Athens snorkeling runs along the Athens Riviera and the coast towards Sounio, where clear water, rocky shelves and small bays sit within an hour of the city. Plan the rest of the trip with Greece Tours.
Where is the best Athens snorkeling?
On the Athens Riviera south of the city, at Vouliagmeni with its two Kavouri peninsulas, at Varkiza, Lagonisi and Anavyssos, and at Cape Sounion at the southern tip of Attica, plus the east coast at Nea Makri and the Bay of Schinias near Marathon.
The Riviera runs from Piraeus to Sounio and Lavrio, about 16 kilometres from downtown Athens at its nearest point. The Greek National Tourism Organisation lists its main areas as the Bay of Zea, Aenaon Park, Elliniko, Glyfada, Voula, Vouliagmeni, Lagonisi, Varkiza, Anavyssos and Sounio.
The guided boat trips on the east coast leave from a diving centre in Nea Makri. Day cruises to the Saronic islands of Aegina, Agistri and Moni add swimming stops further out.
When is the best time for Athens snorkeling?
From June to September, when the water is warm, visibility is excellent and the seas are calm, with May and October possible in the shoulder months, and diving running from May to October in water of 20 to 27 degrees Celsius.
Winter diving takes place too, but it suits experienced divers, since the water cools and conditions get harder.
Lake Vouliagmeni stays warm all year, never dropping below 18 degrees Celsius, which is why it works as a year-round spa.
The Riviera boats and kayaks run through the summer season, and the private tours pick up at 10:00.
What is the Athens Riviera?
The coastal strip of the southern suburbs of Athens, from Piraeus to Sounio and Lavrio, about 16 kilometres from downtown, with beaches, marinas, rocky coves and the Temple of Poseidon at its southern end.
Plans to develop the Riviera began in 1957 with the creation of Asteria in Glyfada, and the area grew popular with Athenians with help from Greek cinema.
The former Athens airport at Elliniko is being redeveloped, with work on the Ellinikon Metropolitan Park beginning in July 2020.
The boat side of the coast sits at Athens Riviera catamaran tour.
What is Vouliagmeni like for snorkeling?
A seaside suburb 18 kilometres south of Athens, whose two pine-covered peninsulas, Megalo and Mikro Kavouri, hold sandy and pebble beaches between rocky shores, with EU Blue Flag beaches and the rocky islet of Fleves offshore.
Two of the GetYourGuide snorkeling and scuba products meet at Vouliagmeni, and the private snorkeling adventure arrives at a Riviera beach there at about 10:45.
The ruins of the Temple of Apollo Zoster sit inside the public Astir beach. Legend says Leto dropped her girdle on the Mikro Kavouri peninsula, and Apollo girdled himself with it, hence the name Zoster.
The triathlon of the 2004 Summer Olympics took place in the area.
What is Lake Vouliagmeni?
A small brackish lake south of Vouliagmeni, formed about 2,000 years ago when a large cavern collapsed, fed by warm seawater of 28 to 35 degrees Celsius through flooded caves and a freshwater spring, and a declared natural monument inside a Natura 2000 area.
Its water ranges from 21 to 24 degrees Celsius and never drops below 18, and it has worked as a spa since the end of the 19th century.
The lake continues deep inside Mount Hymettus in an underwater cave that has never been fully explored. It hosts the only population of the sea anemone Paranemonia vouliagmeniensis.
A Riviera escape tour with a swim in the lake and local bites holds a 5 rating from 139 reviews on GetYourGuide.
What is Cape Sounion like for snorkeling?
The promontory at the southernmost tip of Attica, 69.5 kilometres south-east of Athens, where the Temple of Poseidon stands almost 60 metres above the sea, with shore snorkeling, underwater photo sessions and a coasteering adventure with snorkeling below the cape.
The Temple of Poseidon was built in 444 to 440 BC and is one of the major monuments of the Golden Age of Athens. Its remains stand on a headland surrounded on three sides by the Aegean.
A Sounion visit pairs a morning in the water with the temple at sunset, which the evening tours target.
What is the Nea Makri snorkeling boat trip?
The guide welcomes guests at the diving centre with a short introduction before boarding a stable boat to the snorkeling spot of the day. The route listing names Marathon, the cape and the Bay of Schinias.
Guests take a mask and fins, and a wetsuit if needed. Non-swimmers have space in sun and shade on board.
The minimum age is 6 years.
What is the private Riviera snorkeling adventure?
Guests receive a Greek welcome gift, a filema, at pick-up. The certified guide explains the safety measures before the swim.
Children aged 6 to 17 join with a paying adult, and children aged 5 and younger are not allowed. Every snorkeler must swim unaided.
Free cancellation runs up to 24 hours before the tour, with no refund inside 24 hours.
What small-group snorkeling tours run on the Riviera?
What is the Sounio coasteering adventure?
The Sounion shore snorkeling product adds underwater photos.
Can you try scuba diving in Athens?
Discover Scuba Diving is an introduction, not a certification course. The instructor covers mask clearing, equalising the ears, regulator use, fin kicks and hand signals before the dive.
The instructor supplies a mask, fins, regulator, buoyancy control device, wetsuit, gauges and tank. Time in the water runs to about 45 minutes.
What are the rules for a first scuba dive?
Children must be at least 12 and join with an adult, every diver completes a health questionnaire, conditions such as asthma or heart problems can rule a guest out, and diving within 24 hours of flying is not recommended.
Guests bring swimwear and a second outfit to change into before the car.
The dive stays in no more than 10 metres of clear, warm water.
Guests consult a doctor about pre-existing conditions before booking.
What dives run for certified divers?
Boat dive trips also run from Nea Makri, and a Salamina island scuba trip sells from Athens.
The airplane wreck dive takes new and certified divers and includes photos.
What marine life do you see?
Eels, octopuses, sea basses, breams and schools of Mediterranean fish, plus small macro creatures, according to one Riviera dive operator, over a seabed of rocks and sand with sea urchins.
Travellers on one forum point out that the Mediterranean has no coral reefs, so snorkeling here means clear water, rocks and fish, not a Caribbean reef.
Lake Vouliagmeni holds its own endemic sea anemone.
What is the history of Cape Sounion?
Homer’s Odyssey names Holy Sounion, Cape of Athens, where Menelaus landed to cremate his helmsman on the way home from Troy, finds on the site date from 700 BC, and Athens fortified the cape in 413 BC to protect the corn ships.
Herodotus records that in the 6th century BC the Athenians held a festival at Sounion every four years, with the city’s leaders sailing to the cape in a sacred boat.
The archaic temple was destroyed in 480 BC during the invasion of Xerxes. After the Battle of Salamis, the Athenians placed a captured enemy trireme at Sounion as a trophy to Poseidon.
The Sounion Kouros, found in 1906 in a pit east of the temple, stood among the votive statues of the sanctuary. The Temple of Athena Sounias was built in 470 BC.
What are the Kavouri peninsulas?
Megalo and Mikro Kavouri, Big Crab and Little Crab, the two pine-covered peninsulas west of the main road in Vouliagmeni, with sandy and pebble beaches between rocky shores, two marinas, the chapel of St George of the crab and the Astir Palace Hotel.
Mikro Kavouri joins the mainland by a narrow sandy isthmus called Laimos, the Neck, with a public beach on one side and the Astir Palace beach on the other.
Megalo Kavouri belongs largely to the Church of Greece, which keeps an enclosed pine forest there.
The Nautical Club of Vouliagmeni, founded in 1937 on the eastern edge of Mikro Kavouri, runs a marina, a waterskiing school and an open-air heated pool.
What is the Temple of Apollo Zoster?
An excavated ancient temple inside the public Astir beach at Vouliagmeni, tied to the legend of Leto, who lost her girdle on Mikro Kavouri while fleeing to Delos to give birth to Apollo and Artemis.
Apollo picked up the girdle and girdled himself in his mother’s honour, hence the name Zoster, meaning girt.
Neolithic and Bronze Age foundations and a 5th-century BC outpost have also been found in Vouliagmeni.
In classical times the area was the Athenian deme of the saltfields of Aixone.
What is Glyfada?
A town and suburb on the Athens Riviera along the Saronic Gulf, stretching from the foot of Mount Hymettus to the sea, known in antiquity as the deme of Aixone and today for nightclubs, restaurants and shops.
An American airbase stood at nearby Elliniko until the early 1990s.
Asteria in Glyfada, created in 1957, started the development of the Riviera.
A fishing and swimming tour with lunch leaves from Glyfada.
Where does the Riviera begin?
At Piraeus, the port of Athens, inhabited since the 26th century BC, whose three natural harbours of Cantharus, Zea and Munichia Themistocles fortified after the Persian invasion, completing the walls in 471 BC.
The Bay of Zea is the first of the Riviera’s main areas on the tourism organisation’s list.
The Long Walls later linked the port to the city.
The Riviera runs south-east from Piraeus to Sounio and Lavrio.
How does Greek snorkeling differ from the Caribbean?
The Mediterranean has no coral, so snorkeling around Athens means clear water, rocks, sea urchins and Mediterranean fish instead of colourful reefs, which travellers on one forum describe as a pleasant swim more than destination snorkeling.
The same travellers note fewer fish than in Mexico or the Caymans.
What the Aegean offers is clear water in shades of blue and teal.
Lake Vouliagmeni adds a warm, brackish swim at the foot of Mount Hymettus.
What is Varkiza like for snorkeling?
A suburb 22 kilometres south of Athens city centre in the municipality of Vari-Voula-Vouliagmeni, just east of Vouliagmeni on Poseidonos Avenue, with a widely known beach, parkland, tavernas and restaurants.
Varkiza sits on the coast road that continues to Cape Sounio.
The Hymettus mountains rise to the north-west.
It pairs with Vouliagmeni for a morning on the coast.
What is Lagonisi like for snorkeling?
A seaside area on a rabbit-shaped peninsula in the Saronic Gulf, about 30 kilometres south-east of Athens and 35 kilometres north-west of Cape Sounio, whose name means island of the rabbit.
Restaurants, cafes and bars sit near Kalyvion Avenue.
It lies on the road from the Riviera to Sounion.
What is Anavyssos like for snorkeling?
A coastal resort on the Saronic Gulf 34 kilometres south-east of Athens, famous for water sports, whose population triples in the summer months, with the Athens to Sounion road running along its coast.
The town lies 10 kilometres west of Lavrio at the foot of Olympos hill.
It stands on the site of the ancient deme of Anaphlystos, where the Kroisos Kouros was found.
Refugees from Asia Minor founded the modern village.
Can you snorkel on an island day cruise from Athens?
Yes: day cruises from Athens stop to swim at Aegina, Agistri and Moni, or at Aegina, Agistri and Metopi with lunch, and island swimming cruises with a DJ, lunch and drinks run from the city.
Agistri is a small island in the Saronic Gulf whose name means fishing hook.
A half-day Riviera sunset cruise from Alimos adds swimming and a barbecue on board.
The island side sits at Aegina.
Is Athens snorkeling good for children?
Yes, from age 6 on the private Riviera adventure and the Nea Makri boat trip, with children aged 6 to 17 joining a paying adult, while try-scuba starts at age 12.
Every child snorkeling must swim unaided.
The boat trip leaves room on deck for those who stay dry.
What do you bring for Athens snorkeling?
Swimwear, a towel, sunscreen, a camera and a second outfit to change into after the swim, with gear supplied on the guided tours and your own mask and snorkel an option for a better fit.
Forum travellers bring their own mask and snorkel and rent fins.
A wetsuit is supplied on the Nea Makri boat if needed.
Water and snacks come on the boat trip.
How do you get to the snorkeling spots from Athens?
By private tour with hotel pick-up, by car along the coast road to Vouliagmeni, Varkiza, Lagonisi and Sounion, or to the diving centre in Nea Makri for the east coast boat trip.
Vouliagmeni lies 18 kilometres from the centre and Sounion 69.5 kilometres.
The private tours reach Vouliagmeni about 45 minutes after a 10:00 pick-up.
The coast road passes Glyfada, Voula and Varkiza.
How do you book Athens snorkeling?
Book guided snorkeling, kayaking and scuba tours online for a set date, check the minimum age and whether hotel pick-up is included, and use the free cancellation window, which runs to 24 hours before on the private tours.
Scuba bookings need a health questionnaire.
Private tours take 1 to 8 guests and can be customised.
The evening side sits at Athens sunset cruise.
Where does Athens snorkeling work best?
Along the Athens Riviera at Vouliagmeni, Kavouri and Varkiza, on the rocky shelves near Sounio, and in the coves of the Saronic islands a short boat ride out.
The coast south of the city is rock and pebble rather than sand, which keeps the water clear.
Depth drops a few metres from the shore along most of it.
Aegina, Agistri and Poros are reached by fast boat from Piraeus.
What do you see snorkeling near Athens?
Seagrass meadows, rocky reefs, sea urchins, bream, wrasse and octopus in the cracks, with the occasional amphora shard on the sandy patches.
Posidonia meadows grow in the shallows and hold the sand in place.
Fish gather where rock meets sand.
Visibility is best in the morning before the wind rises.
When is the best time for Athens snorkeling?
From late May to October, when the sea is warm, with mornings calmest and the water clearest before the afternoon breeze.
September and early October hold the warmest water of the year.
The north wind makes the exposed coast choppy in summer afternoons.
Winter water is cold and needs a wetsuit.
What do you need for Athens snorkeling?
A mask, snorkel and fins, a rash top or wetsuit in the shoulder season, water shoes for the rocks and a float for visibility.
Guided trips supply the gear.
A bright float marks the swimmer to passing boats.
Sunscreen on the back and neck matters in the water.
Is Athens snorkeling safe for beginners?
Yes, in the sheltered bays with a guide, where the water is shallow, the entry is easy and the group stays together.
Guides brief the group on shore before entering.
Buoyancy vests are available for weaker swimmers.
Children snorkel close to an adult in shallow water.
Where do boats take snorkelers from Athens?
To the coves of Aegina and Agistri, to the rocky coast near Sounio and to small bays along the Riviera that the road does not reach.
Half-day trips leave from the marinas on the coast road.
Boats anchor in the lee of a headland.
Swimming stops last about half an hour each.
Frequently Asked Questions
Where can you snorkel near Athens?
On the Athens Riviera at Vouliagmeni, Varkiza, Lagonisi, Anavyssos and Cape Sounion, and on the east coast from Nea Makri.
How much does a snorkeling tour in Athens cost?
How far is Cape Sounion from Athens?
69.5 kilometres south-east of the city, at the southern tip of Attica.