http://www.visitgreece.gr/en/travelling_in_greece/by_sea

Visit Greece now hosts the most comprehensive Greek ferry schedule in English to date via the Greek Travel Pages – GTP – a ferry schedule portal, which can be found on: http://www.visitgreece.gr/en/travelling_in_greece/by_sea. The portal carries information on 85 ferry companies and 13,440 routes. 

All Greek islands are linked to the mainland by a variety of vessels including high-speed ferries, hydrofoils and catamarans, which have recently been refurbished and are regular, fast and reliable.

When searching for an itinerary on visitgreece.gr from the mainland to the islands or to other mainland destinations, visitors will need to enter the most suitable port into the search engine. To help choose the right port, here is a brief guide:

Piraeus, Rafinas and Laviro are the three Athens ports – and are best for destinations in eastern Greece.

Piraeus is the biggest of these ports – in fact it is the largest passenger port in Europe - servicing about 20 million passengers annually. It is the closest to Athens and situated to the south west of the city centre. There are ferry routes from here to almost every island in the eastern portion of Greece, the island of Crete, the Cyclades, the Dodecanese, and much of the northern and eastern Aegean Sea.

Normal ferries, catamarans and flying dolphins depart from Piraeus to the islands many times a day and Piraeus is connected to Athens and the airport by metro, rail links and buses.

Use the ports of Patras on the Peloponnese or Igoumenitsas and Astakos on the west coast of mainland Greece for sea travel between the mainland and Ionian islands.

The service includes all the main Greek ferry companies and search results will provide details of all available options to the major destinations, what kind of vessel is available, how many stops there are, whether booking is recommended, maps of the routes and links to the ferry companies.

Christina Kalogera, the Greek National Tourism Director in the UK & Ireland said: “Island hopping in Greece has just got a whole load easier thanks to the new GTP portal. Island hopping has always been the most delightful way to see the diversity Greece in one holiday, but now thanks to the new GTP portal, and the recent refurbishment of the Greek fleet, it has never been easier to plan or more desirable as the new modern fleet is now speedy, reliable and even luxurious!  We are delighted we can now offer this comprehensive service to English-speaking visitors.”

15 July 2014

For further information contact: Dimitra Voziki, Deputy Director, GNTO UK & Ireland Office, tel. 020 7495 9310, email deputy_director@gnto.co.uk, Frances Tuke, frances@lotus-uk.co.uk or Jules Ugo jules@lotus-uk.co.uk. 020 7953 7470.