After a two-day quick trip to Athens, we continued our trip to Santorini from Athens. There are two ways I recommend to make this trip, both by ferry. Flying is not recommended, it’ll be costly and just a short ride. In this blog post, I will be sharing on which ferry to take from Athen to Santorini, where we lived, and some tips and recommendations.
How to get from Athens to Santorini:
- Sea jets (recommended route) A small but high-speed ferry to Santorini takes only about 4-5 hours. Book tickets via their website from [PIR] PIRAEUS to [JTR] SANTORINI (THIRA). High-speed ferries do sell out so book early in advance if you are traveling between June- September.
- Blue star ferries are huge and comfortable. If you are worried about sea sickness, this is the ferry to take.
- Hellenic Seaways are bumpier and get you to Santoniri in 4-5 hours.
How long does each ferry take & costs?
- Seajets get to Santorini in about 4-5 hours. Usually they leave at 7AM and arrives around noon. It is best to check the ferry schedule on their website. Tickets in September (when we went) cost around 58-60 euros for one-way tickets.On the Highspeed ferry it’s €60 for economy, €63 for business, and €76 for VIP.
- Blue star ferries depart Athens at 7:25 every morning (365 days a year) and takes about 8 hours from Athens to Santorini and the ferry arrives in Santorini at 14:55. On the Blue Star ferry it costs €38 for economy, €53 for VIP, and €69 for a cabin berth.
- Hellenic high speed ferries depart every day from March 30 to September 30 from Athens at 7:05am and arrives in Santorini at 12:35pm. On the Highspeed ferry it’s €60 for economy, €63 for business, and €76 for VIP.
Which one should I take?
- If you want to get to Santorini as fast as possible: Sea jets <– I took this one
- If you are prone to seasickness and want to enjoy the ride: Blue star ferries
- The high speed ferries that go from Athens to Santorini do not have open-air decks so you’re not able to see any scenery at all. You sit inside in airplane style seats and are unable to go outside except when a stop is made at a port. The windows are usually covered with salt and sea spray and don’t allow for much in the way of views. The Highspeed ferries do get you to Santorini in a little over half the time (5 hours instead of 8) so there is that advantage.
How do I get from Athens to the port?
- Ferries depart from the Piraeus ferry port located 20 minutes by train outside of central Athens, and arrive in Santorini at the Athinios port, 15 minutes from the town of Fira.
- If you live in central Athens (like me!) then you can arrive at Piraeus in 20 to 30 minutes. Metro tickets cost €1.20. Metro runs from 5:30am until about midnight. If your ferry leaves at 7:30am (like many do) leaving downtown Athens at 6:30am should give you plenty of time.
- The ferries to Santorini and the rest of the Cyclades are directly across the street from the metro station between gates E6 and E8.
- Don’t freak out like I did, the port is huge but there are clear directions on where to go. Everyone is heading in the same direction.
(Take the M1 to get to the harbour)
(boarding Sea Jets at 7AM in the morning. Seats were cramped and stuffy)
I wish I took more photos on the inside cramped conditions onboard the Seajet but I didn’t. The ride wasn’t very fun and my sister got seasick. I just tried to sleep the whole way until we arrived in Santorini at around 12. When we arrived at the port, the hotel we stayed at, Villa Manos, came to pick us up.
Villa Manos
Located in Karterados, Villa Manos is clean with spacious cave rooms situated away from the nearest city, Fira. Because it is located away from Fira, their rooms are reasonably priced, and the service was excellent. We stayed in September and costs were able 15£-19£ a night dependent on the type of room and no breakfast. The host provided airport/ferry transfers on check-in/check-out dates and even gave us a red wine bottle when we left!
The surrounding was very nice with a swimming pool outside. Although there weren’t any ocean views, but you can go to Fira and Oia for that!
How to get from Villa Manos to Thira and Oia
- To get around Santorini, there are buses that go around the island. It comes every 20-30 minutes given the time of day, just remember to get a bus schedule.
- From Karterados to Thira takes only a few minutes, and sometimes the host was nice enough to give us a ride into Thira.
- The bus stop at Villa Manos is just outside, probably a 2 minute walk from the front door.
- Oia is a bit farther involving a bus transfer at Thira.
Thira and Oia are the two major villages that every tourist has to visit on their trip to Santorini. Sunsets are at Oia for sure. For Thira, I won’t provide a map because in Santorini, one must get lost and explore every corner of the village. I will, however, provide some food recommendations and photos to take!
A really delicious greek yogurt/ice cream place, Mattonella is absolutely delicious. I highly recommend it. I paid around €2.70 for 125g of Greek yogurt.
In Thira/Fira we wanted to save up and not spend money on a restaurant we didn’t know about so we ate cheaply. Did they taste good? Well….
(Wearing an old H&M shirt bought for this trip & H&M bikini under)
(Beautiful churches you can expect to see in Fira)
Oia is the village where you want to be when the sun sets. All the nice blue-santorini-postcard-worthy homes are situated in Oia so be sure to spend at least more than 3 days here. It is a small village but worthy of exploring. There is only one rule in Oia,
There’s too much to talk about Oia, where to take the best photos, what time of day so I’ve decided to include that in a separate post!