For years, the DMA Yachting team has been asking charter captains at Mediterranean yacht shows to name their favorite Greek islands. Mykonos and Santorini never win. The islands that share one character: the cruise ships cannot reach them, and this is where the real luxury of Greece lives now.
My Greek charter, operated by DMA Yachtingsays the most reliable test of luxury in Greece has become a simple question: “can a cruise ship get there?” The brokerage’s team has put a version of this question to hundreds of charter captains over years of Mediterranean yacht shows, in seminars, voices and filmed interviews. The answer never changes. Mykonos and Santorini are worth a visit, but no working captain would call them a favorite. The islands that the captains love are the ones that the big ships can’t reach.
The evidence has been building for years. When the captains at the Greek Yacht Show voted on the Cyclades, the result was the published ranking of the brokerage Top Ten Cyclades Islands, Captain’s Choiceled by quiet names like Kythnos, with its double bay and natural hot springs, and the uninhabited paradise of Polyaigos. In filmed interviews, Milos comes up again and again as a favorite. And at the Sanremo Charter Show this spring, Captain Tasos Nasos, whose guests re-order the same yacht year after year, gave his own answer: Folegandros, an island without an airport and no cruise.
“Of course we go to Santorini, of course we go to hotspots like Mykonos,” said Captain Nasos in the interview. “But it’s not worth spending the whole week out there when you paid for a charter yacht. Why spend two days in Mykonos when you can spend them in a secluded bay, with privacy and all the toys under your feet? If I have to choose, Folegandros is one of my favorite places. It’s a small island. I call it the hidden gem of Greece.
His signature makes the point better than any argument. He lets the guests watch the famous sunset in Santorini, then sails them up Folegandros the next day and send them up the cliff steps to the church above the village at the same golden hour. They stand there alone. The reaction, he says, is always the same: “We should skip Santorini and spend the extra days here.” Greece itself has reached a similar conclusion. Since last summer, cruise passengers landing on Mykonos and Santorini in high season pay a 20 euro levy per persona measure passed by Parliament to manage the people who can no longer accommodate the islands.
“It’s too easy to get to Santorini, and you end up in a crowd,” said Leonidas Marousos, Athens-based yacht charter broker at DMA Yachting, whose home waters are the Cyclades. “I want to send my clients to the part of Greece that most visitors never see. That is the true luxury of chartering a yacht.”
A charter can still call on the famous names, and some guests want to see the Santorini sunset once in their life. But the best weeks often skip the hotspots altogether and instead follow a true yacht route through unspoilt Greece, like this one 8-Day Cyclades Yacht Charter Itinerarywith nights of Folegandros, Milos, and the small islands most visitors never reach.
YOUTUBE VIDEO: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9rsR1KWixaY
About My Greek Charter
My Greek Charter is a DMA Yachting-operated luxury yacht charter brand focused on crewed motor yacht, catamaran, sailing yacht, and superyacht charters throughout Greece. The team inspects and evaluates yachts first-hand, interviews the captains who work these waters, and publishes destination guides and travel planning resources for high-end charter clients.
Contact information:
Business: My Greek charter
Contact name: Mo Pristas
Email: [email protected]
Website:
Country: USA