I've been looking online for the ferry schedule between Mykonos to Patmos, and then Patmos to Samos. I understand that there may not be direct ferries, but despite looking, I can't find what the different alternative routes might be. This would be for April.
Can anyone help, or at least point me in the right direction (metaphorically and literally:)
Thanks.
Your problem is 2-fold: (1) you have 3 island groups - Cycladic (myk) NE Aegean (Sam) & Dodec (Patmos). And it only goes that way 1-2-3 not 1-3.
(2) You're too early in the year if you want frequent ferries or same-day connection; it's Fine if you can spend 2 days at each stop. the Nissos Mykonos, an older car ferry goes M T Th F in late evening arrive i wee hours. Then 2x a week , M & TH, there's a small fast-ferry from Pythagorias Samos to Patmos at 13:30. But not back same day or next. The small fast=ferry from Pat to Samos is Also M & TH, at 7 a.m. By mid-May there are daily round-trips from Samos, and u could catch the afternoon leg, but not at this time. Actually Patmos is the only "link" island to get from Dodecanese to NE Aegean.
(3) if your sequence is a MUST, the only other way I can see is truly "around Robin Hood's Barn" an old-timey expression for waaay out of your way. MYK - Santorini; Santorini to KOS, Kos to Patmos. THat could occupy you for a few days in transit alone! BTW, I've found Samos a fascinating island, and in warmer weather would like to spend more than the 1 day I had in Patmos. You can explore these routes best on GTP. GR.
You can reach Patmos in less than 24 hours from Mykonos by taking this route on a day when the Santorini>Rhodes ferry departs Santorini around12:30am (MWF): Depart Mykonos for Santorini (10am, 1:30pm or 1:50pm)>Depart Santorini 12:30am>Arrive Kos 5:45am>Depart Kos 11:00am M,F,Sa, Sun) to Patmos. Then when you're ready, from Patmos take the ferry to Samos.
Check your specific travel dates here: www.gtp.gr or www.openseas.gr
The easiest way is to do Samos first, Mykonos > Samos(Vathy) > Samos(Pythagorion) > Patmos.
What route you take and the order of islands when backpacking around does not matter too much. The route I have given you is pretty much an all year standard routing.
First link probably with the ferries Nissos Mykonos(3 days a week), the next link usually about 3 times a week the 'Nissos Kalimnos'(currently the Anna Express 2 times a week).
Out of season ferries tend to go for annual servicing, or get late official approval, subsidies etc. Keep flexible and there will be no problems.
The route suggested in #2 is rather long winded, expensive and needs 3 ferries. It's an option, in certain itineraries. The route from Samos down as far as Rhodes through many islands is a standard route, with cross links to the Cyclades from Samos, Kalimnos, Kos, Rhodes. Bear that in mind for ferry manouvring.
If it's your intention to go into Turkey after Samos then the route I suggested ticks all the boxes in the right order. Otherwise, the idea of you first going from Mykonos to Samos is fine, and from Samos you can catch a ferry to Patmos before returning to Athens. Just keep in mind that the ferry from Patmos to Athens doesn't leave every day.
Again, check your specific travel dates here: www.gtp.gr or www.openseas.gr
Thank you so much all. I spent hours online yesterday trying to figure this out, with no joy. I appreciate your time.
I've already booked Mykonos accommodation, so once I'm there, I'm just going to play it by ear and see what happens. I've got plenty of time, so staying a couple of days or so on other islands isn't an issue.
As April isn't the busy time, I'm just going to worry about accommodation when I turn up at individual islands. Apparently, there might well be hoteliers with signs that meet some of the ferries.
Ta again.
Openseas.gr is very useful when you cannot find what the schedule will be a few months ahead, because all ferry lines have not announced their schedules. For example, if you want to know about ferry service to/from a particular port on the first monday in July, On the openseas website, the date box has a little calendar in it. By hitting the LH arrow, you can roll back to calendar to July 2015. If you click on the date of the first Monday (which willl NOT be the same date as the first Monday of July 2016) you'll see what boats ran that day, and when. You can also click "next day" or "previous day" if your schedule is flexible.
What that website does lack is the "big picture" ... a look at the whole ferry picture for a given period. You can get that by using gtp.gr. That website search-page is set for 2016, and asks you to specify MONTH (you would put in "7
" for July), and DATE. If you leave the latter at "any" you'll see ALL the options for thewhole month. If you give a specific date, you can also click an option "show around this date" and you'll get the sailings for that week or so. The nice thing about gtp.gr is that clicking "more information" will show the boat's exact route and stops. In addition it will show "tentative" sailings with the provision "not official yet" ... but it's a preview of what is usually OKd in few days/weeks. In planning a challenging itinerary I usually use both websites..
If you DO use the calendar function on the openseas website don't make the mistake of thinking that last year's arrival and departure timetable/schedule will be the same as this year's schedule. Regardless of which website you use you're still going to have to wait until ferry timetables are updated to the time frame you're searching.