Greece is an absolutely amazing place for you and your sailing adventures! But when is the best period for you to plan your sailing vacations in Greece? The answer is in May and early June, but let’s find out why by examining some facts about chartering yachts in Greece.
In April May and June: An abundance of flowers and green islands due to the spring rains of March. In Aegean the islands turn dry and barren during the high yacht charter season. Despite losing some of its freshness and most of the flowers, the Ionian and Northern Aegean islands will remain green and fertile throughout the whole sailing season.
Cheap yacht charters: The high – and most expensive – season starts last week of July and ends after the first week of September. Before May the charters are even cheaper!
Fewer charter yachts: Even when arriving late in the afternoon there will be ample space in ports and anchorages, yet most tavernas are already open.In the Ionian the Maistro already delivers steady reliable winds much like in the Aegean where there are no strong Meltemi winds yet.
Orthodox Easter: The next Easter Sunday will be on April 28th, 2019, and is the biggest church holiday in Greece, traditionally celebrated with sumptuous amounts of wine and the roasting of a quite a lot of lambs. Ascension is 40 days after Easter and Pentecost is 50 days after Easter.As is shown in the graph below, daylight hours peak in 21 June – the summer solstice – with 14 hours and 48 minutes. On 21 September the day is 2 hours and 39 minutes shorter, yet even as early in the sailing season as 21 March the day is longer, albeit by just 5 minutes. The “spikes” correspond to daylight saving time.Sunrise, Sunset and Daylight for Athens, Greece
But there is only one downside to the early season: The water temperature will reach “pleasant swimmable” levels in May (19-21 °C) but in April the sea temperature is usually just 16-18 °C, rather a bit chilly. Fortunately, this rapidly improves to a very pleasant 23 °C (74 °F) in the beginning of June.
