What to Bring on a Paros Boat Trip: The Complete Packing List

Here is the whole list in one place. Print it or screenshot it. The right-hand column explains why each item earns its place on a Paros day boat, where deck space is limited and spray is a given.

Eleven items that cover every trip in the comparison

You will swim straight off the boat at every stop. On the Antiparos and Despotiko swim cruise the stops include the Blue Lagoon shallows, the Antiparos sea caves and bays off Despotiko. On the Naoussa Bay cruise you swim at Analipsi Beach.

Wear your swimsuit under your clothes when you board. There is a WC on these boats but no private changing cabin, and nobody wants to wrestle with wet fabric in a rolling deck.

What the boats already provide

Check your listing before buying gear. The Blue Lagoon half-day and the Pirate Cave trip include mask, snorkel and fins for every guest. The catamaran cruise adds kayaks and paddleboards on top of snorkel gear.

If your trip includes equipment, a cheap pair of water shoes is the only extra worth considering for the granite and pebble entries.

• Wear your swimsuit under your clothes
• Rash vest if you burn easily, it also helps on windy swims
• Water shoes for pebbly entries, optional but useful
• Leave your own snorkel set at home on trips that supply one

A Paros day boat offers no shade you can rely on. The kaiki in the seafood lunch cruise has deck seating in the open, and even boats described as having a shaded deck put most guests in the sun during swim stops. Sea reflection adds a second dose of UV from below.

Sunburn is the single most common way a boat day goes wrong.

The practical setup

• High-SPF sunscreen, applied before you board and again after each swim
• Stick or sunscreen for face and ears, it stays on in spray better than lotion
• Wide-brimmed hat with a chin strap or a snug cap
• Sunglasses with UV filtering, on a strap if you have one
• Long-sleeved light shirt for the middle hours, this is what crew wear

Reef-friendly choices

The waters you swim in are shallow and clear, which is exactly why the Blue Lagoon half-day is so popular. Sunscreen washes off in those shallows. A mineral sunscreen and a long-sleeved layer reduce what you add to the water without changing your day.

The meltemi is the northerly Aegean summer wind, strongest in July and August, and it makes afternoons rougher than mornings. Captains respond by re-routing to the sheltered south-west side, which is why itineraries are weather-permitted on every listing here. Even re-routed, the crossing and the moving boat create real wind chill, especially when you are damp from the last swim.

Dress in two layers

• Base: swimsuit plus a light cotton shirt or cover-up
• Top layer: a thin windproof jacket, packed small
• Dry set for the ride home on full-day trips, you will thank yourself
• Nothing you would mourn if a wave took it

Season changes the list

Day boats run roughly from late April to mid-October. Sea temperature peaks at 24 to 25 degrees in August, while May and October swims are cooler, so a rash vest earns its place in the shoulder months. The season breakdown on our best time for a Paros boat trip guide goes deeper.

If you are still choosing a trip, the Paros boat tour price comparison sets out what each listing includes so you know what to leave in your bag.

Competitor packing lists disagree about towels, so here is the honest position read from the listings. Towels are not listed as included on any of the trips compared here compared on this site. Some travellers bring a quick-dry travel towel, others dry off with their shirt and sit in the wind for ten minutes.

A small microfibre towel weighs nothing, so it is a reasonable default.

Footwear rules of thumb

• Barefoot on the boat, most wooden decks ask for it
• Flip flops or sandals for the departure point and any shore stop
• Water shoes if you want protection on pebbles and granite
• Leave hiking shoes behind, no trip here involves walking terrain except the optional Despotiko ruin walk

The Despotiko exception

The kaiki cruise with seafood lunch includes a walk up to the ancient sanctuary ruins on Despotiko, an active excavation of an Apollo sanctuary tracked by the Greek Ministry of Culture. Closed shoes make that stop more comfortable than flip flops. Everyone else can travel light.

Almost nothing in this category needs packing, because the boats feed you. The Antiparos and Despotiko swim cruise serves a traditional Parian lunch with wine, soft drinks, fruit and snacks. The kaiki options serve either a Mediterranean seafood menu or a grilled souvlaki BBQ, and the catamaran has a cook on board preparing lunch fresh.

Half-day trips include water, soft drinks and seasonal fruit.

What you still bring

• Motion sickness tablets taken before boarding if you are prone, afternoons on the meltemi are the rough window
• Personal medication in your day bag, never in a hold
• A water bottle, boats carry water but a bottle means you sip steadily
• Allergen note: the seafood-lunch kaiki asks guests to flag allergens to the operator in advance

Do not bring a cooler

There is no space for it and no need. If you have specific dietary needs, message the operator when you book rather than smuggling food aboard. Free cancellation up to 24 hours before departure applies across the listings here, so you can rebook a different boat if the menu does not fit.

No passport checks happen on these trips, which stay inside Greek waters around Paros, Antiparos and Despotiko. Bring your booking confirmation on your phone, a small amount of cash, and protect your electronics from spray. This is the category where a cheap dry bag earns its price every single time.

The electronics kit

• Waterproof phone pouch with a lanyard, so photos happen at swim stops
• Small dry bag for the whole bag on open-deck boats
• Power bank, full days drain batteries fast
• Camera with a wrist strap if you bring one, neck straps catch on rails

Money

Drinks and lunch are included on most listings, so your spending on board can be zero. Cash covers a tip for the crew and any purchase at a stop. The sunset boat trip is the shortest and cheapest format if you want the on-water experience without a full-day kit list.

Deck space is the constraint. Boats here carry between 25 and a few dozen guests on open decks, and every hard suitcase, cooler and glass bottle is a trip hazard in a swell. Anything valuable that you would hate to lose overboard should stay at your hotel.

Leave these behind

• Hard suitcases, bring one soft day bag
• Valuables and jewellery you cannot swim in
• Your best sunglasses or an expensive watch
• Glass bottles, most boats ban them
• Drones, no listing here permits them and take-off from a moving deck is a bad idea
• Excess snorkel gear when your trip already supplies it
• Single-use plastic you will have to carry back

Yes, and the packing is the easy part. The listings on this site score between 4.7 and 4.9 out of 5 across hundreds of verified reviews, and the cheapest full-day swim cruise starts from $57 per person with lunch and drinks included. You get access to places a car cannot reach, like the Blue Lagoon shallows between the Panteronissia islets and the bays off uninhabited Despotiko.

Why reviewers rate the format

• Swimming from a boat at three or more stops in a single outing
• Lunch, wine and gear included on most full-day options, so a light bag genuinely works
• Captains re-route daily to the calmest water, which keeps the meltemi from ruining a day
• Kids are welcome on most trips, see our guide to Paros boat trips with kids for the family angle

Shoulder-season boat days run cooler on the water than on land, and the wind that the sheltered route avoids still finds you at anchor. A fleece or light windbreaker that lives at the bottom of the bag all trip becomes the best-worn item aboard, and swimmers who skip it often sit out the last swim of the day. Water temperature in May sits around seventeen to eighteen degrees celsius, brisk enough that a towel over the shoulders matters the moment you climb out.

The shoulder bag also earns its space for the crossing itself. Full-day routes to the Antiparos caves run fifteen to twenty minutes of open water where spray comes over the bow on anything but a flat day, and a zip plastic bag for phones and cameras is the difference between photos and a bag of rice.

Children burn through boat days faster than adults, and the catalog's own listings explain what to carry. Several operators recommend ages five and up and ask for basic swimming skills, so arm bands or a float vest for weaker swimmers let them use the swim stops instead of watching from deck. Snorkel gear is on every boat, but a child-sized mask seals better than a borrowed adult one - if your child already owns a mask that fits their face, bring it.

Motion sickness hits children at roughly the same rate as adults and the meltemi afternoons are the trigger. A children's dose of a motion tablet taken before boarding, plus a plain snack such as crackers, covers most of it. Cash in small notes covers the ice creams at any harbour stop, and a full change of clothes left in the car or the hotel beats a salty, damp child for the rest of the day.

How much should the bag hold? Less than you think: one soft day bag per person covers every trip in the comparison, and the boats stow bags along the cockpit sides or under the benches. Hard coolers and roller cases are awkward on a small deck, and everything you need is small. Dry bags fold flat and earn their space by the second crossing.

Do you need cash? Yes, in small notes. Card machines appear on the bigger catamarans for the bar tab, but the kaiki crews pass a hat for gratuities and the harbour kiosks at Pounta are cash-first. Is a change of clothes worth it? On the full days, absolutely: seven hours of salt and spray makes the drive home in a dry shirt worth the space it took. And is a towel optional? It is the single item every listing declines to include, which makes it the one thing you will wish for first at the second swim stop.

Run the list in this order and nothing important stays behind. Water: one bottle per swimmer, since the boats top up but rarely chill. Sun: sunscreen, hat, sunglasses, and one long-sleeved layer for anyone fair. Swim: gear already on, towel in the bag, mask if your own fits better than the loaners. Money: small notes for gratuities and harbour stops, plus a card for the catamaran bar. Electronics: phone, and a dry pocket for it.

Then the two questions people skip. First, who in the group gets motion sick, and has anyone actually taken a tablet before boarding rather than promising to later? Second, what does the evening look like after the boat, and does anyone need dry shoes or a change of clothes for it? Ninety seconds on those two questions is the difference between a smooth day and a scratchy one, and it is the habit the crews notice in their most experienced guests.

Two linked listings that answer most of the questions on this page: the blue lagoon boat tour paros and the antiparos despotiko swim cruise pages carry the full route, the fine print and the reviews for each boat.