Is Hydra Worth Visiting?

Hydra banned motor vehicles decades ago and never looked back, and today the island runs almost entirely on foot, donkey, and water taxi, the only Greek island where that ban is total.

Hydra sits in the Saronic Gulf about 90 minutes from Piraeus by ferry, and its only real town wraps around the harbor in tiers of stone mansions built by 18th and 19th century sea captains and shipowners. Roughly a thousand donkeys and mules work the island's stepped lanes, carrying everything from luggage to bathtubs, and strict building codes have kept new construction limited to the traditional island style, so the town looks much as it did generations ago.

Hydra rose to international fame after Sophia Loren filmed Boy on a Dolphin here in 1957, the first Hollywood production shot in Greece, and by the 1960s the island had become a retreat for artists and writers, including Leonard Cohen, who lived here for years and has a street named after him just off Kriezi Street. The island's National Historical Museum and several smaller museums trace its role in the Greek War of Independence, when Hydra fielded one of the country's strongest naval fleets.

Hydra has no sandy beaches, its shoreline runs instead to pebbles and smooth rock, but the water stays notably clear, and swimming spots like Spilia, a sea cave just below town, and the beaches at Vlychos and Kaminia, both a short walk or water taxi from the harbor, cover most tastes. The hike up to the Profitis Ilias Monastery, a steep 90 minute climb on old stone paths, ends with a 360 degree view over the Saronic Gulf and the Peloponnese coastline.

Hydra suits travelers who want real quiet, walkable distances, and an island that has kept its character deliberately intact, whether for a day trip from Athens or a longer stay. Reaching it only by sea, with no cars once you arrive, keeps the pace slow enough that most visitors end up walking far more than they planned, and happily so.