Getting from Chios to Antipaxos

If you are heading to Antipaxos from Chios you are making your way from one of the most overlooked islands in the northeastern Aegean to a tiny island just south of Paxos in the Ionian Sea, on the opposite side of Greece. It has beaches of a quality that would be famous if they were anywhere more accessible.

Take the ferry

There are no scheduled ferries from Chios to Antipaxos. No Aegean island is connected by sea to any Ionian island. Antipaxos is accessible only by sea taxi from Gaios on Paxos, with the trip taking around 15 to 20 minutes. Getting there means taking the overnight Chios to Piraeus ferry, which runs around 3 times a week and takes around 9 hours, and then traveling northwest to Igoumenitsa by road for the ferry to Paxos and then the sea taxi to Antipaxos. The total journey takes the better part of two days.

Getting there by air

Antipaxos has no airport. The nearest airport is Corfu. Chios has its own airport with daily connections from Athens. Flying from Chios to Athens and then Athens to Corfu, followed by the ferry from Corfu to Paxos taking around 1 hour 30 minutes and then the sea taxi to Antipaxos, gives a total journey time of around 6 to 7 hours. In Greece, airlines do not operate direct inter island flights.

Your best option

Fly from Chios to Athens and then fly to Corfu and take the ferry across to Paxos, then the sea taxi to Antipaxos. It is the most practical approach. Antipaxos is most rewarding as a day trip or overnight from Paxos rather than a standalone destination as facilities on the island are almost nonexistent. If you are traveling with a car, take the overnight ferry from Chios to Piraeus and drive northwest to Igoumenitsa for the daily car ferry to Paxos from there.