Turn your Greek island hopping dreams into reality with this guide to visiting the best Greek islands. I'll show you how to book a ferry easily, which Greek islands to visit, and more!
So you want to go Greek Island Hopping…
One vacation. 227 inhabited Greek islands. Where do you begin? I've written this guide to Greek Island Hopping with the aim of keeping it simple.
As such, if you're really only interested in the classic Athens – Mykonos – Santorini itinerary, take a short cut and check out my guide here: 7 Day Athens, Santorini, Mykonos itinerary.
Also, if you really only want to know how to book a Greek ferry ticket online quickly and easily, go directly to this site: Ferryhopper.
But if you want to know more, make yourself a nice cup of tea frappe, and let's get started!
Guides To The Best Greek Islands To Travel
To begin with, I'm going to list the Greek islands I've currently got travel guides about. Underneath that, I've included useful tips and advice for planning a Greek island hopping adventure.
I think this guide will have everything you need to go island hopping in Greece. You can always ask me questions via the comments at the end of the travel blog post.Cycladic Islands Travel Guides
When most people think about Greek islands, they've probably got images of Santorini and Mykonos in mind. These are two of the Cycladic islands, but there are dozens more.
I've not been to all of the Cycladic islands yet… but I'm working on it! These are the Cycladic island travel guides I have so far:
Santorini
- Santorini Travel Guide
- Best time to go to Santorini
- Santorini in October
- Santorini in November
- Random facts about Santorini
- How to get from Athens to Santorini by ferry
- How to get from Mykonos to Santorini
- Crete to Santorini by ferry
- Naxos to Santorini by ferry
- Santorini Airport Transfers made easy
- Best Santorini hotels with a sunset view
- How to book a Santorini hotel with breaking the bank
- One day Santorini itinerary
- Two day Santorini itinerary
- Three day Santorini itinerary
- Day Trips from Santorini
- Wine tasting in Santorini
- Best Beaches in Santorini
- Red Beach Santorini
- Hiking from Fira to Oia in Santorini
- Best Santorini tours and excursions
- Best boat tours in Santorini
Mykonos
Milos
Naxos
Schinoussa
Iraklia
Ios
Sikinos
- Best things to do in Sikinos
Folegandros
- Best things to do in Folegandros
Syros
Tinos
Andros
** Travel Guide to Andros and Tinos now available on Amazon! **
Ionian Islands of Greece
Perhaps the other island chain that people associate with Greek island hopping, are the Ionian islands. Located over on the west coast of mainland Greece, they include popular holiday destinations such as Zakynthos and Corfu.
Whilst many people from outside of Greece might associate these islands with a ‘resort' holiday, they are actually ideal for island hopping. They are not too far apart, and regular ferry services run between the islands.
Zakynthos (Zante)
Kefalonia
Ithaca
Lefkada
Crete and the Cretan Islands
Crete is the largest of the Greek islands, and has a number of smaller islands surrounding it. Whilst some people seem content with visiting Crete for just a day or two, it really deserves weeks not days.
From Crete, you can island hop either to the Cretan islands (often on a day trip), or further afield to places such as Santorini.
- Crete Travel Guide
- Best time to visit Crete
- Crete in October for autumn sun
- Athens to Crete (Chania) by ferry
- Transfers from Heraklion airport
- Best things to do in Heraklion
- Heraklion tours and day trips
- The Palace of Knossos (near Heraklion)
- Chania tours and day trips
- Top 5 experiences in Crete
- Plan a road trip in Crete
- Chrissi Island near Crete
- Crete to Santorini ferry guide
Dodecanese Islands
Although the name seems to indicate that this would be an island chain of 12 islands, there are in fact 15 larger ones and a few smaller ones. Welcome to Greece!
The most famous of the Dodecanese islands is Rhodes, and whilst I have visited the island, I haven't gotten around to writing any travel guides yet! As such, only Patmos is listed below.
Patmos
I've still got over 200 Greek islands left to visit and write about. As the Greek saying goes, Siga Siga…
You might also be interested in: Gulet Cruise Around Greece
Travel Tips for Greek Island Hopping
I think you'll find the following travel tips useful as you start looking where you want to go Greek island hopping.
These tips have come from my own experiences, as well as those of readers who have left me comments and sent emails. In my opinion, these Greek island hopping tips are essential before you book anything!
Look at a map of Greece
More than once, someone has asked how they can go island hopping between Santorini and Zakynthos. The answer being, with great difficulty!
It really pays to look at a map, and then narrow down the places you'd like to visit. For most people, this means choosing an island chain (for example the Cyclades), and then looking at which islands best suit them.
Greek island hopping routes are best done either within one island chain, or neighboring chains.
Ferry or Plane
In the past, Greek island hopping was associated with only ferries, and still that is what most people think of today. It is, however, just about possible to hop between some of the bigger name islands by using low cost airlines and Greek national airlines.
For the ‘return leg' back into Athens for your flight home, I'd suggest taking a flight rather than a ferry. One person wrote to me asking if their itinerary looked ok, arriving at Piraeus at 18.00 and flying out of Athens at 20.00. That's leaving it far too tight. What if the ferry was delayed?
Which ferry service to use in Greece?
I've used most of the Greek ferry companies now, and there's not much difference between them. You'll probably narrow down your choice by the most convenient crossing and price in any case.
Take a look at this comprehensive guide to the ferries in Greece.
How to book a Greek ferry ticket
Time was you used to have to go to an office to buy tickets. Now, most tickets can be bought online. I personally use Ferryhopper. It's an easy to use platform, and reliable.
Don't book a hotel first
Don't make the mistake of booking a hotel first which might be non-refundable, and then looking for connections between the islands after. If no connection exists, you've lost out.
When you do book a hotel, use Booking. After you've used it a few times, you'll be given ‘genius level' which gives you discounts.
Best Time To Go Greek Island Hopping
May through to October is the best time to go Greek island hopping. From November until May, ferry services may be reduced to some of the islands. Additionally, tourism all but closes down on the islands.
There are exceptions, as the off season months such as November can be a good time to visit Santorini as there are far fewer tourists.
Cheapest Time To Go Greek Island Hopping
Forget July and August, when hotel prices are higher. You might also want to skip high end destinations such as Mykonos and Santorini altogether if you want to plan a budget island hopping itinerary.
Instead, travel slower, and for longer, and to the smaller less popular islands. You can still get nice 30 Euro a night rooms (and cheaper!) on the islands if you look hard enough. A lot of Greek islands also have camping.
Strong winds can be STRONG
I'd never heard of the Beaufort Scale of measuring wind before I moved to Greece. Now I know it intimately! Strong winds known as the Meltemi can plague some of the Cycladic islands during August. In fact, they can sometimes be strong enough that the ferries cannot sail.
This is nature at her finest, and nothing that can be predicted. I would suggest that you arrange to fly into Athens from your last island rather than rely on a ferry. That way, you won't miss the flight home. Although I guess there are worse places to be stuck than in Greece!
Do you have any travel tips you'd like to add? Please leave a comment below, and I'll include them in the blog post!
Casey says
Wow, Dave! What a great resource! Thank you!
My partner and I (along with our dog) are planning a cycling (e-bikes) trip through Greece in July/August of next year. We are hoping to camp most of the way to save on expenses. I was just wondering how easy it is to find campsites in Greece? Would be difficult to find places to charge e-bikes and, most importantly, are campsites dog friendly?
Do you have any experience with free/wild camping? and do you know of any resources I could use to locate campsites along the way?
Thanks again for a really interesting and informative blog!
Dave Briggs says
Hi Casey,
I’m glad you found the info useful so far!
In terms of camping, you’ll find campsites mainly along the coastlines rather than inland.
They are all dog friendly in my experience.
You’d probably need to pay extra to charge the bikes (electricity has an extra charge at Greek campsites normally).
For free camping, there’s plenty of olive groves to choose from! Some areas of Greece (such as south Crete) are popular with freecampers who often spend the entire summer camping on the beaches there. There’s a similar setup around the west Peloponnese.
I’ve taken a couple of bike tours around Greece, and you might find some useful info in them. You can check them out here: Bike Tours
Chris says
OK thanks Dave for your response. I think I read somewhere that you can pre book Taxis ? Do you know how that can be done online ?
Dave Briggs says
Hi Chris,
Airport (and Piraeus port) taxis can be pre-booked here: Welcome Taxis
Chris says
Thanks very much. I think, even if I had more time, I’d still choose Rafina as it’s closer to the airport, cheaper to get to and presumably not so crowded ?
Many thanks once again
Chris says
Great blog and tThanks for a load of comprehensive information about Island hopping.
I have one question which may apply to more than just me so here goes.
My Aegean Airlines flight arrives in Athens at 5.50am on a Tuesday morning. Given that the plane is on time I should be out of the airport by 6.15am latest (no checked in bags)
Two ferries leaves for the Cyclades in the morning. One from Piraeus at 7.25am and the other from Rafina at 7.55am. So my question is should I buy a ticket online in advance or wait until I’m actually there in the port (in case of delays and non refundable tickets) ?
Thanks in advance
Dave Briggs says
Hi Chris,
In my opinion there’s no way you can make the 7.25 am from Piraeus. (At least it’s not worth the risk).
The 7.55 from Rafina is better, but you’d have to get a taxi I think.
Also, it would be more straightforward to buy the ticket at Rafina port, as the offices as easier to find and so much closer to the port as it’s smaller.
Assuming you’re not travelling in August, buying at the port is perhaps the better option, but I’d book it online if it was me so I could go straight through to the ship.