littlemountain

Can any of the resident Greek travel experts advise if, on a Monday in mid-September, advance ticketing would be necessary to catch a hydrofoil/cat from Piraeus to Hydra? Airlines willing, we will arrive in Piraeus in time to catch one of the last 2 or 3 sailings of the day, so it’s not as if we’re taking a one-shot chance that there will be stand-by space on the last trip. The last time we visited Greece the answer would have been “no”, but that was seven long years ago. Thanks.

AKNIC

littlemountain:

We took the hydrofoil from Piraeus to Hydra in June of 2005. Our travel agent just about insisted that we have
reservations (we were going in the afternoon also) and there was not one empty seat that I could see on this boat. We also had return reservations for early one morning. I have experience with only one trip to Hydra so am not really an expert on this subject at all. We were just glad to have such good seats in the front of the hydrofoil as our trip was smooth.
We loved our stay on Hydra, so quiet and beautiful scenery. We used Uli at Dolphin Hellas in Athens for our trip.
All of our plans were perfect working with her. Good luck and have a nice trip.
AKNIC

Jojonana

We took a hydrofoil to Poros at the beginning of October and had no reservations. We had no problem getting tickets (although finding the boat on the pier was another story!) Have a nice trip.

oddy

These articles regarding Hydra Island might help you a bit.

http://www.igogreece.com/EN/Greece.a...reas&id=26

http://www.igogreece.com/EN/GreeceRe...eg=4&id=36

oddy

cristine27

I really don't think that you'll have a problem finding a seat on a MOnday.

kari92037

My advise would be to make reservations. I just got back a few days ago. We did not make reservations in advance and were not able to take a 3 island excursion of Aegina, Hydra, and Poros and instead only could go to Hydra for the day. We also failed to make ferry reservations from Mykonos to Santorini and found that not all of the fast ferries run every day. So, we lost a whole day traveling on the "slow boat." There is a huge debate going on in Greece right now about the ferries not continuing to service the small islands every day/as consistently due to operating losses of the shipping industry. I think there will be some major cutbacks on the schedules for the small islands soon.

cristine27

kari probably you didn't find tickets due to high season. Mid September is low season and especially on a Monday i don't think that there will be any problems.
Still, littlemountain if you want to book your tickets in advance go to www.hellenicseaways.gr.

Hania

I went to Hydra on the Friday before the May 1st long weekend and although it was crowded due to the holiday, I did not have a reservation and was able to find a seat. Because of the holiday weekend, allot of the hotels on Hydra were full but I was still able to find decent accomodation near the port without a reservation. If you are not going on a holiday weekend then in mid Sept. you should not need a reservation. I would buy your ticket at the ferry or along the street in front of the ferry terminals. It will give you more flexibility on time.

Weadles

I would make a reservation on one of the two sailings that you think you can comfortably make even if your plane is late.

I know it was high season, but when we visited Greece in July/August, there wasn't a single empty seat on any of the hydrofoils we took between islands.

And I think that mid-September could still be pretty busy.