Ferry from Santorini to Athens on May 26
 

My friend and I will be in Santorini in May and we need to be back to Athens on May 26th to catch our flight back home. We were told there was a ferry departing Santorini at 0700 that arrived at Piraeus at 1300; however, we cannot find that anywhere. What are our other options? We would ideally like to get to Athens in time for a little bit of siteseeing.

And to clarify, our flight leaves the morning of the 27th.

Yes, there is a ferry leaving Santorini at 0700, but it arrives in Piraeus at 1500 (3 pm). Sunday is the only day of the week there is a morning Blue Star from Santorini:
http://www.gtp.gr/RoutesResults.asp?...70PIRTZE,166,8
:-)

Your other option, of course, would be a morning flight back to Athens — that would leave you all day for sightseeing. :-)

Just to confirm above - Santorini(Thira)to Piraeus
http://paleologos.forth-crs.gr/engli...BO#RoutesTable

I have been to Greece several times over the last 20 years (eek!) and every single trip has been disrupted in some way by transport strikes - specifically 24-hour ferry stoppages. For this reason we have learned the hard way to allow for disrupted travel.

If I were you, really wouldn't run the risk of doing all your traveling on the one day. Would you consider going to Athens the day before your flight and then staying over? It would give you some time to see the sights there and put your mind at rest.

Don't push your luck.. Get to Athens in plenty of time..The day before we arrived in Santorini all ferries and planes had been cancelled due to high winds..The first time all was ok the 2nd trip was the one where delays were experienced by travellers. ter2000 adds a measure possobility of delays.to the

Thank you so much for all of your help. Our flight is on the morning of the 27th so we were planning on getting to Athens on the 26th so we'd have a day buffer- is this not smart? should we plan on going earlier? If there is a strike/ cancellation etc we could catch a last minute flight right? Please correct me if i'm wrong. Also would there be a possibility of taking a night ferry late on the 25th so we arrive in the morning of the 26th to Athens?

Hi sarahjo,

I agree that two nights in Athens at the end of your trip is safer. You do have two things in your favour, though: strikes are rarely called on weekends; and, there are few days of high wind in May. That's when I usually travel, and I've never been affected by strikes or weather.

Things do happen, though, and if the ferry were cancelled everyone else would be looking for flights as well. I don't think that would be a viable plan. There is a ferry stopping at Santorini at 1:25 am on Sat 25th May. It arrives in Piraeus at 8 am, which would give you all Saturday and Sunday to explore Athens. If you can bear departing Santorini in the middle of the night, that might be a good compromise. :-)

Yes, you can catch a last-minute flight, _IF_ there's space still available on the plane. Many passengers headed for Athens on that ferry will be trying to do the same thing.

The last ferry for Athens/Piraeus on the 25th leaves Santorini at 5:30 and arrives in Piraeus at 10:30. It's the Sea Jets SuperJet, a smallish enclosed catamaran, and if the seas are rough you won't enjoy the ride!

I'd actually price the flight right now. If you can get a flight cheap enough, just book it. You might pay as little as $100 if you do it soon. If you wait, you'll pay at least double that.

The ferry ride is loooong, and soooo boring. I'd fly if I did it again. It's a 30 min flight compared to hours on the ferry.

Seats on Aegean and Olympic seem to be going for around €135 at the moment. I agree it would be a long ferry ride, but if you can get some sleep on the 1:25 am ferry, time would pass quickly. It's a little faster than the afternoon ferry because there are no stops between Santorini and Piraeus. Not only is it cheaper than the flight, you will save one night's hotel bill as well. Your call...

The late night is not an issue at all for us (we are young and stay up late anyway); however, we are only arriving in Santorini the day before on the 24th so it would be pointless to leave late that night/morning. We are leaning towards the 0700 ferry on the 26th simply so that we'll have more time in Santorini; however it significantly cuts into Athens - but that was never our priority anyway. Ideally we would love to take the flight but we are on a budget. So with this decision we would get to Piraeus around 1300 and ideally start site seeing around 1500. Is that enough time to see the big sites in Athens - our hotel is very close to the Acropolis?

This will come in handy for hours of operation and entrance fees: http://www.athensinfoguide.com/open.htm

The 0700 ferry arrives in Piraeus at 1500, not 1300. That's 3pm, not 1 pm. If you want to see anything of Athens you will need to take the flight. Why spend 8 of those precious hours sitting on a ferry?

Look once again at the link I provided in an earlier post:
http://www.gtp.gr/RoutesResults.asp?...70PIRTZE,166,8