The closest of the chain — 35 minutes by hydrofoil from Piraeus. Working fishing harbour, the famous pistachios, a 5th-century BC temple in pine.
Aegina is the closest of the Saronic islands — thirty-five minutes by hydrofoil from Piraeus, an hour by car ferry — and the most-loved by Athenians for a Sunday day-trip, a long fish lunch and a quick swim.
The island has three things going for it. Aegina town (the harbour, on the west side) is one of the prettiest small ports in Greece — neoclassical houses on the waterfront, a small pier of fish-stalls every morning, the church of Aghios Nikolaos at the harbour-mouth. Pistachios (the famous Aeginetan fistiki — small, sweet, with a soft thin shell, protected designation of origin since 1996) are produced on 2,800 hectares of inland orchard; you buy them roasted-in-the-shell from any shop in town for €15 a kilo, and a Sunday harvest festival happens in late September. The Temple of Aphaea (5th century BC, on a high pine ridge in the north of the island) is one of the best-preserved doric temples anywhere in Greece — twenty-four of the original thirty-two columns still stand, the sanctuary of a local healing goddess sometimes assimilated to Artemis. Combine the harbour, the temple and a long lunch and Aegina is the natural one-day Saronic.
An Aegina day.
Gate E8/E9 at Piraeus Limin; 09:00 departure; 09:35 Aegina.
Forty-five-minute walk from one end of the waterfront to the other; coffee at Skotadis; the morning fish market.
Twenty-minute taxi (€20) to the temple; an hour at the site; €6 entry.
Pre-booked back-street fish-grill in Aegina town; three hours; €30 per head.
Buy a kilo of fistiki on the harbour; €15.
17:00 departure; 17:35 in Piraeus; metro home; dinner in Athens.
Within twenty minutes by car or boat.
Thirty-five minutes' hydrofoil — the harbour. Detail on the Piraeus page.
Ten minutes' ferry south — the quiet cousin island.
Forty-five minutes' hydrofoil south — the lemon island.
Twenty minutes' drive across the island — the doric temple.
Inland from the harbour — the working orchards.
Tell us a little about the trip you want — pace, who's coming, how you'd like to spend your mornings. We'll build the days.
