Hydra-Day trip from Athens

Of all the things we did on our Rick Steves Greece tour, we felt Hydra was one of the true highlights of the tour. As you walk along the waterfront going west there is a restaurant up on a cliff called "Sunset House" , the food is excellent and the view of the sun going down over the Aegean sea is priceless. There is swimming to the west of town that is a easy walk, I would recommend taking "diver booties" with you because the beach is small stones not sand and are unpleasant to walk on barefoot. The shops are nice and food was excellent at every cafe we tried. Your going to have a great time!

Just make sure you get to the ferry terminal early enough to find the correct dock. We had a bit of a problem finding the correct one. I just followed my friends so I cannot say where we caught the ferry in the Athens area. They did all the planning.

How are you getting to Piraeus?

If you are taking a taxi just tell the driver you want to go to the gate for Hydra and he'll drop you off right there. Gate number is #8.

There are numerous ferrys/Flying Dolphins from Piraeus to Hydra.

Here's some more info:

https://www.greecelogue.com/ferries-from-athens-to-hydra.html

Do you only have a day? Because a day trip would really miss the best parts of Hydra, and that is the late languid outdoor dinner in the sunset hours, and the early morning walk to breakfast among the cats and fishers heading to the boats. We stayed 2 nights and it was not enough.

If you only have a day, all I can offer is:
* make it as long a day as possible (first ferry in, last ferry out);
* have breakfast or coffee on the harbour, perhaps Isalos Café;
* walk along the shore to Kamini, lunch at Kodylenias;
* at about 5:00, have an ouzo and snack on the harbour, perhaps Piato;
* if you can stay long enough for supper, go to Xeri Elia Douskos and eat on the village square with live folk music and your choice of the day's catch.

Hope you love Hydra as much as we did!

I have been to Athens 4 times and the first time back in 1985, I did a three island day cruise from Athens that included Hydra.

It was great.
https://www.athensdaycruise.gr

Sue,

If you're coming off a cruise ship, you'll be at the dock anyway so transferring to the boat to Hydra should be relatively easy. The staff on the cruise ship should be able to set that up for you (they may even offer an optional excursion to Hydra).

If you have to be back on the cruise ship by evening, be sure you don't miss the boat back to Athens!

We didn’t expect to have to have a “Plan B,” but for our trip in April 2018, we arrived at Piraeus to catch the first ferry to Hydra that morning. Although the weather in Athens seemed pleasant, we were told the seas were so rough to Hydra that the boat was cancelled, and that we could see if the next one, scheduled for an hour later, was going. An hour later, that boat was cancelled, too.

We had reservations to stay on Hydra that evening, so shared a taxi with another couple to get to a different port, south on the Peloponnese, where smaller boats had a smoother crossing. Made it and had a great stay on Hydra after all. May your waters be calm, but if not, go with Plan B, as long as it fits your schedule.

you can start off your day in the town of hydra on the north side of the island. There are some interesting museums and seafood restaurants in the harbour of Hydra. Psaropoula and Gitoniko are some good seafood restaurants we visited with the family last year there when we stayed for three days. Since you are staying there for a full day i would suggest one of the most beautiful things you can do in Hydra is to walk in the district of Avlaki and Kaminia which has its own marina with views of Spetses island.