Julie Forrest

My husband and I are going to Greece next week for the first time. I've been pouring over your forum and still have a couple of questions. <BR> <BR>1. I understand that the international terminal and the domestic terminal in Athens are separated. Our International flight arrives at 11:40am and our Agean Aviation flight leaves at 1:30pm. Is this enough time to negotiate customs, retrieve baggage and travel to the other terminal? Are the directions to the other terminal clearly marked in English? How does one get to the other terminal? Walking, bus, train, taxi? <BR> <BR>2. We (being American) are used to purchasing everything (food, souveniers, etc) by credit card. We are staying at a large hotel on Crete for 5 nights, Rhodes Park Suites for 2 nights, and then in Athens for 2 nights before heading home. The hotel on Crete is large, and has several restaurants, I don't know about Rhodes, and the Athens one has at least one restaurant. Am I correct in assuming that a hotel restaurant will be able to charge meals to your room or accept a credit card so that we don't have to carry alot of cash or travellers checks with us? <BR> <BR>3. We are going to be gone for 10 days. Is it better to take travellers checks with us and exchange them for cash once we get there? If so what is better, airport, bank, hotel? I think I even saw someone suggest a post office for exchanging dollars for drachmas. <BR> <BR>Thanks in advance, <BR>Julie

Paulo

Didn't use the domestic terminal. When we were there were works going on all over the international terminal (preparing for the Olympic games). The Terminal is small. Going through customs was fast. It was awfully hot (early July). <BR> <BR>We didn't go to a single restaurant in Greece for dinner that didn't accept credit cards. We never dined at our hotels (except once in Patras). <BR> <BR>We had two one hundred dollar bills for emergencies. We never got to use them (4 weeks in Greece and Turkey). There are ATMs all over the place (bring more than one card because the magnetic tape may get ruined). We got 90,000 drachmas from an ATM at the airport and then we cashed again every time we were under 20,000 drachmas or so (in our case we were charged $3 each ATM operation). Forget about travellers checks. The exchange rate is much worse than at ATMs. <BR> <BR>Paulo <BR> <BR>

Robin

I agree with Paulo about the cash situation. It sounds like you will only be in situaltions where it shouldn't be a problem. The only places we needed cash were small island towns (I assume the same is true in smaller towns on the mainland). <BR> <BR>Regarding your questions about arrival, I believe there are two airports. We flew Olympic internationally, so it arrived at the same airport where Olympic's local flights leave from (not sure about Aegean Aviation). However, if you had to negotiate from one airport to another, rather than just between terminals, it might be tight. I'm sure your international carrier can tell you where it arrives. <BR> <BR>Hope you love Greece as much as I did!

carol

As I recall when I was there 2 years ago, the terminals were connected. I had to go through customs and get the luggage and then go to the right side after exiting customs and recheck the luggage at the next terminal which is much smaller. It was all in the same building. I would think the time would be enough, but we waited a long time for the luggage to come through and then had to stand in line for customs. Assuming your luggage arrived with you, you should have time. My mom went with me and he luggage didn't catch up with her for 5 days! <BR>We used travelers checks in Athens and on the islands and had to problems finding banks to cash them at.

mikki

Hi, We just used the Athens terminal last week. We checked our luggage through to our last destination so we wouldn't have to pick up our luggage and take it through customs, etc. We had a 2 hour window like you will have but our luggage didn't make it to our next city. ( We flew Olympic Air and KLM). <BR> <BR> You can take a bus that runs about every 20 minutes and then it is at least 10 minutes to get to the other terminal. I would take a taxi...that's what we did. Taxis are VERY CHEAP!!! <BR> <BR> <BR>As far as the cash, you get a pretty good exchange rate at the ATM's. I prefer ordering some foreign cash ahead of time through my bank just for the convenience. We charged all the big ticket items...rental cars, hotel, etc. <BR> <BR>Have fun. Let me know if you have any other questions. What island are you going to??

miiki

Also, the signs to the other terminal were not clearly marked and there was no one at the information booth or anyone official around. This was in the middle of the afternoon. We ended up asking a flight attendant for directions.

Julie Forrest

Thank you for the replies... By the way, does anyone know of a good translator? Preferably one that speaks? I will carry a few phrases written out on a card in my wallet, but I will probably murder the pronounciation. <BR>I would need the translator in English/Greek.

lottie

The international and domestic terminals are NOT connected (unless your international flight is on Olympic Airways). In other words, Olympic has its own terminal for both domestic and international, but this terminal is some distance away from the terminal where all of the other international carriers arrive. You cannot walk between the two terminals. We generally take a taxi from one to another if we are rushed for time, otherwise we take the Olympic Airways shuttle bus, which is very easy. As for directions in English or Greek, because the domestic terminal is in a completely different location, directions are kind of irrelevant -- you just need to find the taxi stand or the shuttle bus loading point. (Unless you are arriving internationally on Olympic Airways, in which case, yes -- there is clear signage in English. Assuming you are not flying on Olympic, what you probably ought to do is head straight out of the building and get in the line at the taxi stand, to get a ride to the domestic terminal. <BR>As to the timing, it is very fast to go through customs, but you need to know that in Greece the airplanes do not go right up to the gate. Instead, the plane stops in the runway, and buses take the passengers from the runway to the gate, which sometimes takes longer than it ought to. Also, it is not uncommon for international flights to run a little late. Then, when you get to the domestic terminal, if you haven't been able to check your bags through, you are going to have to check your bags, and depending on where you are going, there can be long lines and a long wait. Unless you are arriving internationally on Olympic, if it were me, the connection would be too close for comfort. It is possible, but highly speculative, that you would make a connection that is this tight. It sounds like you are going from the airport to Crete. If this is the case, there are many flights to Crete and you can probably schedule one that is a little later than what you have currently arranged. <BR>As for money, I agree with the others on ATMs. I've gone to Greece pretty much every year since 1985, and since the installation of ATMs at every bank, have relied on this source for money. Credit cards are accepted most large places, although if you plan on adventuring to eat in village tavernas, you probably are going to need cash.