Hydra Yacht Anchorages: The Complete Guide

Hydra is unlike anywhere else in Greek chartering.

No cars are permitted on the island.

Transportation is by donkey or on foot.

The harbour-town architecture - 18th-century captain's mansions in tiered ascending semicircle - is among Greece's most beautiful settings.

Anchorage at Hydra is a different problem than the Cyclades.

The harbour is deep and small; mooring is the norm rather than anchoring.

The surrounding coastline has limited side-anchorages.

This guide covers what works.

Hydra sits 35 nautical miles from Alimos on our distance table, 12 from Poros and 25 from Spetses, which is why it is the hinge of the five-night Saronic week from Athens, the shortest programme this house writes: Aegina on the first night, Poros, Hydra, Spetses, Dokos and home, with no passage longer than a morning.

A motor yacht cruising at 24 knots, MARY, SEA YA or M FIVE, reaches Hydra from Alimos in about ninety minutes; ONE, the Pershing 90 at 33 knots, in just over an hour; a displacement yacht at 12 knots in about three.

The harbour photograph that every charter wants is taken from the stern of a yacht under 40 metres moored along the wall; above that, entry needs arranging ahead, and Mandraki, six to twelve metres over sand fifteen minutes east of town, is where the larger yachts lie and tender in.

On the Greek Charter Index 2026 the Athens-based motor yachts that fit the harbour run from EUR 17,500 a week at 18 to 20 metres to EUR 35,900 to 75,000 at 26 to 31, per yacht before VAT and APA, and the rate card does not change for Hydra; the saving is in the delivery line, because the yacht is already in Athens.

Athens to Athens was the most common request on this desk in the 2026 season, and every charter we closed between June and September departs Alimos.

Where can a yacht anchor at Hydra?

Hydra has 5 anchorages in this guide: Hydra Town Harbour, Vlychos, Bisti, Mandraki, Plakes (Dokos Island, off Hydra). Each entry below gives depth, holding, shelter direction and what is ashore.

Which Hydra anchorages are sheltered from the meltemi, the summer north wind?

Vlychos: Good from north, open south (rare issue). Bisti: Excellent from north. Mandraki: Good from north.

How deep are the anchorages at Hydra?

Hydra Town Harbour Stern-to mooring (deep harbour, 30-40m bottom); Vlychos 8-15m; Bisti 10-18m; Mandraki 6-12m; Plakes (Dokos Island, off Hydra) 6-12m. Depths are typical sand-bottom anchoring depths; the captain drops on current chart data.

What is the holding like at Hydra?

Hydra Town Harbour: Mooring chains laid by harbour authority. Vlychos: Good (sand and weed). Bisti: Good (sand). Mandraki: Good (sand). Plakes (Dokos Island, off Hydra): Good (sand).

When is the best time to anchor at Hydra?

Hydra harbour fills with yachts every evening in July and August, and a large yacht's mooring is arranged a day or two ahead. The shoulder months, May, June and September, have ample harbour capacity, and on the Greek Charter Index they price 15 to 25% below peak on the same rate card with three to four months of lead time rather than a year. October Hydra is one of Greece's best charter moments: warm, quiet, beautifully lit evenings, and the Saronic in late September and October is the value week of the Greek year. The Meltemi arrives here softened, in the lee of the Peloponnese, and every anchorage on this page has a lee: Vlychos and Bisti from the north, Mandraki from the north, Dokos Plakes from every direction.

What does the captain plan around at Hydra?

If the harbour mooring is the goal, the captain arranges it with the port authority ahead of arrival, and for yachts above 40 metres that means a day or two, not an hour. On a very full evening entry can be refused, and the fallback is Mandraki, six to twelve metres over sand fifteen minutes east of town, with the tender running the party in. The day is planned around the harbour, not the passage: the swim at Vlychos, eight to fifteen metres over sand two miles west of town, or at Bisti, ten to eighteen metres with excellent shelter from the north, then the move into the harbour for the evening, then Dokos, five miles west, for the night nobody else has. Hydra is one of the Mediterranean's must-do anchorages, and the logistics reward a captain who has done it before.

Cyclades

Saronic

Ionian

Sporades

Dodecanese

Crete