Greece · Saronic Gulf
Yacht Charter Hydra
An island with no cars at all, where the waterfront is donkeys and shipowners' houses in stone.
Hydra banned wheeled vehicles entirely, and it has stayed banned — there are no cars, no scooters and no bicycles on the island, only donkeys, boats and feet. The result is a harbour town of grey stone mansions built by eighteenth-century shipowners, rising in an amphitheatre round the water, that arrives exactly as it did two hundred years ago because there is no other way to arrive.
The harbour and the town
The port is a horseshoe of stone with cannons still on the moles, and the mansions above it were built by families who made fortunes running the Napoleonic blockades. Several are open — the Lazaros Koundouriotis house is the one to see.
Behind the front the lanes climb steeply and stop being a town within ten minutes' walk. There is one road, unpaved, and nothing on it.
Where to swim
There is almost no sand on Hydra. You swim off rock platforms — Spilia and Hydronetta right by the harbour, Avlaki ten minutes west on foot — or you take the boat round to Bisti and Agios Nikolaos on the western end, which are pine-backed and reachable only from the water.
Kamini and Vlychos, twenty minutes along the coast path, are the two small settlements where the island eats when it does not want the harbour.
Practical notes
- No wheeled vehicles at all — donkeys, boats and feet, and the ban is enforced
- About four hours from Athens; Poros, Spetses and Aegina are all within three hours
- There is almost no sand: you swim off rock platforms, or take the boat west to Bisti and Agios Nikolaos
- The harbour is small and stern-to; in August it wants arranging ahead
Reached from: Athens
Where to dine
A table by the water
Techne
HydraIn a courtyard behind the harbour, doing Greek cooking that has thought about itself without losing the point.
Kodylenia
KaminiOn the rock above the small harbour twenty minutes west, and the sunset the island walks to.
Omilos
HydraOn the water at the harbour mouth, in the old yacht club building, with the boats going past the table.
What to do
Anchorages & excursions
The harbour
A horseshoe of stone with cannons still on the moles, and eighteenth-century shipowners' mansions rising round it.
Lazaros Koundouriotis mansion
One of the shipowners' houses, open, and the clearest picture of where the island's money came from.
Bisti and Agios Nikolaos
Pine-backed swimming at the western end, reachable only from the water.
The coast path to Vlychos
Twenty minutes along the shore past Kamini, and the walk the island takes in the evening.
The fleet
Yachts available for Hydra
Vessels that operate here, from flagship motor yachts to smaller crewed boats. Every rate is quoted on enquiry.
Good to know
Questions we are asked about Hydra
- Are there really no cars?
- None. No cars, no scooters, no bicycles — donkeys, boats and feet only, and the ban is enforced. It is why the waterfront looks as it did two hundred years ago.
- Where do you swim on Hydra?
- Off rock platforms rather than sand: Spilia and Hydronetta by the harbour, or take the boat west to Bisti and Agios Nikolaos, which are pine-backed and reachable only from the water.
- What does a yacht charter to Hydra cost?
- It depends on the yacht, the season and the crew, so we quote on enquiry rather than publish a figure that would be wrong for most weeks.
Destinations
Nearby destinations
Charter here
Enquire about a charter on Hydra
Tell us your dates and how many of you there are, and we will come back with the right yacht and a full quotation.