An Agistri Moni and Aegina cruise from Athens sails across the Saronic Gulf for a day of island stops and swimming. Trips elsewhere in the country are gathered on our tours in Greece page.
This page covers what the cruise includes, how long it takes, each of the three stops, the gulf between them and the questions travellers ask.
What does an Agistri Moni and Aegina cruise from Athens include?
An Agistri Moni and Aegina cruise from Athens is a full day on a boat with three island stops. One operator lists long swim stops, a buffet lunch prepared on board and time to explore each island.
A shore-excursion listing, a tour listing and an events page give the same order of stops. The boat calls at Agistri first, then at Moni or Metopi, and last at Aegina. The sail back to Athens follows. The shore-excursion listing sets the whole route in the Saronic Gulf.
One operator says the weather decides the middle stop on the day itself. The shore-excursion listing agrees and writes “weather permitting”. The events page marks the stop as weather dependent. So an Agistri Moni and Aegina cruise from Athens keeps one island open until the weather is known.
The day holds more than sailing. The same operator lists lunch prepared on board, swim and snorkel time at each stop, and deck seating with shade. It says a local crew hosts the day on board. A tour listing adds a welcome with pastries and the use of snorkeling equipment. The events page lists the same equipment.
The boat type differs between listings of the Agistri Moni and Aegina cruise from Athens. The tour listing names a traditional wooden sailing yacht. The shore-excursion listing names a motor-sailing vessel, and the events page a schooner. Three listings name an optional bike ride on Agistri. The tour listing adds optional hotel pickup in Athens.
Wikipedia counts the Saronic Gulf as part of the Aegean Sea, bounded by the Attica and Argolis peninsulas. An Agistri Moni and Aegina cruise from Athens crosses that water. Wikipedia adds that the built-up area of Athens sits on the gulf’s northern shore.
How long is an Agistri Moni and Aegina cruise from Athens?
The shore-excursion listing gives the length of an Agistri Moni and Aegina cruise from Athens as 10 hours. It splits the day into about 5 hours of sailing and up to 5 hours to explore the islands.
Other sources state the day in clock times. A tour listing and the events page both give the meeting point as a quarter to 9 in the morning. The events page adds a check-in and a safety briefing of 10 minutes. The operator that lists long swim stops states daily departures, but no hour count.
The events page prints a full timetable for an Agistri Moni and Aegina cruise from Athens. Sailing and breakfast run between 9 in the morning and a quarter past 11. The stop at Moni or Metopi lasts between 1 and twenty to 2 in the afternoon. In the evening, at half past 6, the boat is back at Marina Zeas.
The two kinds of figure for an Agistri Moni and Aegina cruise from Athens do not match one to one. The shore-excursion listing counts 10 hours in total. The events page counts by the clock: it starts at a quarter to 9 and ends at half past 6. Each source frames the day its own way.
One operator and the tour listing name Marina Zeas in Piraeus as the place the boat leaves. The events page also names Marina Zeas, as the place of return. The operator adds that the marina is a 25-minute drive from central Athens. So the day starts in the port city, not in the city centre.
Wikipedia describes Piraeus as a city and port in the Attica region, inside the Athens urban area. It puts the city eight kilometres southwest of central Athens, on the gulf’s east coast. It names Zea, also called Pasalimani, as a smaller harbour that serves recreational and fishing craft.
What is Agistri, the first stop of an Agistri Moni and Aegina cruise from Athens?
Agistri lies in the Saronic Gulf and is a small island covered with pines. It is the first stop of an Agistri Moni and Aegina cruise from Athens. Wikipedia gives it about 13.4 square kilometres of land and 1,131 inhabitants in a Greek census.
The name Agistri means “fishing hook”, Wikipedia notes. The island lies very close to Aegina, and regular boats cross between them in ten minutes. Wikipedia adds that Agistri is an hour’s boat ride from Piraeus, the port of Athens. Piraeus Prefecture and the Athens National Technical University named it a “green island”.
The shore-excursion listing calls Agistri the first destination of its Agistri Moni and Aegina cruise from Athens. It says emerald waters meet pine forests there. A second operator also names Agistri as the first stop. It lists beach strolls and an optional bike ride on pine-filled paths.
Three settlements stand on the island that opens the Agistri Moni and Aegina cruise from Athens. Wikipedia names them Milos (also known as Megalochori), Skala and Limenaria. The main village is Milos. Skala is a twenty-minute walk away along the coast, and the tourist facilities and hotels are there. Limenaria is very small.
Wikipedia says the centre of Agistri is covered by pine forest. Thistles, thyme, caper bushes and wild cyclamen grow there. Chukar partridges live on the island, and swifts breed on the rocky eastern coast. Introduced peafowl have turned feral. Wikipedia does not name the pine species. The Aleppo pine, a Mediterranean conifer, grows 15 to 25 metres tall.
Wikipedia names the beaches. Aponissos and Dragonera lie on the west coast. Megalochori and Skala are in the north, Mariza is in the south, and Skliri and Halikiada are in the east. The shore-excursion listing for the Agistri Moni and Aegina cruise from Athens offers an optional bike tour. The route runs between Melalochori and Chalikiada Beach.
What is Moni, the islet where cruise boats stop for a swim?
Moni is a small, uninhabited islet south-west of Aegina. An Agistri Moni and Aegina cruise from Athens stops near it or near Metopi for a swim. The Greek national tourism site places it in the northern Saronic Gulf.
On an Agistri Moni and Aegina cruise from Athens, the operators list Moni second, after Agistri and before Aegina. The tourism site says the islet lies opposite Aegina. A tourism site for Attica puts it less than 500 metres off the cape of Perdika. Perdika is a village on the south-western side of Aegina, per Wikipedia.
The islet belongs to the Holy Monastery of Chrysoleontissa, which gave it the name Moni. The national tourism site describes a pine-covered landscape that shelters deer, peacocks, squirrels and wild goats. The Attica site adds kri-kri and says friendly animals approach visitors. Wikipedia calls the kri-kri a feral goat with two horns that sweep back.
The tourism site asks visitors to keep the necessary distance from the animals and to follow wildlife protection rules. It lists a sandy organised beach on the western side of Moni. The eastern side is rocky, and the water is clear on both sides. The Attica site adds sunbeds and a canteen on the western beach.
Metopi is the alternative stop of the Agistri Moni and Aegina cruise from Athens, weather permitting, the shore-excursion listing says. One tourism site places Metopi between Agistri and Aegina, about one nautical mile to the north-east of Cape Saint George. It names a church of Saint Theodore, vineyards and a small white-sand beach.
The sources do not say why boats anchor off small islets. The operators of the Agistri Moni and Aegina cruise from Athens describe the stop instead. One says the boat drops anchor near Moni or Metopi for a swim or snorkel. Two operators list snorkelling equipment. Wikipedia describes snorkelling as swimming with the face down while breathing through a tube.
What is Aegina, the last stop of an Agistri Moni and Aegina cruise from Athens?
Operators list Aegina as the last island of an Agistri Moni and Aegina cruise from Athens. Wikipedia puts it 27 km away from Athens, inside the Saronic Gulf. The island covers 87.41 square kilometres, and its main town lies at the northwestern end.
Wikipedia calls the island a rough triangle. It reaches about 15 km west to east, with 10 km between north and south. The island’s volcano is extinct, and it fills two-thirds of the land. Stony but fertile plains cover the north and west. The south is rugged and mountainous, and its highest point is Mount Oros at 531 metres.
Wikipedia names the town of Aegina as the regional capital. The community of Aegina counts nearly seven thousand people. Wikipedia describes the island’s buildings as Neoclassical, with a strong folk element, from the nineteenth century. One operator of an Agistri Moni and Aegina cruise from Athens lists town shops and a horse-drawn carriage ride.
One semi-private cruise schedule gives Aegina the stretch from a quarter past 2 to 4 in the afternoon. That is one hour and 45 minutes. One listing for an Agistri Moni and Aegina cruise from Athens allows up to 5 hours ashore. Another operator says each island comes with free time to explore.
Pistachio is the crop that Wikipedia calls characteristic of Aegina today. Its pistachio article says the tree grows up to 10 metres tall. The seed inside the shell is the part people eat. One schedule for the Agistri Moni and Aegina cruise from Athens lists pistachio ice cream to try ashore.
The Doric Temple of Aphaia, built around 500 BC, stands about 13 km by road from the island’s main port.
What is the Saronic Gulf, the sea of this cruise?
Operators place an Agistri Moni and Aegina cruise from Athens on the Saronic Gulf. Wikipedia says this arm of the Aegean Sea sits between two peninsulas, Attica and Argolis. A second name for it is the Gulf of Aegina.
Aegina and Agistri, two stops of the Agistri Moni and Aegina cruise from Athens, belong to the Saronic Islands. Wikipedia names Salamis, Aegina, Agistri and Poros as the main inhabited islands, and Salamis as the largest. The gulf also holds the smaller Patroklos and Fleves. Hydra and Dokos are sometimes counted too.
The urban area of Athens wraps around the northern shore of the gulf. The harbour city of Piraeus sits at the northeastern corner. One operator lists departures from Piraeus. Wikipedia has the Athens Riviera start at Piraeus and end at Sounio and Lavrio.
Wikipedia puts the Riviera about 16 km out from the centre of Athens. Per the Greek National Tourism Organisation, Wikipedia reports, the main areas include the Bay of Zea, Glyfada, Vouliagmeni and Varkiza. Beaches run along much of the shore, between Poros and Epidaurus and again from Piraeus south to Anavyssos.
Wikipedia places the Methana volcano in the southwest of the gulf. The Methana peninsula is attached to the Peloponnese and holds over 30 volcanic eruption centres. Epidaurus began as a small Greek city-state on the Argolid Peninsula, right on the gulf. UNESCO World Heritage status covers the sanctuary of Asclepius there, along with the ancient theatre.
Wikipedia calls the Saronic Gulf a popular place to sail. The Attic mainland shelters the gulf in part from the Meltemi, the summer wind. On the Aegean islands to the east, the same wind can blow at Force 7 or higher. The shore-excursion listing says the boat of an Agistri Moni and Aegina cruise from Athens sails across the gulf.
Wikipedia gives Aegina, the last stop of the Agistri Moni and Aegina cruise from Athens, a hot semi-arid climate. Yearly averages on the island are about 20 °C and under 340 mm of rain. Wikipedia adds that the short-beaked common dolphin congregates in this gulf.
What else do travellers ask about an Agistri Moni and Aegina cruise from Athens?
Does bad weather stop an Agistri Moni and Aegina cruise from Athens?
One operator’s FAQ says it cancels the trip when conditions are unsafe, or it offers to reschedule. The traveller decides which of the two to take. The same FAQ says changes to a reservation are possible any time, subject to availability.
That operator gives 24 hours before departure as the limit for cancelling. A listing for a semi-private Agistri Moni and Aegina cruise from Athens gives the same 24-hour limit.
Can non-swimmers join an Agistri Moni and Aegina cruise from Athens?
Yes. One operator’s FAQ answers the question about non-swimmers with a yes. It says travellers can remain aboard when the boat stops for a swim. It adds that life vests are available for everyone.
The same operator lists deck lounge seating and shade areas as part of the day. Two listings for semi-private cruises name shaded spots on the yachts. One of them also names beach strolls on Agistri and local shops in Aegina town.
What do travellers wear and bring on the day?
A shore-excursion listing for an Agistri Moni and Aegina cruise from Athens recommends comfortable clothes and a swimsuit. It adds sensible walking shoes or sneakers, and suggests sunglasses and sunscreen.
Two semi-private listings name the use of snorkelling equipment as part of the day. The shore-excursion listing and one semi-private listing both ask for passport details of every traveller when a reservation is made. The semi-private listing adds that the port authorities request them.
Are food and drinks included on an Agistri Moni and Aegina cruise from Athens?
Operators differ, so each one is listed on its own. One operator lists a lunch made on the boat and unlimited drinks from an open bar. The shore-excursion listing names Mediterranean-Greek food and snacks, followed by wine, beer, coffee, water, juices and soft drinks.
One semi-private listing names welcome coffee, juices, water and pastries. Its lunch comes from an onboard chef, and the wine, beer and soft drinks are unlimited. Another semi-private listing for an Agistri Moni and Aegina cruise from Athens names breakfast with coffee, tea and orange juice. Its lunch has vegan and vegetarian options, plus options without lactose or gluten.
Both semi-private listings put horse riding, a bike tour and island shopping in the not-included list.
Does an Agistri Moni and Aegina cruise from Athens leave from Athens city centre?
No. The operators name the port of Piraeus as the place of departure, at a marina called Zeas. One operator puts the road from central Athens to that marina at 25 minutes by car.
Wikipedia says Piraeus lies southwest of Athens city centre, eight kilometres away. The port city belongs to the Athens urban area and stands on the Saronic Gulf’s east coast. It says the city has three natural harbours. The central one is a hub of commercial and passenger shipping. Zea and Munichia cater to recreational and fishing craft.
One semi-private listing offers optional pickup from select Athens hotels, with a transfer to Marina Zeas. The first operator says a taxi is the fastest way from the city centre. It adds that the metro to Piraeus plus a short taxi works too.