We're planning a trip to Greece and will be going to the Cyclades. We want to get an idea of how often the ferries schedule their trips to-and-fro each of the following islands and Athens/Piraeus: Mykonos, Paros, Naxos, Santorini and Crete. At this time, none of the recommended websites for ferry schedules have any information for the month of April, just basic info like, how many times a day/week, am/pm arrivals and departures etc. We don't want to book anything right now, this info is just for planning an independent travel itinerary.
Posted by
Camarillo, California
3123 posts
I can tell you that there is a daily Blue Star Ferry from Athens/Piraeus to Santorini that stops at Naxos and Paros along the way. It leaves Piraeus around 7:30am and reaches Naxos around Noon, then Paros an hour later and Santorini 2 hours after that, so it arrives around 3:30pm. There are ferries to Mykonos from both Piraeus and Rafina. April is still pre-season so there aren't as many nor are the schedules complete, but when they are you will find them at http://www.gtp.gr There will not be any direct ferry between Mykonos and Santorini until sometime towards the end of April, but there might be one from Mykonos to Paros that would let you catch that Blue Star ferry the rest of the way to Naxos and Santorini. The good news is that travel in April does not require any pre-booking whatsoever. You can wait until the day of departure to get your tickets right at the various ferry ports in question. As for flights, soon you will be able to get Aegean Airlines' "saver" fares online from their website. These tickets sell for as little as €39, all taxes included for a one-way ticket. That's only a few euro more than an economy ferry ticket from Athens to Santorini. Sign up for their email newsletter and you'll be notified when they go on sale.
Posted by
OP
CAVE CREEK, AZ, United States
6 posts
Dear Lee, Thank you so very much! This is very helpful and reassuring. It already relieves much of the anxiety we were beginning to feel about this trip. Best Regards, Linda
Posted by
Martinez, CA, USA
1510 posts
We made a similar trip in September, 2012 and felt the same anxiety. We were advised via various forums to make no ferry reservations in advance but to buy them upon arrival. We flew to Santorini and the next day bought our tickets for the ferry from Santorini to Naxos and from Naxos to Piraeus. I checked on this site https://tickets.ferries-booking.com/(S(r5ryfyifnks1aj2nsjju4545))/crsGreek.aspx?itin=one&lang=en-Us&id=2&dep=PIR&arr=JMK&date=09/04/2013&dep2=&arr2=&date2= They show ferries through March so it looks like you might have to wait a couple of weeks to get the exact schedule.
Posted by
OP
CAVE CREEK, AZ, United States
6 posts
Thank you Carol, I checked the website, bookmarked it and will check again later in our planning. Thanks again