Heraklion → Santorini by ferry

The biggest island hop out of Crete, and it works just as hard in the opposite direction · 1 hr 35 to 4 hr 20, year-round, and a fare that ranges from €15.50 to €99.70

This is the one Greek ferry route where the price difference between two boats leaving the same port on the same morning is genuinely startling. Blue Star's conventional ferry crosses in a little over three hours from €15.50. SeaJets' high-speed catamaran does it in an hour and thirty-five minutes, and in August that costs between €67 and €100. Both arrive at the same place. Which one is right for you depends almost entirely on whether you are going for the day or moving between two stays, and on the month, because the cheap boat quietly disappears for the winter.

At a glance

Conventional ferry

From €15.50, about three and a half hours, and a proper ship

€15.50+3 hr 15 to 3 hr 50

CheapestOur pick

High-speed catamaran

1 hr 35, from €67.70, and the only realistic day-trip boat

€67.70+About 1 hr 35

FastestYear-round

Organised day trip

One booking that includes the boat, the transfer and the climb

VariesA full day, roughly 06:00 to 22:00

Least hassle

Taking a vehicle across

About €88 for two adults and a car, and one contract clause to check first

€88.49+3 hr 15 to 3 hr 50

Year-round

Which boat should I take?

Match your situation, get a pick. On this route the answer really does swing on whether you are going for the day.

Moving from a Crete stay to a Santorini stay
Take the conventional ferry. You are not in a hurry and you save up to €80 a head
Conventional ferry
Going for the day and coming back
Only the fast boat makes this work — three hours each way leaves you almost no island
High-speed catamaran
Travelling between October and May
Check first — the cheap ferry may run only about once a week out of season
High-speed catamaran
Family of four
The gap between the two boats is roughly €300 for a return. That is a holiday expense, not a rounding error
Conventional ferry
You want somebody else to handle the logistics
The packaged day trip covers the boat, both transfers and the climb out of Athinios

Worth knowing before you book

Same crossing, up to six times the price

This is the single most useful thing to know about this route. The conventional ferry starts at €15.50 and takes about three and a half hours. The high-speed catamaran takes an hour and thirty-five minutes and costs €67.70 to €99.70 in season. You are paying roughly €44 for every hour saved. For a day trip that is a fair trade, because the hours you buy are hours on Santorini. For a one-way move between two stays, where you would spend the afternoon travelling either way, it is simply an expensive ticket.

You do not arrive at the cable car

Ferries dock at Athinios, a working port at the bottom of a steep switchback road on the west coast, about 10 km from Fira. The cable car everyone photographs runs from the Old Port at Fira, which serves cruise tenders only. No scheduled ferry uses it. From Athinios you take the KTEL bus, a taxi or a pre-arranged transfer, and if you have planned your arrival around a cable car you have planned around the wrong port entirely.

The Athinios bus timetable is handwritten

We are not going to publish times for the Athinios bus, because there is no stable timetable to publish. KTEL Thira runs the port service around whichever ferries are actually arriving, which changes daily and shifts again with the weather. The schedule is written by hand and posted one day in advance at the Fira bus station. The fare is €2.70 and the run takes about 20 minutes. Expect a bus to meet your boat, expect a scrum, and do not plan a tight connection on the far side.

All four options, in detail

Conventional ferry

From €15.50, about three and a half hours, and a proper ship

CheapestOur pick

Price

From €15.50 per foot passenger

Duration

3 hr 15 to 3 hr 50

Availability

About 7 crossings a week June to September, roughly 1 October to May

How it works

Blue Star Ferries runs the conventional service with ships such as the Blue Star Chios and the Diagoras. These are full-size vessels with air-conditioned lounges, outer decks you can actually stand on, self-service and à la carte restaurants, shops and children's play areas. The crossing is listed at anything from 3 hr 15 to 3 hr 50 depending on the sailing, because some call at other islands on the way. The fare starts at €15.50, which is where this route becomes remarkable: it is less than a fifth of what the fast boat charges for the same water.

Booking

Fares and times

Every figure below comes from the sailing tables and price panels rather than from route-page marketing copy, and each was cross-checked on a second platform. Fares on this route move with demand, so treat them as the level we saw rather than a fixed tariff.

Conventional ferry, foot passenger: From €15.50 · 3 hr 15 to 3 hr 50 · Blue Star Ferries, about 7 crossings a week in summer
High-speed, foot passenger: €67.70 to €99.70 · 1 hr 35 · SeaJets, about 5 days a week, year-round
Two adults: €30 on the conventional ferry, at the entry fare
Two adults and a car: €88.49 · conventional sailings only · vehicle space sells out before passenger space
Two adults, two children and a car: About €103 to €107
Discounts: Up to 50 percent for children 5 to 12, large families, island residents, Greek public university students and disabled passengers · under-fives free
Athinios port up to Fira: €2.70 by KTEL bus, about 20 minutes · timetable set around ferry arrivals and posted only a day ahead
First and last sailings: Roughly 08:10 to 19:55 from Heraklion, depending on the day

Compare both boats side by side

This is a route worth comparing rather than booking blind, because the two operators are not selling the same product at similar prices. Ferryscanner shows the conventional and high-speed sailings for a given date together, which is the only view that makes the trade-off obvious. We checked on 31 July 2026: the entry fare of €15.50 was identical on Ferryscanner and on a second independent booking platform, so you are not paying a premium to use this link.

Compare sailings on Ferryscanner

Affiliate link: if you book through this link, The Greek Local may earn a commission from Ferryscanner. The price you pay does not change.

What happens when you dock

Athinios is a small working port squeezed between the sea and the cliff, with a row of ticket offices, a couple of cafés and a car park. There is no town, and nothing to do there. When a boat unloads, several hundred people, their luggage and a line of vehicles all try to leave at once up a single hairpin road. The KTEL bus to Fira costs €2.70 and takes about 20 minutes, taxis are limited in number and quickly taken, and most hotels will arrange a pickup if you tell them your sailing. That last option is the one seasoned travellers use, and it costs less stress than it does money.

Arriving into Heraklion from the mainland rather than leaving it? The Piraeus crossing is a different beast, seven and a half hours and usually overnight: Piraeus to Heraklion by ferry.

Before you go, or when you get back

Santorini is a day or two. Crete is the trip. Here is what to do with the rest of it.

Operators and sources

Sailing times, durations and fares on this page were read off the sailing lists on two independent booking platforms and cross-checked against each other, not taken from route-page marketing copy, which on Greek ferry routes is templated and frequently self-contradictory. Last checked on 31 July 2026. The Athinios bus fare is the published KTEL Thira fare; we deliberately publish no times for it, for the reason given above.

Ferry schedules and fares change every season, and this one changes more than most. If you spot something out of date, tell us and we will fix it.

High-speed catamaran

1 hr 35, from €67.70, and the only realistic day-trip boat

FastestYear-round

Price

€67.70 to €99.70 per passenger

Duration

About 1 hr 35

Availability

About 5 days a week, year-round

How it works

SeaJets runs the fast crossing, most often with the Worldchampion Jet and Champions League Jet 2, and lists it about five days a week. The advertised fastest time is 1 hr 35, and a typical August sailing leaves Heraklion at 08:00 and is alongside at Santorini at 09:35. Seating is assigned aircraft-style in enclosed lounges; on most of these craft you cannot go outside during the crossing. Entry fares start around €67.70, with the headline vessels priced between €92.70 and €99.70 in high season depending on the day and how early you book.

Booking

Book ahead: these fill and the price rises as the date approaches. Check the return sailing time before you commit to a day trip, because the last boat back is what defines how long you actually get on the island, not the outbound.

Best for · not great for

Day trips, where three hours saved is three hours on the island

Short breaks where the crossing would eat a whole morning

Winter and shoulder travel, when it may be the only sailing running

Anyone counting the cost — it is up to six times the conventional fare

Poor sailors: catamarans slam in a swell where big ships roll

Anyone travelling on a windy forecast, since these are cancelled first

Good to know

•Work out the real cost per hour gained. Paying €92 instead of €15.50 to save about an hour and three quarters is roughly €44 an hour. For a day trip that is money well spent. For a one-way move between stays it very rarely is.
•If you are at all prone to seasickness, take the big ship. The Aegean between Crete and Santorini is open water, and a catamaran in a following sea is a different experience from a ferry in one.
•Fares on this route move with demand rather than sitting on a fixed table, unlike the mainland ferry lines. Booking three weeks out and booking three days out are genuinely different prices.