Where is Aegina?
Aegina sits in the middle of the Saronic Gulf, barely 27 kilometres from the port of Piraeus. It is the second closest island to Athens and the most visited in the archipelago, to the point that many Athenians use it as a weekend second home. It forms part of the Saronic islands, along with Salamis, Agistri, Poros, Hydra and Spetses. If you were worried about ending up cut off on a Greek island, Aegina is exactly the opposite: it has direct ferries from Athens almost every hour in high season, a hospital, large supermarkets and 4G coverage across the island. It feels more like an Athenian coastal town than a remote island, which is perfect if you are travelling with children or grandparents, or if you only have a day or two to escape central Athens. With 87 square kilometres and around 13,000 permanent residents, Aegina is big enough to have several villages with real character of their own (Aegina town, Perdika, Agia Marina, Souvala) and small enough to drive or ride around in a day. The interior is covered in pistachio plantations, olive groves and pine woods, and the relief is gentle apart from Mount Oros (532 m), the highest peak in the Saronic Gulf.
Getting there
Getting to Aegina is probably the simplest part of any trip to the Greek islands. There is no airport, but the island sits so close to Athens that the ferry is cheap, frequent and quick. The large majority of visitors combine it with a few days in Athens before or after, which also makes the luggage logistics easier. In high season (June to September) the departures are so continuous that there is practically no need to buy a ticket in advance. Outside the season it is worth checking the timetables on [Ferryhopper](https://www.ferryhopper.com/) a couple of days ahead, because some frequencies are cut back on Mondays and on winter weekdays.
By ferry
The ferry from Piraeus, the port of Athens, is the main route. There are two kinds of boat: the conventional ferry, which takes around 75 minutes and carries cars, and the hydrofoil or "flying dolphin", which takes 40 minutes and is passengers only. Operators include Hellenic Seaways, ANES Ferries and Aegean Flying Dolphins, with departures almost every hour between 7:00 and 20:00 in summer. Prices are around 10 to 12 euros on the ferry and 14 to 18 euros on the hydrofoil, one way. The crossing is a very steady one: the Saronic Gulf is sheltered and seasickness is rare, even on the hydrofoils, which move about the most. If you are travelling with children who are sensitive to it, take the slow ferry in the morning and come back on the hydrofoil in the late afternoon. Almost all boats dock at the **port of Aegina town**, on the west side of the island, right in front of the old quarter. Some departures (Hellenic Seaways and Alexandros in particular) dock at **Agia Marina** or **Souvala**, on the north and east coasts. Always check the arrival port before you book your accommodation.
By plane
Aegina has no airport. The way in is to fly to Athens (Eleftherios Venizelos airport, ATH), take the metro or the X96 bus to Piraeus (45 to 60 minutes) and the ferry from there. Landing in Athens in the morning and sleeping in Aegina that same night is perfectly feasible if the timings line up.
Other options
An interesting alternative is the day cruise from Athens that combines **Aegina, Poros and Hydra** in a single day. These leave from Flisvos marina or Piraeus, include lunch on board and usually stop for about three hours in Aegina, just enough time to go up to the [Temple of Aphaia](/islands/aegina/temple-of-aphaia/) or call in at [Agios Nektarios](/islands/aegina/agios-nektarios/). It is not the best way to get to know the island, but it is the most efficient one if you are based in Athens and only have a single day.
What to see
For an island an hour from Piraeus, Aegina carries an absurd amount of history. It minted the first silver coin in European Greece, and for a year in 1828 it was the capital of the newly independent country, so the sights range from a Doric temple on a pine ridge to a neoclassical tower where the founding decrees of the Greek state were signed. Add a major pilgrimage church, an abandoned medieval town on a hillside and the lone column at Kolona ten minutes' walk from the harbour, and you have more than most Cycladic islands manage. The honest caveat is that they are scattered across 87 square kilometres, so seeing them properly means a scooter, a car or a patient relationship with the island bus. Doing it all on foot from the port is not realistic.
Beaches
Aegina's beaches are functional rather than photogenic, and it is better to know that before you arrive than to feel let down on day two. The island's ratings are decent but not spectacular, and the coast is mostly small sandy or shingly bays rather than long sweeps: Agia Marina and Marathonas are the family choices with shallow water and services, Perdika and Aeginitissa are prettier and quieter, Souvala is workaday, and Portes on the east side is the one that feels genuinely remote. The best swimming is arguably not on Aegina at all but on the islet of Moni, reached by boat from Perdika. In August, weekends are the problem rather than weekdays: Athenians arrive in force and the organised bays fill by mid-morning. Come midweek if you can.
What to do
The question we were asked most before going was "but is there really anything to do in Aegina for two days?". The short answer is yes, and more than we expected. Aegina combines a first-rate archaeological site (the [Temple of Aphaia](/islands/aegina/temple-of-aphaia/), one of the best preserved in Greece), a major pilgrimage site ([Agios Nektarios](/islands/aegina/agios-nektarios/)), an abandoned medieval town ([Paleochora](/islands/aegina/paleochora/)) and several decent family beaches. Add a boat trip to the islet of Moni and a visit to a pistachio farm and you fill two days without trying.
Where to stay
Most visitors base themselves in Aegina town, and for a short stay that is the sensible choice: you step off the ferry into it, the tavernas and the Wednesday market are on your doorstep, and buses to the rest of the island leave from the harbour. The trade-off is noise and the fact that the town's own swimming is poor. Agia Marina on the east coast is the beach base, geared to families and shallow water, but it is quiet out of season to the point of feeling shut, and it is a long way from the evening life of the port. Perdika in the south is the pretty compromise, a fishing village with good fish tavernas and calm bays, though you will depend on a scooter or the bus. Souvala is cheaper and plainer, with the advantage that some ferries dock there. Always check which port your boat actually uses before booking.
Aegina, the island Athenians keep for themselves
We arrived in Aegina on the 9:00 ferry from Piraeus, a crossing so short that we barely had time to have breakfast on board. An hour and a quarter later the hydrofoil slowed down in front of a row of pastel neoclassical mansions and the unmistakable outline of the lone column of the Temple of Apollo, planted on Kolona hill like a greeting to whoever turns up. For an island you can reach in less time than it takes to get from central Athens to Sounion, Aegina is surprisingly good at feeling like an island.
An island with disproportionate historical weight
Few Greek islands have this much past per square kilometre. In antiquity Aegina rivalled Athens for control of the Saronic Gulf, to the point that it minted the first silver coin in European Greece (the famous “Aegina turtle”) in the 6th century BC. After the Peloponnesian Wars it was reduced to a vassal, but its importance came back in the 19th century: after Greek independence, Aegina was the first capital of modern Greece, between 1828 and 1829, under the government of Ioannis Kapodistrias.
That double inheritance shows when you walk around: the old town has neoclassical mansions from the years when the government sat here, and the Markellos Tower (1802), where several founding decrees of the Greek state were signed, still stands on a quiet square. Ten minutes on foot from the port, Kolona takes you 2,500 years back in one go. We do not know of another island where you can touch this much history without getting into a car.
The kingdom of the pistachio
If there is one thing Aegina is famous for among Greeks themselves, it is neither the Temple of Aphaia nor Agios Nektarios: it is the pistachios. The slightly alkaline volcanic soil inland produces a small, sweet pistachio of a particularly intense green, with a Protected Designation of Origin since 1996. It is grown on family farms all over the island, mostly around Kypseli, and sold at stalls on the harbour front, in supermarkets and at the farms themselves, where you can do tastings and buy at producer prices.
In the old town you will find restaurants that put the pistachio on the plate (pistachio pesto with fresh pasta, pistachio baklava, ice cream, pistachio liqueur under the Mastiha label). It is one of the few places in the Mediterranean where the designation of origin is not a marketing excuse but a real difference in the mouth.
Saronic, not Cycladic: what to expect and what not to
It is worth managing expectations. Aegina is not Mykonos and never will be. The beaches are functional rather than postcard material, the nightlife amounts to tavernas with live music and a couple of bars on the harbour, and the houses are not the blue and white domes we associate with the Cyclades. What it offers instead is something hard to find an hour from a European capital: a fishing village that is still a fishing village, a fruit market on Wednesdays, pilgrims praying in front of a saint’s tomb, and children playing football on the quay at nine in the evening. It is “real” Greece without having to cross half the Aegean.
If that proposition suits you, two days is the perfect dose. One for Aegina town, Kolona and dinner in Perdika; another for the Temple of Aphaia, Agios Nektarios, Paleochora and a swim at Agia Marina. If you want to stretch it, add a boat trip to Moni or a full day of beaches at Portes and Souvala. More than three days starts to be hard to justify, unless you have come to switch off.
How it fits into a longer trip
Aegina works very well combined with the other Saronic islands: the ferry connects directly with Agistri (15 minutes), Poros (45 minutes) and Hydra (1 h 20). The classic combination is Aegina + Hydra + Poros over four or five days, renting accommodation in a single base and doing day hops. To understand better how these islands are arranged and why they are different from the Cyclades, our general guide to reaching the Greek islands may help.
If you are coming from Athens and short on time, Aegina is the best first Greek island you can choose: cheap, close, no logistical stress and with enough substance that you do not leave feeling you saw nothing. And the pistachios, of course. You will be taking those home.