July 20, 2026•5 min read•By Maurits Dierick, Charter Broker & Former Yacht Captain
Saronic Gulf Yacht Charter: 8 Days from Athens (2026)
Eight days from Athens through the Saronic Gulf: Aegina's pistachios, car-free Hydra, Spetses and the Peloponnese coast, all short hops.
No passage on this route is longer than 30 miles.
The longest day is the last one: 30 miles, three hours, and it ends in Athens. Two of the legs are 90 minutes. Add it up and the week is 145 nautical miles across seven, 14.5 hours under way over eight days.
The gulf is small enough that you're rarely trading an anchorage for a passage. The other thing worth knowing is the range of the restaurants, which runs from a Michelin star in Piraeus to a village taverna open since 1969.
Before we dive in, it's worth noting the route below is also available as an interactive map on our Greece charter page.
The route
Athens → Aegina → Poros → Hydra → Spetses → Ermioni → Poros → Athens.
Eight days, 145 nautical miles, 14.5 hours under way. Round trip from Piraeus, so you land at Athens and you're on the boat. No domestic connection.
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Day 1: Athens
Board in Piraeus. Depending on when you land, the yacht either goes straight to Aegina or stays the night in Athens.
Dinner is the reason to stay. Varoulko Seaside is Lefteris Lazarou's Michelin-starred seafood restaurant. GH Attikos is the rooftop with the Acropolis in front of you.
Mooring: Alimos, Zea or Flisvos Marina. Beach: Vouliagmeni. Dinner: Varoulko Seaside or GH Attikos.
Day 2: Aegina
Ninety minutes. Temples on pine-covered hills, and the island grows pistachios.
The water around Aegina and the islets off it, Metopi and Moni, is very clear. Anchor, swim, tender ashore. Quads or scooters if the group wants the Temple of Aphaia.
Via Moni, which is uninhabited and has peacocks on it. Swim off the platform, watersports, lunch.
Then Poros in the afternoon, neoclassical houses down a pine slope to the water. Dinner at Apagio, family-run since 2000, where Chef Alex cooks Greek food with French technique.
Passage: 2 hours, 20 nm. Mooring: Poros Town Harbour, Russian Bay or Love Bay. Beach: Moni Island. Dining: Apagio.
Day 4: Hydra
Via Dhokos, uninhabited, with a large protected bay, 30-metre visibility and turtles in it.
Then Hydra. No cars on the island. Donkeys carry goods up cobbled streets between 18th-century stone mansions, and the harbour is stern-to under all of it. Dinner at Téchnē, Yannis Michalopoulos's modern Greek restaurant, with the sunset.
Ninety minutes. Shipowners' mansions along the waterfront, horse-drawn carriages on the promenade, pine forest behind.
Lunch at Patralis, a family taverna since 1935, now third generation. The lobster spaghetti is what it's known for. It's the oldest taverna on Spetses.
Hidden coves by tender in the afternoon, sunset in Zogeria Bay.
Passage: 1.5 hours, 15 nm. Mooring: Spetses Harbour (Dapia), Old Harbour or Zogeria Bay. Beach: Agioi Anargyroi. Dining: Patralis.
Day 6: Ermioni
Across to the Peloponnese mainland, and a working fishing village. No celebrity yachts and no designer boutiques.
Maria's has served home cooking since 1969, and locals and yacht crews eat at the same tables.
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Passage: 1.5 hours, 15 nm. Mooring: Ermioni Harbour, Porto Heli Marina or Bisti Beach. Beach: Bisti. Dining: Maria's.
Day 7: Poros again
Back north through Dhokos, one more swim, and into Poros for the last evening.
Apagio again, or Poseidon on the marina for the daily specials.
Passage: 2.5 hours, 25 nm. Mooring: Poros Town Harbour, Russian Bay or Love Bay. Dining: Apagio or Poseidon.
Day 8: Athens
North past Aegina's east side, a last swim in Agia Marina, into Athens by noon.
Passage: 3 hours, 30 nm.
Who this suits
Families with small children, because nobody is stuck on a boat for six hours. Groups with someone who doesn't love being at sea. Anyone flying in tired who doesn't want to spend day one on a long passage.
It also suits people who care about eating. The spread on this week is wider than the other Greek routes we run.
What it doesn't have is drama. There's no Milos, no Kleftiko, no big set-piece landscape. It's a handsome week, and a quiet one.
Practical notes
Round trip from Piraeus. One airport, and it's the international one.
Hydra is stern-to in a small harbour in high season, which is a booking question, not a turn-up question.
