Aegean Sea · Turkey & Greece
The world's largest sailing yacht, designed in the spirit of Orient Express — gliding between the Aegean's most ancient shores under 3,000 square metres of pure white sail.
About This Voyage
“When Orient Express built a sailing yacht, they did not build a ship with sails. They built a philosophy with a keel.”
The Orient Express Corinthian is the world's largest sailing yacht: 220 metres of naval architecture designed by the firm that created the most celebrated train in history. There are 54 suites, 120 guests, and 3,000 square metres of sail. The ship moves in near-silence between ports. There is no vibration from an engine in ordinary cruising; there is only the sound of the Aegean — which is the sound of history and salt and the oldest navigated sea in the world.
The Blessed Isles and Turquoise Coasts itinerary is a circular voyage, departing Athens and returning to Athens seven nights later — a route that traces a wide arc through the Greek islands and the Turkish coast before returning to its starting point. Between Athens and Athens: the flowering hills of Spetses, the windmill-crowned heights of Mykonos, the polychrome harbour of Symi, the turquoise bays of Göcek on the Turkish coast, and the volcanic island of Milos with its extraordinary rock formations. This is the Aegean of the ancient poets and the contemporary imagination, experienced at sailing pace, without hurry.
Departing May 2027. Available through Martins Travel with preferred cabin allocation, embarkation arrangements and pre-voyage transfers.
What Is Included
Port by Port
Each port of call has been chosen to reveal a different facet of the journey — arriving by sea as travellers once did, and departing enriched, never hurried.
“The sea, once it casts its spell, holds one in its net of wonder forever.”
Athens (Piraeus), Greece
Corinthian is berthed at Piraeus — visible from the waterfront promenade, the white sail furled, the vessel itself a spectacle that draws the eye across the entire harbour. Embarkation is in the afternoon, with the Orient Express host receiving each guest by name. The suite — teak floors, bespoke furnishings, a terrace wide enough for a private dinner — opens to the view of the Saronic Gulf and the distant outline of Aegina. A welcome dinner on the aft deck as the sun falls behind the Attic hills, the champagne cold, the stars arriving over the city. Corinthian departs at midnight under the first stars, heading southwest into the Saronic Gulf.
Aboard Corinthian · PiraeusSpetses, Saronic Gulf, Greece
Spetses is the most fragrant island in the Saronic Gulf — a landscape of Aleppo pines that line the coast and cover the interior hills, their resinous scent reaching the ship well before the island appears. The Old Harbour, with its neoclassical mansions built on the wealth of the eighteenth-century sea trade, is among the prettiest in Greece. Corinthian anchors in the bay; the tender takes you to the Dapia harbour. No private cars are permitted on Spetses: the island is navigated on foot, by bicycle, or by horse-drawn carriage. The Laskarina Bouboulina Museum — dedicated to the female sea captain who became a hero of the Greek War of Independence — occupies her family mansion above the harbour. Lunch at a taverna on the old harbour, the pine trees providing shade, the sea just below. The ship departs for Mykonos as the afternoon sun drops into the Peloponnese hills.
Aboard Corinthian · SpetsesMykonos, Cyclades, Greece
Mykonos by sailing yacht is an entirely different island than Mykonos by aeroplane or ferry. Corinthian anchors in the bay in the blue hour before dawn, and the island that presents itself at first light — the windmills on the hill, the whitewashed cube houses of Chora, the sea the colour of a flame's coolest point — is the Cycladic ideal perfectly stated. The tender delivers you to the old port at whatever hour suits. Little Venice, the alleyways of the Kastro, the tavernas overlooking the Paraportiani church: Mykonos rewards those who arrive without a schedule. The Orient Express host has arranged a private dinner at a rooftop restaurant above the harbour for the evening. The island's famous night continues for as long as you wish; the tender returns on demand.
Aboard Corinthian · MykonosSymi, Dodecanese, Greece
Symi is a secret that everyone in Greece knows and no one tells anyone else. The harbour of Gialos — neoclassical mansions in ochre, terracotta, sienna and cream, stacked up the hillside in an amphitheatre above the inlet — is argued by many to be the most beautiful harbour in the Mediterranean, and the argument is difficult to resist. Corinthian arrives at dawn, when the light is at its most dramatic and the ferries have not yet come. A morning of exploration: the Chorio above the harbour, the monastery of Taxiarchis Mihail Panormitis at the southern tip of the island by tender, the Byzantine frescoes inside. Lunch at a terrace restaurant overlooking the harbour. The ship departs at sunset; Symi in the fading light from the aft deck is a view worth the entire voyage.
Aboard Corinthian · SymiGöcek Marina, Turkey
Göcek Marina is the gateway to the most beautiful cruising waters in Turkey — the Gulf of Fethiye, an enclosed bay of turquoise inlets, uninhabited islands and ancient Lycian ruins that together constitute one of the finest sailing grounds in the Mediterranean world. Corinthian anchors off one of the twelve islands of Göcek Bay in the morning. Tender and kayak access to bays inaccessible by any other means: warm water over white sand, pine forests descending to the shore, not another vessel in sight. The Sunken City of Kaunos is visited by private guide in the afternoon — Lycian rock tombs carved directly into the cliff face above the sea, their facades still intact after two and a half thousand years. Dinner aboard at anchor as the Turkish night settles, the stars extraordinarily clear above the bay.
Aboard Corinthian · GöcekAdamas, Milos, Cyclades, Greece
Milos is the most geologically dramatic island in the Cyclades — a volcanic crater whose caldera has flooded to form one of the finest natural harbours in the Aegean, and whose coastline has been sculpted by millennia of volcanic activity into rock formations of extraordinary colour and form. The Venus de Milo was found here in 1820; the island has never quite recovered from the loss, and never entirely stopped looking for her. Corinthian enters the great caldera bay at dawn. The Sarakiniko beach — white pumice formations carved by the sea into shapes that suggest a lunar landscape photographed at first light — is visited by tender before the day-trippers arrive. The coloured sea caves of Kleftiko, accessible only by water, are explored by Zodiac in the afternoon. The village of Plaka above the caldera: the Castro, the ancient theatre, the view of the whole island at sunset.
Aboard Corinthian · MilosAthens (Piraeus), Greece
Corinthian approaches Piraeus from the south, the Attic coast familiar now, the outline of the Acropolis appearing on the horizon as the sun climbs — the limestone rock of the Acropolis, and the Parthenon on its summit, as it has appeared to every sailor returning to Athens for two and a half thousand years. For guests who have not seen the Acropolis before: the Orient Express host has arranged a private early-morning visit from the port before disembarkation. The Parthenon at 7am, with a private archaeologist and no other visitors, remains one of the defining experiences of European travel. A final breakfast on the aft deck. Disembarkation from Piraeus with private transfers to Athens city centre, Athens International Airport, or onward at your direction.
Disembarkation · Athens (Piraeus)The Onboard Experience
The Vessel · Aegean Sea
World's Largest Sailing Yacht
220 metres of naval excellence. 54 suites across six deck levels. 3,000 square metres of pure white sail. The Corinthian was designed to do what no other ship can: move through the Aegean with the silence and elegance of a sailing vessel at superyacht scale. When the sails are set and the engines idle, only the wind and the water speak.
Destination · Day 4
Dodecanese, Greece
The polychrome neoclassical mansions of Gialos harbour — built on the wealth of the nineteenth-century sponge trade — are among the most photographed in Greece and among the least visited by those who photograph them. Corinthian anchors here at dawn, before the day-trip boats arrive from Rhodes.
Destination · Day 6
Cyclades, Greece
Milos's volcanic coastline — white pumice formations at Sarakiniko, multicoloured sea caves at Kleftiko, the great flooded caldera that forms one of the finest natural harbours in the Aegean — makes it the most visually extraordinary island in the Cyclades. Corinthian anchors in the caldera; the sea caves and formations are explored by Zodiac and tender.
Private Enquiry
This voyage is presented as a point of departure. We will tailor the suite category, pre- and post-voyage arrangements, private shore excursions, and any special occasion wishes to your exact preferences. A Martins Travel cruise specialist will respond personally within 24 hours.