Greek Island Hopping

By Frank Adam Burns · Updated 31 August 2026

Island hopping is the trip most people picture when they picture Greece, and it is the one that goes wrong most often. Not because it is difficult, but because the plan is usually made from a map rather than a timetable.

Pick one group, not three

Greece has roughly 6,000 islands and islets, around 227 of them inhabited, arranged in groups with quite different characters. Hopping within a group is straightforward. Hopping between groups almost always means routing back through Athens, and that costs you a day each way.

Choose the Cyclades, or the Ionians, or the Dodecanese. Not two of them in a fortnight.

How many islands

Two islands in ten days. Three in a fortnight. Every hop costs you a morning of packing, a transfer to the port, a crossing and an afternoon of settling in — roughly a full day, of which none is spent on a beach or at a site. Travellers who cut their list from four to two almost never regret it.

Ferries in practice

Most routes radiate from Piraeus, with some from Rafina and Lavrio. Fast catamarans cost more and are cancelled more readily in wind; conventional car ferries are slower, cheaper and far more stable. Book ahead in July and August, when popular sailings sell out. Foot passengers can usually turn up; vehicles cannot.

Check the actual sailing schedule for your dates before you commit to an island pair. Direct services between two neighbouring islands sometimes run twice a week, not twice a day.

The meltemi

A strong northerly wind that blows across the Aegean in July and August, sometimes for days. It cancels catamarans, delays ferries and is the single most common reason Greek itineraries fall apart. It does not usually stop the big car ferries, which is an argument for booking those on critical legs.

The buffer day

Always end with a night back in Athens — or at minimum on an island with an airport — before an international flight. This one habit has saved more Greek trips than any other piece of planning.

Flying instead

Domestic flights to Santorini, Mykonos, Crete, Rhodes and Corfu are inexpensive and take under an hour. Using one flight to skip a long ferry leg is often the best money you spend on the trip.

If steps, luggage or mobility are a factor, ferries are the hard part of Greece — boarding ramps, port transfers and Cycladic villages built on stairs. Tell us early and we will build a route around flights and flatter islands.