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Athens at sunset from above: the lit Acropolis, the city and the Saronic Gulf beyond

Greece · 7 nights · Saturday to Saturday

Saronic Gulf,
an hour from Athens.

A volcano, a town with no cars, and five harbours you can walk end to end. Whole boat, your own skipper, nobody else aboard.

Day by day, Saturday to Saturday.

A loop of the Saronic and Argolic gulfs, out of Athens and back to it. This is the shortest-hop water in Greece: most legs run under two hours, and on several days you are anchored and swimming by early afternoon. A volcano, two islands that keep cars off entirely, and a mainland harbour town on a pine peninsula — all of it within an hour's drive of the airport at either end of the week. The route is a plan, and depending on wind and what the group fancies your skipper may swap a stop for Agistri (wiki, map), the pine-covered island just off Aegina; Epidavros (wiki, map), where a Roman-era settlement sits two metres under the bay and you can swim over the foundations with a mask; or Vathy on Methana (wiki, map), a fishing port on the volcano’s far side that most charter boats never reach.

Athens at sunset from above: the lit Acropolis, the city and the Saronic Gulf beyond Methana harbour and the small town from the air The group holding their noses under the Methana’s Hot Springs sign, skipper in his captain’s cap The old thermal baths of Methana: milky turquoise sulphur pool under the hills Hikers on the trail up the Methana volcano, the bay far below

Boarding is in the afternoon at Alimos (wiki, map), the marina on the Athens waterfront. The first leg runs south-west across the gulf to Methana (wiki, map) — a volcanic peninsula hanging off the Peloponnese by a neck of land so thin it reads as an island. You smell it before you see it: the sulphur springs have been running here since antiquity, and the old spa on the front still uses them. Two small harbours, a short quay, and almost no other charter boats, because most crews sail straight past.

Sunrise over the sea at Methana, yachts stern-to on the quay Poros town from the air: the clock tower on the hill and yachts along the quay The group on quad bikes on a hill road above the sea, Poros Sunrise from the chapel hill above Poros: the channel, the town and the boats below Poros harbour lit up at dusk, the mountains of the Peloponnese behind

Set an alarm for this morning. The quay at Methana faces east across open water, and the sun comes up out of the sea straight ahead of the bows — the finest sunrise of the trip, with coffee in hand and nobody else awake. Then a slow breakfast, a swim off the stern, and a very short hop south to Poros (wiki, map). The island is separated from the mainland by a channel about 200 metres wide at its narrowest: you motor down it with the town climbing the hill on one side, its blue clock tower on top, and Galatas on the other, close enough to read the menus. The afternoon is for wheels: hire a quad bike on the waterfront and ride the whole island in a couple of hours — the pine ridge along the spine, the beaches on the far side, the monastery above the bay, and back into town before the light goes. The night is on the town quay, with the whole waterfront of cafés and tavernas along it, and the evening ferry lights crossing to Galatas and back. One more early start: next morning, before the town wakes, climb the lanes to the little chapel on the summit and watch the sun come up over the Peloponnese with the whole channel, the town and the boats below you. It is the best view on the route, and it belongs to whoever is up.

The clock tower of Poros from the air as the boat leaves for Hydra Hydra harbour from the air: the stone shipowners’ houses climbing the slope Mules and their handlers on the Hydra quay, the island’s only transport Tuna salad nicoise for lunch on Hydra: seared tuna, potatoes, olives and egg A terrace table set for dinner at dusk, a yacht at anchor beyond the pines

South-east to the island everybody on this route comes for. Hydra (wiki, map) has no cars at all — goods move by mule and by hand-cart, and the stone houses of the old shipowners climb the slope around the harbour like seating in a theatre. The harbour is small and fills up early, so this is the one day the skipper will want to be in before lunch. Swim off the rocks at Spilia (wiki, map), west of the entrance, in the afternoon. And if the group would rather skip the town noise altogether, there is a standing plan B a mile east of the harbour: Mandraki (wiki, map), a half-wild bay with a pebble beach and pines down to the water, where there is always room to anchor and the night is as quiet as Hydra gets.

A quiet bay near Hydra from the air, boats at anchor off a pine shore Spetses harbour from the air: the old lighthouse islet and a ship at anchor off the town A swim stop in clear turquoise water Catamarans anchored among bare rocks at dusk A table set for dinner over the Old Harbour, boats lit up at night

Along the south coast of Hydra and across to Spetses, the last island before the Argolic Gulf opens up. Halfway there is Dokos (wiki, map), a bare uninhabited island with one deep sheltered bay and nothing in it but goats and a chapel — the lunch stop, at anchor in clear water with no other boat in sight. Then on to Spetses (wiki, map). This is the island of Bouboulina, the ship-owning widow who commanded her own fleet against the Ottomans in 1821 and whose house still stands behind the harbour. Cars are largely banned here too — the island runs on horse carriages, scooters and bicycles.

Ermioni’s pine-covered peninsula from the air at sunset, a harbour on each side Ermioni town and harbour from the air A quiet pebble cove near Ermioni, clear turquoise water A seafood pasta of mussels, clams and prawns, table by the water A long table set for dinner on a harbourside terrace at dusk

Back north-east to the mainland. Ermioni (wiki, map) sits on a narrow peninsula with a harbour on each side — the skipper picks the one the wind is not in — and a pine wood, Bisti (wiki, map), covering the whole tip. You can walk the loop through the trees to the end in half an hour and swim off the rocks on the far side. This is the quiet evening of the week: a town that lives off fishing rather than charter crews.

Aegina harbour at sunset, the red-domed church above the fishing boats The group at the Temple of Aphaia, columns above the pine ridge and the sea The group walking up to the Monastery of Agios Nektarios, its red domes against the sky Bags of Aegina pistachios stacked at a quayside shop Yachts anchored off Moni islet from the air, pine forest down to a pale cove A deer and peacocks coming down to the beach on Moni to meet the crew

The longest leg of the week, north up the gulf. Aegina (wiki, map) is the big island of the Saronic and the one with the ruins: the temple of Aphaia (wiki, map) stands on a pine ridge above the east coast, older than the Parthenon and almost complete. Down the hill from it is Agios Nektarios (wiki, map), the largest monastery in Greece, its red domes visible from the water long before the temple is — built around the tomb of the island’s own twentieth-century saint. The town quay is lined with caiques selling pistachios, which the island grows and is stubborn about. The last swim of the day is off Moni (wiki, map), the small pine-covered islet off the south-west corner: nobody lives there, and the deer and peacocks that do come down to the beach to see who has arrived.

Aegina harbour from the air as the boat leaves for the last leg The last swim stop of the week, crew on deck and in the water off a quiet cove The Acropolis and the Parthenon at sunset over Athens

A short last leg back across the gulf, with a long swim stop on the way because there is no reason to hurry. Alimos in the afternoon, the boat alongside for the night, last supper in Athens (wiki, map). You step off after breakfast on Saturday — and the airport is forty minutes away, which is why this route works for groups flying in from everywhere.

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