Hi, we are traveling to Greece the last week of March and first week of April. I know it would be better to go in May - but, this is our only window to do this trip with our two teenagers. We are looking to do Athens, Nafplio, Crete and Santorini. We were going to fly from Athens to Crete, but I would like to take a high speed ferry from Crete to Santorini. The day I'm looking to do this is April 1, 2025. However, I cannot find any ferries that are scheduled that day. Do you know if I'm just too early to be looking? Or, if they do not run daily that time of year? You cannot fly directly from Crete to Santorini so we don't want to do that. I just want to make sure logistically, this will all work before we start booking anything. Thanks for your help!
Posted by
61 posts
As a general rule, April 1 is the "opening" of Greece for travel. More frequent flights, ferrys, longer operating hours, and on many islands things open up for the season (including santorini). So you may have to wait until february to see the new itineraries. I will say that as far as I remember there were ferrys to santorini from athens in april, so its a fair assumption that there would be some from Crete to Santorini.
I would also suggest making sure that youre using the legitamate sites for looking/booking like the hellenic seaways site rather than aggragate/third parties. Theyre usually cheaper, have better/more options and sometimes show a bit more in advance. You could message one of the companies like Hellenic and ask them if there should be routes available on that date, they should be bookable in february or march. They should at least give you an answer whether or not its possible. There may also be the non high speed, which I would suggest taking the night ferry in that case. You dont lose any time and just sleep on them.
Posted by
OP
7 posts
Okay, thanks for the advice. I'm going to message the ferry company and see what they say. Thank you!
Posted by
France Southwest
2534 posts
For April/May you don't need to book so far in advance.
Hellenic Seaways does not operate the Crete → Santorini route.
If you want to take a highspeed ferry you will travel with Seajets from Heraklion. (non-highspeed conventional ferries on this route are Blue Star ferries)
Once again, do not book now even if the Seajets booking system allows you to do so, the timetables given for April/May are not reliable and there may be other possibilities by then.
In fact you could buy your ferry tickets once you are in Crete at a ferry ticket agency.
If you book online, wait until early April, and always do it on the ferry company's website. Not on a third party service like ferries.gr or others.
Do not expect ferry companies to answer your emails.Anyway all Greek ferry companies are on strike today and tomorrow.
Posted by
OP
7 posts
Okay, thank you! I really just wanted to make sure that this ferry will exist. If it doesn't, we were going to rethink going to Crete. I can find ferries after April 4th so that was what was concerning me. Sounds like it will exist once it gets closer. We were just nervous to book lodging in Crete and Santorini without know this piece of info. Thanks for your help!
Posted by
France Southwest
2534 posts
Sorry, I forgot that you specified a specific date, April 1st.
Usually the daily Seajets ferries start operating this route from the 2nd week of April.
This may change for 2025, otherwise you will have no choice but to take a Blue Star Ferry.
In April 2024 the Blue Star Chios was going from Heraklion to Santorini twice a week, on Mondays and Fridays. The journey takes about 3 hours
Posted by
61 posts
JoLui - Im going to have to respectfully disagree with not booking early. Sure, now is a bit early for April. But booking a week or 2 in advance can save a lot of headache, especially for "hot" destinations like Santorini. The vast majority of people book that day or the day before, and if you want the best options and cheaper fare, its best to book earlier. Theres nothing worse than expecting to get a train/bus/boat somewhere then finding out its sold out and have to wait a few hours or even a day to get there. In april our ferry has about 30 people who count get on to Aegina of all places, on a weekday because a bunch of groups booked tickets the day of. Same with on the way back. Just so happened to be the first and last ferry of the day too. I also saved about 30 or 40 euros booking in advance.
Posted by
France Southwest
2534 posts
pencilstealer,
I'm not telling the OP not to book in advance, just not to want to book that far in advance. It's pointless since all ferry schedules for April 2025 won't be set and published until February.
The Heraklion Santorini lines are mainly operated by Blue Star Ferries and Seajets, with the Blue Star Chios having a capacity of over 1700 passengers and the SeaJets Superrunner being able to take over 800 passengers, I have never heard of anyone who did not get a place by booking only two or three days in advance
I don't know how you got to Aegina, it may have been via a tour operator with a specific ferry, and I don't see how it is possible not to get a place on this route given that there are at least 10 ferries per day between Piraeus and Aegina whatever the time of year with ferries sometimes having a capacity of over 1000 passengers.
Unlike flights and trains the price of tickets is set for the whole year and will not change whether you book 5 hours or 5 months in advance. In 30 years of ferry travel in Greece I can only remamber one exception in 2022 due to the increase in fuel prices due to the war in Ukraine
I also do not understand how you were able to save 30 or 40€ since the ferry tickets to Aegina cost around 12€