Most of the weeks I write begin in the same place: a pontoon at Alimos marina on the Athens Riviera, at five in the afternoon, with the crew lined up on the passerelle and the airport forty minutes behind the guests. Americans ask me the same three things before they book one of these weeks. Where exactly does the yacht leave from, how do they plan the seven days so that the week is a holiday and not a delivery, and whether Santorini fits. This is my answer to all three, with the distances, the wind, the boarding times and the money, so that the plan you bring to me is already half written.
I am George P. Biniaris, Founder and Managing Broker of George Yachts Brokerage House, an IYBA Charter Active Member with a desk in Kifisia, Athens. Everything below is from the weeks this house has written out of Athens, from the published rate cards of our list, and from ten years of wind data I checked myself. Where a number is an estimate, I say so.
Where does a yacht charter from Athens actually start?
Four places, and which one depends on the yacht and the direction of the week.
Alimos is the one you will hear most. It is the largest marina in Greece and in the Balkans, around 1,100 permanent berths, twenty five minutes by road from Athens International Airport when the traffic is kind and longer on an August afternoon. Most of the crewed catamarans and the motor yachts up to about thirty metres on our list live there: EFFIE STAR, EXPLORION, KIMATA, SUMMER FUN, LADY L. From touchdown to standing on deck is typically about ninety minutes, passport control and bags included.
Flisvos, a few minutes further along the same coast, takes the larger motor yachts: ONE, the Pershing 90, and PAREAKI II, the 39 metre Maiora, both board there. It is quieter and the berths are wider, which matters when you are stepping off a tender with a child in one arm.
Lavrion, on the south east tip of Attica, is the base I suggest when the week is pointed at the Cyclades and the yacht is a catamaran. Kea is 25 nautical miles from Lavrion against 35 from Alimos, and that saving is the difference between arriving for a swim and arriving for dinner. The drive from the airport is about the same as to Alimos, in the other direction.
Nea Peramos, a short drive west of Athens, is home to a few of the catamarans that work the Saronic and the Corinth side. When a yacht boards there I arrange the transfer, and the first anchorage is closer than it looks on the map.
The only honest rule is this: do not choose the marina and then the yacht. Choose the yacht and the direction of the week, and the marina follows. Our plain Athens departure page lists what boards where.
What time do you board, and do you need a hotel the night before?
You board at 17:00 on day one and you step off at 09:00 on day eight. That is the Greek crewed standard and it is written into the contract, not a courtesy that can slide.
From the United States the overnight flights land in Athens in the morning, so same day boarding works: you clear the airport by ten, you have a long lunch on the Riviera, and you are on deck at five with the welcome drink poured. I still recommend the night before to anyone travelling with children or anyone who sleeps badly on aeroplanes. A hotel in Vouliagmeni or on the Alimos coast puts you twenty minutes from the passerelle and lets the week start with everyone rested rather than everyone brave. From Europe, same day is fine.
The 09:00 disembarkation is the one that catches people. A noon flight home from Athens is comfortable; a 10:30 flight is not. Book the return for the afternoon or add a night in the city, which many of my clients do for the Acropolis they skipped on the way in.
How do you plan a one-week yacht charter from Athens?
In the order I do it with every client, which is the order that avoids rewriting the plan twice.
- Dates and nights first. Seven nights is the standard week; the five night Saronic programme is the shortest this house writes. Fix the Saturday or the Tuesday you can leave, because in July and August the yachts are booked week to week and the date decides the yacht more than the other way round.
- The party, honestly. Two couples sleep differently from a family of eight. Tell me who is coming, which cabins must have their own bathroom, and whether anyone has sailed before. The 12 passenger rule is a hard line on a Greek charter yacht, so a group of fourteen is a different conversation.
- The budget on the right basis. Decide whether you are thinking in base fee or all in. All in means the base plus the APA for fuel, food, drink and berths, plus Greek VAT at the yacht's certified rate. On a motor yacht the fuel inside that APA is the number that moves. I write every proposal all in so nobody is surprised in June.
- The yacht type. A sailing catamaran for space, stability and the lowest running account; a power catamaran when you want the same space at twice the speed; a motor yacht when the distances are long and the week is short. The honest comparison is on this site and I will not repeat it here.
- The direction, with the captain. Saronic or Cyclades is decided by the month, the party and the yacht's speed, and the paragraphs below are the whole of that decision. The day by day itinerary is written with the captain after you sign, never before, because the wind of the week has the last word.
- The contract. A MYBA form agreement: fifty percent of the net charter fee on signature, the balance with the VAT and the APA around 45 days before you board. That deposit holds the yacht, the dates and the crew as yours.
- The preference sheet. Wines, allergies, the children's breakfast, the music, the one thing someone will not eat. The chef provisions from it before you land.
The complete step by step guide covers the paperwork in more depth, and the guide for Americans covers the flights, the money transfer and the documents.
Saronic or Cyclades: where does the week go from Athens?
This is the decision that makes or breaks a week from Athens, and it is a decision about wind and miles, not about which islands photograph better.
The Saronic Gulf sits in Athens' lap. From Alimos, Aegina is 18 nautical miles, Poros 25, Hydra 35 and Spetses 50, so no passage is longer than three hours on a catamaran and most are under two. The wind is the reason I send families here in July and August: in ten years of hourly data a July afternoon at Aegina averages about 9 knots, Force 3, against 17 knots at Mykonos, and the Saronic has days with gusts over 22 knots about 1 percent of the time against 32 percent in the central Cyclades. I wrote the full case for the Saronic with the numbers. It is the calm week, the one that starts forty minutes from your arrival gate, and it is where I put first timers and anyone with children under ten.
The Cyclades are the postcard, and they cost more miles and more wind. From Alimos, Kea is 35 nautical miles, Kythnos 45, Syros 70, Milos 75, Sifnos 80, Mykonos 90, Paros 95 and Santorini 130. The Meltemi, the northerly that blows from mid July to mid September, runs at 15 to 25 knots on its days and occasionally above 30, and the central Cyclades are the most exposed. A catamaran week in the Cyclades in August is a week the captain spends keeping you in the lee of islands, which he will do well, but it is a sailor's week rather than a swimmer's.
The middle path is the one I write most often for a seven night Cyclades week on a catamaran: board at Lavrion, Kea the first night, then Kythnos, Serifos, Sifnos and Milos down the western chain, where the islands shelter each other and the anchorages are the ones in the quiet Cyclades piece. Mykonos and Santorini are not on it, on purpose.
A motor yacht changes the arithmetic. At 20 to 25 knots, Mykonos is four to five hours from Athens instead of ten, and the week opens up: Athens to Mykonos by motor yacht becomes a relaxed first day with a swim stop at Kea. SUMMER FUN cruises at 24 knots with twelve guests and seven crew; ONE cruises at 33. In June and September the Cyclades are gentler and a catamaran does the whole crescent happily. Our Meltemi guide gives the month by month picture.
Can you reach Santorini in a week from Athens?
On a motor yacht, yes. On a sailing catamaran, only if you accept that two of your seven days are passages.
Santorini is 130 nautical miles from Alimos. A motor yacht cruising at 20 knots makes it in about six and a half hours; a catamaran at eight knots needs about sixteen, which means an overnight or two long days, and the same again to come back. I have written the Mykonos to Santorini leg in detail because it is the leg people underestimate: the distance is manageable, the direction against the Meltemi is the problem.
What I actually propose, in order of how often it is accepted: a motor yacht week from Athens that reaches Santorini on day four and comes back through Ios and Sifnos; a ten night catamaran week, which turns the passages into a holiday; or a seven night catamaran week in the western Cyclades with the caldera left for the next trip, which is the answer most families thank me for in September. What I will not propose is a seven night catamaran week from Athens with Santorini in it, because I have seen that week and nobody on it was on holiday.
Which yachts leave from Athens, and what does the week cost?
The whole list boards in Athens except a handful based in Corfu and Rhodes, so the honest question is what the money buys at each tier. The base figures below are the yachts' published cards for 2027, low to high season, and the all in brackets are my estimate using the APA band for each type, 25 to 35 percent on a catamaran and 30 to 40 percent on a motor yacht, plus the yacht's certified VAT between 5.2 and 12 percent. The crew gratuity, customarily 10 to 15 percent of the base, is separate and at your discretion. At the European Central Bank rate of 19 October 2026, EUR 1 was USD 1.12.
- EFFIE STAR, Lagoon 51 launched in 2025, five cabins for ten, a crew of two, Alimos. EUR 17,000 to 22,000 base, roughly EUR 22,000 to 32,000 all in. The floor of a crewed catamaran week in Greece, and a new boat.
- EXPLORION, Aquila 54 power catamaran from 2023, four cabins for eight, a crew of three, 16 knots, Alimos. EUR 21,000 to 28,000 base, roughly EUR 27,000 to 41,000 all in. The yacht that makes the Cyclades possible in a week without a motor yacht's fuel bill.
- KIMATA, Fountaine Pajot Alegria 67 from 2021, four cabins for eight, a crew of three with a chef trained at Le Monde in Athens, 3rd Place Diamond at the EMMYS 2024, Alimos. EUR 31,500 to 42,500 base, roughly EUR 41,000 to 62,000 all in.
- ONE, Pershing 90 refitted in 2024, four cabins, a crew of four, 33 knots, Flisvos. EUR 45,000 to 49,000 base, roughly EUR 61,000 to 75,000 all in. Mykonos before lunch on day one.
- SUMMER FUN, Admiral 101 refitted for 2026, six cabins for twelve, a crew of seven, 24 knots, Alimos. EUR 45,000 to 65,000 base, roughly EUR 61,000 to 99,000 all in. The yacht American families come back to.
- PAREAKI II, Maiora 126 of 39 metres, five cabins for twelve, a crew of eight, Flisvos. EUR 98,000 to 115,000 base, roughly EUR 132,000 to 175,000 all in.
In dollars, the floor of a crewed catamaran week from Athens is about USD 19,000 base and USD 25,000 all in; a motor yacht starts at EUR 17,500 base, about EUR 24,000 all in, which is LADY L at Alimos, 20 knots, four cabins, a crew of three. The complete cost breakdown and the four couples price ladder go deeper; the Charter Index has every card.
What happens on day one?
Seventeen hundred, Alimos. The captain meets you at the gate of the marina because the pontoons are long and the signs are small. Shoes come off at the passerelle, the stewardess shows the cabins while the deckhand brings the bags, and the chef has the first drink ready before the safety briefing, which takes ten minutes and is not optional. Then the lines come off.
On a Saronic week the first night is Aegina, 18 miles, two and a half hours on a catamaran, dinner at anchor with the lights of the town across the water. On a Cyclades week on a motor yacht the first night is often Cape Sounion, with the temple above you at sunset and a thirty minute run back to the coast if anyone forgot anything, then Kea at breakfast. On a catamaran boarding at Lavrion, Kea itself, and you wake up already in the Cyclades. The hour by hour account of a crewed day is on this site and it is accurate.
When should you book a 2027 week from Athens?
For July and August 2027, now. The well kept yachts with the strong crews are the first to go, and the 2027 calendars on our list began filling in August of this year. The lead time piece has the real numbers from our own book; the short version is nine to fourteen months for peak weeks, six to nine for June and September, and that fifty percent on signature is what makes the date yours.
Booking early is also what gives you the marina you want. A yacht can only be in one place on a Saturday afternoon, and the crew's own repositioning between Alimos, Flisvos and Lavrion is arranged around the bookings already in the diary.
When is Athens not the right departure?
Three cases, and I would rather tell you now than in June.
If your children are under six and the plan is August, I would look at the Ionian before the Cyclades. The Ionian has no Meltemi and its water is flat in the afternoons, and ARIVA at Corfu is written for exactly that family; the piece on chartering with young children explains why. The Saronic from Athens is the other calm answer, and it saves you the second flight.
If the week is built around Mykonos and Santorini on a sailing catamaran, start the week in the Cyclades rather than in Athens: Athens, Mykonos or Lefkada as the departure compares the three honestly, including the ferry and flight logistics that a Mykonos start adds.
And if you have five nights rather than seven, Athens is still right, but the plan is the Saronic and nothing else. Hydra and Spetses in five nights is a complete holiday; the Cyclades in five nights is a rush.
How this house writes a week from Athens
One broker, which is me, licensed as a sailing skipper and with a powerboat licence to 25 metres, a MYBA standard contract, and a proposal that shows the base, the VAT and the APA for each yacht on one page with the dates the owners have actually offered. I know these crews, I am at the marina for most embarkations, and I follow the APA account during the week without ever disturbing the guests. If you are comparing houses, the article on how to compare them says what to look for and the credentials page says what to look up.
Tell me the week, the party and the budget basis, and I will send you three yachts that board in Athens with the all in figure on each, usually within the day. The list is on the crewed charter page, and the Saronic, the Cyclades and the question of Santorini are, as you have read, already thought through.
