My husband and I are travelling to Greece in mid-September and will be driving to a resort in Killini (Peloponnese west coast) after staying for two nights in Athens.
I am curious what experiences others have found when renting a car in Greece and driving throughout Peloponnese? Is it easy to navigate? How long should we expect the drive to be? (One guide book estimates 3.5 hours and another 8.5! What a huge difference!) Are gas stations easy to find and use?
Also, we are not planning to rent a car until we are ready to leave Athens, as we understand that driving and parking in Athens can be nearly impossible. Should we book a rental in advance or rely on our concierge service to help us once we are there (we are staying at the Grand Bretagne, if that helps). We will need to return the car at the airport, but should we also rent the car there (travel back to the airport with our luggage, etc) or use a rental agency in town (or, again, plan to rely on the concierge)?
Any advice would be very much appreciated! I am so excited about this trip, but the car rental worries are keeping me up at night!

Hi skriker.

I can't speak to Killini and the distance, but driving in the Peloponnese is great. Lots of well posted signs in English make it easy to get around. Gas stations are frequent and the same as anywhere else. If you get a tourist map of the region it should have gas stations marked as well. I would consider hopping on the metro picking up the car at the airport, then you can circumnavigate Athens and its busy traffic altogether. I believe there is a fee for picking up and dropping off the car in differnet locations too, so that is another reason to just pick it up at the airport. It is relatively easy to rent a car - September is already off season, so you could probably just comparison shop and rent a car upon arrival without reservations (unless you need an automatic). However, I would probably reserve online or in advace just to be sure - though I wouldn't put any money down or provide any credit card info. I don't know if I would trust the concierge to get you the best price.

Good Travels,

Murphy

Thank you Murphy! Your advice is a huge help!

Hi skriker,

I posted a great deal of deal on our experience renting a car in Athens (go the airport route) and driving in the Peloponnese.


http://fodors.com/forums/threadselec...p;tid=34809276

Thanks, TexasAggie!

No problem. Feel free to post any questions and I'll take a stab at answering them

Skriker, the 3.5 hour estimate to Kyllini is about right and all the way you will be on nice newer roads. Remember this is the also the way to Ancient Olympia and Kyllini is where people catch the ferry to the island of Zakynthos so this a well travelled area. I've rented cars at the airport and parked in Athens not fun but doable but I've also picked up the rentals downtown most of the major car rental places have offices around Amalias and Syngrou areas just make sure they map the way for you back to the highway. I've always booked my car rentals ahead of time last year I booked three rentals from Thrifty at diffrent times and they had the best rates by far, they also didn't charge us for picking up downtown and dropping off at the airport. Also there is plenty of gas stations in Greece all along the roads, very easy to use.

To skriker...We found driving in Greece to be fairly easy. We did around 3000K including taking the car on a ferry to one of the islands. Before departing the USA we rented from Hertz. We have usually had good experiences with them but not so this time. The car was an older, underpowered Hyundi and the representative who did the paperwork for us was less than helpful. In your situation, I would try to arrange a rental in Athens. Have them deliver the car to the hotel when you're ready to leave. I'm sure they do it all the time. The hotel should provide you with direction to help departing the city, in case the rental company fails to do so. Order the necessary Michelin maps now. Airport drop off should be free of charge. Sometimes a city pick up will be less expensive because you may save some airport taxes although I'm not sure about Athens.
Unless you folks are really skilled at driving a shift car, request an automatic.
Finally, it may be helpful to you to visit viamichelin.com or mappy.com and print out your driving routes before your trip. This will also provide details about drive times and distances.

We had a good experience with Economy Car Rentals in May this year. Their prices are very good and with no excess or extras to pay. They are based about 5 minutes from the airport, right by the dual-carriageway out of Athens, so it's easy to get on your way and to drop off the car on the way back. They provide a minibus to and from the airport and will also pick up and drop off at city centre hotels.

https://www.economycarrentals.com/de...33&lang=01

We just returned from a very nice trip. Driving on the Peloponnese is fine. We rented a car through Alamo before our trip. We picked it up at a station in Athens (took a taxi from our hotel) and drove on out. When we returned, we got lost and could not find the place, so followed the signs to the airport and turned it in there, no problem. I would probably recomend the airport route for this reason. The Peloponnese itself is fine for driving, but Athens is tough.