Ios

roadwars

I was wondering if anyone has ever been to ios? is it any good? whats the best/cheapest way to get there?

v.e.r.b.a.l

When I was younger I went to Athens, Crete and Ios. I don't know if it's the cheapest realistically, but it did work out cheaper for us to fly to Athens and get a ferry across to Crete (but you can get it to Ios either). But in reality the amount of money we spent in Athens and on the ferry compared to the amount we saved is questionable. Then again we got to see Athens and the ferry was really enjoyable during the day (14 hours) watching the dolphins jump with the front of the ship.

Ios is great fun. The beaches aren't as nice as in Stalis or Hersonosis in Crete, but the nightlife and craic is way better. I'd recommend it, but that's based on 2003 nightlife, so maybe someone else has been there more recently.

Accomodation was easy to get. We arrived in with our bags and bought some water in the supermarket at the bottom of the hill and the woman at the cash desk offered us a room! Although it was at the very top of the hill... quite a climb!

Good luck!

bmcgov86

theres been a few threads on here about ios, its half 3 in the morning and im too tired to look for them but theres some good info there. ios is amazing is all i can say

Redrocket

Was there last year, mighty craic, lovely island, crazy party life, going back end of this month. No return flights booked
You can fly into athens from dublin -> ferry from piraeus can be 5-14 hours and 30-45 euros, flying into athens will require me to stay in athens for the night so add that to your budget.
You can fly into santorini from London, and ferry is cheaper + quicker, flying into London might require to stay for the night so add to budget.

Personally i'd prefer to stay in athens for the night and there's a fast ferry for me the next day to ios.

roadwars

do you have a website for the ferry or even a name, i was looking and they didn't seem to want to go to ios from Athens , the sites aren't the best either. Could you turn up in the morning and hope to get one, or would this be a bad idea?

Beanmachine

Was there myself two years ago one of the best holidays ive ever been on!! We flew from Dublin to Athens,stayed overnight in Athens in the main port called Piraeus,Its a kip and the train station seemed a bit dodgy but we found our hotel in the end.
The next day we got the ferry called "Festos Palace" to Crete it only took around 5 hours i think and tickets were around €20-€30.We stayed in Crete for 10days or so then got another ferry(a vodafone speedcat high speed ferry i think) to an island called Paros nice island in it's own right but far too quite for a group of young lads on the piss,we left Paros after two day's i think and got one of the slow boats to ios it was worst decision ever i think the tickets were €7 euro but trust me pay a little more it took double the time to get there!!

Don't be put off by the amount of ferry's involved in the traveling its actually great craic on them you get to see loads of islands you would have never seen.Ferry's are everywhere in Greece because there are so many islands meaning prices are cheap and boats leave regularly.

Ios is one of the best party islands Ive ever been to,Accommodation was easy enough to find,The island is so small you can walk around a lot of places in a short period of time down by the square behind KANDI and THE FUN PUB is probably your best bet there are loads of places you wouldnt even notice so make sure you search around a good bit!!

v.e.r.b.a.l

Beanmachine wrote: »

we got the ferry called "Festos Palace" to Crete it only took around 5 hours i think and tickets were around €20-€30.

How did it only take that long from Athens??? We got a ferry from there and it took over 14 hours. I think 16 in the end?! We got a cabin (which we didn't need cos we were up drinking all night) and it is a real experience. Great fun!

Shzm

Ios is sweeeeeeeeeeeet! But yeah, make sure you get the fast ferry there/back, had to get the slow one on the way back from Ios to Athens coz of high winds and it was ****, saved a nights accomodation though!

Beanmachine

v.e.r.b.a.l wrote: »

How did it only take that long from Athens??? We got a ferry from there and it took over 14 hours. I think 16 in the end?! We got a cabin (which we didn't need cos we were up drinking all night) and it is a real experience. Great fun!

Don't know how yours took so long? Did you sail directly to Crete or did you stop off on other islands along the way? Our boat from paros to ios was hilarious took like twice the amount of time as some of our mates did.Yeah we had a class session out on deck drinking for the day it was unreal.

v.e.r.b.a.l

i dunno. it was in 2003 so it might have been different then... or we probably tried to save 5 euro by getting this really long boat. 14 hours straight from athens to crete, no stops as far as i can remember?

it was amazing though, dolphins jumping with the ship, drunken parties in the "discoteque" onboard, a guy doing what became known as the "greek dance"... well worth it!

Msfc

Redrocket wrote: »

Was there last year, mighty craic, lovely island, crazy party life, going back end of this month. No return flights booked
You can fly into athens from dublin -> ferry from piraeus can be 5-14 hours and 30-45 euros, flying into athens will require me to stay in athens for the night so add that to your budget.
You can fly into santorini from London, and ferry is cheaper + quicker, flying into London might require to stay for the night so add to budget.

Personally i'd prefer to stay in athens for the night and there's a fast ferry for me the next day to ios.

Have you any recommendations of where to stay in Athens?

Shzm

I did 2 nights in Athens before I went off to Ios, stay at this place:

Athens Backpackers
12 Makri Street
11742 Athens
Athens

Seriously good hostel, with a wicked rooftop bar that has a view of the Parthenon can't recommend it enough, also near a metro stop!

Yekreffac

Flights go from Dublin to Athens and you arrive about 10 pm there is no ferry untill about 7am so i would kill some time in the airport before heading to the port (about 1hr bus journey) or book a cheap hostel you also need to be at the port about 30 mins before it departs, but their is a good few cafes close buy open 24hr and they dont mind if you hang around for a few hours before getting you ferry(bring a pack of cards).

Ios is great once you get of the ferry at the port you are greeted by a swarm of hotel owners trying to give you the best deal i stayed at Ios Resort really nice hotel.

Check out http://www.bebo.com/Profile.jsp?MemberId=3561951293 for an idea of bars and clubs i would recommend Fun Pub and Escape

Hope this helped you

Esse85

Whats the average cost of a weeks accommodation?

Is there many summer jobs available?

Is food/drink expensive?

Yekreffac

The cost of accommodation may vary from €8 to €15 per night depending on what time of year it is from May –June Quite season you would expect to pay around €8-10 you may be lucky to find a place for €5 but these are rare and quickly picked up by early or returning workers. Because it is a seasonal Island a few of the landlords increase the rent for there peak season July to mid August some up too €15 pp and you also need to be careful about agreeing to get the room for the summer has some money driven landlords may force you from your room or ask you to pay up to €40 per night during peak season as they can easily fill it with other tourists and is had it is difficult to find another :mad:.

Jobs are pretty easy to find if you arrive early on the island from June to Mid July as a lot or bars and starting to open and need PR people, bar staff, Floor staff for clubs, waiters and waitresses, and they best way to find a job is to go to each place and ask them are the hiring the most common job is PR trying to get people into the bars and would require the gift of the gab.

Food and drink is very reasonable you can pay up to €3 for a small beer and €3.80 for a pint large beer or 500ml bottle (Bulmers) or Magners can be found in the Fun Pub and is about €6 on special occasions so pretty good considering they have to export it to Greece. Most bars have cocktails and you may from €5 - €6 depending on what it is you and get a proper Dinner for around €8 and a full Irish breakfast in Escape restaurant for €6 with real Irish sausages. There are also lots of little fast food places where you can get a Gyros (Greek fast food) for €3 http://www.explorecrete.com/cuisine/gyros.html

Hope this helped:)

Lloyderz

What's the deal with accommodation in Ios? Is it easy to enough to get over there? Or are you better off booking it beforehand? Iv heard that loads of hoteliers approach you when you come off the ferries?

I'll probably be going at the start of August.

Thanks

Yekreffac

Yes you can do both book a room in advance or just off the ferry bearing in mind that your intending to go at the start of August which is peak time I would book in advance as room rates can vary and its always good to know where your going I have stayed at Ios Resort lovely hotel:D in the middle of the village http://www.iosresort.com/



Getting there is pretty simple you can get a ferry from PIRAEUS (Athens)-IOS http://www.greeka.com/cyclades/ios/island/ios-ferries.htm which takes from 3-4 hours I would recommend staying a night in Athens before you travel as I breaks up the trip.

Enjoy