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Ferries in Greece

Greek Ferry Ferries are a great way to explore the Greek islands. Simply put, if you have a lot of time and want to save money, the ferries are the best option. If, however, your time is limited and only plan to spend couple of hours on an island, avoid them at all costs and choose to fly instead.

How reliable are they?

In off season, quite unreliable but not because there’s something wrong with the companies; the Greek weather can be challenging and hence mess with the schedule. Especially during spring and autumn, storms can hinder the normal traffic so don’t be surprised to find canceled or delayed ferries.

Greek source also say that most often if there aren’t enough passengers in a ferry the company cancels it “because of the weather”. These are considered rumors but there were enough cases to at least consider this information as “believable”.

In any case, always have a back up planned, preferably a plane ticket. The domestic airlines usually have pretty good deals for the domestic flights.

>>more information on Flights within Greece

How fast are they?

I’m sorry but this would rather be: how slow are the ferries? Seriously now, they are very slow and even if a company says their ferries are fast, don’t trust them until you check the schedule. However, there are high speed ferries available on some routes.

Names: where is this place?

Islands and cities don’t have standard names in Greece. So be very careful when you choose a ferry. For example, asking to get to “Chora” can get you virtually anywhere as “Chora” (alternative spelling: Hora) is the capital of any island. Also, some islands might have as much as three ports so make sure to know exactly where you want to arrive. And to make it even more complicated, the name of the island in English doesn’t even resemble the name of the port.

Your best bet is to have a map with both English and Greek cities/islands names and ask for a ticket based on the Greek name of the place.

Schedules, booking and more

There are plenty of sites where you can book your ferry ticket in advance (and even get some discounts). The idea works great in theory but the online schedules aren’t reliable. It’s not the sites’ fault, it’s the ferry companies’ fault. They submit the ferry schedule weekly to the Ministry of Mercantile Marine , which means a schedule which is valid today might not be next week (let alone next month).

Ferries link pretty much every island and the busiest port is, without a doubt, Piraeus (Athens), which offers ferry links to pretty much any Greek island. There are ferries between Greece and Italy or Turkey as well.