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Two ports serve the Athens to Mykonos ferry: Piraeus, on the metro south-west of the city centre, and Rafina, on the east coast on the airport’s side of Attica. Golden Star’s high-speed boat from Rafina is listed at 2 hours 30 minutes, Blue Star’s big ferries from Piraeus quote from 5 hours 10 minutes, and a flight is brief in the air but loses time again at the airports. Which one suits you depends less on the boat than on where you wake up that morning, and that’s the part most booking pages leave out.
This page is for first-time visitors weighing Piraeus against Rafina against a plane, and for anyone fitting Mykonos around an Athens hotel or a flight home. One caveat outweighs the rest: boats, timetables and fares on this route change with the season, and a strong north wind can cancel sailings at short notice, so treat every figure below as a starting point and confirm your own date with the operator. Details checked 27 September 2026 against Blue Star Ferries, Golden Star Ferries, Fast Ferries, Seajets, SKY express, OASA, KTEL Attikis, Athens International Airport and the City of Athens visitor guide.
| Option | Time at sea or in the air | Fare from | Book ahead? | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Blue Star conventional ferry from Piraeus | From 5 h 10 min, the operator’s best case | €20 on limited Super Economy seats | Yes for July and August | Central Athens stays, tight budgets, a steadier ride |
| Golden Star high-speed from Rafina | 2 h 30 min | From €50 | Yes in summer | Airport arrivals, short breaks |
| Fast Ferries conventional from Rafina | Longer: calls at Andros and Tinos first | Check with the operator | For summer weekends | Out-of-season trips, an unhurried island hop |
| Seajets high-speed | Quicker than the big ferries | Usually above Blue Star’s | Yes in summer | Speed on a calm day |
| Flight with SKY express or Aegean | A short hop | From €49 one way (SKY express, 14 October 2026) | Yes: fares change by date | Short trips, same-day long-haul connections |
For most people Mykonos is one leg of a bigger plan. If you’re still choosing islands, or want the airport and port connections laid out side by side, start with our hub on getting from Athens to the islands, then come back here for the Mykonos detail.
What’s changed in 2026?
Four things that older guides, and plenty of forum threads, still get wrong.
- The cruise fee is not a ferry fee. Since 21 July 2025 Greece has charged cruise passengers a per-person fee at Mykonos and Santorini: €20 from June to September, €12 in April, May and October, and €4 from November to March. It’s levied on cruise-ship passengers, so a ferry ticket from Piraeus or Rafina doesn’t carry it.
- The airport metro now runs to Piraeus. Line 3 goes from Athens International Airport to Piraeus in an estimated 60 minutes, on the €9 airport ticket. The €1.20 90-minute ticket isn’t valid on the airport lines. Guides written before Line 3 reached the port still send you to Monastiraki to change onto Line 1.
- Cheap Blue Star seats exist, in small numbers. Blue Star’s Super Economy offer sells a limited number of Economy tickets at €20 on Cyclades routes from Piraeus, and they can’t be cancelled or changed. Its Special Economy offer takes 20% off a limited number of Economy seats that you can still move, cancel or leave open-dated under the company’s terms.
- October thins the Rafina timetable. Fast Ferries ran one to three Rafina-Andros-Tinos-Mykonos sailings a day each way from 25 May to 30 September 2026. From 1 to 31 October it’s one or two, the same pattern it ran through last winter.
Ferry or flight: which is better for Athens to Mykonos?
Fly when time is short and you’re already at the airport. Sail when you’re spending a night or two in Athens first, travelling with proper luggage, or want to arrive by sea, which for many people is half the point of Mykonos. That’s the short answer. The long one depends on what each option costs you in hours and in euros.
The flight is the quick part of a slow morning. SKY express flies nonstop from Athens to Mykonos’s Manto Mavrogenous airport (code JMK), and Aegean sells the route as well; Olympic Air, the other name you’ll see, is now marketed under the Aegean brand. The time in the air is under an hour. Around it sit the ride out to Athens airport, security, the wait at the gate and the transfer from Mykonos airport to your hotel. From a hotel in Plaka, that fills most of a morning.
The fare is the other variable. On 14 October 2026, SKY express’s own fare chart showed one-way Athens-Mykonos fares from €49, with €95 for 15 October and €49 for 18 October. The airline sells checked bags of 15, 23 or 32 kilos as add-ons, so check what your fare includes before comparing it with a ferry ticket, which lets you wheel a suitcase aboard at no extra cost.
The ferry turns the transfer into part of the holiday. From Piraeus it’s a metro ride, a walk to the gate and five-plus hours on a big ship with lounges, cafés and open decks. From Rafina, Golden Star’s high-speed boat is listed at 2 hours 30 minutes, which can beat the plane door to door if you start at the airport or anywhere in the eastern suburbs. What no ferry can promise is the weather: in a strong north wind, sailings get rescheduled or cancelled.
Verdict: for a first trip with a night in Athens beforehand, take Blue Star from Piraeus. It sells a limited number of €20 Super Economy seats, and the metro takes you all the way to the port. Fly when you’re connecting straight off a long-haul arrival, or when a three-day trip can’t spare the sea time.
Piraeus or Rafina: which port should you sail from?
This is the choice that shapes your day, and it’s mostly geography. Piraeus lies around 10 km south-west of central Athens and 45 km from the airport, by the City of Athens visitor guide’s figures, and two metro lines serve it. Rafina sits on the east coast of Attica, on the airport’s side of the city, with a direct KTEL bus from the airport’s Arrivals level. Mykonos lies east of both, so Rafina also has the shorter crossing.
| If you’re starting from | Sail from | Why |
|---|---|---|
| A hotel near Syntagma, Plaka or Monastiraki | Piraeus | Line 3 runs from Syntagma to Piraeus in about 20 minutes and Line 1 runs from Monastiraki, both on a €1.20 ticket |
| Athens airport, on the day you land | Rafina, or fly | KTEL buses run from Arrivals to the port, while Piraeus is about an hour away by metro |
| A hire car or a villa east of the city | Rafina | You avoid crossing Athens to reach the south-west |
| A tight budget | Piraeus | Blue Star’s €20 Super Economy seats, when you can get them |
| A weak stomach | Piraeus | Big conventional ships ride a swell better than small fast craft |
| A short break where every hour counts | Rafina | Golden Star’s high-speed crossing is listed at 2 h 30 min, against 5 h 10 min and up from Piraeus |
| A trip between October and May | Check both | Fewer sailings everywhere; Fast Ferries kept Rafina running all last winter |
Piraeus is the bigger, busier and more confusing of the two, a long run of lettered and numbered gates around the harbour. Blue Star’s own listing puts its Mykonos boats at gates E6 and E7, and our guide to Piraeus port covers the gates, the walk from the metro and where to wait. Arriving by air and heading straight there? The airport-to-Piraeus transfer compares the metro, the X96 express bus and a taxi.
Rafina is the smaller, calmer alternative, with fewer operators and a single harbour, and KTEL Attikis says its buses may wait for ships that arrive or leave late, an arrangement made with the port authorities. The catch is getting there from the centre. Athens-Rafina buses start at KTEL’s Pedion Areos terminal rather than at a metro station, although the stop list includes stops named for the Ampelokipoi, Ethniki Amyna and Nomismatokopio metro stations on the way out of town. Our Rafina port guide has the stops, timetables and taxi options, so we won’t repeat them here.
Verdict: staying in central Athens, sail from Piraeus. Landing at the airport and going straight to the island, take the Rafina boat or fly. Everything else is a tiebreaker.
Which Athens to Mykonos ferry should you book?
Four companies matter here, and they sell very different days at sea. One runs big ships from Piraeus, one sells speed, and two work out of Rafina.
Blue Star Ferries: the big ship from Piraeus
From 5 hours 10 minutes; from €20 on limited Super Economy seats. Blue Star’s conventional ferries are the backbone of the Piraeus side. The company quotes the crossing from 5 hours 10 minutes, and that’s its best case rather than a typical day: sailings with more island calls take longer, just as Blue Star’s headline Santorini time proved well short of a real summer run. On board you get indoor lounges, cafés and open decks, and on a full August sailing it pays to board early if you want an indoor seat.
Tickets are e-tickets. Web check-in opens 48 hours before departure and closes 2 hours before, and you show the boarding pass with an ID card or passport. If you’d rather hold paper, Blue Star’s port agents hand tickets over at least 2 hours before departure. Children under 5 travel free in Economy with a zero-fare ticket, children aged 5 to 10 pay half, and ISIC student card holders get 50% off most fares on Cyclades routes.
Plan it: metro Line 1 or Line 3 to Piraeus; gates E6 and E7 by Blue Star’s listing; be at the ramp 45 minutes before sailing in summer; best for central Athens stays, budgets and anyone prone to seasickness.
Golden Star Ferries: the fast boat from Rafina
2 hours 30 minutes, from €50. Golden Star lists Rafina to Mykonos by high-speed ferry at 2 hours 30 minutes, from €50. Its Rafina fleet mixes the conventional Superferry, Andros Queen and Andros King with the high-speed Golden Princess and Superexpress. Its route page shows the Superferry as well as the Golden Princess on Andros to Mykonos, so check which boat your sailing uses before you book. E-tickets and web check-in are on its own site.
Plan it: KTEL bus or taxi to Rafina, with the details in our Rafina ferry port guide; best for airport arrivals and short breaks; think twice on a windy August day if you get seasick.
Seajets: speed at a price
Quicker than the big ferries, dearer, and happiest in calm weather. Seajets bills itself as the fastest ferry company in the Cyclades. Its own site described up to four daily summer routes from Rafina taking in Andros, Tinos, Mykonos, Paros and Naxos, and it sails out of Piraeus too. Check seajets.com for its Mykonos crossing times and October fares before you build a connection around one of its boats. Like Blue Star, it posts schedule-change notices when the weather turns.
Fast craft earn their premium on a flat sea. In strong wind, sailings can be delayed or cancelled, so check the operator’s notices for your day before you head to the port.
Fast Ferries: slow, steady and all year from Rafina
Conventional ships via Andros and Tinos, all year round. Despite the name, Fast Ferries runs conventional ships, the Theologos P, Fast Ferries Andros and Ekaterini P, on its Rafina-Andros-Tinos-Mykonos line: one to three sailings a day each way in summer, and one or two in October, as through last winter. It also lists a daily Rafina-Tinos-Mykonos-Naxos service, extended to Paros between 13 June and 13 September 2026. Calling at Andros and Tinos first makes it the slowest way to Mykonos from Rafina, and the one we’d choose for an unhurried island hop or a winter crossing. Online boarding passes are on its site.
Verdict: Blue Star from Piraeus for a first trip; Golden Star from Rafina when time matters more than money; Seajets on a settled day; Fast Ferries out of season, or when you’d like to see Andros and Tinos on the way.
How long does Athens to Mykonos take, door to door?
Crossing times are only half the story. Here’s how the legs add up from a hotel near Syntagma, using the operators’ and agencies’ own figures for the fixed parts and our margins for queues and boarding. Treat the totals as planning figures, not promises.
| Route | Getting to the port or airport | At sea or in the air | Planning total |
|---|---|---|---|
| Piraeus with Blue Star | About 20 minutes on Line 3, the walk to the gate, 45 minutes in hand | From 5 h 10 min | 6.5 to 7 hours |
| Rafina with Golden Star | KTEL bus from Pedion Areos or a taxi: allow 90 minutes with margin | 2 h 30 min | About 4.5 hours |
| Rafina with Fast Ferries | As above | Longer, with calls at Andros and Tinos | Most of the day |
| Flight | Airport metro: allow an hour, then be at the airport well before departure | Under 1 hour | About 4 hours, including the transfer into town |
Two things stand out. From central Athens, Rafina’s fast boat and the plane land you on Mykonos at roughly the same time, and the boat fare already covers your suitcase. And the Blue Star day is long, but it’s the only one of the four where the travel itself is a pleasure: coffee on the open deck as the first Cycladic islands come up beats a departure lounge.
The same sums run in reverse on the way back, with one difference that matters. If a flight home is waiting at the end, the sea leg is the part that can go wrong, which is why the section on getting back, further down, is the one to read twice.
What does the trip cost, all in?
Fares move with the date, the class and the boat. These are the fixed points, then a worked example for one adult travelling one way.
- To Piraeus: €1.20 for a 90-minute ticket from the centre; €9 on the airport metro or €5.50 on the X96 express bus from the airport; around €25 for a taxi between the centre and the port, by the City of Athens visitor guide’s figure.
- To Rafina: the KTEL Attikis bus. Check the current fare with KTEL before you go.
- The ferry: €20 for Blue Star’s limited Super Economy seats from Piraeus, 20% off with Special Economy, and from €50 on Golden Star’s fast boat from Rafina. Seajets and Fast Ferries price by date, so compare them on their own sites.
- The flight: from €49 one way with SKY express on its fare chart of 14 October 2026, which showed €95 for 15 October; what the fare includes for checked bags depends on the ticket. Compare Aegean’s fare on its own site.
| One adult, one way | Lowest realistic total |
|---|---|
| Metro to Piraeus plus a Blue Star Super Economy seat | €21.20, if you land one of the €20 seats |
| Airport metro plus SKY express at its floor | €58, before a checked bag |
| KTEL bus plus Golden Star from Rafina | €50 plus the bus fare |
Blue Star’s €20 Super Economy seat from Piraeus sets the low mark, when you can get one. The plane’s lowest fares start at €49, close to Golden Star’s fast boat from €50, and luggage is normally included on the boat, so check the operator’s terms for your ticket.
When should you book, and when shouldn’t you sail?
July and August. Book as soon as your dates are fixed, particularly for Blue Star’s limited €20 seats and for anything around 15 August, the Assumption holiday, when much of Greece heads for the islands. This is also meltemi season, the dry north wind of the Aegean summer, and it isn’t only winter storms that upset timetables: Blue Star posted bad-weather itinerary changes for 28 July to 2 August and 9 to 11 August 2026.
June and September. The best balance. Boats run close to their summer pattern, the sea is warm, and the crowds are thinner at both ends of the crossing.
October. The season winds down. Fast Ferries drops to one or two Rafina sailings a day, so check that the boat you want is still running before you build a plan around it. On the plus side, SKY express was showing some of its lowest Mykonos fares of the autumn for mid-October dates.
November to April. The link stays open, with Fast Ferries sailing Rafina-Andros-Tinos-Mykonos once or twice a day each way last winter, but winter weather cancels more sailings: Blue Star’s bad-weather notices in 2026 ran through much of January and February, and again in late March and early April. The island itself is quiet, which suits some people perfectly.
On the morning you sail, check the operator’s news page before you leave the hotel. Blue Star and Seajets both post schedule changes there when the weather turns, and an e-ticket bought on the operator’s own site means any rebooking goes through one company rather than a reseller’s help desk.
Where do you arrive on Mykonos?
Not where the postcards suggest. Ferries from Athens berth at the new port at Tourlos, north of Chora (Mykonos town), rather than at the old harbour on the town’s waterfront, which is left to smaller boats such as the excursions to Delos. Check the port printed on your ticket anyway: Seajets’ FAQ has a question on exactly this, which tells you how often people get it wrong.
From the new port it’s a short drive into town. In summer, arrange a hotel transfer before you sail, because the taxi rank empties fast when a big ferry unloads. The airport, Manto Mavrogenous, is a short drive south-east of Chora, so flying in doesn’t leave you far from town either. For the island itself, from the beaches to the windmills on their hill south of Alefkandra, plan on at least two nights: the trip out is too long for less.
Can you take the ferry back and fly home the same day?
You can, but it’s the commonest way to wreck the last day of a Greek holiday. A ferry that sails late, or not at all in a meltemi, leaves you with a flight you can’t catch and no easy fallback. Seajets’ own FAQ asks how long after arriving at port it’s safe to schedule a flight, which says plenty.
If you must connect, sail back to Rafina rather than Piraeus: it’s on the airport’s side of Athens, and KTEL runs a bus between Rafina and the airport, with the current timetable on ktelattikis.gr. From Piraeus, Line 3 takes about an hour to the airport, and the X96 bus runs along the coast road for €5.50.
Verdict: in July and August, put a night in Athens between the island and a long-haul flight. Outside the windy months, a morning ferry and an evening flight with four or five hours between them is a reasonable bet, not a sure one.
What to skip
- A day trip from Athens. Even the fastest round trip is five hours at sea, plus the buses, for a few hours on the island. For a single day out, our Greek islands ferry guide points you to islands closer to Athens.
- The €1.20 ticket on the airport metro. It isn’t valid on the airport lines; buy the €9 airport ticket.
- A catamaran in a strong north wind if you get seasick. Switch to Blue Star from Piraeus, even though the day is longer.
- Tight same-day connections between a ferry and anything that can’t wait, from a long-haul flight to a wedding.
- Middlemen, when the operator sells direct. Blue Star, Golden Star, Fast Ferries and Seajets all sell e-tickets on their own sites, which keeps changes and refunds in one place.
If Mykonos is only the first island, Santorini is the usual next stop, and our Athens to Santorini guide runs the same ferry-or-flight sums for it. For every other port, bus and airport link out of the capital, go back to our Athens onward travel hub.
Athens to Mykonos Ferry FAQ
How long is the ferry from Athens to Mykonos?
From Rafina, Golden Star’s high-speed boat is listed at 2 hours 30 minutes. From Piraeus, Blue Star quotes from 5 hours 10 minutes on its conventional ferries, and sailings with more island calls take longer. Fast Ferries’ conventional boats from Rafina call at Andros and Tinos first. Add the trip to the port, and 45 minutes’ margin, to any of these.
Is it better to take the ferry or fly to Mykonos?
Fly if you’re connecting straight from a long-haul arrival or have only a few days. Otherwise the ferry usually wins: your luggage travels free, the fare can be as low as €20 on Blue Star’s limited Super Economy seats, and the arrival by sea is part of the trip. From central Athens, Rafina’s fast boat and a flight take about the same time door to door.
Should I take the ferry from Piraeus or Rafina?
Choose by where you start. From a hotel in central Athens, Piraeus is easier: Line 3 reaches it from Syntagma in about 20 minutes on a €1.20 ticket. From the airport, Rafina is closer and has a direct KTEL bus from Arrivals. Rafina has the shorter listed crossing; Piraeus has the bigger ships and Blue Star’s €20 Super Economy seats.
How long is the ferry from Mykonos to Athens?
Golden Star lists Mykonos to Rafina on the Golden Princess at 3 hours 10 minutes, and Blue Star’s return times to Piraeus are shown per sailing when you pick a date. If you have a flight to catch, sail to Rafina, which is on the airport’s side of Athens, and in July and August leave a night in Athens rather than connecting on the same day.
Where do ferries arrive on Mykonos?
Ferries from Athens berth at the new port at Tourlos, north of Chora, the island’s main town, not at the old harbour on the town waterfront, which handles smaller boats such as the Delos excursions. Check the port printed on your ticket, and in summer arrange a hotel transfer before you sail, because the taxi rank empties quickly when a big ferry unloads.
Do ferries run from Athens to Mykonos in winter?
Yes, Mykonos keeps a year-round link with Athens. Fast Ferries ran one or two sailings a day each way on its Rafina-Andros-Tinos-Mykonos line from November 2025 to May 2026, and runs the same pattern in October 2026. Winter weather cancels more sailings than summer does, so keep plans flexible and check the operator’s notices on the morning you travel.
How far in advance should I book the ferry to Mykonos?
For July and August, book as soon as your dates are set, especially for Blue Star’s €20 Super Economy seats, which are sold in limited numbers, and for sailings around the 15 August holiday. In spring and autumn you have more room, but weekend sailings can still fill. Whenever you book, Blue Star’s web check-in opens 48 hours before departure and closes 2 hours before.
Related Athens Guides
- Getting from Athens to the Islands and Beyond: every port, bus and airport link out of the city.
- Rafina Port Guide: buses, taxis and timetables for the port nearest the airport.
- Piraeus Port Guide: the gates, the metro walk and where to wait.
- Athens to Santorini: the same ferry-or-flight choice for the other big Cyclades name.
Sources and How We Checked
Everything here was checked on 27 September 2026 against the official sources below; the page is compiled from them rather than from other travel lists, and no first-hand visit is claimed.
- Blue Star Ferries: Mykonos route page, Super Economy offer and online booking and web check-in
- Golden Star Ferries: routes, times and fares
- Fast Ferries: Rafina routes and seasonal schedules
- Seajets: Mykonos page and FAQ
- SKY express: Athens-Mykonos flights and fares
- OASA: metro, airport and express-bus fares
- KTEL Attikis: Athens-Rafina and airport-Rafina timetables
- Athens International Airport: metro to Piraeus; City of Athens: This is Athens visitor guide
Athens Tourism Guide is an independent publication. We are not affiliated with the Hellenic Ministry of Culture, OASA, the Greek National Tourism Organisation or any business named here, and no business paid to be included.
Photo Credits
- Mykonos airport terminal: photo by Olaf Tausch, via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 3.0)
- Blue Star 2 at Piraeus: photo by C messier, via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)
- Ferries at the Rafina quay: photo by Holger Uwe Schmitt, via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)
- Gavrio harbour on Andros: photo by Holger Uwe Schmitt, via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)
- Breakwater beacon at Tinos: photo by Jules Verne Times Two, via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)
- Mykonos windmills from the sea: photo by Bernard Gagnon, via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0)
- Mykonos Chora and the old port (featured image): photo by Bernard Gagnon, via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0)
