Go to content Go to navigation Go to search

Homer's Inn Hotel - Ios Cyclades in Greece.

The answer to relaxing during your holiday vacation!

Ελληνικά

30/07/2010 00:10:42 GMT

Traveling to Ios · May 24, 04:23 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:

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:

3. Flight to Mykonos Airport (JMK)

And then you should get a boat to Ios, see Travel by Boat.

4. Flight to Crete (Chania (CHQ) or Heraclion (HER))

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, so check 20 days before traveling anyway).

There are two types of boats to Ios:

  1. The conventional boats. The most affordable.
    • From Piraeus it takes about 8 hours. 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.
  2. 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", rumored to be replaced by Highspeed 6 in 2010) 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 many 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.

You can actually book tickets on line. When searching in the Open Seas website there is a ticket button next to each trip. Clicking on that should present a number of travel agencies with on line booking service. Alternatively you may go directly to Acteon's booking service, which is our local travel agent. When you book a ticket you'll get an electronic reference number which you should keep. You must then get a physical ticket from any travel agency or issuing kiosk in Greece before traveling.

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.

Update: Legal issues resolved but investor lost interest. Thank you Greek government for taking 5 years to come up with policy for hydroplanes :-).

Cruises

EasyCruises unfortunately dropped Ios out of their cruises route.

  1. PLEASE, I WILL STAY IN SANTORINI FOR FEW DAYS, AROUND 3. I WOULD LIKE TO KNOW IOS. I KNOW IT’S VERY CLOSE. cAN YOU TELL ME WHERE I CAN FIND A SECURE BOAT AND THE PRICE? I WILL BE THERE IN MAY, 20TH TO 25TH. I WOULD LIKE LEAVE SANTORINI EARLY ( AROUND 8 AM ) AND COME BACK FROM IOS AT 5 PM USING A CONVENTIONAL BOAT. THANKS

    Response: It is indeed very close 45mins to 1 hr and 15 mins depending on the ferry. You can check the schedule at www.openseas.gr. All boats are pretty secure! Please check your emails for more details.
    — PAULO    Apr 4, 05:21 PM    #
  Textile Help

Welcome!