Is Hydra doable from Piraeus on cruise stop?
 

Hi,
We'll be stopping in Athens (Piraeus) on a long day cruise stop in mid-May, and I'm wondering if it's possible to get a boat to Hydra and back from Piraeus. I'd of course check the weather so that we don't miss our cruise ship if the weather forecast is iffy. We've seen Athens years ago, and I'm like to experience something other than the city.
Thanks for your counsel!

I don't think I would want to spend a port call travelling on another boat. If you don't want to go into Athens you could go from Piraeus to the nearby beach suburbs of Glifada or Vougliameni, which I understand have excellent restaurants and shopping. Another possibility would be Cape Sounion, a little further along the coast. I hope clausar, another contributor, will join in to add an opinion. :-)

I looked at the boats to Hydra from Piraeus, and it seems to me that you wouldn't have enough time to do it as a day trip.
The schedule for May is not out yet, but until April you would only have 2 hours to spend on the island.
( it is a trip of 1:50 hrs one way with a flying dolphin)

From Piraeus you can go to the southern suburb of Glyfada, an area with many restaurants, great shops and cafes or

You could take the green metro line from Piraeus till the end station of Kifisia, which is a northern very green suburb of Athens full of life with shops restaurants and cafes.
Walking around you will discover old houses of rich Athenians that used to spend their summers there, away from the city.

Sounion and nearby Lavrion for a lunch at one of the numerous fish tavernas would be a further option, but this could be only done with a rental car, since using the local transportation and changing from the city to a KTEL bus is not an easy thing to do. :)

Thanks so much clauser and Heimdal! Glyfada or Kifisia sounds like an excellent alternative to downtown Athens!

Last year my husband and I got a taxi from our cruise ship to Vouliagmeni. There's a very nice public beach which charged €4pp for loungers and a parasol (don't go to the rip-off private beach which tried to charge us €15pp!!) and you can also visit the picturesque freshwater Lake Vouliagmeni, which is a warm freshwater mineral lake that is meant to have healing properties.

The taxi cost €20 each way but was worth it. We had a lovely relaxing day and totally enjoyed it.

ter2000

Would have suggested it as well, but the water in mid May will be still cold for swimming, and apart from the beach or the Vouliagmeni Lake there is nothing else to do there.

ter2000,
I'll keep that in mind if we just want to chill on the beach...but probably Kifisia would work best.

clauser, do you know about how long it takes to get to the end of the green metro line from Piraeus?

The ride will take about 60 minutes.

On your way you will see the Olympic complex where the Athens Summer Olympics took place in 2004 ( at Eirini station)

There is also a very big mall directly at the metro station of Nerantziotisa, that you can visit as well, it is the most popular Mall of Athens, it's name is " the Mall", you can walk to it directly from the metro station.