Are there ferries from west coast of Turkey to Greece?

Question

I'm planning a trip to Georgia and Turkey (I'm from Poland). I've done this route a couple of times hitchhiking / by bus - and I have always "switched continens" by Bosphorus Bridge in Istanbul. This time I'm thinking of another way to do that, hence my question:

Is there a ferry connection between the west coast of Turkey (Izmir for instance) and Greece (let's say Athens or Thessaloniki)? It's very difficult to find such things online (I can't find any valid ferry connection search engine - I'd appreciate any suggestions on that too).

What could be the price of such ferry, if there is one?

Edit: since I have finished my trip already, I can give some feedback for future travellers. I got an information that the cheaper way might be to go from Bodrum to Kos island - so I chose this way. The price of a quick ferry (it goes for approximately 20 minutes) is crazy 18€, the slower one is 17€. From there you can find prices on Blue Star Ferries website. Be very careful though - Kos is right now a huge immigration tunnel between the Middle East and Europe, so you should book a ferry at least a week earlier (I got to Kos and wanted to go to Pireaus immediately, but the soonest available ticket was for five days later - so I had to cheat a little bit)

Answer 1

I think it is fairly certain that no such ferries exist. (Confirmed at turkeytravelplanner.com.) Until just recently (10-15 year?) there were no interaction at all between Greece and Turkey.

What you can do is to get a ferry from Çeşme (just outside of Izmir) to Chios and from there get on a night ferry to Athens or Thessaloniki. I also found a schematic map of all ferries in the area.

I would expect prices to start from around 40€ and upwards depending on your level of needed luxury and if you'll bring a vehicle.

Finally a picture of the boat that took us over night from Tilos to Athens some 9 years ago.

Answer 2

As I remember, there are few different routes that you can take. Last time me and my girlfriend did almost the same route as you did.

• From Ayvalik to Lesbos (Lesvos, or Midilli in Turkish) The city is in a bit north. Ticket was around 20 Euro. I guess this would be the calmest route. Immigrants were usually going to the chios island. It was this company:

  http://www.turyolonline.com/

• From Cesme to Chios island.

• From bodrum to Chios.

  https://www.erturk.com.tr/?lang=en

• From Bodrum to Rhodos

  http://www.bodrumferibot.com/en/calendar.asp

In order to go to Athens from the islands, You must take another ferry. Hellenic seaways. I guess you can buy tickets and get the prints from their office by hand.

Answer 3

There are many ferries Turkey-Greece, which can be looked up on Ferrylines.com.

The most common route is Bodrum-Kos, but many others exist.