Ferries and boats, Santorini Island

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Athenios port is used for ferry services to other islands - I didn't realise how many. Ferries can be caught to the port of Heraklion in Crete or the mainland port of Piraeus. It takes 6 ½ to 9 hours from Piraeus Port to Santorini Port, depending on whether you take a ferry boat or a high speed boat. You can sail to the islands of Mykonos, Naxos, Paros, Skiathos, Syros, Tinos, Rhodes, Kos or Thessaloniki in northern Greece with the NEW ferry operator GA Ferries. Athenios is accessed by a hairpin bend road on the outskirts of Fira. Buses meet each cruise boat and ferries, returning directly to the Fira station (the bus fare to Fira is 1,50 EURO
As you travel down to the port you may notice a roped off area nearby - this was where the cruise ship Sea Diamond sank April 6th 2007.

I took the 12:55 pm BLUE STAR FERRIES boat from Naxos to Santorini. (The total travel time was around 2 hours). The boat came from Paros and was heading to Ios after Santorini. The economy class ticket was 11.5 euros.

P.S. You can get 30% discount on any of the routes, if you travel as a group.

I took the 3:30 pm BLUE STAR FERRIES boat "Paros" to the Port of Pireaus. (The total travel time was around 8 hours).

The pros were that the ferry stopped shortly in Naxos and Paros, so I could admire the former one more time and have a sneak peek on the latter. When approaching Paros I could one more time see one of the most beautiful sunsets. The boat had a café (flocafe), which had quite a decent coffee, which could keep you awake to admire the beautiful sceneries mentioned above. in addition to the deck café, there was a Goody's cafeteria (fast food chain) to have a bite for those who didn’t stack for a trip. And the price (economy class ticket cost is around 33 euros) was very reasonable.

The cons were that plastic chairs on the deck are not the most comfortable for the 8-hour trip. The trip itself was very long. Though I don’t mind taking a plane for 8-10 hours (there is no really other, eg better way to travel overseas), but to spend the same amount of time on a boat seemed a bit too much.

So my advice would be to fly (if budget permits) or take a fast ferry - Hydrofoil - which reduces the trip to about four hours, or at least upgrade to an aircraft seat (37 euros) or business class (45.50 euros)

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I wasn't completely sure about how this all works with ordering the tickets for the ferry since there are lots of options to choose. We flew to Santorini but could not book a flight back out to Athens on the day I wanted. I went to the Blue Star Ferries website and purchased the tickets for the lounge - airline style seats which came to about USA $80 for the two of us. You can pay a lot less but you end up sitting on benches or plastic chairs throughout the boat. For an 8 hour trip, it was well worth having to sit in the comfortable airline style seats. You can pay alot more for the VIP lounge, business class lounge, beds and it goes on and on. The lounges have letter designations A, B, C etc. I didn't know what was what so I just picked B and it worked out. When you purchase the tickets, you need to designate a travel agency in which you would get your tickets. All you get to print out is a confirmation and reservation code. You take this document to your designated travel agency (in my case, in Fira) and they will give you your tickets for the ferry. The website indicates you should arrive at the ferry at least 1 hour ahead of your departure time. I think we arrived within 15 minutes, there was no problem.

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I made all my connections in Greece by plane, except from Santorini to Mikonos. And it was a very boring experience, wasting nine hours of our precious time in the sea, in a very basic boat, only with a short stop at Patmos to brake the tedium.

Yachts around the islands may be one thing! A ferry is another...

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If you are arriving by ferry it will be the port of Athinios that it docks. This is about 7 km from the main town of Fira. There are regular buses between the two with a journey time of about 20 minutes (if I remember correctly) and you can buy your ticket on the bus. Bus timetables change according to the ferry schedules and are more often than not simply hand-written.

To get elsewhere on the Island by bus you'll need to go into Fira first (unless of course where you are going is on the port bus route) and get an onwards service from there.

Alternatively, if travelling as a group, it can be just as cheap to use a taxi - just make sure you negotiate the price first!

Website below usually has up-to-date timetables.

Travelling from mainland Greece to Santorini is a matter of personal choice depending on budget and time. From Athens there are regular flights by both Olympic and Agean airways and several of the ferry companies have both high-speed and normal ferry services from Piraeas. My favoured option, which is both time and budget conscious, is to get the overnight ferry, The Express Santorini, leaving Piraeas at 22.00 and arriving at Thira about 07.45 the following morning. You can of course book a cabin but in order to really appreciate the trip, and especially the dawn rising over the islands, a deck passage with a sleeping bag is the way to go.

The second link gives a list of the other options.

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For those who island hop the Santorini Ferry Terminal is 12 km from the town of Fira. We arrived by air, however we visited the port when driving around the island. It is a very busy place and not only can you catch the island ferries but you can arrange car rental and accommodation.