How to get to Athens - Getting to Athens by train, plane, car, ship or bus

1. Before arriving in Athens
2. How to get to Athens - Getting to Athens by train, plane, car, ship or bus
3. Public Transport in Athens - Getting around Athens
4. Cost of Living in Athens
5. Save money in Athens - Tips for living in Athens on a student budget
6. Accommodation for students in Athens - Top tips and advice
7. Athens neighbourhoods - The most important districts of Athens
8. Greek Cuisine - The gastronomy of Greece and traditional dishes
9. Where to eat in Athens - Best restaurants in Athens
10. Athens Nightlife - Nightclubs and going out in Athens
11. What to do in Athens
12. Top 10 must-see attractions in Athens
13. Top 10 Festivals in Athens
14. Athens Beaches - The best beaches in Athens
15. Day trips from Athens - Places to visit and excursions around Athens
16. Athens in three days- What to see in Athens in three days

Now that your luggage is full and you have made sure that you are holding all the necessary documents for your trip, let’s set off to Athens with all of the possible means of transport:

By plane

If you live abroad, especially on a different continent, the easiest way to get to Athens is by plane. The Athens International Airport is called "Eleftherios Venizelos” (IATA: ATH, ICAO: LGAV). You can reach it with every airline company, and especially with Aegean airlines, one of the best airline alliances that are based in Greece with pretty fair prices for direct flights. Other low-cost companies you can use to reach Athens are, of course, Ryanair, Easyjet and Lufthansa.

From the airport to the city centre

Line 3 (Agia Marina - Doukissis Plakentias - Airport) connects the city centre with the airport. At the airport, the metro docks are within 5 minutes of the Departures and Arrivals entrance and the blue line hits all the metro stops of the centre of Athens and connects you with any other metro or train line. It lasts about 30 to 45 minutes, depending on your stop. The first train from the airport to Monastiraki is at 06:30, the frequency of routes is every 30 minutes and the last one from the airport to Monastiraki is at 23:30. The first train from Monastiraki to the airport is at 5:50 am and the last one from Monastiraki to the airport is at 22:58. The price of the ticket is 10 euros per person or 5 euros for students with an active student pass, and the ticket is valid for any means of transportation for 90 minutes from the first minute of its validation, which means that if you change to a bus or a tram, for example, within 90 minutes since you validate your ticket, you don’t need to buy a new ticket, as the previous one is still valid.

The suburban railway, an extension of the blue line of the Athens Metro from the airport, is right across the street from the terminal in the building that looks like a flying saucer. It is exactly the same as the subway one. There is a long walkway leading to it. Keep in mind that passengers from the Airport to the center of Athens can use the Suburban Railway up to Doukissis Plakentias Station and from there, transfer with the same ticket to the Metro (dock heading to Agia Marina). Similarly, passengers from Athens to the airport can go by Metro to Doukissis Plakentias station (or Neratziotissa station) and from there board on a suburban train to the airport. The ticket for a one-way ride from the airport costs about 10 euros per person for a one- way ticket (or half price with a student pass). Itineraries take place daily from 5:30 in the morning until 22:30 - 23:00, and the tickets can be purchased at all Suburban and Metro Stations.

You can check the actual itinerary of the suburban railway in English on Athens Transport.

There are several bus lines to and from the airport. Buses depart from the Main Terminal Building right outside the Exit (doors 4-5). Here are the bus lines that connect the airport to any suburb of Athens:

• X95 Syntagma Square- Airport Express. Takes you from the airport and finishes at the center of Athens, and especially at Syntagma Square. It is a round trip, as the same route backwards can take you from Syntagma Square to the airport. It departs every 10-30 minutes, 24 hours a day and the ride lasts up to one hour. This bus is convenient if you are staying in the city centre.
• X96 Piraeus- Airport Express. It starts from the airport and terminates at the Northwest Corner of Piraeus main harbour and backwards. One full ride lasts 90 minutes. This one suits you if you want to reach a suburb on the coastline of Attica, like Glyfada, Voula, Vouliagmeni or Piraeus.

Keep in mind that both the Syntagma and the Piraeus buses run for 24 hours every day, generally every twenty minutes during the day, but every 40 minutes after midnight.

• X93 connects the Airport (door 5) with the bus terminals at Kifissou and Liossion streets. It commutes every 35 minutes (65 at night) and one full-ride lasts 65 minutes. It suits you if you wanna reach places like Peristeri, Aigaleo, Liosia, etc.
• X97 goes to the Ellinikon Metro Station. This route suits you if you want to go to Neos Kosmos, Dafni or Agios Dimitrios. The night busses (00:00 - 04:55) start from Dafni Metro Station- and not Ellinikon Metro Station- and it is a 45-minute- drive to or from the airport.

For the airport bus lines, the ticket costs 6-8 euros for one trip to or from the airport- or half price for students. You can buy tickets from the driver, at the metro stations or at Public Transport Ticket Offices. For more information about the bus schedules, please check the Oasa website.

It is crucial to pay attention to possible strikes in Greece that can affect the schedule of the buses or the metro or suburban railway. If you have any inconvenience and you want to find another way of transport, you can always ask at the Information Point of the airport.

Last but not least, if any other option fails, or you just had the bad luck to arrive on a general strike that affects the metro and the buses, then your last option would be to take a yellow taxi. If you find more than one people with whom you can share the fare, then that’s even better for you. It would be better to ask the driver in advance how much it will cost to take you to your destination, in order to avoid surprises and to take into account a possible traffic jam. Normally, the price should reach 38-45 euros, depending on the traffic conditions, or up to 60 after midnight, due to the double fare.

By Ship

Many people coming from Europe and Scandinavia take a train to one of the coastal cities of Italy where they can catch a ferry to Greece. The ports that connect Italy with Greece are Brindisi, Bari, Ancona, Venice and Trieste. The best-known companies of Greek ferries are Minoan, ANEK-Superfast, and Blue Star Ferries, with big modern comfortable ships, in many cases the pride of the fleet, with restaurants and cafes, and nice cabins. The shortest ferry trip is from Brindisi and that is where several boats leave every day. A slow ferry will take about 15 hours to Patras. The one from Bari port takes a little longer. The Ancona ferries take about 22 hours to Patras. There are ferries from Venice and Trieste too and these take about 36 hours. From Patras port, you can reach Athens in less than two hours by train or bus, that you will find exactly where the ships dock. Anyway, your best and most economical option if you don’t want to waste too many hours of travelling, is to travel to Greece by plane.

By bus

There are several buses that reach Athens from the various Balkan States, although it takes too much time to reach the capital. I guess the plane is again the most economic and less time-consuming way to get to Athens.

By train

Greece has a railway network that covers most of the country, and you can find trains going to Athens from other capitals, such as Sofia, but the duration of the trip is too long and the tickets expensive compared to the airline ones, so it would be better to choose a flight to Athens if you want your travel to be cheaper.

• Continue to Public Transport in Athens - Getting around Athens
• Return to Before arriving in Athens

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