to one of the islands and get to the next one by ferry. Until recently, mainly charter flights were available, but every year, more and more flights from European airports are available.

You can fly from several cities to Santorini (practical information about this island here and about accommodation here), Crete or Corfu and start your journey to nearby islands from there.

Check out also Aegan Airlines, as you may get with them to many islands with the stop in Athens.

Everything you need to know about ferries in Greece: Reserve in advance

Remember to make a reservation (if you use the card mentioned in the point 5 of this article) or just buy a ticket in advance. Ferries are very busy during the season.

A reservation or ticket is not always a boarding pass. Information on whether a given company accepts e-ticket will be provided on the company’s website. If not, before departure, you should go to the port counter and exchange your card reservation number.

Additional tip – in Piraeus, these exchange points are located right next to the terminal, so don’t stress that everything is closed when you reach the port gates.

Night Ferries

Night ferry is a good idea if you want to save time and money for accommodation. Night ferries do not reach every island, and they may not sail every day.

There are different ticket categories. The most popular are economy tickets and air seats. Personally, I recommend the latter, which is a few euros more expensive and the difference in comfort is significant. In economy tickets you do not have your own seat, and seating takes place on a first-come, first-served basis and these are seats at cafes. Alternatively, you can just stay on the floor if you have a sleeping bag with you.

Airplane seats are actually much more comfortable than in the plane, large, soft, you can sleep well. Of course, there are also cabins with beds, but the tickets are much more expensive, and not all routes are worth it, as sometimes the journey is simply too short.

Many Islands in one go, Island Hopping

You can visit one island, but you can also plan island-hopping. It’s my favourite way to visit the Greek Islands.

It requires a lot of organization and adjustments to schedules, but it is worth it. You can visit around 4 islands in a week. Of course, only consider islands from one archipelago. Whether they are Cycladic (I especially recommend them, they are beautiful and very suitable for such trips) or, for example, Ionic islands, just do not mix the groups because they are simply too far from each other.

(Read more about Greek islands group here.)

How to do island hopping cheaper?

Firstly, some routes are operated by smaller ferries, often smaller and the journey takes longer, but if you don’t have time pressure, it is worth taking a look at them.

Secondly, there is such a thing as an Interrail Pass. A special ticket for cheaper train travel around Europe. It also includes a card for Greek ferries (Greek Island Pass). There are two categories of this card: 4 trips (actually, more precisely, 4 days in a month) only in Greece or 6, including two international ones (i.e., you can add a trip to Italy). The price is 102 and 200 Euro, respectively, and there are also discounts for people under 28 years old. My calculations show that on some routes, you can save at least 50 euros, so it’s really profitable.

All details and orders are here.

How is Pass working?

First, you need to order a card, which will be delivered by courier within a few days. There is also an online card option.

With your card number, you book ferries and collect your boarding passes on site.

Important: You can only use a few companies (Blue Star Ferries and Hellenic Seaways). SeaJets does not recognize cards, so if you plan to sail with them, the card may not be worth it. The card is most profitable if you are planning longer routes, e.g., to and from Athens, but for shorter ones, it is worth checking and calculating additionally.

Additional tip: When booking on Interrail, you can only book economy seats. You can also buy additional air seats for about 5-10 euros at the reception when the ferry leaves the port.

I strongly encourage you to take a look at the map of Greece and plan a trip of this type. I hope the information provided will make it a little easier.