Important Alert for anyone planning to take the Athens Metro to/from Athens airport!

Due to construction of a new station, the Line to the Airport will be CLOSED between February and October. (what a genius move of the govt. to close this vital link during tourist season!).

According to a well-informed Greece expert on another forum, there is a "work-around" involving a suburban line, but it requires SEVERAL changes and is not good if you have much baggage.

This leaves the alternative (which was the main transport in the past), the X-95 express bus running 24/7 from Syntagma Square about every 20-30 minutes. Reportedly they are adding busses to handle increased crowds -- but it still could mean standees.

The time difference isn't much if you are going in the evening or very early morning (about 45-50 minutes by bus, about 40-45 by Metro). However if you must travel by day, allow for traffic delays especially during the prolonged rush hours. Just factor this bad news into yr planning.

A taxi from the airport to the Syntagma Square area should cost between 30-35 euros.

Thingorjus

What a shame that it's closed for so long! We used the metro in Oct to reach Athens airport from the port and were really impressed. Good signage, cheap, nice clean carriages, good service. Pity they can't think of another way to build the station but not close the line.
Kay

KayF-

There's now a direct train between the airport and Piraeus. I don't know the route, never having taken it, so I don't know if it would have to pass through the station under construction, but perhaps someone else does. And of course there's the Airport>Piraeus Express Bus #96.

The Pireaus to airport bus takes only about an hour, and is very convenient, although the new bus stop is a little further away from the Cyclades docks than the old one.

When at Athens Airport last September, I enquired about the direct train between the airport and Piraeus, as I had heard about it on other Fodor's threads. I asked at both metro and suburban railway windows at the train station, and both told me there is no direct connection, which seemed a little strange. Can anyone confirm whether or not there is actually such a train?