Hydra: The Car-Free Island, and Getting There From Athens

Hydra’s defining fact is the one GNTO, the Greek National Tourism Organisation, states plainly: vehicles are prohibited, there are no cars or motorcycles, and people get around on foot or by donkey. A few service vehicles are the exception; CNN lists fire and refuse trucks and ambulances. Donkeys and mules still carry goods and building materials around the island, CNN reports.

The town and its history

GNTO describes Hydra Town as built like an amphitheatre around the port, with stone mansions that “stand like fortresses” on the rocky slopes above it. The island grew rich on its merchant fleet in the 18th century, and its leading families gave ships and resources to the Greek Revolution of 1821. The guided walk on the featured trip covers that history: the mansions, the island’s seafaring past and its part in the War of Independence.

Artists came too. GNTO calls Hydra a haven for Greek and foreign painters, writers and musicians. The BBC and CNN both report that Leonard Cohen lived on the island in the 1960s and wrote at least part of Bird on the Wire there, and CNN notes that Sophia Loren filmed Boy on a Dolphin on Hydra in 1957.

Beyond the town, GNTO points to walks on nature trails and swims in clear water. The town itself climbs steeply from the harbour: the BBC describes amphitheatre-like hills where donkeys are the only transport that can manage the steps and alleys up to many homes.

Who Hydra suits, and who should pick another island

Hydra suits a visitor based in Athens who wants a day on an island without a flight, and anyone who likes a town best on foot. It suits less well anyone who struggles with steps: both Ammon Express trips to Hydra say they are not suitable for wheelchair users or people with mobility impairments.

If your days are meant for long sandy beaches, the official descriptions point to the Cyclades: GNTO writes of “long sandy beaches” on Naxos and “expansive sandy beaches” on Paros, and both are 45 minutes from Athens by air. If you want an ancient temple and the shortest crossing, Aegina is 40 minutes from Piraeus by fast boat; the Aegina trip below goes there instead of Hydra. And if Hydra would be your only island on a longer trip, look at Santorini and Crete as well: both have airports, and each has its own page here.

Getting there

From Piraeus, Hydra is served only by high-speed boats; there is no conventional ferry. Alpha Lines gives 1 h 15 for its fastest direct sailing, or 1 h 40 via Poros, and Hellenic Seaways says “from 1 h 30”. Aggregators list up to about 12 sailings a day in season. Hellenic Seaways sails from gates E8 and E9 at Piraeus all year, though winter sailings are often cancelled for weather.

By road, GNTO gives the drive from Athens to Metochi, on the mainland opposite, as about 2 h 25; from there water taxis and boats cross to Hydra. That is the route both Ammon Express trips take. From central Athens the itinerary allows about 1.5 hours to the Corinth Canal, a 15-minute stop and 2 more hours to Metochi; from Nafplio, about 2 hours. GNTO’s own Hydra page lists no flight, only the road and the boat.

A day, or a night?

A day works, and every trip on this page is built that way. Ammon Express gives you 4.5 hours on Hydra from Athens, GREECE ATHENS TRANSFERS & TOURS about 4 hours with the ferry tickets included, and Key Tours’ three-island cruise around 90 minutes. That is time for the town, a short walk and a swim. The coach day is long, though: its itinerary adds up to about eight hours of travel there and back, coffee stops included.

Stay a night if you want the trails or the harbour in the evening. Rooms pay the national climate resilience fee, charged per room per night since 2025: €2 to €15 from April to October depending on the hotel’s stars, €8 in short-term rentals, and less from November to March.

What changed in 2025 and 2026

The changes that touch a Hydra trip are national ones. The accommodation fee above took its current rates in 2025, when its reduced winter period was extended to run from November to March. Since 21 July 2025 passengers landing from cruise ships pay a fee at each port, €5, €3 or €1 a person by season everywhere except Santorini and Mykonos; ferry passengers do not pay it. On Aegina, the Temple of Aphaia costs €10 in 2026 and closes at 18:30 in the first half of October and at 18:00 in the second.

The trips on this page

Every trip here starts on the mainland, none on Hydra.

The featured day is Ammon Express’s trip from central Athens, from about $55 as of October 2026, plus the €20 sea-taxi ticket, which the price does not include. It is rated 4.5 from 513 reviews. You meet outside Metaxourgio metro station, ride a coach to Metochi with a stop at the Corinth Canal, cross by sea taxi, walk the town with a guide for an hour and have the rest of the 4.5 hours to yourself. Lunch, sunbeds and umbrellas are extra; bring ID and some cash. It avoids Piraeus altogether.

Of the trips from Athens, this one gives you the most time on Hydra for the lowest price, so it is the one to book.

See dates for the Hydra day →

GREECE ATHENS TRANSFERS & TOURS runs a Hydra trip with ferry tickets included (from $220, 4.6 from 42 reviews). It picks you up at your hotel, Airbnb, port or cruise terminal in the Athens area and drives you to Piraeus for the ferry, about 2 hours each way in its itinerary, with about 4 hours on the island. There is no guide, and the driver is not at your disposal on Hydra. Key Tours’ Saronic cruise with VIP seats (from $291, 4.6 from 115 reviews) picks up at your hotel and calls at Hydra for around 90 minutes, at Poros (the Saronic island, not the Kefalonia port) for around 50 and at Aegina for around 2 hours, with a lunch buffet and fast-track boarding.

Ammon Express also runs the Hydra day from Nafplio (from $55, 4.7 from 37 reviews), starting at the French Philhellenes memorial, with an archaeologist as guide and around 5 hours of free time on the island; the €20 sea-taxi ticket is extra here too. Its Aegina day (from $55, 4.7 from 236 reviews) does not go to Hydra at all. It meets at gate E8 in Piraeus and takes the ferry to Aegina for Paleochora, the Agios Nektarios monastery, the Temple of Aphaia and a beach. The €30 ferry ticket and the €10 temple ticket are extra, and the monastery is a place of worship, so dress for it.