Where to charter in Greece?

[deba1152]

We are chartering a sailboat in May in Greece for a week. Trying to decide if we should sail in the Ionian , Sporades, or Cyclades? Which group of islands do you prefer, and what itinerary would you suggest? Four of us are sailing, and two of us are captains. We are hoping to charter a 40ft sailboat. After our week of sailing, we hope to spend time in Athens and ferry to Santorini for a night. Any help is appreciated.

[cannoli_724]

Hi -- I'm in the research stage as well -- last week in April here with 2 captains also.

Are you flying in/out of Athens? It seems that there's no direct flights from Athens over to the South Ionian (Preveza Airport), and it's a 4-5 hour drive over. That's making me reconsider

[JPK]

We chartered a Beneteau 51.1 with Dream Yacht Charter out of Lefkas marina a couple of years ago and had a wonderful experience. There's not much wind in that part of the Ionian (inland sea south of Lefkada), so we ended up doing a lot of motoring. All destinations are line of sight piloting (1-2 hours from place to place) so it was easy to see a lot of different islands in a week. Yes, Lefkada is ~4 hour drive from Athens, which is a bit of a hassle. This coming summer we're chartering again with Dream Yacht charter out of Athens (Alimos Marina) and will be sailing in the Saronic Gulf (Aegina, Hydra, Spetses, etc.). Alimos Marina is obviously much easier to get to from Athens airport (~30-40 min drive) and the sailing conditions will be pretty similar to the Ionian (short hops from port to port, lots of options for destinations, pretty tame wind).

I don't know much about the Sporades. The Cyclades will be very scenic and nice, but longer hops from stop to stop and more possibility of being impacted by Meltemi winds (though it's not as bad in May).

Edit: This was our itinerary in the Ionian.



...and these are the potential destinations we're considering as we're planning our itinerary for this coming summer.

[goldbuckledream]

Hi there, we also have been in the planning stages as far as potential routes. We are chartering from Dream Yacht out of Alimos Marina from May 18-June 1 (14 day itinerary). Looking at doing mostly the Cyclades. Kinda of interested in finding a buddy boat to hook up with for some or all of the routes. We are 2 adults from the US, first time chartering in the MED. We will have been one week in Croatia for a charter before arriving in Athens.