I always felt that in order to feel like you’re on a ‘proper’ Greek island, one should travel about five hours by ferry to Paros or Naxos, for example – or even further afield to Skopelos or Alonissos.
I shouldn’t be so quick to judge as my experience on Hydra in the Saronic Gulf, for example, has taught me. It’s an island very near Athens and easily accessible (all Greek islands are, actually – it just depends how long you want to spend travelling to them, if you don’t fly directly or there’s no airport on some of them). There are some islands, however, that it is possible to do as a day trip from Athens. Kea is one of them.
See here my complete Insider’s Guide to the Greek Islands to get the lowdown and roundup of my recommended ones to visit.
This time I chose Kea, Tzia in Greek to visit. Let’s look at Kea island Greece, a day trip from Athens.
How to get to Kea island Greece – a day trip from Athens
Kea is roughly one hour away by ferry from the port of Lavrio. Lavrio is approximately a 2 hr bus ride from Athens, mainly because it doesn’t go direct, but via a few different outlaying towns and villages.
Advice for travelling to Kea from Lavrio Port
Lavrio itself is nothing to write home about – and a piece of advice: if you get a bus that gets you there at least 1.5 hrs before the ferry, don’t get off at the port. Instead, get off in the town centre, go and eat in a taverna overlooking the harbour and then give yourself about 15 mins to walk to the port (or get a taxi if it’s too hot) and buy your ferry ticket. The ferry offices won’t be open if you’re there too early.
My Insider’s Tips for Taking the Ferries in Greece will help you navigate the Greek ferry ports.
It’s only €12.50 (Euros) one way for a foot passenger – a good price eh? And the bus ticket from Athens is €5.00 (Euros).
There’s something about being at sea that blows the cobwebs away (literally) and leaves one feeling excited about what lays ahead.
Pulling into the harbour of Kea, I made the short walk of about 10 minutes to my accommodation: Koralli Studios.
And what a lovely location (opposite the beach) and gorgeously done up rooms. They were a fair size, very clean and not worn looking. The hosts cleaned my room daily and with solar heating, there was an abundance of hot water. Prices for one room as 45 Euros, lowered to try to attract more visitors. It’s a shame there weren’t many people staying (not from my point of view, from the owner’s point of view – the lovely Dimitra) as I like to see local businesses thriving, especially in these times.
Car Hire on the Greek island of Kea
A great hire care for 30 Euros a day was perfect for a Citroen C5.
I took myself off to beaches, monasteries and the Hora (the old capital in the centre of the island – up in the mountains). It’s possible to see as much as possible in a day and get an evening ferry back to Athens, but stay overnight if you can – make a weekend break.
So here, in pictures, I present Kea. Enjoy.
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Have you been to Kea? Did you like it? What’s your favourite Greek island?
Lovely photos! My son got married on one of those Greek Islands, complete with goats’ bells tinkling in the background, church bell, dinner later down the hill at the taverna with Ouzo toasts all around. All overlooking the Adriatic sea. The Greek islands have to compete with Paris as some of the most romantic places in the world.
How incredibly beautiful.
I’m in love with the kitty too.
Great post.
Teresa
Kea was the first Greek island I visited. In those days — this was thirty years ago — the island had a reputation for being unfriendly, though possibly only to Greeks from the mainland. My room was less than US$10/day. I misunderstood my host about when the hot water was on, and went several days before I discovered that it was always off unless you asked.
As I recall, if you take the road up the hill immediately to the west of the port and then turn south to go along the west side of the island, there is a road cut where old pottery comes out of the side of the hill. The cut was fresh when I was there, but as I say, that was some time ago.
I liked Kea.
It’s great to see this post has conjured up good memories for people, and the photos have titilated the senses.
Yes, the Greek islands have such a sense of clarity and light to them, I swear my eyesight’s improving.
Glad you liked this post.
:0)
Your picture of the monastery cat reminds me that when I was there the monastery cat was named “Douli”, but that was many cat-years and cat-lives ago.
As you know, I’m a cat lover and I’m so glad I caught this little one all curled up, with his/her little front paws all tucked up. I love it when cats do that – they look so cute!
Great information especially in regards to getting to the islands. Awesome!
Thanks Jay. I hope you get to come to visit these islands soon and grow to love them as much as I do.
Very informative especially in regard to the ferry and bus transportation. Cool!
I’m glad you think so. Kea is really one of my favourite islands so if I can help ‘plug’ it, I will. It’s also the island where the film crew “The Journey” will be coming back to to film in April 14. Do check out my various posts about “The Journey” on my site.
Tzia was my first Greek island and I have some amazing memories from it. Great post, made me miss Greece (even more!).
Ahhh – let’s hope to see you here again soon