Ios is a small island in the Aegean Sea and doesn't actually have an airport so the only way to get there is by ferry. The closest airport to Ios is Santorini where you can get a 30-50 minute ferry, but you can get a ferry to Ios from most Greek islands (it will just take slightly longer)! ⛴

We've put all the details you need to know below but any questions please let us know 🤍

Before booking, please remember to check your passport issue & expiration date! (It needs at least 3 months left & can't be more than 10 years old)

More information here

From Santorini Airport, the Athinios Ferry Port is around a 20 minute drive. There are a few ways to get there:

- Prebook a taxi. By pre-booking a taxi, you'll get the best price. We recommend:

Welcome Pickups (super easy if you download their app, they'll follow your flight for the way there and ferry for your return journey)

Get Your Guide

IMove App (Santorini version of uber)

- Take the Shuttle Bus. This is a cheaper way as it's a shared group bus. You can book this on Santorini Transport

If you do fancy a bit of luxury for a little bit more than the ferry you can get a helicopter to take you from Santorini to Ios! 🚁

There are set days and certain restrictions but the options there! You can look at this through FlyHoper

All of the fast ferries have come out so you can look at their times on ferryhopper below. The slower (and usually slightly cheaper) ferry company won't come out until March/April so worth waiting until then to book if you want it slightly cheaper (but please make sure you book before June/July as they have been selling out recently!)

No matter where your flying to, where possible, you want to try match up your flight and ferry times to avoid having to wait at the port a long time or potentially do a stopover. So before booking your flights, we'd really recommend looking at the ferry times to use as a guide.

As an example on our trip, Santorini to Ios had no ferries between 2 - 7:30pm (which is the same for the 2025 ferry schedule) on the day we flew out and we arrived into Santorini Airport at 2pm. This meant we were waiting at the port for 5ish hours, so it's just something to be aware of!

If you're going from Santorini, we'd recommend either getting a super early flight which arrives by midday-ish, so you'll likely be able to catch a 2pm ferry or fly slightly later in the day to catch the evening ferry. Similarly, on the way back we'd recommend booking the latest flight back.

To book your ferry, we recommend using:

- Ferry Hopper (super easy if you download their app)

- Ferries in Greece

To note, if your looking to do some island hopping, it will work out cheaper to buy a ferry pass!

We know ferries are all a bit complicated so please ask us (Phoebe not Zac 😅) any questions!

Most accommodations in Ios arrange port pickups / dropoff's for you so please contact them in advance to arrange getting picked up from the port when you arrive 😊