Greek Island Guide
Saronic Gulf Islands
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The Saronic Gulf islands are the closest to Athens and can be reached in an hour or less by high-speed in the case of Aegina and Agistri, and are great for day-trips and overnights even in the winter. These islands can be visited on the One-Day Saronic Cruise which boasts a 364-day-a-year schedule since even in bad weather the Saronic Gulf is sheltered from the wind. But the Saronic islands are also worth spending more time on and the island of Hydra has a jet-set reputation that rivals Mykonos. Click on these links or scroll down. You can use the top button to return. When you finish you can use this link or the link at the bottom of the page to return to Greek Island Synopsis Main Menu. If you want help with your Greek Island combination try my Create-an-Itinerary page. If you have any questions or can't decide what you want to do you can always e-mail me. You can find ferry schedules and book tickets at Ferryhopper.com. If you find this page useful please share it with your friends on Facebook. For hotels see Matt's Saronic Island Hotels Page |
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A nice day trip from Athens. Take the ferry rather then the high-speed so you can relax and enjoy the scenery of the short trip. Good island for bicycling and the small coastal village of Perdika has some seafood restaurants. Visit the Temple of Aphaia above Agia Marina. Surprisingly Aegina is one island which has really retained it's 'Greekness'. Maybe because it is too close to Athens to be attractive to mass tourism. It is a great place to go in the winter and the off-season. Agia Marina is a beach town with some tavernas a view of Athens and a nice beach. Aegina is a good island for people who want to see Athens but not necessarily stay in Athens because you can get to the city in an hour or less. I used Aegina
as my sample island in my lesson on
How to Visit a Greek Island For hotels search Booking.com.com's Aegina Page or Matt's Recommended Aegina Hotels |
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Angistri (or Agistri) is a
small island near Aegina with beautiful sandy
beaches and a devoted following. Famous for being
one of the first places in Greece to experiment
with naturism, (or in plain English it was one of
the first islands to have a nudist beach, and in
fact it still does.) Some nice tavernas and the
famous
Agistriclub
Hotel, a favorite
for people who have made a career of visiting
Greece every summer, make Agistri an excellent
place to stay and still be able to zip into Athens
to see the Acropolis. The far side of the island
is mostly agricultural and in the village
of
Limineria,
named after
its lake, the inhabitants devote themselves
mostly to farming and fishing. These islands near
Athens are also a good choice for the winter
months when weather is unpredictable and you don't
want to be too far from Athens. For hotels search Booking.com's Agistri Page or Matt's Recommended Agistri Hotels |
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Former home of Leonard Cohen and jet setter haven. No great beaches but who cares? Magnificent village and swimming off the rocks is good enough for recovering from the previous night's festivities. Restaurants and cafes on waterfront are for people-watching. For good inexpensive food search the back-streets or walk down the coast. No cars on the island. Lots of donkeys. Suitable for families or nightlife lovers. There are excursions to Ancient Mycenae, Epidavros and the beaches of the Peloponnesos. The town has been restored and preserved exactly as it appeared in the 1800's when its inhabitants built it during a period of prosperity gained from piracy and blockade running. The Hydriotis made a name for themselves during the war for Independence. Nice seafood restaurants in the village of Kamina. When you tire of walking there are water-taxis. My father took the above photo in 1968. It has not changed a bit. Well, maybe a little but compared to the rest of Greece, not at all. The One-Day Saronic Island Cruise stops here too See my Guide to Hydra For hotel
descriptions, bookings and rates search Booking.com's Hydra page or see Matt's Suggested Hotels in Hydra |
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Imagine staying on an island so close to Athens that you could wake up in the morning and in a little more than an hour, be walking around the acropolis, shopping in the flea-market or wandering around the Plaka looking for gifts or a nice place for lunch. Imagine an island that is a three minute boat ride to the Peloponnesos and places like Naphlion, Myceneae, Epidavros. Imagine an island that is less then an hour from Pireaus, where you can make ferry connections to Mykonos, Ios, Santorini, Crete, Paros, Naxos, Lesvos, Rhodes and almost every island in the Aegean sea. And if this island was blessed with beautiful forests that came right down to the beach, inexpensive accommodations, great restaurants, water sports and cafe life on par with the best Greek islands, then why would you bother staying in Athens? (Unless like me you love cities). The One-Day Saronic Island Cruise stops here too. See my Guide to the Island of Poros For hotel
descriptions, bookings and rates search Booking.com's Poros page |
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Salamina The Jewel of the Saronic. Well maybe a couple thousand years ago. It is now more of a suburb of Pireaus with ferries doing the 10 minute commute every few minutes or so from Perama, an industrial area that is worth a visit for people who like shipyards, factories and things like that. The island of Salamina itself makes an interesting day trip if you have many days to spare. There are restaurants and beaches on the far side that will make you feel like you are a lot further from Pireaus than you really are and a few derelict ships and wrecks scattered around. There are also small boats from the big harbor in Pireaus to Selinia, a beach town with tavernas, hotels and everything you want in a beach town. I went to check it out with George the Famous Taxi Driver and I kind of liked it enough to go back again. Remember, if it were not for the Battle of Salamis, when the Greeks defeated the Persians we might all be speaking Farsi. There are some nice spots as any local will tell you. The trouble is finding a local who will tell you. For hotel
descriptions, bookings and rates search Booking.com's Salamis page |
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Nice beaches.
Pine trees. Water-taxis and Nightlife in the old
harbor plus one of the oldest wooden boat building
yards in Greece. Spetses is most famous for being
the setting for the John Fowles book, The Magus
which is suggested reading for your visit here. You
can travel all around the island by bicycle or
water taxi and there are excursion boats and buses
to the various beaches. High-speed service to
Naphlion and points south make Spetses a doorway to
the Peloponnesos.
See the Diana Farr Louis Guide to Spetses For hotels on
Spetses search Booking.com's Spetses Page or see Matt's Suggested Hotels in Spetses or contact
Dolphin Hellas |
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If you need assistance try my Create-an-itinerary form or see my Greece Itinerary Suggestions page |
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