Athens Travel Forum

Hiya - we are three adults staying in Athens - I am in New Zealand and finding it difficult to confirm whether there are sufficient ferries traveling on 7 August this year. My question is

Shall we wait until we are in Athens to book either Ferry or Airline to Santorini given that we only have three days there and I am afraid we may miss out on a suitable passage to Santorini.

Hi

I would fly to Santorini. But seats could be hard to come by. Definitely prebook with either Aegean or Olympic Air. Try to tee up your long haul flight to the domestic schedule. Leave Athens last in case of ferry/air delays.

Book the ferry or air tickets as soon as possible. Santorini is one of the most popular destinations and this is high season. Do not wait until you get to Athens. It will be big mistake.

It's about a 2 hour flight, and definitely prebook. The ferry can take 8 hours. It's cheaper but you wouldn't want to waste a day of your trip being on a boat and not seeing much. If you decide to take the ferry. It's probably not necessary to prebook but I would definitely pay for the airline seats. Again, 8 hours is a long time! I prebooked my flight from Athens to Santorini 2 months prior to my trip. I couldn't get a flight back out (2 months in advance) so I prebook the ferry.

"It's about a 2 hour flight".....???.....It takes 45 minutes. Aegean Airlines is much more reliable than Olympic. Olympic has been plagued by delays and cancellations this year and will be taken over by a new airlines, Pantheon, starting in October with a 6-month transition period.

The first week of August is the highest of the high season. Don't wait to book flights or ferries. I suspect the flights are already fully booked anyway. Same for the highspeed ferries. The larger car ferries such as the Blue Star "Paros" that leaves Athens/Piraeus at 7:30 AM is fairly new and is the largest and most stable of the ferries, but as has been stated it takes about 8 hours to reach Santorini. There are lots of options, it just depends on which ferries still have room. Go to

http://www.gtp.gr

to see what's available on your travel dates. If you book through www.danae.gr you can pay an extra fee to pick your tickets up right at the airport when you first arrive, from the travel desk of Amphitrion Holidays in the Main Hall. They're open 24/7. This will save you dealing with the huge hassle at the ferry port of Piraeus where it will be super-crowded and hot. Booking an indoor 'aircraft-style' seat is a good idea. It only costs a few euro extra and it's a lot more comfortable than the basic deck-class economy first-come-first-served seating on plastic patio chairs. You can get up and walk around and even sit out on the deck if you want, but when you're ready to be comfortable you can go back inside to your assigned seat.

Fly, the ferries can be miserable

FLY FLY FLY!!! The boat takes almost 9 hours. You can get cheap flights that get you there in 45 minutes. You have precious little time, don't waste it on a ferry.
JG

Thank you all so much for helping me and taking time to post a reply

All the very best to you all