Athens-Delphi Public Transport

Old Sep 14th, 2005, 09:19 AM
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Athens-Delphi Public Transport

Hi folks,

We are visiting Athens this November and are thinking of a trip to Delphi. We would like to avoid tour groups and companies and would like to use public transportation for this.

Does anyone know whether it will be possible to do Athens-Delphi-Athens via public transportation, and if so, any tips on where I can find information on bus numbers, schedules, etc ?

Thanks in advance.
carlposter05 is offline  
Old Sep 14th, 2005, 09:28 AM
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Yes, you can take public bus. It's been quite a while since I did that (1996--I was there in 2003 too but under different circumstances), so I don't know if bus schedules are available online or not. I got info from my hotel concierge. I remember I took a bus that left Athens about 7:30 in the morning or something close to that and was at the site by 10:15 or 10:30. I took a bus leaving Delphi about 5 pm or something close to that.

I recommend this highly because a) you can do your own thing; and b) you get to the site a good hour or more before the daytours start arriving. That trip of mine was in a Nov and I actually had the site all to myself for a time. Fantastic!

Tip though: on your bus ticket, you are assigned a seat on the bus (I assume it still works this way). Make sure you sit in your assigned seat. I didn't know there WAS an assigned seat and I got fussed at in Greek for stealing somebody else's by mistake!
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Old Sep 14th, 2005, 01:47 PM
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Absolutely, positively DO NOT take public transportation to Delphi unless you have really good information before you go. I just did it in July and it was a nightmare. The bus ride was fine - cheap, comfortable, air-conditioned. But we stupidly followed the advice in our Frommer's guidebook that said there were daily buses back & forth between Athens and Delphi. There are not. They run on strange schedules, depending on the day. On the day we were there, there wasn't a return bus until the next day. We got stuck overnight in Delphi, which is a very small town. The bus station is a tiny little desk that a guy sits at when he feels like it. We waited for him to return for hours so we could find out when the next bus was.

I rarely feel the touristy route is the best choice, but in this case, I'd say you're better off on a tour bus or hiring a taxi or rental car for the day.
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Old Sep 14th, 2005, 04:28 PM
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You could find out in Athens what the Delphi--Athens return bus schedule is (from hotel concierge, tourist information office, or at bus station). Then you wouldn't get stuck in Delphi. I would imagine Sunday would be a day of very few buses, so I wouldn't go that day via public transport.

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Old Sep 14th, 2005, 04:59 PM
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I found the website of the national intercity bus company:
http://www.ktel.org/en/timetable.asp#
Athens is in region Attiki and Delphi (Delfoi) is in region Fokida. For some reason there are two Delfois listed there, one worked and one didn't. I made it all the way to this screen for the Winter (Oct-May) schedule for the Athens-Amfissa route:
http://www.ktel.org/en/direct_routeways.asp
But my browser on home computer is outdated and wouldn't open that link. Maybe it will work for you.

Haha, that site makes me remember a challenge of that journey: the bus station ticket agent didn't tell me that Delphi was not the terminus (in addition to not telling me seats were assigned), so I did not know what name I was supposed to look for on the bus (Amfissa). So I had to go from bus to bus and say "Delphi? Delphi?" to the drivers who were loading up. Duh.

FYI there are three bus stations in Athens. If memory serves, buses to the north, including Delphi, leave from Station B on Lission Street or something like that.
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