Piraeus or Rafina: choosing the right Athens ferry port

Athens has two ferry ports, and a surprising number of people find this out at the wrong one. Piraeus is the big one, southwest of the city, on the metro, and it serves almost everything. Rafina is small, on the east coast near the airport, and it serves Mykonos, Tinos, Andros and a handful of others. They are an hour apart by road and there is no quick way between them.

When Rafina is the better port

If you are flying in and going straight to Mykonos, Tinos or Andros, Rafina is roughly twenty five minutes from Athens airport against an hour or more to Piraeus. The crossing is shorter and often cheaper too. If your hotel is in central Athens, Piraeus wins, because it is the end of metro line one and line three and you can be there for the price of a ticket.

How early to arrive

An hour before departure for a conventional ferry, and do not cut it. Piraeus is enormous, the gates are numbered E1 to E12 and spread over several kilometres, and the gate is confirmed late. Rafina is small enough to be simple, but the road in backs up badly on summer weekends. Greek ferries close boarding on time and they do not wait.

The bit that goes wrong

Luggage and stairs. Fast catamarans stack cases in a rack by the door and there is a scrum at each stop. Board early, take a seat near your bags, and know your island's arrival time, because the crew announce it once and often only in Greek.

We book ferry tickets across all the Greek operators and pair them with private transfers at both ends, so nobody is dragging a suitcase down a pier looking for gate E9.