Cruises & boat trips

This covers organised boat trips out of Athens and Piraeus: full-day cruises that stop at two or three Saronic islands in a single outing, sailing trips along the Athens Riviera at sunset, and longer excursions around Santorini's caldera or out to the ancient island of Delos. The distinction from independent island travel is the format rather than the destination; a cruise is a fixed itinerary on someone else's boat with set stops and set timings, rather than travel where you choose your own ferry and your own pace. It suits visitors who want the sea and a handful of islands without organising the logistics themselves.

The detail worth knowing before booking is how little time these trips actually spend at each stop. A one-day cruise taking in three islands might give you barely an hour ashore at each, enough to walk around a harbour and have a coffee but not much beyond it. Choose based on which stop matters most to you and treat the rest as a bonus. Sailing conditions in the Aegean can turn rough enough to cancel a trip at short notice, so book for early in your stay rather than your last free day, and expect a shorter, calmer route in spring and autumn than at the height of summer.

The Saronic route to Hydra, Poros and Aegina is the standard version of this trip and the best starting point if you have not done one before. A sunset sail along the Athens Riviera is a shorter, evening-only alternative that stays close to the coast rather than visiting islands at all. A Santorini caldera cruise or a sailing day around Mykonos, Delos and Rhenia are different again, since both assume you are already on or near those islands rather than setting out from Athens itself.

Boats on the popular Saronic route fill up in summer, and a full boat means queuing for the gangway at every stop alongside everyone else on board. If a quiet island visit matters more to you than convenience, the ferry version of the same route to those same islands gives you more time ashore and more control over when you arrive.