We are on a ETBD Turkey tour that ends in Kusadasi on September 29. We'd then like to visit Patmos and Santorini, and possibly a third island, before heading to Athens and the mainland. Will the ferry schedules be changing about then so that we will be traveling in low season? It seems Patmos could be done as a day trip from Samos. Will the ferry schedules enable us to do that? What is the best way to get from Samos (or Patmos) to Santorini? I've read that Kos is the base for the Dodecanese so the routing would be Samos (or Patmos) to Kos to Santorini, but any schedule I've seen requires an overnight in Kos.
When should I expect ferry schedules to be posted? During the summer or not until we get there? Thanks for your help.
Posted by
Camarillo, California
3149 posts
There is a direct ferry from Kos to Santorini but from Samos you first have to go to Mykonos to change to a different ferry to Santorini which may require an overnight there. By the end of September the ferry from Samos to Mykonos will probably be running on a winter timetable, so you might have to wait until mid-summer or later to see what's offered. http://www.gtp.gr Some schedules for next September are already available such as the Blue Star ferry from Kos to Santorini. It departs Kos at 8:00pm on M,W,F and arrives at Santorini around 12:30am. This same ferry also stops at Rhodes if you want to spend time there as your extra island. http://www.bluestarferries.com
Posted by
St Paul, MN, usa
17 posts
We made the same trip to the Greek Islands after our Rick Steve's tour last year. We were traveling in early May and it was very frustrating trying to figure out how to travel by ferry. On the advice of several on this forum, we ended up flying Aegean Air. We were very glad we chose this option as we probably wouldn't have gotten to Santorini when planned due to the weather. Just something to think about.
Posted by
Atlanta, GA, USA
87 posts
Normally I am all about doing things yourself, but this might be an area where getting a Greek travel agent to help you handle tickets and planning might be worth the extra cost. A few summers agoduring high seasonwe flew to Samos, ferried to Patmos, and then ferried to Kos. Patmos isn't reachable by plane; if you want to go there you have to take the ferry. We actually ended up having to change our itinerary in the last three weeks because they released the ferry schedules and then changed them. We were glad to have gone through an agent for the tickets at that point since otherwise we would likely not have even known about the changes until we arrived, let alone been able to negotiate for the new tickets. Just fyi, I and the people I traveled with totally fell in love with Kosif you have to do an overnight there, I would actually call that a good thing :).