A week from Athens: Poros, Hydra, Spetses
8 days · 120 nm · starts in Athens · Greece
Alimos (Athens)
Handover after 17:00, provisioning at the AB Vassilopoulos supermarket across the road from the marina, night on the pontoon. If the boat is released early, it is worth moving to Perdika on Aegina for the night — that takes the pressure off the first sailing day.
Alimos → Poros
The longest leg of the week, and it lands you straight in the best harbour in the gulf. Poros is separated from the Peloponnese by a strait only 200 metres wide: moor alongside the quay right under the clock tower, and in the evening take the tavernas of Kanali and the lemon grove on the mainland shore.
Poros → Hydra
Hydra is an island without cars: only donkeys, stone and an amphitheatre of a harbour. Arrive by 14:00 — quay berths go fast; the fallback is Mandraki bay a mile to the east.
Hydra → Ermioni
A short hop to the mainland and a day for swimming. Ermioni sits on a narrow headland with a bay on each side: a fishing harbour on one, pines and windless water on the other.
Ermioni → Spetses
Spetses: boatyards where wooden hulls are still built, horse carriages instead of taxis and the evening promenade at Dapia. Berth in the new harbour or in the Old Port, which is prettier and tighter.
Spetses → Methana
Back north along the Argolid coast. Methana is a volcanic peninsula with hot springs and an almost empty waterfront: after Hydra and Spetses it is an abrupt change of volume.
Methana → Aegina
Aegina: pistachios, a horseshoe harbour and the Temple of Aphaia on the hill, worth a taxi ride up. For the night you can move to Perdika in the south of the island, a fishing village on the sunset side.
Aegina → Alimos
A morning passage, refuelling, handover by 17:00 (most fleets refuel the evening before and check out in the morning).
The Saronic Gulf is Greece's most accessible charter area: Alimos marina is half an hour from Athens airport, the islands sit in a chain 10–20 nm apart, and the meltemi hardly reaches here. This is a route about towns and tavernas: a new port, a waterfront and fresh fish every evening. A loop of roughly 120 nm, and the only long day is the first one — after that the legs run two to three hours.
Practicalities
- Wind: 10–18 knots in summer, strengthening after lunch in the straits off Poros and Methana. The meltemi is gentler in the Saronic than in the Cyclades — a good area for a first Greek charter.
- Berths: town quays are almost everywhere free or nominal, but there are no lazy lines — moor stern-to on your own anchor. Electricity and water are not available everywhere: keep the tanks full.
- There is only one long day here. If the crew lands in the evening and starts late, the Alimos — Poros leg splits with a night on Aegina, and Methana drops out of the loop.
- Logistics: 30–40 minutes by taxi from Athens airport to Alimos. Provisions are cheapest in Alimos and on Aegina.
When to go and what it costs
Greece is the cheapest place in the Mediterranean: a median €175 per person per week in winter, and even in summer (€298) it is cheaper than Turkey. Fleet discounts here are the deepest on the market — up to 63% on average for last-minute deals — so look at the price per berth, not the percentage.
RYC Rentals data, 2,062 offers from 2024–2026, as of 13 Aug 2026 · full breakdown →