Athens to Poros Ferry: Flying Dolphin, Slow Boat, or Drive to Galatas

How to get from Athens to Poros: four ways compared

Two of these leave from Piraeus. The other two go by road to Galatas, the town facing Poros across a strait a few hundred metres wide, and finish with the shuttle boat.

Without a car, take the catamaran. It is the fastest door to door from central Athens and the fare is the same whichever day you go. With a car, the choice gets more interesting, and the answer depends on where in Athens you start and whether the car is coming onto the island. That comparison is further down, with the numbers for two people.

Flying Dolphin to Poros: the fast catamaran from Piraeus

Hellenic Seaways runs the fast boats, on the line that carries on to Hydra, Hermioni and Spetses. Everyone still calls them Flying Dolphins, after the yellow and white hydrofoils that served the gulf for decades, but the 2026 timetable lists Flying Cat and Aero catamarans. On a typical day there is a morning boat at 10:00, arriving around 11:15, and an evening one at 18:00 that gets in about 19:00. Ferryhopper lists up to six crossings a day in high summer when you add Alpha Lines, and the fastest at 55 minutes.

The adult fare is about €24.50, half that for children aged 5 to 10, and there is a discount on the return leg. Greek island residents, students at Greek public universities and passengers with a disability also get reduced fares, up to half. The catamarans carry no cars, and seats are numbered, in an enclosed cabin. On a windy afternoon they move more than the big ferry, so if you are prone to seasickness take the morning boat and sit low, near the middle.

The slow ferry to Poros: Saronic Ferries via Aegina and Methana

Saronic Ferries runs the conventional boat, a proper car ferry with an open deck and a café, which calls at Aegina and Methana before Poros. It takes about 2 hours 35. In 2026 the Monday to Saturday boat leaves Piraeus at 09:30 and reaches Poros around 12:05, with a later start on Sundays. The fare is about €17 for an adult and €35 for a car, which makes it the cheapest way across for foot passengers, and the only boat from Piraeus that takes your car.

Take it for the ride, not the time. Sitting on the open deck as the boat threads between Aegina, the volcanic peninsula of Methana and the narrow channel into Poros town is a better start than an hour behind a salty window. It is also the sensible choice if you are bringing a car and starting from Piraeus or the southern suburbs. What it does not give you is flexibility: there is roughly one sailing each way a day.

Piraeus to Poros: gate E8 and getting to the port

All the Poros boats leave from gate E8, about a seven-minute walk from Piraeus station at the end of metro line 1. Line 3 from the airport stops there too. Piraeus is about 15 km from central Athens. Be at the gate 30 to 40 minutes before departure in normal times, an hour in August, and an hour before if you are driving onto the car ferry. Gates occasionally change on the day, so trust your ticket and the boards over anything you read in advance, including this page.

Athens to Poros by car: drive to Galatas and cross in five minutes

Poros sits so close to the Peloponnese that from the quay at Galatas you can watch people at the café tables in Poros town. The road from Athens never reaches the island, but it reaches the water opposite, and from there the crossing is shorter than a coffee. None of the ferry booking sites mention it, because they do not sell it.

Galatas to Poros ferry: how often and how much

A small car ferry shuttles across the strait every half hour, from early morning into the late evening. Under the 2026 summer timetable it leaves Galatas on the hour and at half past, and Poros at ten past and twenty to. The crossing takes four or five minutes. Expect to pay about €4 to €6.50 for a car with its driver and €1 to €1.50 for each passenger, at the kiosk on the quay, with no booking. Alongside it, the little passenger boats run 24 hours a day, leaving every ten minutes or so once the first passenger is aboard, which makes Galatas the one way to reach Poros at two in the morning.

The road from Athens to Galatas

It is about 160 km and takes two and a half to three hours. You leave Athens on the A8 motorway, cross the Corinth Canal about an hour out, then turn south along the coast of the Argolid through Sofiko and past Epidaurus, on slower roads with sea views. The motorway as far as the Isthmus is tolled, and the plazas take cards. If you are already touring the Peloponnese loop from Athens, Poros is an easy addition from Epidaurus or Nafplio, and it turns the island into the last stop of a road trip instead of a separate excursion.

Taking the car to Poros or leaving it in Galatas

Poros has proper roads, a coast road round the larger half of the island and beaches you will want a car for, so taking it across makes sense for a stay of several days. For a night or two in town, many visitors leave it on the Galatas side and walk onto the passenger boat, because the waterfront in Poros town is narrow and crowded with cars on summer evenings. If you do leave it, park in a marked space rather than on the quay, and take your valuables with you.

Athens to Galatas by bus

Regional KTEL buses run from Athens to Galatas from the Kifisos bus station, taking about two and a half hours, then you walk onto the shuttle boat. Route planners list only around one bus a day, and we could not confirm the 2026 timetable with the bus company, so check it at the station or by phone before you build a plan on it. For most people without a car, the catamaran from Piraeus is less hassle.

Ferry or Galatas: which way to Poros is faster and cheaper

Take two adults and a car. On the car ferry from Piraeus that costs about €69 one way in 2026 and 2 hours 35 at sea, plus the drive to the port and the hour you are asked to be there early. By road, the shuttle costs €4 to €6.50 for the car and €1 to €1.50 for the passenger, so under €10, and the rest is fuel and motorway tolls for 160 km. The road saves money almost every time, and time if you start from the western or southern side of Athens, or from the airport with a hire car, because you skip the run into Piraeus and the boarding queue.

It is not the better choice for everyone. On foot, the catamaran gets you there in an hour for €24.50 and nothing beats it. If you dislike driving in Greece, the car ferry lets you sit on deck while someone else does the work. And the road has one advantage the boats cannot match: when the wind keeps the fast boats in port, the strait is narrow and far less exposed than the open gulf, so Galatas is often the way round a cancelled sailing.

Athens to Poros day trip: how much time you get

The catamaran makes it work: out on the 10:00, back on the boat around 16:00, and you have about four and a half hours on the island, enough for the climb to the clock tower, a swim and a long lunch on the waterfront. The car ferry does not, because its return leaves Poros in the early afternoon, about an hour and a half after it arrives. The day cruises from Faliro stop for only 45 minutes. If you want Poros as one of several islands, our guide to the Saronic islands from Athens compares which ones work in a day and which need a night.

Arriving at Poros port: the town is right there

Every boat from Piraeus docks on the town quay, on the south-west side of the island, below the clock tower. The Galatas shuttles land a few steps away on the same waterfront. There is no transfer to sort out: the cafés, ATMs and car rentals are along the harbour, hotels in town are a walk away, and a local bus runs along the coast to the beaches. If you are staying out of town, the car you brought across, or a rental from the quay, is how you get there.

Poros to Athens: the last boats back

The return runs from the same harbour in Poros town. On a typical 2026 day the catamarans leave around 07:40, getting into Piraeus at 08:40, and around 16:00, getting in at 17:15, and the car ferry leaves in the early afternoon. That is an early last boat, and on Sunday evenings in summer it fills with Athenians heading home, so book the return when you book the outbound. If you miss it, cross to Galatas and go back by road. From Piraeus you are one metro ride from the airport, and a few gates from the boats to the rest of the islands, all in the guide to Greek ferries.

Top photo: Poros town and its clock tower from the harbour, by Gonzolito, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped, via Wikimedia Commons.