Table of Contents
Spetses is the island that tourists overlook on their way to Hydra, and Athenians prefer to keep it that way.
The two islands are 40 minutes apart by ferry and radically different in character. Hydra is famous, international, and demonstrably on the circuit. Spetses is less known, more residential, quieter in the evening — and in many ways more satisfying for a longer stay. The pine forests that run from ridge to shore, the 18th-century captain's mansions on the Old Harbour, the car-free policy, the beaches that require a boat to reach — these are the features of a place that has resisted the simplest forms of tourist capture.
This guide covers what Spetses actually offers: the architecture and history of the port, the Old Harbour that most visitors miss, the Bouboulina Museum, the island's best beaches, and how to connect Spetses into a wider Saronic itinerary.
For the wider region, see our guides to Things to Do in Hydra, Things to Do in Nafplio, and Things to Do in Athens. For where to stay, see Best Hotels in Spetses.
Spetses Town & the Dapia Harbour
Type: Town exploration, architecture, waterfront, history
Time needed: 2–3 hours
Cost: Free to explore; carriage rides from €15–20
Best time: Early morning and late afternoon; the evening promenade is essential
The Dapia is the main harbour of Spetses — a long waterfront of neoclassical mansions, fish restaurants, and café tables that faces the strait separating the island from the Peloponnese coast. The buildings lining the seafront were built in the early 19th century by the island's shipowning families — men who grew wealthy on trade and blockade-running before redirecting their wealth and their fleets into the cause of Greek independence.
The architecture is confident, prosperous, and well-maintained: a different register from the whitewashed Cycladic vernacular that dominates most Greek island imagery.
Without private cars, the waterfront functions as a promenade in the full Mediterranean sense. Horse-drawn carriages clip slowly past on the cobblestones. Cyclists thread between the pedestrians. In the evening, the entire island seems to converge on this stretch of waterfront for the volta — the unhurried social walk that Greek towns have practised for centuries. The effect is both civilised and genuinely relaxed.
The interior of the town — behind the first row of seafront buildings — has the narrow lanes, courtyard gardens, and neighbourhood church squares of a working Greek island town. The kiosks sell the island's signature pastry (amygdalota, almond sweets in the shape of pears) alongside the usual newspapers and ice creams.
Good to know: Bicycles and scooters are available for hire from multiple shops near the main port. The horse-drawn carriages operate as taxis and have fixed rates to most destinations on the island. For the beaches on the far side, water taxis depart from the main port throughout the day.
Best for: Everyone arriving on Spetses; the waterfront walk and evening promenade are the easiest introduction to the island's character.
The Bouboulina Museum
Type: History museum, cultural heritage
Time needed: 45–60 minutes (guided tours only)
Cost: €12 adults, €6 children; guided tours run at scheduled intervals
Best time: Morning; book in advance in July–August
The Bouboulina Museum is housed in the mansion where Laskarina Bouboulina was born in 1771 and lived for most of her life. It is run by her fifth-generation descendants, who conduct the tours themselves in Greek and English — a level of personal connection to the subject that is rare in any museum and which gives the visit an unusually intimate quality.
Bouboulina's story is extraordinary and deserves more international recognition than it receives. She was a widowed shipowner who financed the construction of her own fleet — including the flagship Agamemnon, the largest ship in the Greek rebel navy — and participated directly in the naval blockade of Nafplio during the War of Independence.
She is the only woman to have been inducted as an admiral of the Russian Imperial Navy (an honorary title granted for her political connections), and she was the first person to raise the Greek revolutionary flag in the Peloponnese. She was shot dead in 1825 in a domestic dispute, at the age of 54, in this very house.
The museum covers her biography through personal objects, weapons, ship models, portraits, and documents. The house itself — with its painted wooden ceilings, original furniture, and the room where she was killed — is the equal of any period mansion open to the public in Greece.
Book the Spetses Island Full Day Trip from Athens with Swimming on GetYourGuide
Good to know: The museum opens at 9:45am and tours run every 45 minutes. It is one of the few sites on Spetses that justifies advance booking in summer. Photography is permitted in most rooms. The mansion garden is accessible separately and worth a few minutes.
Best for: History lovers; anyone interested in the Greek War of Independence; travel with older children.
The Old Harbour (Palio Limani)
Type: Architecture, history, walking, atmosphere
Time needed: 1–2 hours including the walk from the main port
Cost: Free
Best time: Morning for the light; evening for the atmosphere
The Old Harbour is the original port of Spetses, a horseshoe bay 2km east of the main Dapia along the seafront or coastal path. Most visitors to the island don't make the walk. This is one of travel's reliable errors.
Palio Limani is where the island's fleet was built and maintained — where Bouboulina's Agamemnon was constructed, and where the ships that blockaded Nafplio were fitted out. The boatyards still operate, still building and repairing wooden boats in techniques that haven't changed fundamentally in two centuries.
The medieval church of Agios Nikolaos stands at the harbour's edge with a detached bell tower, a carved marble interior, and a flagpole from which, local tradition holds, the first Greek revolutionary flag was raised in 1821 (a claim contested with equal conviction by the flagpole at the Dapia).
The mansions around the harbour belong to some of the island's oldest shipping families. The quality of the architecture — 18th-century stone buildings, painted plaster interiors visible through open doorways, gardens with bougainvillea falling over the walls — is the finest on the island. There are two or three small tavernas at the harbour edge that are among the best on Spetses for fresh fish.
Good to know: The walk from the Dapia to the Old Harbour along the coastal path takes 20–25 minutes and passes the town's main neoclassical mansions. Return by the inland path through the town's back lanes for a different view. The area around the Old Harbour is also the best departure point for water taxis to the island's eastern beaches.
Best for: Architecture enthusiasts, history lovers, photographers, anyone who wants to see the island without a crowd.
Beaches by Water Taxi: Agioi Anargyroi, Zogeria & Bekiri
Type: Swimming, beaches, water taxi, pine forest coast
Time needed: Half to full day per beach
Cost: Water taxi from port €8–15 one way depending on destination; beaches free
Best time: June, September, and early October for the best combination of warmth and calm
Spetses's best beaches are on the far coast — sheltered coves in pine-forested settings that are inaccessible by road and reachable only by water taxi or by boat. This is both the slight inconvenience and the significant advantage: the beaches are clean, uncrowded, and backed by pine trees that provide natural shade.
Agioi Anargyroi, on the southwestern tip of the island, is the largest and most organised of the island's beaches — a long arc of pebble and sand with a beach bar, sunbeds, and water sports including diving. The water is exceptionally clear and deepens quickly. The beach became famous in the 1970s as the setting for John Fowles's novel The Magus (and its 1968 film adaptation).
Zogeria is a completely different experience: a small pine-forested cove on the northern coast accessible only by sea, with no beach infrastructure, water of extraordinary clarity, and the feeling — rare in the Saronic Gulf — of genuine seclusion. It is among the most beautiful swimming spots in the region. Bekiri, nearby, is similarly secluded and slightly smaller, with a mix of pebble and sand.
Good to know: Water taxis operate from the Dapia throughout the day in summer — simply negotiate destination and price at the dock. The last water taxis back from the far beaches typically leave at 6–7pm. Bring everything you need (water, food) for Zogeria and Bekiri as there is no infrastructure. A scooter circuit of the island (the coastal road is tarmacked for most of its 26km) is a good way to survey the beaches before choosing.
Book the Spetses Island Boat Exploration on GetYourGuide
Best for: Beach lovers, couples, swimmers; anyone wanting seclusion without the infrastructure of a fully developed beach resort.
Getting to Spetses & Using It as a Saronic Base
Type: Transport, island hopping, Saronic Gulf logistics
Time needed: 2h from Athens by fast ferry; 30 min from Poros or Hydra
Cost: Fast ferry Piraeus–Spetses from €25–35 one way; Hydra–Spetses from €12–15
Spetses is the furthest of the main Saronic islands from Athens — 2 hours by fast hydrofoil from Piraeus, or around 3.5 hours by conventional ferry. The fast ferry (Hellenic Seaways or Alpha Lines) runs multiple times daily in summer and is the standard choice. The conventional ferry is slower but cheaper and takes vehicles (though private vehicles can't be brought onto the island).
The island also works well as a base for the wider Saronic archipelago. Poros is 30 minutes away by ferry and pairs well with a visit to the Peloponnese coast and Nafplio. Hydra is 40 minutes. For visitors combining the Saronic islands with mainland Greece, the Porto Heli connection — a short ferry from Spetses to the Peloponnese coast — gives easy access to Nafplio (one of Greece's most beautiful towns), Mycenae, and Epidaurus.
For visitors based in Athens who want to add Spetses to a broader Saronic day or overnight trip:
- Book the Athens Ferry to Spetses Island on GetYourGuide
- Book the 2-Day Poros, Hydra & Spetses Luxury Yacht Cruise on GetYourGuide
Good to know: The GYG Saronic cruise from Athens (Hydra, Poros, Aegina) is a one-day overview that doesn't include Spetses — the island is at the edge of the Saronic and is better visited as an independent trip or overnight stay. For a day visit, the Athens–Spetses fast ferry (2 hours each way) leaves enough time in the middle of the day for the town, the Old Harbour, and a beach.
Best for: Athens-based travellers planning an island extension; anyone building a Saronic island-hopping itinerary; combines naturally with Hydra, Nafplio, and the Peloponnese.
Practical Information
Getting to Spetses: Fast hydrofoil or catamaran from Piraeus (approximately 2 hours; from €25–35 one way, multiple daily departures). Conventional ferry also available (3.5 hours). Short ferry connection from Porto Heli on the Peloponnese coast (15 minutes). The island also has ferry connections to Poros (30 min) and Hydra (40 min).
- Pre-book your transfer from Athens airport to the port with Welcome Pickups — fixed price, no stress.
- For cheap flights to Athens before your Spetses ferry, compare deals on Kiwi.com — searches across all carriers.
- Had a disrupted flight getting here? You could be owed up to €600 — check with AirHelp.
Getting around: No private cars on the island. Options: horse-drawn carriage (taxi service with fixed rates), bicycle (hire from port), scooter or ATV (hire from port), water taxi (for beaches), and on foot. The main town is walkable. The coastal road (26km) is suited to scooter or bike.
When to go: May–June and September–October are optimal — warm enough for swimming, not yet at peak season pricing or crowds. July and August are busy and more expensive; the island copes better than most because access is ferry-only and volume is naturally capped. Out of season (November–March), Spetses has a functioning local life of coffee shops, restaurants, and seafront walks with almost no tourism.
Budget: Mid-range. A comfortable daily budget of €80–120 per person covers a good hotel, meals at a harbour taverna, a water taxi to a beach, and the Bouboulina Museum. The island's finest experience — the evening promenade along the Dapia and a long dinner at the Old Harbour — costs nothing beyond the meal.
Staying connected: Non-EU visitors face high roaming charges on Greek networks. Activate a Yesim eSIM before you fly — instant setup, no physical SIM, works the moment your plane lands in Greece.
Plan Your Trip
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.