Traveling to Ios · Jul 4, 11:37 PM by Panos Gkikakis
Ios does not have an airport and therefore it is only accessible by boat at the moment.
There are four possibilities when traveling to Ios from abroad:
1. Flight to Santorini Airport (JTR)
Beware that Santorini is also known as Thira. This is the most convenient route, however it may be difficult to find a direct flight from your country. Please note that it may be possible to get a low cost flight by booking a flight only ticket on a chartered flight.
List of carriers known to provide flights to Santorini:
- From the UK:
- XL Airways
- flythomascook.com
- Thomson Fly (Choose the "Destination" tab)
- From Italy:
- Myair.com[appears that they don't anymore]
- From Germany:
- From Austria:
You may also wish to visit this site and this one
You can then reach Ios by boat (see Travel by Boat). Santorini's port is called "Athinios". You may get a bus or a taxi from the airport to the port (the taxi ride should cost about 15 Euros).
2. Flight to Athens International Airport(ATH)
The advantage of this option is that there are many flights from all over the world to Athens International Airport (Eleytherios Venizelos).
Once arrived you may reach Ios:
- By a Flight connection to Santorini Airport. See Flight to Santorini Airport (JTR) for next steps.
- By boat from Piraeus (Port of Athens) [kmz] to Ios (See below for more) [kmz].
To get to Piraeus you may use the Public Transport Buses. The Bus Station is right outside the arrivals level. You should buy a ticket from the kiosk (easy to find, next to the buses). The route to Piraeus is named "X96". The ticket costs about 3 Euros (a taxi ride may cost 35 - 50 Euros). It takes about 1 hour (depending on the traffic conditions) to arrive to the port. It will be quite easy to understand when to get off the bus, the stop is named "Karaiskaki Sq." (Πλ. ΚΑΡΑΙΣΚΑΚΗ) [kmz]. If unsure do not hesitate to ask the bus driver.
If you require information about Public Transport in Athens please visit Athens Urban Transport Organization.
The Ministry of Transportation announced that the suburban railway will connect Pireaus Train Station [kmz] to Athens Airport [kmz] in less than 50 minutes. The new route is expected to be effective by the end of May 2007. Tickets will have a very low cost.
From Piraeus port you may get a boat to Ios. Conventional boats reach Ios in about 8 hours. Highspeed boats in 3 hours and 30 minutes. See Travel by Boat for more.
3. Flight to Mykonos Airport (JMK)
- From the UK:
- XL Airways
- Thomson Fly (Choose the "Destination" tab)
- From Germany:
- From Austria:
- From various European cities:
And then you should get a boat to Ios, see Travel by Boat.
4. Flight to Crete (Chania (CHQ) or Heraclion (HER))
- From the UK:
- XL Airways
- Monarch[Flights from Manchester, Gatwick, Birmingham and also Dublin]
- flythomascook.com
- Thomson Fly (Choose the "Destination" tab)
- From Germany:
- From Austria:
- From Sweden:
- From Norway:
- From Denmark:
- From the Netherlands:
- From Hungary:
- From Czech Republic:
- From Poland:
- From various European cities:
And then you should get a boat to Ios, see Travel by Boat.
Traveling by boat
Before getting to the port you should check that there is a boat to get you to your destination. The definitive website to do that is OpenSeas which has the most up to date boat schedule. Please note that the schedule changes sometimes (mainly from a Season to the next).
There are two types of boats to Ios:
- The conventional boats. The most affordable.
- From Piraeus it takes about 8 hours (some do it in 10 like "Romilda"). The standard route is Piraeus -(~5 hr)-> Paros -(~1.5 hr)-> Naxos -(~1.5 hr)-> Ios -(~1 hr)-> Santorini. Please make sure to get off the boat at the right Island!
- From Santorini (usually) directly to Ios in approximately 1 hour.
- The high speed vessels. Faster and smaller boats. The tickets cost a bit more. Please make sure you don't get in a fast boat that reaches Ios no sooner than the conventional (because of the route it takes). The fastest service from Piraeus is the HighSpeed 5 (aka the "red Vodafone" due to adverts painted on it!) in 3 hours and 30 minutes (route is Pireaus->Paros->Ios->Santorini).
Also you should be aware that boat trips from Mykonos and Crete to Ios are not as frequent as from Santorini and Pireaus. Also watch out for one of the latest trick, boat companies do (company really, they exercise monopoly strategies): Some scheduled trips from Piraeus will arrive on Santorini first (~8 1/2 hr) and then approach Ios! In general do pay attention to the route and ask what the duration of the trip is. You should also book tickets as soon as possible especially for the high speed vessels and especially during August.
Hydroplanes
Hydroplanes used to run several times a week connecting Ios to Santorini and Layrio. You may find out more at http://www.airsealines.com. They have some legal issues to resolve before they approach Ios again.
Cruises
EasyCruises unfortunately dropped Ios out of their cruises route.
