Greek Island hopping – Greek ferry tips
Greek Island hopping is one of the Greek Island activities that is fun for everyone – but a few tips for using the ferries will make the whole experience easier. The loading and unloading of ferries at island ports is a frenetic experience. There may be cars, trucks and passengers getting off and the same traffic getting on – often all at the same time!
And all this happens to the background of noise, whistles and shouting as the ferry staff try to complete the process as quickly as possible in order to keep to the ferry timetable. The key thing is to stay relaxed – if you follow some of the tips, it’s just a matter of following a process then settling down to enjoy the trip.
Greek Island Hopping – Allow plenty of time
Greek Island Hopping doesn’t always work to schedule. It may seem obvious but give yourself plenty of time to get to the ferry departure point. If you have to drop off a hire car, allow a bit of extra time for that final fuel top up and the paperwork/drop-off to be completed. And the haulage of luggage to the ferry point. You can always keep an eye on the incoming ferry by checking myshiptracking.com and entering the name of your boat (see below).
Greek Ferry tips – Have your tickets and boat name ready
Make sure you’ve got your boarding passes ready to go and if you’re using a phone, that the phone is well charged. Note that sometimes you’ll need to go to an agency to get your actual ticket after booking – plan ahead for that too! Your ticket should have the boat name on it – very important when it comes to the busy ports with multiple ferries arriving at the same time. Try to find out which wharf your ferry arrives at for places like Mykonos or even small ones like Sifnos. If you’re not sure, ask a local – if you’re not convinced by their answer, ask a few more! 🙂
Greek Ferry tips – storing your luggage
Greek Island hopping will usually mean transporting luggage. In general, the larger ferries will like you to store your larger bags in the car area and you can then take your hand luggage with you to the passenger areas. There is often a designated area for your destination island – but it really doesn’t matter too much – just make sure you remember where you left it so that you’re ready for when you get off. (Tip – put your luggage in the areas with less demand – it’s easier to get to.).
Greek Ferry Tips – travel light!
When you have to carry your luggage on and off the ferries, you’ll soon regret packing those extra items ‘just in case’. Most of the time you’ll be able to wheel cases around but there will be the odd time when there’s no alternative to lifting the cases such as getting them into racks or over bumps when boarding the ferries. It’s also good to have a free hand to get tickets ready etc so one case one backpack is a good mix.
Greek Ferry tips – know your stop
As with any mode of transport, it’s good to know when you’re approaching your stop. Announcements will be made each time an island is approached but they are not always easy to hear – again knowing the route will help and you can follow your boat on the myshiptracking site. When you’re approaching your destination, gather the group and start heading down to the car deck ready to collect your luggage and start the frenetic unload. Then you can concentrate on finding your pickup/car rental/friend to start the next stage of your island hopping adventure.
Greek Ferry Tips – Planning Your Island Hopping
Greek Island hopping can be fun to plan but dont be too ambitious in your planning and try to stick to islands on similar ferry routes. Particularly if your stay is fairly short, you dont want to be spending days and days on ferries. You also want to have a bit of flexibility in case of ferry changes, bad weather etc. Some combinations go well together but others will look positively crazy – use sites like TripAdvisor Forums for example itineraries.
One common complaint is that ferry schedules are difficult to find and they take too long to be published leading up to the summer period. The best tip is that schedules for the previous summer are a good guide to what will be available for the next – check openseas.gr and select the previous year dates.
Best time to go Greek Island hopping
That’s a difficult question to answer because it’s all about getting a balance between weather, crowds, your availability etc. If I had to pick a month, I’d go for June or September – the weather will be good but not really hot (and hopefully no fires), the islands and ferries will be busy but not bursting. It will mean you will have more flexibility in booking your ferries and greater availability of preferred accommodation on the islands themselves.
Greek Island hopping – whats a good base island
Naxos would be my number 1 choice – it has good connections to a number of excellent destination islands including the large popular ones like Paros and Mykonos as well as smaller options like the Small Cyclades (Iraklia, Schinoussa, Koufonisia, Donoussa) and Milos. It’s a good destination in its own right so no problem if you find you need to stay there overnight or for a few nights.
