Alimos and Flisvos. Where Greek charters actually start.

Flisvos and Alimos sit within a few kilometres of each other on the same stretch of coast and they are not interchangeable. Flisvos, at Palaio Faliro, is the superyacht marina: around 310 berths, more than half of them for yachts over 30 metres, depth ranging from about 4.5 to 16 metres and a maximum length of around 110 metres. It is landscaped, it has restaurants and shops along the quay, and it is where a large crewed motor yacht will usually be waiting for you.

Alimos is the volume marina and the real engine of Greek chartering. Around 1,064 berths and yachts to about 40 metres, which sounds modest until you realise that the great majority of the sailing yachts, catamarans and smaller motor yachts chartered in Greece start their week here. On a summer Saturday it is one of the busiest changeover operations in the Mediterranean, with hundreds of boats handing over on the same morning. That is not a criticism of the marina. It is simply a fact your arrival has to be planned around.

The captain may name a different address along the same coast: Zea Marina at Piraeus, the Athens Marina next to Flisvos, or the Vouliagmeni and Astir marinas further south. If your paperwork says one of those, tell us. They are separate gates and a driver cannot guess between them.

Greek charters overwhelmingly run Saturday to Saturday, and that single convention shapes the whole logistics problem. Embarkation is typically from the late afternoon, because the outgoing party leaves in the morning and the crew need the hours between to turn the yacht around. The airport is at its busiest on the same day for exactly the same reason, the coast road carries the traffic of both directions of that turnover, and every car and driver on the Riviera is working.

The useful consequence is that the gap between landing and boarding is not wasted time: it is the point of the day. A party that lands at eleven cannot board at eleven, so the choice is between sitting in an airport and doing something with the hours: lunch on the coast, a few hours at a hotel near the marina, or a run into Athens for the Acropolis Museum. All of them need a car held rather than released. On a private aircraft the timing is more flexible and the principle is the same, because the crew's readiness rather than the flight sets the boarding hour.

Flisvos is the straightforward one. It is a controlled marina with internal roads and parking, so a car can normally reach the head of the quay, set down with crew present and then park properly. Alimos is a different experience, particularly on a Saturday: it is a very large marina with several gates and pontoon groups, the access roads are busy with provisioning vans and taxis, and parking near the right pontoon is not guaranteed. The pontoon or berth number is what saves you. With it, the driver goes to the right gate. Without it, the party walks, and Alimos is long.

Luggage is worth a thought on a sailing yacht or a catamaran. Soft bags stow and hard cases do not, and a crew asked to find space for six large suitcases on a 20 metre boat will do it without complaint and without any room left over. If the yacht is lying off rather than alongside, the tender landing is agreed for that stay and should be confirmed the night before. Greece drives on the right, the Riviera roads are good and the run into Athens is simple outside rush hour, so for a group splitting between the yacht and the city, holding a car for the day beats arranging separate journeys.

The Greek season runs from late April to the end of October, with July and August the peak. The variable that genuinely affects your itinerary is the meltemi, the northerly wind that blows through the Aegean in high summer. It is strongest in July and August and it can build enough to change a route for a day or two, most often in the Cyclades. A good captain plans around it rather than fighting it, which sometimes means the yacht ends the week somewhere other than the plan said. If your return flight is tight, tell us early and we will keep the last day flexible.

June and September are the sweet spot: warm water, settled weather, lighter winds and marinas working normally rather than at their limit. From Athens the Saronic islands are within a couple of hours and the Cyclades a day's run, while the Ionian is reached from the other side of the country rather than from here. For the wider picture see Mykonos, Santorini and Corfu, and for how a charter is put together see how charter works and APA explained.