Rhodes to Symi: Tips
I was making arrangements for visitors the other day and thought I might impart some useful tips. At least, I hope they are helpful. They should be as long as a) you don’t already know them and b) I get them right. I shall cover myself by suggesting that, if in doubt, you contact someone else, and, in particular, look at the very useful Symi Visitor Travel Blog where Andy posts up-to-date travel advice for people coming to Rhodes/Symi.
It used to be, that if you were coming on the Panagia Skiadeni, with Dodecanese Seaways, you could not book your tickets online. I just looked into this as we have family coming over and they are arriving on a Wednesday night in Rhodes and need to get the only Thursday boat, the Panagia, the next morning. This leaves Rhodes at 9.30 and gets into Symi at 11.00 – on this day, on other days it goes via Panormitis. I went through the booking system at www.12ne.gr (Dodecanese Seaways) and found that if you are coming directly to Symi on Thursday, you can book the tickets online. If you are going via Panormitis on another day with this boat, you have to buy separate journeys. Rhodes – Panormitis and then Panormitis – Symi, and you can do that online. Or so I was told.
The booking system is easy. You look for your date/sailings and then click on ‘Book’. From there on it’s straightforward. Watch out for the part later on where you put in your address, and it asks how you want your tickets delivered. ‘Courier’ might not work if you only have a couple of days before your journey and live outside of Greece. You can, instead, opt for ‘Agency’, and there’s another link to show you which agency to collect them from, depending on which Greek island you are arriving on. I did notice on the list that it said Dodecanese Seaways agency at Kolona, which is where the catamarans go from, but I assume, if it’s the Panagia you’re on, you get them from the booth by the boat at Akandia harbour, as that’s where the boat leaves from. I’ll check that when I can (unless anyone wants to confirm it for me meanwhile).
Another tip I checked out was your meet and greet. I am talking about people coming independently here, not with a travel firm who arrange your transfers. We have guests coming this way and staying at a Symi property they found through Booking.com. As I’d organized this, I was able to log in to that site and use the ‘contact accommodation’ function under my booking. This sends an email to your place; I let them know what time ‘I’ would be arriving. This should mean that your accommodation owner/rep (if they have arranged your pick-up, and not all do; another thing to check out when booking) should be there waiting for you.
So, the usual rules apply: Check your boat connections before you book your flights as there are usually only early morning sailings from Rhodes and these are difficult to tie in with aeroplane landings; anything past 7.30 a.m. landing in Rhodes and you won’t get the boat. Unless it’s a Wednesday or Friday in which case you have the afternoon and evening Blue Star. And, I have noticed, a Sunday Sea Dreams sailing which I know nothing about, I’ve just seen it coming in on a Sunday. That might be worth exploring. Or was it a Saturday? As I said, check the websites and be sure.
There, I hope that was helpful.
