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Where you stay on Spetses matters more than which hotel you pick. The island has no visitor cars, so your base decides whether dinner is a two-minute stroll or a taxi-boat ride, and the three walkable neighbourhoods of town, Dapia, Kounoupitsa and the Old Harbour, each feel like a different holiday.
The hotel scene is small and unusually characterful for a Greek island: the 1914 Poseidonion Grand Hotel on the Dapia waterfront, sea captains' mansions turned guesthouses in Kounoupitsa, restored stone houses with pools around the Old Harbour, and a handful of simple family-run places for tighter budgets. What it doesn't have is big beach resorts or all-inclusives, and private cars are restricted here much as on Hydra, so you'll walk, ride a scooter or take a water taxi.
We've split the island's hotels by area and budget: six we'd book first, written up in full, then a shortlist of nine more that suit specific trips, from family apartments to budget rooms. Every pick is within walking distance of Dapia unless we say otherwise.
For the full island experience, see our Spetses travel guide.
Where to Stay in Spetses: Dapia, Kounoupitsa or the Old Harbour
Dapia: The ferry port and the island's busiest corner, with the Poseidonion, the cafes and the water-taxi stand on your doorstep. Pick it for short stays and early or late ferries, and ask for a room away from the waterfront road if you're a light sleeper in August.
Kounoupitsa: The quieter waterfront west of Dapia, a 10 to 15-minute walk away, with mansion guesthouses, fish tavernas and small town beaches. Economou Mansion, Nissia and Spetses Hotel are all here, and it's our pick for couples and families who want to swim before breakfast.
Old Harbour (Baltiza): The yacht harbour east of Dapia, about 20 minutes on foot, lined with boatyards, restaurants and bars. Stay here for the island's best evening atmosphere and stone-built boutique stays like Orloff Resort and Porto Vecchio.
Beyond town: Agia Marina, a couple of kilometres east, suits beach-first trips, and most of the island's villas sit in the pine-covered hills outside town. Without a car you'll rely on scooters, taxis or the summer bus, so check the distance before you book.
Quick Answer: Best Hotels in Spetses by Category
- Best luxury hotel: Poseidonion Grand Hotel — the grand dame, harbor-front, spa, the island's most iconic property
- Best boutique hotel: Nissia Traditional Residences — neoclassical estate, gardens, pool, refined
- Best for romance: Orloff Resort — restored mansion, intimate, walled garden, elegant rooms
- Best mid-range: Economou Mansion — an 1851 sea captain's mansion in Kounoupitsa, period rooms, a pool, fair prices
- Best beach access: Spetses Hotel — its own beach on the Kounoupitsa waterfront, 10 to 15 minutes' walk from Dapia
- Best budget option: Arolithos — nine family-run rooms in Kounoupitsa, flower-filled balconies and a roof terrace
Luxury & Grand Hotels
Poseidonion Grand Hotel
The most iconic hotel on Spetses — and one of the most historically significant in Greece. The Poseidonion was built in 1914 by Sotirios Anargiros (a Spetses-born benefactor who modeled it on the grand hotels of the French Riviera), fell into decline through the mid-20th century, and was magnificently restored in 2009 to a standard that honors the original vision while adding contemporary comfort and a world-class spa.
The building itself is the attraction: a neoclassical palace facing the harbor, with grand public spaces, a sweeping staircase, and the kind of architectural confidence that only comes from an era when hotels were built as monuments. The rooms are elegant — period furnishings, high ceilings, marble bathrooms. The spa is excellent. The terrace restaurant, overlooking the harbor square and the sea, is the island's most sophisticated dining experience.
The Poseidonion is the hotel that anchors Spetses's identity. Staying here is participating in the island's history — and the harbor-front terrace at sunset, with a glass of wine and the horse-drawn carriages passing below, is one of the most civilized moments available in the Greek islands.
Price range: €250–600/night
Best for: Luxury seekers, history lovers, couples celebrating something important, anyone wanting the island's most iconic experience
Good to know: The harbor-front rooms have the best views. The spa is worth a full session, not just a quick treatment. The restaurant is excellent but expensive — the harbor's other restaurants are steps away for more casual evenings. Book well ahead for July–August weekends.
Check prices for Poseidonion Grand Hotel on Booking.com, or compare options on Agoda.
Nissia Traditional Residences
A neoclassical estate on the Kounoupitsa seafront: several restored buildings set in walled gardens with a pool, elegant rooms, and the atmosphere of a private Spetses compound rather than a hotel. The architecture preserves the mansion heritage while the interiors have been updated with contemporary taste, and the garden pool is the retreat the island's car-free streets don't always offer in summer heat.
Price range: €180–400/night
Best for: Couples, families wanting elegant space, anyone who values garden privacy and architectural character
Good to know: The estate setting means more space and privacy than the harbor-front hotels. The harbor is a short walk. The pool is a genuine advantage — most Spetses hotels don't have one.
Check prices for Nissia Traditional Residences on Booking.com, or compare options on Agoda.
Boutique & Mansion Hotels
Orloff Resort
A cluster of restored stone buildings at the Old Harbour, named after Count Orlov, whose 1770 campaign drew Spetses into the first great Greek uprising against Ottoman rule. Rooms range from doubles to suites, maisonettes and a whole mansion for larger groups, set around gardens and a pool. The building's history shows in the stone walls and wooden ceilings, and the Old Harbour's restaurants are a few minutes' walk away.
Price range: €150–320/night
Best for: Romantic couples, architecture enthusiasts, families or groups who want a maisonette
Good to know: There's a pool and gardens, and the Old Harbour's bars and restaurants are close by. Dapia is about a 20-minute walk. The rooms are individually designed; the superior categories have more space and better light.
Economou Mansion
A sea captain's mansion built in 1851 on the Kounoupitsa waterfront, with just six rooms that preserve period details, painted ceilings, wooden floors and wrought-iron balconies, at prices that make Spetses's architectural heritage accessible to mid-range budgets. The building is charming without being precious, and the family hospitality adds warmth to the historical setting.
Price range: €90–200/night
Best for: Mid-range seekers wanting neoclassical character, couples, practical travelers
Good to know: Rooms vary, and the best have original ceiling paintings and sea glimpses. There's a pool, which is rare for a mansion this size. Dapia is a 10 to 15-minute walk along the waterfront. Breakfast features local products.
Check prices for Economou Mansion on Booking.com, or compare options on Agoda.
Mid-Range & Practical Hotels
Spetses Hotel
A large, modern hotel on the Kounoupitsa waterfront, west of Dapia, with its own stretch of beach, loungers and a beach bar. Spetses Hotel is the property for travellers who want to swim straight from the hotel without the mansion aesthetic: modern, well-maintained and reliable.
Price range: €100–230/night
Best for: Families, beach-first travellers, anyone who wants to swim without a water-taxi ride
Good to know: Its own beach is the advantage, as few town hotels have one. Dapia is a 10 to 15-minute walk, and the Kounoupitsa fish tavernas are on the doorstep.
Check prices for Spetses Hotel on Booking.com, or compare options on Agoda.
More Spetses Hotels Worth Knowing
The six above are the ones we'd book first. These nine fill specific gaps, from family apartments to the cheapest decent rooms in town.
Klimis Hotel, Dapia: Right on the seafront between the port and Agios Mamas, with harbour-view rooms above its own bakery and cafe. Best for anyone who wants to be in the middle of things.
Mare Monte Luxury Suites, Dapia: A handful of suites in a historic stone residence a few minutes above Agios Mamas beach, with a pool. Best for couples who want luxury on a smaller scale than the Poseidonion.
Yayaki, near Dapia: A calm, contemporary hotel with a pool, yoga and a plant-based breakfast. Best for a wellness-leaning stay or a quiet honeymoon.
Kastro Hotel, Dapia: Rooms and apartments with kitchenettes around a courtyard with a pool, a few lanes back from the port. Best for families who want to self-cater for breakfast.
Porto Vecchio, Old Harbour: Just three suites and an apartment in a renovated mansion above the marina, with a pool. Best for a romantic Old Harbour base.
Villa Nika, Old Harbour: Seven apartments around a pool, sleeping two to six, close to the Old Harbour and Garifalos beach. Best for families and friends who want space and a kitchen.
Armata Boutique Hotel, near Agios Mamas: Around 20 rooms in a modern design that nods to the island's naval history, set around a courtyard pool. Best for couples who prefer contemporary style to period furniture.
Arolithos, Kounoupitsa: Nine family-run rooms with flower-filled balconies and a roof terrace, a short walk from the Kounoupitsa tavernas. Best for budget travellers who still want character.
Niriides Guesthouse, Dapia: Seven simple studios and apartments around a garden courtyard, with warm hosts and some of the lowest prices in town. Best for longer budget stays.
Villas and Apartments in Spetses
A large share of Spetses' accommodation is private villas and apartments rather than hotels, especially in the pine-covered hills outside town and around Agia Marina and Ligoneri. For a family or a group of friends in July and August, a villa with a private pool often costs less per person than three or four hotel rooms.
The trade-off is transport: with no car on the island you'll rely on scooters, quads or taxis for every dinner, so for stays of three nights or fewer a hotel or apartment in Dapia, Kounoupitsa or the Old Harbour is easier. If you want self-catering in town, Kastro Hotel and Villa Nika above are the simplest options.
Practical Tips for Spetses
Getting there. Fast catamaran from Piraeus: about 2 to 2.5 hours, roughly €38 to €55 one way. Water taxi or small ferry from Kosta, on the Peloponnese coast across the strait: 5 to 15 minutes, the fastest route if you're driving from Athens or the Peloponnese. No airport. Spetses also connects to Hydra and Poros by catamaran.
For a fixed-price ride from Athens airport to Piraeus port, Welcome Pickups books private transfers with English-speaking drivers; choose the airport-to-Piraeus route on their site.
Getting around. Visitors can't bring or rent cars, so you'll walk around town, take a horse-drawn carriage for short hops, or rent a scooter, quad or e-bike for the beaches. Taxi boats leave from the Dapia harbour and are priced per boat, and two summer bus lines run east and west from town. The ring road around the island is roughly 25 km: under an hour by scooter, a long half-day by bicycle.
The beaches. Agia Marina, about 2 km east of Dapia, is the most organised, with sunbeds and beach bars. Agioi Anargyroi on the far south-west coast is a sheltered, pine-backed bay with a taverna and Bekiris Cave at its edge. Agia Paraskevi next door is quieter, Zogeria in the north-west is a pebbled cove at the end of a dirt track, and Kaiki is the closest good swim to town. The water around Spetses is clean and warm from June to October.
Once you've booked a bed, our guide to things to do in Spetses covers the museums, the Old Harbour and every beach worth the boat ride.
When to visit. June and September are ideal. Spetses fills with Athenian weekenders in July and August, when prices peak and hotels sell out. The Armata festival ends on a Saturday in mid-September with a replica Ottoman flagship burned in the harbour, and the Spetses Mini Marathon takes over the first weekend of October, so book months ahead for both. May and October are pleasant. See our Greece weather guide.
Written by
Athens-born engineer · Coordinates a 5-expert Greek team · 50+ years combined field experience
I write every article on this site drawing on real, first-hand expertise — mine and that of four colleagues who live and work across Greece daily: a Peloponnese tour operator, a transfer specialist across Athens, Mykonos & Santorini, a Cretan hotel owner, and a Northern Greece hotel supplier. Nothing here comes from a single visit or desk research.
Informed by 5 Greek experts
Every destination we cover has been visited and vetted by at least one team member — not for a review, but as part of their daily work in Greek tourism.