⛴Minoan Lines

I took SeaJets from Heraklion to Santorini in April. It was empty because it was Greek Easter. Pleasant trip. Comfortable seats.

I flew from Santorini to Athens. I think the fastest ferry is close to five hours. The flight was 45 minutes. Santorini Airport is small and easy to get through.

Thanks 🙏🏻Frank I’ll look into the Heraklion to Santorini ⛴ferry you did…but RS actually recommended taking the longer ⛴ferry to Athens…if one could spare the time. Which I can 👏

I do enjoy the scenic ⛴ferry rides so I would prefer to travel by boat. But if the fellow travelers tell me not to right now…I’m all 👂ears. I can ✈️fly too if necessary. 😂

Thanks you guys.

We also used Sea Jets and were very pleased. I would question how "scenic" the trip is from Santorini to Athens. I've been on several similar journeys. After that many hours on a ferry, the islands all start to look alike. As mentioned earlier, the airport in Santorini is small and you save valuable time vs. a ferry trip.

I have found SeaJet- the PowerJet hydrofoil met our needs beautifully. Worth a try. Ferry experience have been terrific, although lots of travelers so be prepared.

We originally booked with Minoan from Heraklion to Santorini. This was two months in advance of our trip. Minoan emailed us to let us know the route for that trip was cancelled. They didn’t automatically refund our fares but I was able to track down the appropriate people in charge and asked by email for a refund. It took another 3 weeks to get it from them. We rescheduled on SeaJets and it was a 2 hour ferry ride with comfortable seats inside the main cabin arriving Santorini at 9:50 AM. We stowed our luggage on racks at the entrance of the ferry. The sea was rough because of high winds but it didn’t affect the ride at all. We also went up to the top deck for a view of the ocean and photo ops. SeaJets also has a food and espresso coffee drink concession on board.

Leslie 🙏🏻thank you so much for your comments. I was just about to do what you did…book a few months in advance for my Minoan tickets Heraklion-Santorini. But prior to purchasing I emailed Minoan to confirm the dates were actually still valid. They emailed me back saying the sailing is not an option for my day. Thank goodness I did not buy my tickets!!!! The website was all ready to take my order & money.

So I found that only Seajets is an option. Everyone keeps telling me to just buy a week prior to departure but that worries me. Maybe a month will be better.

Be aware that there is always a possibility of a one day ferry strike in Greece and think about an alternative plan just in case. It happened to us on one of our island ferries and we were left scrambling looking for a last minute flight. I had registered our Greek vacation with STEP and they sent us an alert about the strike the day before. (we received absolutely NO notification from the ferry company) It was definitely a frustrating glitch in our plans, but it did work out and we were able to receive a refund from the ferry company.

Travel bug thanks for your tip. Just curious if your commented on a recent trip? May 2022-now?

I also enrolled in Step a few minutes ago, but I cannot remember if they asked for the countries I’m visiting. Oh no, now I have to log on again. And remember my password 😭