How To Get From Athens to Ios (2024 UPDATE)

You basically have only one way to get from Athens to Ios: by ferry because there is no airport on the island. There are several ferry options so I am explaining below which ones are the best and most efficient.

Since, there are no flights to Ios island, I believe that the Best Way to get from Athens to Ios is by taking the fast ferry from Piraeus Port.

Here are all the options you have basically:

	How Long It Takes	Cost*
Ferry (from Piraeus port)	4 to 7 hours	53 to 85 euros
Ferry (from Rafina port)	5 hours	76 euros

*Obviously the cost fluctuates a lot and may differ; always check Ferryhopper for ferry costs and Booking.com Flights for flights

ios port greece — *Ios port can be very busy in the summer months (May-October) with lots of ferries arriving and departing throughout the day*

There are several ferries per day from Athens to Ios that take from 4 to 7 hours (depending on which ferry and port you choose), and it’s a relatively quick and easy way to travel to the island.

You can always search directly from here the available ferries to Ios:

Ferryhopper is the largest and most safe website in Greece to book your ferry tickets from Athens to Naxos, but you can also use it just for checking timetables and prices between Athens and all greek islands.

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It’s obvious that whatever I am explaining in this post also applies to the return trip from Ios to Athens.

If you are wondering how it is inside a ferry to the greek islands then here is my complete tour of the Highspeed 4 Ferry (interior and exterior)

Keep reading…

ATHENS TO IOS TIPS:

You basically have only one option for getting from Athens to Ios: by ferry

Best way To get From Athens to Ios: By the fast Ferry (4 hours – usually the Seajet from Piraeus) because it’s simply faster than any other option

Best Website for Ferry Prices & Timetables: Ferryhopper

Athens has 2 ports with ferries to Ios: Piraeus (or Pireas – PIR) and Rafina (RAF). Piraeus is the largest port with more ferry options in general, but Rafina is closer to the Athens Airport (El. Venizelos) and it may have ferries that suit your schedule better or in some cases even faster than the ones from Piraeus; in my honest opinion, you should choose Piraeus port if you decide to take the ferry to Ios

The ferry port for Ios in Piraeus Port is E7 (on Google Maps)
(but always check your ticket as this may change)

Between April-October there can be more than 5 ferries a day from Athens to Ios (from Piraeus Port or Rafina Port) ; there are far fewer ferry options in the winter (November-March)

How long is the ferry ride from Athens to Ios: it varies from 4 hours to 7 hours ; the same obviously applies to the ferry from Ios to Athens

How much does it cost to take a ferry from Athens to Ios: it obviously changes every year, but in general, it can cost from 50 euros to 80 euros per person

You must book your ferry online and you can then enter the ferry with the barcode that will be on the email that will be sent to you. This will be clearly written on the email you will receive from Ferryhopper and it is now the system that most ferry companies use BUT some smaller companies may ask you to get a printout from a kiosk that is outside of the ferry and it is this print out that will allow you to enter the ferry. As a rule of thumb, if your ticket you got through email from Ferryhopper has a barcode then you can enter the ferry directly.

How long is the flight from Athens to Ios: there are no flights to Ios as the island does not have any aiport

Best Way to go from Athens Airport to Athens main ferry port (Piraeus) to take any ferry is by taking the Athens Airport Bus X96 (X96 Bus Route – X96 Bus runs every 20-30 mins) – X96 Bus ticket costs 6 euros (adult) and 3 euros (kids) or buy an ATH.ENA Card

Best Way to go from Athens Airport to Rafina Port is by taking another bus (which is called KTEL) that runs around every 1 hour from the Airport.

Strikes in Greece: strikes can happen anytime in Greece and for any means of public transportation within short notice; usually, they may happen on Tuesdays, Wednesdays or Thursdays; yes, they may mess up your trip but they are necessary for the hard-working people of Greece so that they can have decent salaries and benefits for their lives. So, get over it and try to find some alternatives for your trip (a taxi is usually the best option).

Strong Winds – Ferries Cancellations: in case there are strong winds (which can be pretty common in August in Greece), then the Greek Port Authorities may stop all ferries from departing, so bear in mind this is also a possibility that can mess up your trip; as an average there might be 4-5 days during the summer months that this can happen so get prepared

Business Seats on Ferries in Greece: in my opinion, they are not worth the extra money as you only get a bit more space and a slightly quiet area to sit but even the standard seats are very spacious

The Ferry Schedule for all greek islands is announced only 2-3 months before the actual trips, so if you cannot find any scheduled ferries for your trip 3 years from now, please check again 2 months before your actual trip.

Ok, so let’s see all the available options from Athens to Ios (that also apply to the return trip from Ios to Athens):

Athens to Ios Ferry Schedule

seajets ferry greece — *The SEAJETS Ferries are usually the fastest ferries to any greek island (and to Ios)*

The Ferry Schedule from Athens to Ios is only announced a few months before the actual dates of the trips, which means that the times for the busy summer months of May, June, July, August and September are only announced around February or March of the same year.

However, there are not that many changes usually as there are often ferries that depart sometime in the morning and go through several islands.

Here is an Example of a Ferry Schedule from Athens to Ios in September from Ferryhopper:

athens to ios ferry schedule — *This is a typical Ferry Schedule from Athens to Ios in the summer months (May, June, July, August, and September); note the different departure ports (Piraeus / Rafina)*

This is just an example of a ferry schedule!

For the latest Ferry schedule, always check on Ferryhopper.

The winter ferry schedule is less frequent with probably 1-2 ferries daily.

ferry ticket greek islands blue star ferry highspeed — If you book your ticket through **Ferryhopper** you are going to get a link through email where you can download the tickets with the barcode that looks like this (it will open up in your browser, and you can just screenshot it); this ticket will have your seat number as well, and it is individual for every passenger, so kids and vehicles will have their own barcodes and separate tickets

highspeed ferry greece — *Highspeed and Seajets are usually the fastest ferries to greek islands*

ferry greek islands inside — *This is the Economy Class (or regular seats) on Highspeed ferry*

economy class space seat greece — *I am not the tallest guy in the world,* but I had plenty of space in the economy seats of Highspeed 4

business class seats ferry greece — *The business class seats were almost similar to the economy class but this may differ slightly from ferry to ferry; in my opinion, they are not worth it in any ferry*

seat nuimber ferry greece — *It might be tricky to locate the exact seat number that is on your ticket but you can always ask the crew of the ferry*

food ferry greek islands — Unfortunately, there are no restaurants on any of the ferries but there are plenty of options for nibbles, sandwiches and greek pasties in the small shops that are called Everest and are pretty much on every ferry

luggage space ferry greek islands — *There is always plenty of luggage space on board any ferry but you need to be careful as these are unattended*

ferry greece outside space highspeed — There is always an open space on any ferry (smoking is strongly prohibited everywhere) but its size depends on the ferry itself; usually, the slowest ferries (Blue Star) have the largest outdoor spaces and the fastest ones (catamaran style Highspeed and Seajets) have more limited outdoor spaces

BLUE STAR FERRIES

Bluestar Ferries are the biggest you can take to go to Ios and are the most stable but also the slowest (7 hours to arrive)

No matter how bumpy or windy it is, you won’t feel much on Bluestar Ferries, but in case there are strong winds the Greek Port Authorities may not allow any ferries to depart for safety reasons.

Almost all ferries from Athens to Ios, visit other islands before they arrive at Ios, which can give you a very good glimpse of some other greek islands too before they arrive at their destination. You don’t get to see much but it’s nice to feel like you are on a small cruise!

The best way to check for the available Blue Star Ferry times schedule is to visit the Ferryhopper website.

They run all 365 days per year and there are basically 1 ferry per day from Piraeus port to Ios.

Check the exact timetables on Ferryhopper.

Where can you book Blue Star ferry tickets from Athens to Ios?

I highly recommend you book your ferry tickets online through Ferryhopper before you even land in Greece. It is the easiest and safest way to guarantee you are going to get a seat. In fact, for July, August and September, I recommend you book the ferry tickets online at least 1 month in advance. To be honest, you will always find a seat on a ferry but if you are planning to get your vehicle on the ferry, then you need to book very well in advance as there are limited spaces for cars and motorbikes in their garages.

BE CAREFUL THOUGH:

As long as the email you receive from Ferryhopper has a barcode on it, you will be fine to enter the ferry with these ones. It will be very clear on the email you will receive from them, though. Otherwise, you will get instructions on how to get the printout ticket, as some smaller ferry companies don’t have a barcode system on their tickets (very old-fashioned indeed…). This is not a problem, however and all you have to do is to go to a kiosk outside of the ferry itself and people there will print out the ticket for you. Ferryhopper will give you instructions on where to go exactly.

How much the Blue Star Ferry ticket cost?

For the latest prices always check the Ferryhopper website.

FLIGHTS TO IOS

There are no flights to Ios as the island does not have an airport. If for some reason you want to fly, you should fly to Santorini and then take a ferry from Santorini to Ios that takes less than 1 hour to arrive to Ios.

HOW TO GET FROM ATHENS AIRPORT TO PIRAEUS PORT

*X96 is the Athens bus that will take you from Athens Airport to Piraeus ferry port*

The easiest and cheapest option to get to Athens ferry port called Piraeus is by taking the bus X96 that stops just outside of the Athens airport.

X96 bus takes between 50 mins to 80 mins (depending on the traffic) to go to the Athens ferry port (Piraeus) and the X96 bus route to Piraeus ferry port is the following:

This is how to get from the Athens Aiport Exit to the X96 and X95 bus stops just outside of the airport:

Ios Ferries depart from E9 Port Gate so you have to stop at the bus station which is called: STATION ISAP (this is also a metro station).

Or in greek : ΣΤΑΘΜΟΣ ΗΣΑΠ

In case you feel lost you can just ask the bus driver (they always speak english if you speak with a very clear accent like an italian mafioso in a way… 😉)

But in reality, you will find some brand new GPS screens showing you where you actually are:

*There are GPS screens showing you where you are on the X96 Athens bus*

The X96 bus runs 24/7 and there is a bus every 30 mins roughly (in Greece time runs in a very strange way…so never expect something to be on time…that’s just a small tip from greeks…you’d better get used to that unfortunately).

But there is a X96 bus every 20-30 minutes, so there will be one for you too!

Click here to see all the stops of X96 Bus (from Athens Airport to Piraeus Ferry port to Ios) and the live timetables

For the X96 bus, you have to buy tickets from a kiosk which is just outside of the bus stop (and also just outside of the airport, just follow the “Bus” signs in the airport).

For adults the Athens bus ticket (called “ATH.ENA) costs 6 euros and for kids (under 6) it costs 3 euros.

*The Athens Bus Ticket for X96 Bus (and X95 bus that goes to the center of Athens – Syntagma Square)* *is called ATH.ENA ticket*

*You have to validate your tickets once inside the X96 bus but you can actually use the same ticket everywhere for 90 mins*

You can also take a taxi from the Athens airport to the Piraeus Ferry port which costs 50-60 euros but it’s really not recommended because it’s not worth it in my opinion…

The X96 bus is pretty fast and it costs only 6 euros!

Also, BE CAREFUL:

Sometimes the X96 Athens Airport Buses say: “AEROLIMENAS-PEIRAIAS”

Don’t get confused.

This is a greek version of saying: “Airport – Pireaus” , so it’s the same really…

HOW TO GET FROM ATHENS AIRPORT TO RAFINA PORT

ktel bus rafina airport — *This is how the KTEL bus that will take you from Athens Aiport to Rafina port looks like – they depart from a different bus stop than X96 and they usually have orange and white colours*

The easiest and cheapest way to get from Athens aiport to Rafina port is by taking a KTEL bus.These are different buses than the blue ones (like X96 or X95) and the bus stop is just across the street from the airport exits (see picture above). You can buy the ticket on the bus from the driver and it costs around 3 euros (there might be a slight difference every year).

The timetables for the bus Athens Aiport to Rafina are on the following table but you should always check the official website of KTEL Buses for the latest timetables:

ktel bus rafina port timetable — Athens Aiport to Rafina Ferry Port Timetable but for the latest Schedules always check the **official KTEL Website**

HOW TO GET FROM ATHENS AIRPORT TO CENTRAL ATHENS

*X95 is the bus that will take you from Athens Aiport to Syntagma Square (central Athens) but you also have the option of taking the metro (subway)*

To go from Athens Airport to Syntagma Square (the most central point in Athens), you have to take either the metro from the airport (it’s actually overground for some stations and then it goes underground) or the bus X95 which will take you to Syntagma Square within 30-40 mins.

The X95 bus stop is next to the X96 bus stop and the tickets are exactly the same and are sold from the same kiosk.

This is Bus X95 route (from Athens airport to Syntagma square – central Athens):

You can also take the metro line 3 to get to Syntagma Square from the Athens Airport.

Check on this link the timetables for Athens metro lines

These are the timetables of Athens Metro Line 3 to and from the Airport (there is a train every 36 minutes):

athens metro line 3 timetables — *Athens Metro Line 3 (Piraeus Port – Central Athens – Airport) – Click to Enlarge*

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

How long is the ferry ride from Athens to Ios?

The ferry ride to Ios is usually 4 hours with the fast ferry (Seajet) but it can also be up to 7 hours with the slower but cheaper ferry (Blue Star Ferry).

What is the best way to travel from Athens to Ios?

The best way to travel from Athens to Ios is by the fast ferry from Piraeus port because it is relatively quick and easier than any other option.

Is it better to fly or ferry to Ios?

There is no airport in Ios so you are only left with ferries. Otherwise, I would suggest that you fly to Santorini and then take a 40-minute ferry from the to Ios.

CONCLUSION

You basically have only ferry options to get from Athens to Ios as there are no flights to the island (no airport on Ios). My honest recommendation is to take the fast ferry that takes around 4 hours to reach the island.

For me, the best way to check timetables and even book your ferry tickets online has been Ferryhopper for the last few years, and I highly recommend it to everyone looking to get a ferry to Ios from Athens.

How To Get From Athens to Ios