If you have dived in Greece before, please share your experiences: Dive spots you would recommend, which Dive Center you used, Fishes & Diving, Visibility, Currents, etc. Please post your comments in the section below, by doing so you will help fellow divers to plan their next trip
Diving Alonissos and the amphorae of Peristera
The cargo is what catches your eye at Peristera. Thousands of wine amphorae mark the resting place of a merchant ship that sank in the fifth century BC. The museum dive leaves from Steni Vala with a licensed centre and an accredited guide. A reef outing nearby gives you time to get comfortable with your buoyancy before the archaeological visit.
Can I book the ancient wreck as a regular boat dive?
Reserve it separately. The museum specifies Advanced Open Water or equivalent, and Alonissos Triton requires a prior check dive with its centre. Its published price is €95 for the wreck plus €50 admission, or €145 before the check dive and equipment hire. Its regular two-dive day is €130 with tanks and weights. Wreck departures depend on sea conditions and an available museum slot.
Can my partner join the boat?
Triton lists a €35 non-diver place with mask, snorkel and fins. Ask which departure accepts passengers and where snorkelling is possible that day. For a view of the amphorae themselves, the museum’s virtual visit is a better option than trying to see them from the surface.
Dive sites and departure points
Choose a place for a satellite view. Markers show planning locations. Your operator confirms the meeting point and the day’s dive site.
Peristera island
Island reference for the ancient wreck. Your licensed guide organises access.
Watch: The ancient wreck at Peristera
Planning your trip? Greece travel guide
Local information and prices checked in November 2026. Museum access and departure port · Alonissos diving and passenger fares · Visiting the underwater museum · Wreck booking requirements
On Alonissos, an ordinary reef outing and a visit to an ancient merchant ship are two quite different bookings. Elsewhere, volcanic rock around Santorini or a wall off Chios may be the reason to choose an island. A local centre can help you match the site to your experience and explain where access is restricted.
In this page you will find more detailed information about scuba diving in Greece.
Table of contents
Best Dive Review
The amphorae at Peristera make Alonissos a particularly rewarding choice for underwater archaeology. Santorini offers a different landscape around the volcanic island of Nea Kameni. The rocky walls and recesses around Chios and Mykonos suit divers who like to look closely at the geology. Discuss the exact route with your guide, especially where the seabed rises into an overhead environment.
How to dive Greece?
Choose a centre on the island you want to explore. A local reef outing can be arranged around the conditions, whereas access to the Peristera archaeological site has to be organised in advance through a licensed centre. If you plan to change islands, check your ferry days against both dive schedules.
Best time to dive in Greece
You can scuba dive year-round in Greece, with the best time being from May to November. Also, June, July, and August are the peak tourism months and the best diving conditions.
Many divers recommend diving in May, October, and November saying overall it is the best time for a dive vacation. The reasons are simple: prices are lower, fewer crowds while ashore and diving conditions are still outstanding. Note that depending on the month, water temperatures might require a slightly heavier wetsuit.
Top liveaboards in Greece according to divers reviews
Dive courses
A sheltered training bay and a guided archaeological dive serve different levels of experience. Ask a school about its teaching site, group size and wind alternatives. For Peristera, check the museum qualifications and allow time for the centre’s assessment dive before the wreck visit.
Scuba Diving conditions
At Peristera, local operator Triton describes water temperatures of about 17–26°C and visibility commonly around 15–30 metres, depending on conditions. These figures apply to this site. A shallow training bay on another island can feel quite different, especially after a change of wind.
Snorkelling in Greece
Choose a bay with a clear shore entry and ask locally about wind, boat traffic and current that day. On Alonissos, a boat place for a snorkeller is available on certain outings. The virtual visit on land is a way to see the ancient wreck in detail.
Fishes and Coral
Slow down beside rocky ledges and seagrass for small fish and invertebrates. A reef dive offers much more time for this than a timed visit to an archaeological site. Treat any encounter with a turtle or monk seal as a chance sighting and give the animal space.
Diving Safety
If you are planning an upcoming dive trip or travelling to Greece, it is a really good idea to invest in travel insurance for scuba diving, because you never know what could happen and when you might need it (because accidents do happen!). I recommend this diving insurance as they offer worldwide coverage and focus on providing scuba divers a quality insurance and medical assistance service.
For an archaeology-led trip, give Alonissos several days so the check dive, the museum slot and the weather can all line up. For a shorter break elsewhere, a single island with a nearby centre leaves more time underwater and less time on ferries.
Photos Greece
Travel Guide
Now that you know all about the underwater world, you might want to start planning your scuba holiday! Check out our Greece Travel Review for information about how to get there, activities and excursions, where to stay, and more.
Greece is definitely a very interesting place for wreck divers. It has the highest concentration of wrecks in its waters, and every year new ones are discovered. The best place for me is Leros island in the Dodecanese island group. Due to a fierce battle during World War 2, the sea bottom around the island is more like an under water museum, telling the story of the Battle of Leros. Landing vessels, planes, bombers, barches, platforms, anti-submarine nets, and the wreck of the famous Greek destroyer “the Queen Olga” have found their resting place their at a depth between 16 and 50 meters. You can do more than 10 different wreck dives here. And the island offers everything that you expect from Grrek islands: Great hospitality in numerous accomodations, pittoresque little ports, great food, but no mass tourism on Leros. For divers and non-divers a super place to spend a holiday.
Hi Carolina,
First, I’d like to thank you for reading Divezone, and for taking the time too leave your review of diving in Greece here! Plus, what a nice, informative and useful review! Thank you!
I’m sure I’ll help divers decide which of the amazing Greek islands to discover!
Best bubbles, always!
I have been diving in Greece for many years and it is a great diving destination…if you know where to go. Since the lifting of restrictions in 2006, around 200 dive centers have sprung up like mushrooms, and whilst the regulatory framework with regards to safety standards is very good, not all dive areas offer the same quality diving. With quality diving I mean the attraction under water and a small number of divers in the water. In house dive centers (i.e. on the premises of a hotel) are not particularly common and house reef diving is extremely rare (actually I know of only one dive center on Samos Island offering house reef diving). Dives are thus typically executed from boats. The diving conditions are generally very good, with visibilities between 20 and 40 m and rarely with any significant currents. Wind can be an issue, especially in the month of August and on the Cycladic Islands.
I would say that there are around 10-15 dive areas with really good dive sites, that would also appeal to experienced and well-traveled divers. In the north of the Ionian island of Kefalonia, for example. You find some excellent wrecks, sweet water caverns/caves similar to the Mexican Cenotes and a very diverse underwater fauna. The island of Leros is a wreck divers` paradise. Little known, it is a small Truk Lagoon at a fraction of the price. Samos Island is reachable with direct flights from many European cities and offers a perfect combination of diving, swimming, nature and historical sightseeing. It also features the only (in-house) dive center in Greece jointly operated by a highly experienced and diver-oriented EU-based dive trip operator. The beautiful island of Naxos also offers some great dives, with an attractive ship wreck and a (rare) Beaufighter in excellent condition. The area off Cape Sounion in the greater Athens area has a number of wrecks, notably the “SS Patris”, a paddle steamer that sank in 1868 and is still in astonishingly good condition. The south coast of Crete is little explored and dives sometimes have expeditionary character. These are only some examples that come to mind. If you avoid the highly touristic islands in high season, you will typically be diving in a small group of 6-10 divers. A real treat, if you think of the mass-diving in the Red Sea.
Diving in Greece is fascinating. Although Greece is not famous for mantas or sharks, the aquatic life is very interesting. Dolphins and Tunas are quite often around and most of encouters are with Groupers, Scorpionfishes, Moray Eels, Rays, Lobsters, lots of smaller groups of fish, Nudibrands and lately Lionfishes and species immigrating from the Red Sea.
What really make Greece interesting for diving is the wild morphology of the sea bed. You will mostly find drop-offs, deep walls, caverns and canyons.
Diving in Greece is also very safedue to the lack of currents and dangerous species, which makes the water a perfect place for all levels and idial to start diving or develop tech diving.
It is a fast growing destination suitable for all!
Hello Anastasios!
I simply wanted to thank you for reading Divezone and for the great insight you have provided above!I’m glad that you seem to be having a blast diving in Greece!
Safe bubbles!
I absolutely agree — Greece is one of the most incredible diving destinations in the world! From crystal-clear waters and abundant marine life to historic shipwrecks and hidden caves, there’s something for every diver. The Aegean and Ionian seas offer perfect conditions almost year-round, with warm water, excellent visibility, and easy access from islands and coastal towns.
For anyone planning their first dive in Greece, I highly recommend exploring spots around Athens and nearby islands — the combination of stunning underwater landscapes and rich Greek culture makes it truly unforgettable.
If you want a practical guide on discovering scuba diving in Greece, i am remaining at your disposal for tips, courses, and local dive experiences.