- Sep 22, 2018
- 3 min read

3 Islands Cruise

Why visit one Greek island when you can visit three?

Whilst in Kos, you can take a day trip boat tour to Kalimnos, Pserimos and Plati, on the ‘3 Islands Cruise’ There is a ton of different companies throughout Kos that you can book with, and you can even just turn up at Kos harbour and the crew from the boats will try sell you tickets there and then. The tours depart around 9.30am (and transfers should be included from your resort) We were based in Kefalos and went with a lovely, bubbly Canadian lady called Joyce who runs JD Tours and were aboard the ‘Freiderike’. We paid €30 pp for the tour which lasts until around 5.30pm.

The iconic wooden boats for your trip are decked out with sunbeds which you can laze on whilst sailing through the gorgeous Aegean Sea. A complimentary BBQ lunch is provided on board, along with a chargeable bar.

Each boat company may vary their schedule, ours did, and we presume it was to stop each of the islands being overcrowded by the large fleet of boats all heading there.

First, we headed to the tiny island of Plati which took around an hour, but the boat did pause in the water, so we could watch a pod of dolphins swimming around the boat (we heard that dolphin sightings are becoming more popular due to the nearby fish farms).

Dropping the anchor just off the rocky shoreline of Plati, we could jump off the boat into the crystal blue waters, either swimming or snorkelling (snorkel and masks provided). While you are exploring the underwater world with a range of small fish sailing past you, the crew are on board preparing your lunch, we had tasty souvlaki, Greek salad, tzatziki, and watermelon.

After an hour of free time, we set sail for rugged Kalimnos, which has dramatic mountains, sea coves and clear blue waters. Kalimnos is well-known for its natural sponges that its inhabitants’ fish from the sea, you can purchase your own sponge here or even back in the markets and shops of Kos. It seems the boat tours decide where to take you, and not necessarily always the same town, we visited the cute village of Vathis, which had a lovely promenade with market sellers, selling sponges and fresh donuts- of which we had to try! The main area is small and just a few cafes and restaurants. There are 3 Greek Orthodox churches on both valley sides. We climbed to them all (the one on the right side of bay was inaccessible). The views from the high up churches was spectacular, and only took 5 minutes to walk up to. Some boat tours may also take you to sponge factories where you can see the process of preparing the sponges for export around the world, and the lives of the fishermen.

After an hour in Kalimnos it was another sail and sunbathing session to our next island, the tiny and charming island of Pserimos, which only has 60 inhabitants, but with the boat tours the number drastically rise 10-fold! You have another hour here to wander around the golden sand bay, take a dip in the water, enjoy a refreshing drink or climb up the hill past the street vendors for views across the bay.