Chios Getting there & around

Getting there & away

Water

Domestic

In summer there’s at least one ferry daily to Piraeus (€29, eight hours) and Lesvos (€14, three hours). A weekly ferry serves Thessaloniki (€36, 18 hours) via Limnos (€23, 11 hours), while another serves Alexandroupoli (€27.20, 12½ hours) via Lesvos. Three boats go weekly to Samos (€12.50, four hours), and one weekly to Kos (€19.80, nine hours) and Rhodes (€31.40, 15 hours). Buy tickets from NEL Lines (22710 23971; fax 22710 41319; Leoforos Egeou 16) in Chios Town.

Miniotis Lines (22710 24670; www.miniotis.gr; Neorion 23) in Chios Town runs small boats twice weekly to Karlovasi (€10, four hours) and Vathy (€11, 4½ hours) on Samos. Three times weekly these boats also travel to Fourni (€12.40, 7½ hours) and Ikaria (€13, 8½ hours). Miniotis also has three boats weekly to Psara (€9.90, 3½ hours). Its boats occasionally dock at the harbour, near the corner of Leoforos Egeou and Kokali.

The little Oinoussai III serves the Inousses archipelago (€3.80 one way, 1¼ hours, daily). It mainly leaves Chios in the afternoon and Inousses in the morning, necessitating an overnight stay. Purchase tickets on board. Sunrise Tours (22710 41390; Kanari 28) in Chios Town also runs day trips to Inousses (€20) twice weekly in summer. Daily water taxis go between Langada and Inousses (€35, shared between the passengers).

International

Boats to Turkey run year-round from Chios. From May to October daily ferries to Çeşme leave Chios at 8.30am and return at 6.30pm; on Sunday it returns at 5pm. The fare is €22 one way and €25 return. Get further information and tickets from Miniotis Lines (22710 24670; www.miniotis.gr; Neorion 23). Sunrise Tours (22710 41390; Kanari 28) does a day trip to İzmir via Çeşme for €40, which includes boat transport to Çeşme and then a bus to and from İzmir, one hour away. Turkish visas, where required, are issued upon arrival in Çeşme.

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Air

Between Aegean Airlines and Olympic Airlines, Chios has five flights daily to Athens (€42, 50 minutes), five weekly to Thessaloniki (€66, one hour 10 minutes) and two weekly to Lesvos (€32, 25 minutes). Olympic Airlines (22710 20359; www.olympicairlines.com; Leoforos Egeou) is in Chios Town. The airport is 4km from Chios Town. There’s no shuttle bus; a taxi to/from the airport costs €6.

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