General Information & Reviews

Porto Heli Travel info: Beautiful buildings and turquoise waters in Porto Heli ©Shutterstock
A small, organized beach in Porto Heli ©Greeka.com
A beautiful white and blue church by the sea, Porto Heli. ©Shutterstock
Table of contents:
• General info • Useful links • Gallery (4) • Reviews (5)

Porto Heli Greece is built around a picturesque natural harbor in the prefecture of Argolida, Peloponnese. This harbor is very safe and usually has enough space if you have a boat to moor. Porto Heli attracts many tourists every summer, thanks to its natural beauty, its facilities and the sightseeing of the area. There are some interesting sites to visit near the harbor in the daytime and it is also possible to rent a mountain bike in order to explore the area.

There are motorbike rentals and car rentals which can be useful if you want to explore the surroundings, such as the nearby town of Kranidi, still untouched by tourism. In fact, Porto Heli is near many important places in Argolida, such as Ermioni, Epidauros, Nafplion, and Mycenae.

This town has also some nice beaches, like Hinitsa, Costa, Ververoda, and Maistraki. Some of them have umbrellas and fun activities, such as water skiing, windsurfing, and sailing. In particular, a waterskiing competition takes place every summer in Ververoda Lake.

There is also a good variety of cafes, bars, restaurants, and nightclubs. In some of them, bands and singers perform live and owners throw parties. The lively waterfront of this city also offers lots of activities, such as book fairs, shadow puppet theatres, fun fairs for the kids and concerts in the summer.

People are kind and communication with them is easy, as in all Greece, even if you don't speak Greek. Hand gestures have always been helpful. Gift shops are found all over the town and the waterfront to buy souvenirs. Porto Heli is also close to Peloponnese islands and frequent hydrofoils to Spetses and Hydra leave from its port.

PHOTO GALLERY

Reviews

4.6/5.0
5 Reviews
  • Veldkamp.hendrik 11 Oct 2015
    Greek Paradise
    We are totally hooked to this paradise: visited in 2010, rented a house in 2011, bought a holiday heaven in 2012 and never regretted it one second, despite the crisis. People are the friendliest and most helpful we ever met in the Med. The work on our house, in time and under budget, of the highest quality. The food exquisite and healthy. We just hope it will remain authentic and not be spoiled like so many other seaside places.
  • amy 05 Jan 2011
    Learning to sail
    Just looking back through my summer holiday snaps and feel compelled to write a quick review about learning to sail on the beach in Porto Heli. We were only in town for a few nights, travelling on our way down the coast from Athens via Hydra and Porto Heli to Nafplion. We stopped in Porto Heli to visit Spetses island as it's cheaper to stay on the mainland and get the ferry over. We fell in love with Porto Heli though and its local characters. Although we didn't plan to, we ended up learning to sail with Biff on the AKS beach in the town. We spent just 2 hours with an instructor and then was allowed to go sail on our own! We loved the sense of freedom from being on the water, how the village looks so different while out in the bay and how peaceful and much cooler it can be just a few meters out to sea. We'd recommend this experience to anyone. Porto Heli was a winner on our holiday.
  • vasilikiang 18 Oct 2009
    Cosmopolitan
    The most impressive thing about Porto Heli is the small port with the yachts. All you see is sails and fishing boats, sails and fishing boats... Where did all these sails come from??

    This is a lovely place for vacations, not far from Athens, only 3 hours drive, but the road after Corinth is windy, so it can get a bit tiring. But, I think there are also flying dolphins from Piraeus, which make it in two hours.

    Porto Heli is full of hotels and in fact luxury hotels. It has got quite cosmopolitan over the years and many people have summer houses there. The port is surrounded by beautiful cafeterias and some are right by the sea, the wave is reaching your feet!!. From Costa, about 10 km from Porto Heli, you take a small boat to Spetses, itineraries are every 20 minutes and ticket fare is cheap (2 euros).
  • dapdep 31 Jul 2009
    Small and cozy
    We went to Porto Cheli for one day from Spetses. There are small boats between Spetses and Porto Heli every half an hour and the ticket is much cheaper than the hydrofoils. The boat actually arrives in Kosta, a small port in Peloponnese and then you take the bus to Porto Cheli. This seems to be a fishing village but it gets much touristic with the rooms to let and the yachts in the port. You will not believe how many yachts there are in such a small village! The beach is very nice and clean. You can do watersports and eat in the taverns, classical, like an island. No sightseeing in Porto Cheli, this is just a nice village with some green around. If we rented a car, we would probably see the area aroudn but we stayed only for one day, so we didn't have much time.
  • stavrpap 03 Apr 2009
    Prefer small coves to swim
    We permanently live in Athens and have a summer house in Ververonta, it is a village close to Porto Heli. This area is idyllic for me, maybe for sentimental reasons in part but I truly believe this is a very beautiful region. Water is always clear, you can see the sea bottom in most beaches. My husband frequently goes scuba diving there, alone or with some friends. We avoid swimming in the main beach right beneath Porto Heli town because it gets very crowded in summer. We prefer to find our own small coves to enjoy swimming with our children. Just beware because some beaches are rocky and children might get hurt in their feet.

DISCOVER MORE ABOUT PORTO HELI

Best Hotels
Best Hotels
What to Do
What to Do
How to get there
How to get there
Photos
Photos
Explore Porto Heli