FERRIES FROM PIRAEUS AND OTHER ISLANDS TO ANAFI IN THE CYCLADES IN GREECE

On Anafi you will mostly only find footpaths for you and for the mules. All life, and hence the beachfun takes place solely on the south coast, and the bays and beaches can only be reached by foot or by boat. Although the island just a two hours sail away from Santorini, Anafi does not have many ferry connections, at least out of high season, so it has remained one of the most serene and quiet islands of the Cyclades. Much accommodation is therefore not to be found on the island. In recent years the accessibility by ferry ro Anafi has improved a bit (or "worstened", depending on how you look at it, because there are also plenty of people who want to keep Anafi as inaccessible as possible). Just about every day there ist a ferry from Santorini heading to Anafi and there is also one back. Times of arrival / departure change because there are several ferry companies sailing on Anafi. You can check with Danea, Saos Ferries and Nel Lines. The latter has (in 2008) deployed the small Panagia Tinou to sail to the island. Often these ferries call on every small islands on their journey, and therefore you will zigzag through the Cyclades and you may get a small delay here and there if you come from far away. Personally, I think it always actually fun to sit on a boat and see all the islands go by. If you check and cannot find any schedules on than you are probably too early and the timetables haven't been approved yet. Please try again later in the season. Sometimes the owner of the hotel you booked knows best and you can ask him / her.

Update 2009 by Colombo Francesco Luigi

Fascinated by your descriptions of Anafi I went there and found the island really wonderful and probably more spoilt compared to the period you were there (all the beaches are now reachable by car-bus-scooter, there is also a rent a car-scooter with a limited availability). From this year there is a ferry from Athens (it stops also in Santorini and Riva Thirassia) twice a week much more faster then before (9,30 hours) and a boat from Syros also twice a week that stops in many Islands (I took it from Ios). I stayed in Ta Plagia, great location, simple clean rooms with all facilities (fan, no A / C), I had a patio with a beautiful view. The restaurants on Anafi are much better than on the other islands and also cheaper.

© Hans Huisman, https://www.angelfire.com/super2/greece/ 2014