A slow circuit of the Saronic islands
A week that trades the mainland almost entirely for the Saronic islands, moving slowly enough to know each one rather than skim it. Crossings between them are among the shortest in Greece.
- Length
- 7 days · 7 nights
- Months
- May – October
- Stops
- 4
The route on a map
1 · 1 night
Athens (Plaka)
One arrival night close to the port, spent walking the base of the Acropolis rock.
2 · 2 nights
Aegina Town
Pistachio groves inland and the Doric Temple of Aphaia above the north-east coast.
3 · 2 nights
Poros Town
A narrow strait separates the island from the Peloponnesian shore at Galatas, close enough to row.
4 · 2 nights
Hydra
The car-free finale, reached from Poros by local ferry in under two hours.
Day by day
Day 1
Arrival in Athens
Sleep · Athens
Land at Athens airport, settle in Plaka, and take an early dinner before the morning ferry.
Day 2
Piraeus to Aegina
Sleep · Aegina Town
A forty-minute morning ferry; the afternoon walking the neoclassical harbour front with a fistiki ice cream.
Day 3
The Temple of Aphaia
Sleep · Aegina Town
A short drive to the pine-covered hill above Agia Marina, then a swim at Marathonas on the way back.
Day 4
On to Poros
Sleep · Poros Town
A short ferry hop; an afternoon walk to the clocktower and across the strait to Galatas by water taxi.
Day 5
Lemon groves and a quiet monastery
Sleep · Poros Town
A morning in the Lemonodasos lemon grove and an early-evening visit to the Zoodochos Pigi monastery.
Day 6
Hydra, without a car
Sleep · Hydra
Mules carry the luggage from the quay; the afternoon is for the harbour lanes and Kamini for a swim.
Day 7
Return to Piraeus
Departure
A morning hydrofoil back to Piraeus and onward transfer to the airport; a departure day, not a night slept.