The kusadasi to greek islands tour sails from the Turkish coast to Samos, then on to Mykonos, Paros and Santorini. For other routes across the country, see the tours in Greece that the home page lists.
The page covers the six days, the port of Kusadasi, the crossing to Samos, the season, each island and the questions travellers ask.
What is the kusadasi to greek islands tour, and how does the route run?
A six-day sea route from the Turkish coast into Greece is the kusadasi to greek islands tour. It starts at the port of Kusadasi and crosses to Samos. It continues to Mykonos, Paros and Santorini, then returns to Piraeus by overnight ferry. A free Athens day follows, and a check-out day ends the plan.
- Day 1: Kusadasi, Samos, night on Mykonos
- Day 2: Mykonos to Paros by ferry
- Day 3: Paros to Santorini by ferry
- Day 4: Santorini leisure, overnight ferry to Piraeus
- Day 5: Piraeus arrival, Athens at leisure
- Day 6: Check-out, end of the plan
A reader who searches for a kusadasi to greek islands tour wants to leave Turkey by boat. The plan has no flight, because it follows the sea from Turkey to Samos and on into the Cyclades. Ferry schedules are reduced out of season, as the Wikivoyage page on the Cyclades notes.
Island hopping means moving from one island to the next by boat, with a night or a day on each. The kusadasi to greek islands tour keeps the idea compact: four islands in four days. Each pair of stops is joined by one ferry. Extra nights on an island are possible when the ferry links allow them.
The route of the kusadasi to greek islands tour stays on the Aegean Sea. The Aegean Sea article lists both Kusadasi and Athens among the settlements on its shore. The trip opens and closes on one sea. The word archipelago began here. The same article says it first named the Aegean itself, then any sea studded with islands.
Mykonos, Paros and Santorini all belong to the Cyclades. Samos belongs to the North Aegean region, while the Cyclades fall under the South Aegean region. The kusadasi to greek islands tour therefore runs west and then south, from the Turkish coast into the Cyclades. Wikivoyage describes the group as lying toward the southern end of the Aegean Sea.
What does Kusadasi add to the kusadasi to greek islands tour?
Kusadasi adds the Turkish start to the kusadasi to greek islands tour. Tourism is the primary industry of its municipality in Aydin Province, and its port opens the sea route. Cruise passengers heading for Ephesus also use that port, the town’s own article reports.
Ephesus lies 15 km north-east of Kusadasi, and Wikivoyage calls it an easy day trip by shared minibus or taxi. The original site of Ephesus is Selcuk, 4 km beyond the ruins, where a museum and a citadel stand. The kusadasi to greek islands tour does not stop at either place, but the port sits near both.
The bay ends in Pigeon Island, called Guvercinada in Turkish, with a castle on it. The Kusadasi article says the castle and garrison there were rebuilt and expanded in eighteen thirty-four. The work mattered so much that the whole town took the island’s name. The castle is now a restored museum, Wikivoyage adds.
On Day 1 of the kusadasi to greek islands tour, a transfer leads from the hotel to the port. Wikivoyage places a restored Ottoman caravanserai at the harbour entrance, an inn where merchants lodged with their goods. A mosque 100 m to the south was built by the same man. Both date from the early seventeenth century.
The Kusadasi article names nearby airports at Izmir and Bodrum, served by bus and taxi. Shared minibuses cover trips around town. Rail users head for Selcuk, 20 km north-east, where Wikivoyage places the closest station. Suburban trains link it with Izmir at gaps of one to two hours. The kusadasi to greek islands tour starts in this town.
Daily ferry services run to the Greek island of Samos, the Kusadasi article reports. It also notes boat day trips from Kusadasi and from Guzelcamli. Wikivoyage’s go-next list names Ephesus, Didim and Samos, and calls Samos an easy day trip. That sea link is the first leg of the kusadasi to greek islands tour.
How does the crossing from Kusadasi to Samos work on the kusadasi to greek islands tour?
The Kusadasi to Greek Islands tour begins with a short sea hop from Kusadasi to a port on Samos. Wikivoyage lists daily foot-passenger sailings between April and October on this route, with no cars aboard. It names two landing ports on the island, Vathy and Pythagoreio.
From the town of Kusadasi, Samos lies about 16 kilometres offshore. Dense forest covers the Dilek Peninsula, and its Mount Samsun juts out towards Samos, says Wikivoyage. So the Kusadasi to Greek Islands tour needs only one short sea leg to enter Greece. Wikivoyage lists a marina east of Pythagoreio with room for 260 vessels.
Samos was not always part of Greece. Wikipedia describes a semi-autonomous principality under Ottoman suzerainty. It lasted from the nineteenth century until the island joined Greece in the early twentieth century. Wikivoyage calls Samos a stopping-off point on the route between Athens and Izmir. Kusadasi’s Go next list in Wikivoyage includes Samos as a day trip.
Two ports on Samos take the sailings from Kusadasi. Wikipedia puts Vathy, the capital, in the northeast, with 9,700 people, and Pythagoreio in the southeast. Vathy has two docks. The eastern dock, named Vathy Port, takes the ferries to and from Turkey, and customs controls sit there. Ask which port your Kusadasi to Greek Islands tour sailing uses.
A sea crossing between the two countries is a border crossing, with the controls at the port. Wikivoyage notes that Samos is EU territory inside Schengen. Before you book the Kusadasi to Greek Islands tour, read the entry rules on your own foreign ministry’s website. Keep your papers ready for the check at the harbour.
Each line posts its own current timetable, because sailings shift across the season. Use that source for your travel day. Wikivoyage Samos adds that hydrofoils to the Dodecanese leave regularly from Vathy and Pythagoreio. Both ports serve more than one line. On day one, the Kusadasi to Greek Islands tour continues with a second ferry, from Samos to Mykonos.
Which season suits the kusadasi to greek islands tour?
The sailing season sets the answer. The Kusadasi to Greek Islands tour follows the Kusadasi to Samos lines, which Wikivoyage lists for spring to autumn. Wikivoyage points to late spring, June and early autumn as the times to visit the Cyclades, outside the summer peak.
In late spring and June, the heat is milder, says the Cyclades page of Wikivoyage. The beaches are warm enough from the middle of late spring. The Samos page opens its tourist season in late spring, when the Pythagoreio line starts. The Kusadasi to Greek Islands tour also meets a low chance of rain on Santorini, adds Wikivoyage.
Wikivoyage Cyclades describes high summer as crowded and hot. North winds prevail on Samos in summer, and Wikivoyage’s mooring notes say Vathy gets swell when they blow. Wikipedia adds that July is the hottest month on Samos. Wikivoyage Kusadasi says visitors double the resident population in summer. So the Kusadasi to Greek Islands tour starts in a busy port.
Wikivoyage’s post season for the Cyclades starts in September and ends in mid-October. The weather turns in October and rain sets in. The Vathy line from Kusadasi runs until October, and the Pythagoreio line until mid-October. A September date sits inside both timetables. The Kusadasi to Greek Islands tour therefore still has its sailings in these weeks.
Winter falls outside the sailing season. Wikivoyage lists the Kusadasi to Samos sailings only from April to October. It reports reduced ferry schedules in the Cyclades out of season. Wikivoyage’s Santorini page says seasonal businesses begin to close as October ends. Wikipedia describes mild, rainy winters on Samos, with February the coldest month and December the wettest.
The sea sets the pace. Wikivoyage says sea and weather conditions can cancel ferries. It notes that seas are calmer at night. Wikipedia gives Oia wind speeds from 56 kilometres an hour in August to 98 in October and February. Added nights, subject to ferry connections, give the Kusadasi to Greek Islands tour room for a changed sailing.
What do Samos and Mykonos add to the kusadasi to greek islands tour?
Samos adds a UNESCO harbour town and a ruined sanctuary of Hera to the kusadasi to greek islands tour. Mykonos adds a white harbour town for the first night. Day one joins the two by ferry, so it is a long sea day with free hours on Samos.
Pythagoreio, in the south-east of Samos, is the site of the ancient town. Its oldest finds reach back to the fourth millennium BC. Minoans colonised the place about the sixteenth century BC, and trade kept the town influential until the third century AD. Free hours on the kusadasi to greek islands tour suit a walk through the site.
Under the town wall, the Tunnel of Eupalinos gave safe water in a siege and an escape route. The harbour mole was 360 metres long and stood in 30 metres of water. Wikivoyage calls the walk from the centre of Pythagoreio short and the way well signposted. That suits the free hours of the kusadasi to greek islands tour.
Herodotus ranked the temple with the tunnel and the mole as three great works of Samos. Before the Sacred Way was built, visitors reached the sanctuary by sea and entered near the coast. One column shaft still marks the site. Pythagoras, Epicurus and the astronomer Aristarchus were born on Samos, whose capital is Vathy.
Lena’s House Museum shows a Mykonian middle-class home of the nineteenth century, restored with its furnishings. Little Venice is five minutes on foot from the Fabrika bus station. Anyone arriving by sea meets the windmills first, standing on their hill above the harbour. Day one of the kusadasi to greek islands tour ends with a night on the island.
Delos, an uninhabited island close to Mykonos, is a UNESCO World Heritage area and is closed on Mondays. Platys Gialos and Paranga Beach are two further starting points for Delos boats. Day two of the kusadasi to greek islands tour sails for Paros, so Delos fits with an added night. Off-season, check boat times at the kiosk.
What do Paros and Santorini add to the kusadasi to greek islands tour?
Paros adds a ferry hub, a Byzantine church and white marble to the kusadasi to greek islands tour. Santorini adds a water-filled caldera with two clifftop towns. The ferry from Mykonos reaches Paros on day two, and the next ferry reaches Santorini on day three. Each arrival leaves free time.
Wikivoyage gives Paros a coastline 120 kilometres long, and ferries run from Parikia to Santorini. In Parikia, Panagia Ekatontapiliani promises a hundred doors in its name but has 99. One theory traces that name to Katapoliani, the Lower Town church by the sea. That Byzantine church is the town stop of the kusadasi to greek islands tour.
Naoussa lies in the north-east of Paros, where a Venetian fortress once guarded the port. Parian marble came from underground quarries, where workers cut by lamplight. Parian marble was the island’s chief source of wealth. Both are choices for the free hours of day two on the kusadasi to greek islands tour.
Naxos led trade across the Cyclades in the eighth and seventh centuries BC. Syros has the Vaporia quarter in Ermoupoli, where sea captains lived among neoclassical mansions. Boats link both Naxos and Syros with Mykonos, says Wikivoyage. The kusadasi to greek islands tour names either island as a swap for Paros.
Five volcanic islands form the Santorini group, and the largest, Thira, holds almost all visitor services. Cruise ships anchor in the small harbour between Nea Kameni and Fira. Wikivoyage gives the inner caldera walls a height of up to 300 metres. Day three of the kusadasi to greek islands tour starts with the ferry from Paros.
Oia sits between 70 and 100 metres above sea level. Ammoudi, the harbour village below Oia, has a ferry link to Therasia. The Akrotiri dig in the south shows streets and multi-level buildings under ash. The rest of day three on the kusadasi to greek islands tour is free.
What else do travellers ask about the kusadasi to greek islands tour?
What fills a free island day on the kusadasi to greek islands tour?
A day with nothing booked still has a shape on every island of the kusadasi to greek islands tour. Wikivoyage calls the main town of Samos easy to walk, though streets climb steeply away from the seafront. The archaeological sites and museums are mostly closed on Tuesdays, so ask before you walk out to one.
A free day on Mykonos can leave the town behind. At Platys Gialos, small fishing boats carry visitors to the beaches of the south coast. Inland, the village of Ano Mera keeps a monastery, Panagia Tourliani, from the sixteenth century. Lefkes lies in the middle of Paros, and an old Byzantine path runs down from it to Prodromos.
Santorini rewards a little planning in the kusadasi to greek islands tour. Bus lines have no numbers, and the destination is not always shown on the bus. Wikivoyage advises asking the driver or the ticket office, and adds that tickets are bought on board, in cash. Vothonas, a village inside a ravine, has buildings cut from the ravine itself.
What happens on the night ferry between Santorini and Piraeus on the kusadasi to greek islands tour?
Here the plan names the overnight ferry, with day ferries as another choice. On Wikivoyage, standard ferryboats need about seven to nine hours to reach Santorini, and fast boats four to five. A sailing of that length can fill a night on the kusadasi to greek islands tour. The plan can also be changed to the traveller’s own days.
Check what the booking covers. Wikivoyage points out that a booked ferry does not promise you a place to sit. The Cyclades page adds that deck class lets a passenger sleep outside on the deck. It names two kinds of boat, ordinary ferries and speedboats. Ask the operator whether the ticket brings a seat, a cabin or deck space.
Day four of the kusadasi to greek islands tour includes the transfer to the port of Athinios. Wikivoyage says buses meet each arrival there and carry passengers to Fira. Every vehicle leaves the port by a steep, winding road that makes seven turns of 180 degrees. The boat passes Paros and Naxos between Piraeus and Thira.
What can the free Athens day hold once the kusadasi to greek islands tour reaches Piraeus?
The metro makes the first step simple. Piraeus station sits near gate E6, where Lines 1 and 3 meet, as Wikivoyage describes it. The same page rates a metro day trip to the antiquities in the middle of Athens as easy. The central Cyclades boats sail from a point just across from the station.
Wikivoyage counts twelve hills inside Athens, seven of them historical. Among them are Lycabettus, the Pnyx, the Hill of Philopappus, the Areopagus and the Acropolis itself. A hill walk is a calm choice for the free day of the kusadasi to greek islands tour. The page describes the hills as a quiet escape from the city’s noise.
Vasilisis Amalias Street is where Wikivoyage starts an archaeological walk through the centre, mostly free of traffic. The route goes by the Acropolis Museum and the Herodion Theatre, then finishes at Kerameikos. Day five of the kusadasi to greek islands tour has room for it. Athens, the page notes, runs into Piraeus without a visible edge.
How do you read a ferry timetable on the kusadasi to greek islands tour?
Wikivoyage Greece says Greek ferry schedules have no single complete source, printed or digital. Each operator posts its own timetable, and ticket offices at departure ports display them too. Check every stage of the kusadasi to greek islands tour on the operator page first, then at the ticket office.
Read the port name as well as the time. Two harbours serve Mykonos: the old one in the town and Tourlos, about two kilometres north. Wikivoyage says the fast catamarans still use the old port, and the ferries mainly use the new one. Check the port of your own boat before you go.
Wikivoyage Cyclades says weather and sea can cancel a ferry, so avoid the last boat before a flight. The sea is calmer at night, which favours the late evening and early morning sailings. For the kusadasi to greek islands tour, official port and operator pages carry the latest word.