The Nisyros volcano day trip from Kardamena: times, prices and what nobody tells you
The boat to Nisyros leaves Kardamena harbour at about 09:30 and is back at about 16:30, so roughly a seven hour day, with a crossing of 45 to 60 minutes each way. Tickets typically run around €25 to €35 per adult as of the 2026 season. Budget about €15 more per person on the island for the volcano bus and the crater fee, which are almost never included. And one correction before you plan anything: there is no scheduled ferry from Kardamena, only excursion boats.
On this page
- Read this first: there is no ferry from Kardamena
- The 09:30 boat and how the day runs
- What it costs, including the €15 nobody mentions
- The BBQ cruise on Tuesdays and Saturdays
- If you want the real ferry: Kos Town to Nisyros
- Walking into the Stefanos crater
- Mandraki and Nikia
- What to wear and what to carry
- Is it worth a day of your week?
- Getting to the harbour from our door
Read this first: there is no ferry from Kardamena
Kardamena has a harbour, and boats leave it for Nisyros most mornings in season. Those boats are excursion boats. There is no scheduled licensed ferry from Kardamena, and the excursion boats are not licensed to carry one-way passengers. You buy a return day trip and you come back the same afternoon on the same hull you left on. That is the entire offer from our harbour.
The confusion is not your fault. Search for Nisyros and you will find ferry timetables, ticketing sites and operator names, and all of those sailings are real. They just do not leave from here. They leave from Kos Town, about 26 km up the road. Every season we meet someone at the kiosk trying to buy a single to Nisyros because a booking site implied it existed.
The correction that matters: Kardamena harbour equals excursion boats, return same day, no one-way tickets. Kos Town harbour equals a genuine scheduled ferry, one-way or return, running 5 to 7 days a week all year. If your plan involves sleeping on Nisyros or connecting onwards, you start from Kos Town, not from us.
The 09:30 boat and how the day runs
The standard excursion leaves Kardamena harbour at about 09:30 and returns at about 16:30. Call it seven hours door to harbour. The crossing takes 45 to 60 minutes in each direction, which leaves you something in the region of five hours ashore on Nisyros. It runs daily from late April.
Those times move with the weather and the season, so treat 09:30 as the shape of the day rather than a train timetable. Walk down the afternoon before, buy your ticket and ask the person selling it what time they actually intend to leave. That conversation is worth more than any website, including this one.
The crossing is usually calmer from our side than people expect. The meltemi blows from mid-May and it hits the north coast, so Tigaki, Marmari and Mastichari get the chop. Kardamena faces south and is sheltered from it. That is not marketing, it is geography, and you can check it on any wind map before you book.
What it costs, including the €15 nobody mentions
The boat ticket typically runs around €25 to €35 per adult as of the 2026 season. The spread comes down to which operator you pick and whether lunch is part of the deal. Ask that question directly before you pay, because "lunch included" and "lunch available" are two very different tickets.
Now the part that catches people out. Nisyros charges separately for the two things you came for. The volcano bus, which runs from Mandraki port up to the caldera, is usually €10 return and is not included. The crater entrance fee is €5 and is also usually not included. Budget €15 extra per person and you will not be caught short standing at the port with a card and no cash.
| What you pay for | Expect around | In the boat ticket? |
|---|---|---|
| Excursion boat, adult return | €25 to €35 | Yes, this is the ticket |
| Volcano bus, Mandraki to the caldera | €10 return | Usually not |
| Stefanos crater entrance | €5 | Usually not |
| Lunch | Depends on the operator | Sometimes, ask first |
| Realistic total per adult | €40 to €50 | Before food and drinks |
Take cash. There are ATMs in Kardamena centre, and if a machine offers to charge you in your home currency rather than euros, always choose euros. We go through what a week here costs in our guide to spending money in Kardamena.
The BBQ cruise on Tuesdays and Saturdays
There is a second, larger boat from Kardamena port on Tuesdays and Saturdays, leaving at 10:00 and running about 7.5 hours. It costs roughly €35 per adult and €25 per child, and it adds swim stops at Agios Antonios and Yali to the volcano. It is wheelchair accessible and it has restrooms on board.
Be clear with yourself about which trip you want. The BBQ cruise is a day on the water with a volcano in it. The standard 09:30 excursion is a day on the volcano with a boat ride at each end. If your children are eight and want to swim, take the Tuesday boat. If you have come to walk on a crater floor, take the daily one. And if someone in your party uses a wheelchair, this is the boat, because an accessible one is genuinely hard to find here.
If you want the real ferry: Kos Town to Nisyros
From Kos Town, the crossing to Nisyros takes 50 minutes to 1 hour 30 depending on the vessel, runs 5 to 7 days a week year round, and starts from about €6. The operators you will see on the boards include Dodekanisos Seaways, Blue Star, ANEM, ANE Kalymnou and SAOS.
That €6 headline looks like it beats a €25 to €35 excursion ticket, and on the water alone it does. Then add the getting there. Kos Town is about 26 km from Kardamena and the KTEL bus takes roughly 40 minutes at €4.20 each way, so you are adding two bus legs and a timetable you have to meet at both ends of a long day.
Our honest verdict: for a straightforward day out in season, take the boat from our harbour and accept that you are paying for the convenience of walking to it. Take the Kos Town ferry when you want to stay overnight on Nisyros, when you are travelling outside the excursion season, or when you are island-hopping onward and Nisyros is a stop rather than a destination. The rest of the ferry network is laid out in our guide to day trips from Kos by boat, and if you are weighing up hiring a car to reach the ports, we answer that in do you need a car in Kos.
Walking into the Stefanos crater
This is the reason to go. You can walk down onto the floor of the Stefanos crater and stand in it. Not look at it from a rail, stand in it. There are few places in Europe where that is a normal Tuesday.
What it is actually like: hot, strongly sulphurous, and the ground is soft. Vents hiss, the crust crumbles where you step, and the smell arrives before you have finished the descent. Some people find it magnificent and some find it unnerving, and both reactions are reasonable.
Take it seriously in high summer. There is no shade down there and nothing to sit on. August in Kardamena is frequently reported at 38 °C and occasionally above 40 °C. Go down early in the visit rather than late, keep it short, and carry more water than you think you need.
If soft, hot, uneven ground is a problem for anyone in your group, the view from the rim is genuinely good. Nobody has to walk down.
Mandraki and Nikia
Nisyros is not only a volcano. Two villages are worth your time, and with five hours ashore you can reasonably see the crater plus one of them.
Mandraki is the port and the island's main village, and it is where the boat leaves you, so it costs you nothing extra to walk through it. Nikia sits high up with a view over the caldera and is the one people photograph. The catch is that the volcano bus runs from Mandraki port up to the caldera, and not every operator's itinerary includes Nikia. Ask before you buy, because "we visit the villages" can mean one village.
Our advice for a first visit: crater first, while the day is still young, then Mandraki at your own pace with a cold drink somewhere shaded.
What to wear and what to carry
Closed shoes. This is the one that people get wrong. The crater floor is hot and the surface breaks under you, and flip-flops are miserable down there. Trainers are fine, you do not need boots.
Then: a hat, sunglasses, high-factor sun cream, and more water than seems reasonable. Cash for the bus and the crater fee. And do not wear anything you would be upset to see sulphur dust on.
Fill your bottles at the studio rather than buying them at the harbour. Kos mains water meets EU standards and is rated safe to drink, although plenty of locals and visitors prefer bottled for taste and anyone with a sensitive stomach should stick to bottled.
Is it worth a day of your week?
Yes, once. We say that as people who have sent guests off on that boat for years and who still walk down to watch it leave. It is the only thing within easy reach of Kardamena that is not a beach or a taverna, and standing on an active crater floor stays with you longer than another afternoon on a sunbed.
Who should think twice. Very small children in the middle of August, when the heat in the crater is real and the day is seven hours long. And anyone who struggles with uneven ground and does not want to settle for the rim view.
If you decide to skip it, we will not sell it to you. Take the day at the quiet stretch of beach west of Cape Helona instead, which is usually near empty, or drive out to Kefalos Bay. We list every option with directions in the best beaches near Kardamena.
Getting to the harbour from our door
The harbour is about 1.3 km from us, along the flat, palm-lined waterfront. You can walk it, and that is the quiet advantage of staying in Kardamena for this trip. No transfer to arrange, no coach to be collected by at 08:00. You have breakfast, you walk down, you get on the boat.
Leave with enough margin to find your operator's boat rather than arriving at 09:28. Boats do not wait, and there is no second sailing at lunchtime.
Make your coffee in the studio before you go. Every studio here has a kitchenette with a fridge, and on a day like this it earns its keep before 09:00. You can see all three on our rooms page.
Seven hours, one crossing, one crater. Just remember which harbour does what.
Quick answers
Is there a ferry from Kardamena to Nisyros?
No. There is no scheduled licensed ferry from Kardamena. Our harbour runs excursion boats only, and they are not licensed to carry one-way passengers, so you buy a return day trip and come back on the same boat that afternoon. For a genuine ferry to Nisyros you sail from Kos Town, about 26 km away.
How much is the Nisyros day trip from Kardamena?
Expect around €25 to €35 per adult as of the 2026 season, depending on the operator and whether lunch is included. Then add about €15 per person on the island, because the volcano bus from Mandraki up to the caldera is usually €10 return and the crater entrance fee is €5, and neither is normally part of the boat ticket.
What time does the Nisyros boat leave Kardamena?
The excursion boat leaves Kardamena harbour at about 09:30 and is back at about 16:30, so roughly a seven hour day. The crossing takes 45 to 60 minutes each way. It runs daily from late April. Times shift with the operator and the weather, so confirm at the harbour the day before.
Can you walk into the volcano crater on Nisyros?
Yes. You can walk down onto the floor of the Stefanos crater. It is hot, it smells strongly of sulphur and the ground is soft underfoot. Wear closed shoes, carry water and wear a hat. In July and August Kos regularly reaches 38 °C and occasionally passes 40 °C, and there is no shade down there at all.
Is the Nisyros trip suitable for children or wheelchair users?
The larger BBQ cruise that leaves Kardamena port on Tuesdays and Saturdays at 10:00 is wheelchair accessible and has restrooms on board. It runs about 7.5 hours, costs roughly €35 per adult and €25 per child, and includes swim stops at Agios Antonios and Yali. The crater floor itself is hot and uneven, so plan to see it from the rim if walking on soft ground is difficult.
Last updated: August 2026