Ferry

[1885wilson]

Next July we arrive in Rhodes from Manchester(Olympic/Germania permitting) at 15.15.
If all goes well, should we catch the Symi ferry that afternoon?

Cheers

John

[hilary]

We have landed around this time many times to go to symi and most times caught the ferry.

[Andy W]

There will almost certainly be a ferry at either 18:30 or 19:00, there was last year. In 2013 Olympic put their customers who arrived during the afternoon on this.
However the ferry timetable for July probably won't appear until some time in May so not even Olympic can tell you what they will do for certain in July 2014.

[Kojak]

I go on that flight and we've always caught the ferry. You will also have time for a short visit to the old town which is just across the road.

[Andy W]

Timetables are out, the evening ferry is 19:00 on Wednesdays in July, so you should catch it easily.

[borneobob]

Does anyone know when the Panagia Skiandeni ferry will be available to book for July . I believe it departs. Rhodes at. 09:00 on Wednesdays and was hoping to catch it after arriving from tilos on the seastar at 08:20 if it is possible.

[Andy W]

There's a quirk in the online booking system that means on ferries routed via Panormitis you can't book a through ticket to Symi, but need to book separate tickets from Rhodes to Panormitis and Panormitis to Symi. The same problem existed last year. As far as I know this isn't intentional and if you phone them up (0030 22410 70590 from the UK, and they speak excellent English) or send them a message via the Contact Us feature on the website they can sort something out for you easily enough. Bookings made in person or though Dodecanese Seaways agents seem to bypass the problem - or maybe they all know how to get round it.
The 09:00 sailing on Wednesdays does go via Panormitis. One warning though. Your Rhodes arrival and departure points are as far apart as it is possible to get in the Rhodes port passenger area. You'll be extremely hard pressed to do it in 40 minutes on foot especially if you then have to collect tickets before boarding. Pick up a taxi from the taxi station at the Old Town end of Mandraki Harbour and tell the driver you want the Panagia Skiadeni at Akandia. The ferry ticket agent on Tilos (Stefanakis Travel) can sell tickets for all Dodecanese Seaways services, not just the ones that stop at Tilos, and this might be the place to pick up a prebooked ticket if you really want to book on line, or buy it if not.
There will almost certainly be a Blue Star ferry at 15:00 from Rhodes to Symi as well as the Dodekanisos Express at 19:00 so you have plenty of fallback positions.

[borneobob]

Thanks for the the reply, that explains a lot of what I was seeing on the booking engine. I knew the ferries left from different piers . I believe the seastar boat from tilos operates onwards to panormitis and symi port , but cannot be booked as it is only a day trip, and I will have to disembark at rhodes?

[Andy W]

Yes, the Sea Star isn't licensed for ferry services between Rhodes and Symi and operates as a day excursion boat on this route. Of course if you had no luggage or only "day-trip-sized" bags you could simply leave at Symi and not come back, but the Port Police who are the enforcement body for boats and ferries use suitcases, big backpacks etc as a guide to who is trying to break the rules.
Greeks aren't renowned for their fondness for rules and regulations and it is just possible that if you ask the ferry crew or the ticket agents while you're on Tilos they might know of a way to help you. However the quay used by Sea Star in Rhodes is literally across the road from the regional HQ of the Port Police service.

[Andy W]

Readers might wonder why this online booking problem hasn't been fixed. Well apart from the very small number of people like Borneobob who can't use the direct 08:30 sailing because they're arriving in Rhodes just a few minutes too late to catch it, almost no passengers intending to overnight on Symi would willingly book the slow 09:00 ferry which is mostly used by daytrippers. It does take a lot of cars and trucks, but these often disembark at Panormitis and drive across the island as they get to where they are going much quicker that way.

[borneobob]

Thanks for the advice Andy . It would be good if we could make the 09:00 boat and it would be a chance to visit the monastery en route , we won't be in any mad rush and wanted to approach Symi harbour by sea. We are already spending a few nights in Rhodes old town at the start of our trip and just did not want to be hanging around there all day on the way back through if we did not have to. I will probably book the ferry and also book one of the later Rhodes departures as well , just in case we don't make it

[Andy W]

There's no need to book the 15:00 Blue Star in advance, book it on the day if you need to use it - it's a 1400 person capacity boat that starts at Rhodes and picks up passengers at 6 or 7 islands on its way to Piraeus, getting gradually fuller. Symi is the first stop, so there's no real prospect of it being full for that section of route.

If you do get the 09:00 via Panormitis, stop off at the bakery there. Best bread and Greek-style pies on Symi.

[borneobob]

heers

[Janette]

Hi, I am going to Symi on Monday 8th September this year. Our flight is from Liverpool and we arrive in Rhodes at 12.30, does anyone know if there will be a ferry from Rhodes to Symi in the afternoon as I can't seem to see them listed on the timetables anywhere?

Jan

[sugardens]

The only ferry I can see on the Dodekanisos Seaways ferry pages is the Panagia which I believe is a day trip boat. So it looks as if you may have to stay overnight on Rhodes and catch the early morning boat..unless of course the timetable changes.

[Andy W]

Sugardens is right. In the current version of the timetable,valid from 7 July to 30 September, there are no afternoon/evening sailings on Mondays (or Thursdays and Fridays, but the Blue Star covers Fridays). All three Dodecanese Seaways boats visit Symi at some point in the day, but none at the time you want.

[Janette]

Hi

Thank you both, that is the reply I was expecting as we have looked and just couldn't find a ferry that left on a Monday. Rhodes is one of the Greek Islands we haven't yet visited on our travels so we will get to see a little of it if we have to stay overnight.

Thanks again

[snapperjon]

Eeek! Hadn't realised about the evening ferries - I thought they were going to run every day. We arrive on Wednesday 20th Aug. and hope to get to Symi that evening. Possible?

Further...

Have just run this through Direct Ferries and it comes up with a ferry leaving a 19.00, arriving 19.50, costing �18.50 single, which sounds fine.

[Andy W]

Just to clarify:
for the period 12 May to 30 September, Dodecanese Seaways have announced sailings at 19:00 from Rhodes on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Saturdays, and Sundays. These are bookable now. Blue Star Ferries are expected to run sailings on Wednesdays at 15:00 and on Fridays at 19:00 but these aren't bookable past the end of May yet.
As things stand at the moment, if you arrive in Rhodes on a Monday or a Thursday after the morning ferries have gone, you will have a wait until the following morning before you can get to Symi, and you need to figure the overnight stay into your holiday planning and budget.
Always best to book with the ferry companies themselves if you're doing so on line, as Dodecanese Seaways own website is only charging �17.00 single for the exact same date and time as Snapperjon's example, and you can apply for a loyalty card which will give you 10% off.
I will keep the Symi Visitor Travel Blog updated as and when ferry times change.

[Janette]

Hi

Am I right in assuming I can get an early ferry back to Rhodes on the Monday Morning when we return or will it be another overnight stay in Rhodes so returning to Rhodes on the Sunday?