Spetses Yacht Charter 2027: Dapia, the Old Harbour & Zogeria

“Stern-to on the town quay, a walk through a town with no cars, an Aperol on the waterfront: Spetses is the smartest night of a Saronic week.”

Spetses is the island the Saronic saves for the end. It is the furthest of the group from Athens, three hours by motor yacht, and the most polished: sea-captains’ mansions along the water, horse carriages instead of cars, the Poseidonion hotel on the quay, and the old shipyards that built the fleet Laskarina Bouboulina sailed against the Ottomans in 1821.

Everything a yacht needs is on the north-east corner. Dapia is the town quay, where yachts dock stern-to a few steps from the cafés; the Old Harbour, a mile east, is the deeper basin with the boatyards and the restaurants on the mole. The beaches, Agia Marina, Agioi Anargyroi and Zogeria, run round the south and west of the island, and the mainland at Porto Heli is twenty minutes across the strait.

A Saronic week from Athens reaches Spetses on day four or five, usually paired with Hydra; a charter starting at Nafplion has it as the first night. Our Saronic Gulf page covers the week; this page is the island.

Must-dos on Spetses

Dock stern-to at Dapia and step straight off the gangway into town
A drink on the waterfront at sunset, with your yacht in view from the table
Dinner on the mole at the Old Harbour, among the caiques and the boatyards
Anchor in Zogeria for a swim in the pines before or after the town
Bouboulina’s mansion, the house of the woman who commanded a warship in 1821

From our visits to Spetses

Motor yacht ANKA arrives at Spetses, Greece — Klara, John Boullin and Peter Domschke on Spetses aboard the motor yacht ANKA, May 2025: arriving at Dapia, docked stern-to on the quay, the walk into town, and the yacht lit up after dark.

Motor yacht ANKA docked at Spetses, Greece — Klara, John Boullin and Peter Domschke on Spetses aboard the motor yacht ANKA, May 2025: arriving at Dapia, docked stern-to on the quay, the walk into town, and the yacht lit up after dark.

May 2025, aboard the motor yacht ANKA with my team mates John Boullin and Peter Domschke, Nafplion to Athens in three days, one night on Spetses.

Captain Sokratis gave us the choice for the night: Spetses or Hydra. We chose Spetses, because we could dock in the harbour and go for a walk around town. The cruise from our lunch stop took no more than an hour, and we docked stern-to at the waterfront, with the whitewashed houses, red roofs and blue doors right there.

The gangway went down and we stepped ashore for our first land exploration of the trip. We did not have to walk far before we found the perfect waterfront taverna, cold pints and Aperol Spritz, where we could sit and look over the turquoise sea and our yacht sitting pretty on the dock.

The sun set behind the point while we sat there, the air cooled at last, and we went back to ANKA for dinner. That night I went to bed at water level, the sea outside my cabin window lit blue by the underwater lights, the waves lapping on the hull.

Klara Jakobsen, Yacht Reviewer at DMA Yachting, May 2025

Dapia: the town quay, the waterfront and Bouboulina

Colorful houses on Spetses waterfront in the Saronic Islands, Greece — Dapia harbour from the air, the Bouboulina statue on the quay, and the waterfront promenade.

View of the amazing island of Spetses, Greece. — Dapia harbour from the air, the Bouboulina statue on the quay, and the waterfront promenade.

Dapia is the front door: the town quay on the north-east corner, with the cafés and the Poseidonion Grand Hotel behind it and the ferries from Piraeus landing at its end. Yachts dock stern-to along the quay, and the reason to be here is that the gangway lands you in the middle of town. We docked ANKA here in May 2025 and were sitting at a waterfront table within ten minutes of the lines going on.

The quay fills early in July and August, so the captain calls ahead or arrives by mid-afternoon; when it is full, the Old Harbour or an anchorage off the town is the fallback. The evening ashore is the point: a drink on the waterfront as the sun goes behind the point, the horse carriages on the promenade, and dinner in town or back on board.

Bouboulina’s mansion is two streets back from the quay, now a small museum to the woman who paid for and commanded the warship Agamemnon in the war of independence; her statue stands on the Dapia waterfront. The Poseidonion, opened in 1914, is the grand hotel of the island and the place for a cocktail if the taverna is not your mood.

The Old Harbour: the mole, the boatyards and the Armata

The Old Harbour, Baltiza, is a mile east of Dapia along the waterfront: a deep, narrow inlet with the island’s shipyards on one side, still building and repairing wooden caiques by hand, and restaurants and bars along the mole on the other. Larger yachts berth on the mole here when Dapia is full, and it is the quieter, prettier place to be tied up for the night.

This is the harbour the Armata is about. Every September Spetses re-enacts the 1822 battle in which its fireships drove off the Ottoman fleet, with a replica ship burned in the bay under fireworks; if a charter falls in the second week of September, the captain will know the date. The walk between Dapia and the Old Harbour along the sea is the island’s evening promenade, mansions on one side and the strait to the Peloponnese on the other.

The beaches and Zogeria: where the yacht anchors

Scenic view of a secluded beach in Spetses, Greece. This tranquil bay features a narrow strip of sandy beach flanked by lush greenery and Mediterranean pines, leading into clear turquoise waters. The bay is surrounded by rocky outcrops and gentle hills, creating a private and serene atmosphere ideal for relaxation and swimming. — A pine-backed bay on Spetses, a horse carriage on the promenade, and a window on the sea.

Spetses-carriage-horse-saronic-greek-islands-min. — A pine-backed bay on Spetses, a horse carriage on the promenade, and a window on the sea.

The beaches are on the south and west coasts, reached by tender or by anchoring off them. Zogeria, on the north-west tip, is the yacht anchorage: a double bay in the pines, sheltered from the afternoon wind, with a taverna on the beach and room for a night at anchor when the harbour is full. Agioi Anargyroi on the south coast is the biggest beach, with the Bekiris sea cave at one end you can swim into, and Agia Marina, just past the Old Harbour, is the town beach with a bar.

Spetsopoula, the private island off the south-east corner, is off limits, and the mainland shore across the strait at Porto Heli and Kosta is where many crews anchor for the night before or after the town: twenty minutes away, flat water, and the lights of Spetses across the water. Our captains’ guide to the Saronic rates Spetses among the top stops of the gulf for exactly this mix of town and quiet bay.

Fitting Spetses into the week

Spetses is the turning point of a Saronic week: the furthest island from Athens, reached on day four or five after Aegina, Poros and Hydra, or the first night of a charter that boards at Nafplion or Porto Heli. Pair it with Hydra on consecutive nights; the two islands are an hour apart and are the two towns of the gulf. If the week is short, our guide to charters under a week explains why one of the two usually has to go.

Passage times as our boats run them:

Athens (Alimos or Flisvos) to Spetses: about 50 nautical miles, three hours on a motor yacht, a full day under sail.
Hydra to Spetses: an hour; Poros to Spetses: two hours; Ermioni or Porto Heli to Spetses: twenty to thirty minutes.
Nafplion to Spetses: about an hour and a half by motor yacht, with a swim stop at Korakia on the way, as we did it.
Spetses to Agistri or Aegina on the way back to Athens: three hours, which is the last full cruising day.