I am planning a two-week vacation in July to Italy and Greece. Cruise line schedules do not fit ours so I am thinking about ferry and I am looking at www.ferries.gr which has info on Hellenic Seaways.

My questions are:
(1) Does anyone have recommendation for other lines?
(2) We want to visit Athens. Which port (PATRAS, IGOUMENITSA or CORFU) shall we disembark and what transportation you would recommend for getting to Athens?

Thanks in advance for any clues.

Hellenic Seaways don't run from Italy. The main operators from Italy are www.superfast.com, www.minoan.gr and www.anek.gr.
Patra is the third-biggest city in Greece and is about three hours from Athens by bus or a bit longer by train.
Igoumenitsa is much further from Athens and has no railway. Corfu is an island and the only way to get to Athens is by ferry to Igoumenitsa or Patra.

GeoffHamer, thanks for the quick answer.

Do you recommend renting a car in Patra? If taking a bus, do I need to make reservation?

Superfast Ferries and possibly other ferry companies run their own connecting buses from Patra to Athens. Tickets are sold aboard the ship and the bus will only run if there are enough people, but this is unlikely to be a problem in July. The buses are normally waiting on the quayside when the ship arrives in Patra.
Regular buses go from the nearby bus station at least every hour. I've never been there in July so I don't know how busy they get.

GeoffHamer, thanks again for the fast and detailed information. This gave me a good start on my planning the trip. Regards.

Two weeks isn't very long for Italy and Greece. Have you investigated cheap flights? And open jaw plane tickets? Look at www.whichbudget.com for cheap flights between Italy and Greece.

The 2 best fery companies IMO are Minoan (from Venice) and Superfast (from Ancona).
To get to Athens: from Corfu, ferry to Igoumenitsa and bus to Athens, or fly to Athens (Aegean Airways has some very cheap fares)
From Igoumenitsa - bus to Athens. Igoumenitsa itself is a pretty grim place with very little to do other than wait for the ferry or bus!
From Patras: more options, but the ferry trip is longer. From Patras, you can go to Athens by train, bus or plane.
The bus system in Greece is very good and is usually viewed as being better than the railway system. For July, whichever mode of transport you choose, book in advance and arrive with plenty of time to spare.

Carolena

Mimar, I am at the beginning of my planning. After getting many useful info here, I also picked some books from library. I am reading through Greece and still need to study Italy. I will post my itinerary and asking for critiques.

Carolena, thank you for the detailed routes. They are very useful. I have checked some of them and have an idea of their timetable and how much they will cost.