21 nights, Piraeus (Athens) to Lisbon

The itinerary, port by port

16 calls over 21 nights, Piraeus (Athens) to Lisbon. Open any port for my full day-ashore guide, what to see, when to go, and how the day actually runs.

Getting there: Flights to Piraeus (Athens) (ATH) are already bookable for these dates. I watch the fare for booked clients so you book at the right moment. When to book your flights →

1. Embark
   Piraeus (Athens)

   Piraeus is the port of Athens, and the day belongs to the ancient city about 10 km inland. Port guide →

2. 2
   Santorini

   Santorini is the rim of a flooded volcanic caldera, and ships anchor inside that drowned crater with the whitewashed towns of Fira and Oia stacked along the cliff edge above. Port guide →

3. 3
   La Valletta

   Valletta is the fortified 16th-century capital the Knights of St John built on a peninsula above Grand Harbour, one of the deepest natural harbors in the Mediterranean. Port guide →

4. 4
   Messina (Sicily)

   Messina sits at the northeast tip of Sicily, across the narrow strait from the Italian mainland, and for most travelers it functions as the gateway to Taormina and Mount Etna rather than a destination in… Port guide →

5. 5
   Naples

   Naples is a dense, loud, deeply layered Italian city where the cruise terminal sits at the foot of the historic center rather than out in an industrial port. Port guide →

6. 6
   Civitavecchia (Rome)

   Civitavecchia is Rome's deepwater port, a working harbor about 80 km northwest of the capital, and for most travelers it is the gateway rather than the destination. Port guide →

7. 7
   Livorno (Florence)

   Livorno is a working Tuscan port, and for most travelers it is the gateway rather than the destination: about 80 km and 90 minutes inland lies Florence, the birthplace of the Renaissance, with Pisa roughly… Port guide →

8. 8
   Villefranche-sur-Mer (Nice)

   Villefranche-sur-Mer is a pastel fishing town wrapped around one of the deepest natural harbors on the Riviera, which is why ships anchor here instead of in Nice. Port guide →

9. 9
   Barcelona

   Barcelona packs Gaudí's modernisme, a 2,000-year-old Roman and medieval core, and a working Mediterranean waterfront into a single dense, walkable city. Port guide →

10. 10
    Ceuta

    Ceuta is a Spanish city on the North African coast, a small peninsula bordering Morocco across the strait from Gibraltar. Port guide →

11. 11
    Casablanca

    Casablanca is Morocco's commercial capital, a big Atlantic port city whose case for the day rests almost entirely on one building: the Hassan II Mosque, one of the largest in the world, with a minaret… Port guide →

12. 12
    Arrecife (Lanzarote)

    Arrecife is the working capital of Lanzarote, the easternmost of the main Canary Islands, and the gateway to a volcanic landscape unlike anywhere else in Europe. Port guide →

13. 13
    Santa Cruz de Tenerife

    Santa Cruz is the capital of Tenerife in the Canary Islands, a working Spanish city under a volcanic skyline rather than a beach resort, with a walkable old center and Calatrava's wave-shaped Auditorio on… Port guide →

14. 14
    San Sebastián de La Gomera

    San Sebastian is the small capital of La Gomera, the second-smallest Canary Island, and it is where Columbus took on water and supplies before the 1492 Atlantic crossing. Port guide →

15. 15
    Funchal (Madeira)

    Funchal is the capital of Madeira, a Portuguese volcanic island in the Atlantic, and the port sits a short walk from a working city built up a steep amphitheater of hills. Port guide →

16. Disembark
    Lisbon

    Lisbon spreads over hills above the wide Tagus estuary, and the cruise terminal sits at the foot of Alfama, the city's oldest quarter. Port guide →