What is Hydra like?
Hydra is a Saronic island located in the Aegean Sea between the Myrtoan Sea and the Argolic Gulf. The beautiful idyllic island just 2 hours away from Athens by ferry and I found that a lot of the visitors on the island were themselves Greek. This unproven statement may be due to its proximity to Athens, making it an ideal place for a quick yet luxurious weekend getaway. Hydra was very quiet when I visited in May 2022. It was a perfectly charming island. It is a pedestrian island and you will therefore see very few cars except vehicles to transport commercial materials, building supplies, and emergency vehicles. We stayed in Hydra port, the main ‘town’ on the island. (town us used in quotations because the population of many of the settlement on the island qualify them as villages). The crescent shaped port is lined with restaurants and docked boats, opulent yachts and other more modest fishing boats and water taxis. Hydra port stayed lively till about 12:30 am every night as restaurants served their last customers, people watched the ends of football matches on TV, tourists socialized, and yacht owners and crew members settled down for the night. If you do stay in the port, you really don’t have to worry about excessive noise past midnight during this time of the year (spring). This may be a different during peak season, in the middle till end of summer.
Every hour, and sometimes at odd times throughout the day, bell towers atop beautifully built churches and clock towers rung through the town. Hydra to me, is the perfect place for couples, and relaxing mother-daughter type trips. In May, it was not a place to go for a wild party but a place to come and relax, enjoy good food, and enjoy the outdoors. It was tranquil. We spent three and a half days in Hydra and it was the perfect amount of time. We arrived Friday morning and left Monday late afternoon.
Time of travel: May 2022, Friday-Monday.
Temperature: Hot sunny days and cool clear nights. A light sweater or long sleeve was necessary on some nights.
How to get to Hydra
The only way to get to Hydra is by ferry. There is no airport on the island so you will have to hop on a ferry from a nearby island or main land Greece. We took a two hour ferry from Athens to Hydra which you can book on numerous sites with a quick google search e.g. book on Ferryhopper.com. The ferries may be shorter and be as quick as a one and a half hour ferry ride from Piraeus, the Athens port. I would book your ferry ticket in advance because tickets can sell out, especially tickets at the beginning and end of the day. The price for the ferry is about €28.50 – €39.50 each stretch. The ferry ride was smooth and there are assigned seats indicated on your ticket though, on ferry ride back, we were told to sit anywhere. You have to check-in online before you get to the port or you may check in at the port to get your official ticket to board. If you are checking in at the port, give yourself extra time. We arrived about 25 minutes before our departure time as there is no proper place to wait at the ferry port.
Ferry
Duration: ~ 2 hours
Price: €28.50 – €39.50
Frequency of Departure: ~ 8 departures a day between ~ 8:00 – 21:30
Ferry Companies: Alpha Line, Blue Star Ferries, booked through sites like Ferry Hopper
How to get around in Hydra
Like mentioned previously, Hydra is a pedestrian island so naturally the best way to get around is on foot. Of course there are donkeys and horses on the island to help you get to your destination if necessary but most of the hotels and restaurants in the main town are accessible on foot. To get to other villages on the island you can take a water taxi; prices vary depending on how far you are going. Water taxis are parked in the main town port. You can also take communal transport boats. ‘Communal transport boats’ is an informal name I am giving to boats that are like water taxis, but have fixed daily departure times to locations indicated on signs on their boat. For example to head to Bisti Beach, located on furthest West tip of the island, there is a communal transport boat that leaves at 11:00am and 12:00pm and returns at 3:00pm, 4:00pm and 4:30pm daily. These times may vary depending on the time of year you are going so make sure to read signs on the parked boats and confirm with your captain. The return trip was €12 per person.
Where to stay
You can stay in or near the main port or at villages along the coast of Hydra or more inland. There are several boutique hotels, hostels, and small apartment style residences in the main town. On the whole island of Hydra, there are also some vacation homes for rent located slightly outside the main port area and so if you are thinking of hosting a lot of people for an event like a wedding, you may consider renting accommodation such as this. We stayed at Upper Hydra a beautiful boutique hotel that opened up directly to the port. The view from Upper Hydra is absolutely magical. There are two rooms at this boutique hotel that look out onto the port and another that looks out to a courtyard. The view of the port was perfect. Waking up everyday to morning light shining through the balcony double doors, overlooking the white-home scattered hills that enclosed the port was breathtaking.
Upper Hydra rooms are perfectly sized, not too big and not too small. They are impeccably clean and the complimentary breakfast at Isalos Cafe below the hotel was a great addition because we did not have to think about what we were going to eat every morning. Though it was included in the price of the room, it still felt free. Upper Hydra staff replace coffee and water everyday as well as replace the complimentary toiletries in your rooms. This is worth mentioning because not all hotels in Greece replace these items everyday of your stay. Additionally, Upper Hydra has a basket with beach towels and hotel room slippers which we took with us to the rocky beaches. The beach towels were a lovely addition.
Where to eat
There are a ton of restaurants in Hydra and you will be surprised to find that if you are a person that hates to wander and stumble in somewhere and try a restaurant blind, pretty much all the restaurants on the Hydra main port and surrounding area are on Google Maps (and have been reviewed). If you are feeling adventurous and want to explore other options, or are looking for upscale restaurants, head west of hydra port, follow the well paved road for restaurants that are situated up against the cliff edge, perfectly situated to watch the sunset.
As mentioned previously, our hotel Upper Hydra, came with complimentary breakfast at Isalos Cafe which was phenomenal. The cafe is right beside the main ferry dock and was always the busiest cafe in the port. We loved the view from the chairs at Isalos and we loved our breakfast. We got either the Greek or Mediterranean Breakfast for 2 priced at €24. The Greek was our favourite option and came with coffee, freshly squeezed orange juice, Greek style eggs that have fried potatoes in them, Greek yogurt with honey and dried fruit, orange cake, warm bread buns and toast, fruit jams, olive and tomato paste toast, and a fried cheese stuffed phyllo. It was a wonderful spread. They had other options for example a Continental Breakfast for 2.
In Hydra, like pretty much anywhere you visit, there is a big range is type of establishment you can dine at. There are your mom and pop shops, like at Ostria Restaurant, where we were literally invited into the fluorescent lit kitchen to pick our fish and watch the preparation of our Greek salad. There are also restaurants that are a scale above this like Veranda Restaurant, beautifully situated overlooking Hydra Town. The view at Veranda was beautiful restaurant especially if you are dining around sunset. There are more upscale restaurants like Sunset, Omilos and Techne. All are located just outside the main port area. Techne and Omilos were our favourites though I loved the frankness, professionalism of our waiter at Sunset. All that being said, with these ‘more polished’ places like Techne, Omilos and Sunset located cliff side overlooking the sunset, (which do not get me wrong we liked A LOT) come price tags that are probably twice what you will find in restaurants that are in town. Decide what kind of atmosphere you are looking for and pick location of your restaurant accordingly. Remember at the upscale restaurants, it is best to try and make a reservation in order to guarantee a seat at the time you want and to guarantee location of seating. It is always nice to be situated right at the edge overlooking the water.
A note about tipping: We tipped at least 10% at every place we dined, we typically tipped 15% when service was good. There is not strict rule about tipping in Greece though in Toronto, Canada, it is expected for tip between 15% and 20% when you dine so we carried this practice with us in Greece.
See Basic Itinerary above to see exactly which restaurants we ate at.
Basic Itinerary: What we did on our stay
| Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 3 | Day 4 |
| Arrive By Ferry Hotel: Upper Hydra Lunch: Ostria Restaurant Sightseeing: Walk to Churches, museums and around Hydra Town Dinner: Sunset Restaurant | Hotel: Upper Hydra Breakfast: Isalos (included with stay) Beach: Bisti Beach Sightseeing: Hike at beginning of sunset hike to churches Dinner: Veranda Restaurant (arrived early to watch sunset) | Hotel: Upper Hydra Breakfast: Isalos (included with stay) Beach: Paralia Kaminia Lunch: Techne Restaurant Dinner: Omilos | Breakfast: Isalos (included with stay) Sightseeing: Walk to and tour more Churches. Walk through Hydra Town. Lunch: Xeri Elia Douskos Depart Back to Athens by Ferry |
What to see and what to do
Beaches
The beaches! All the beaches on Hydra, at least the ones on the north coast, are rock/ pebble beaches. There are beaches all along the north coast of hydra that are accessible by foot, water taxi or communal transport taxi boats. You can pick a spot along the coast, check Google Maps to see how far it is to walk to, or if it is only accessible by water.
Bisti Beach was a €12 communal taxi ride (the trip there and back included in price). At the beach you have to pay bout €5 to use an umbrella and a beach chair. Bisti Beach has a small snack bar behind the main beach area. It is definitely more remote and quiet (in May) and the water is a bit more ‘untouched’ so the seabed is a bit tougher to navigate. While swimming we had to make sure we were not stepping on marine life or sharp rocks. Bisti was serene, scenic and the longer boat ride past all the north coast beaches was fun.
We were told some of the other beaches that were closer, specifically, Vlychos Plakes Beach, because of its operation by FourSeaons, was a bitsteep when it came to the price to use the umbrella. I overheard someone say the umbrellas there are €10-15 at Vlychos Plakes. Unlike Bisti Beach, this beach is busier and more well equipped for tourists. This beach is busier, and can entertain more visitors. It has more amenities, restaurants, more chairs etc.
There are smaller beaches like Paralia Kaminia. At this beach there are free umbrellas and nicer water to swim in than at Bisti. It was a busy beach with lots of kids which made for a lovely atmosphere if you like that sort of thing. It is also very close to restaurants which are just up the stairs leading down to the beach.
Be weary that on Google Maps some of the smaller ‘beaches’ are merely small hang out spots or jump off points with no shelter. For example Spilia Beach has a beach bar close by, Spilia Beach Bar, but the actual beach is only a rock platform. Avlaki Beach is also an unsheltered rock platform though it is bigger platform than Spilia.
Museums and Churches
Hydra island is home to over 300 churches. There are many churches and monasteries a short walk or hike away.
Some noteworthy churches to visit are:
- Church of The Assumption – right in the port
- Monastery of Prophet Elias – short walking distance to town
- Monastery of Agia Efpraxia – short walking distance to town
- Monastery of Agia Triada
- Monastery of Zourvas
- Monastery of Agios Nikolaos
- Monastery of Agia Matrona
Like I said, there are hundreds of churches, you need only to search ‘church’ on google maps and there will be at least 15 churches in walking distance. Most are not open to the public but a small walk to the church and an examination of the exterior but be all you are looking for.
Museums
If you like to learn more about Greek history you can visit one of Hydra’s Museums.
- The Byzantine Museum
- Historical Archive Museum
- Post-Byzantine Art and History Museum
- National Historical Museum
Other suggested things to do in Hydra
It goes without saying, when you go to a place you can just walk around and admire the architecture, the people, and just quietly and casually observe their way of life. Of course you can plan an organized hike but make sure you thoroughly research your walking routes prepare accordingly and ask a local for assistance or advice on what is feasible for your fitness capabilities and weather.
Overall
I would definitely recommend going to Hydra if you are looking for a relaxing getaway. It is a small manageable island that is charming. It is unique in that it is pedestrian only and does not seem as touristy as some of the other Greek islands.
