Five minutes by ferry across the strait — the site of the 480 BC sea battle. A working Athenian deme, not a holiday island.
Salamis (in Greek Salamína) is the largest of the Saronic islands by population (39,000), the closest to the mainland (a five-minute ferry from the Perama district of Piraeus), and the only one that is, in practice, an Athenian suburb that happens to be across a strait.
The island is famous for one thing — the Battle of Salamis, September 480 BC, when the Greek fleet under Themistocles defeated the much larger Persian fleet under Xerxes (who watched from a throne on the slopes of Mt. Aigaleo on the mainland). The battle is the founding event of Western naval history and the rescue of the Athenian polis after the burning of the Acropolis. The battle site is the strait of Salamis itself — the channel between the island and Perama; you cross it on the ferry. There is no field, no museum, no monument of the battle on the island itself (a small modern monument exists on the mainland side, in Perama). The island has the small Faneromeni Monastery (17th century, much-loved by Athenian women), a few quiet pebble beaches, and four or five working fish tavernas; it is not a holiday destination but a working Greek place. Visit if you want a forty-minute ferry-and-back novelty, the smell of pine and the sea, and a fresh lunch on a working harbour. Otherwise, go on to Aegina.
A Salamis morning.
Twenty-five minutes from central Athens; park at the Perama ferry terminal car park.
€1.20 per person; €6 with car; runs every fifteen minutes.
Twenty minutes across the island; the 17th-century monastery; forty-five-minute visit.
Drive to Selinia; pre-booked harbour table; three-hour fish lunch; €30 per head.
Five-minute crossing; back in central Athens by 17:00.
Within a short ferry.
Five-minute ferry from Perama — the working harbour. Detail on the Piraeus page.
Twenty-minute drive across the island and a forty-minute ferry to the next island — Aegina.
Twenty-five-minute drive to Perama plus the five-minute ferry; the closest island to central Athens.
On the north-west coast — the 17th-century monastery.
On the south-east coast — the small fishing harbour and fish tavernas.
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.
