Dreamer2

Hello!
I understand there is both a metro and a bus going from the airport in Athens to Piraeus near the ports. Could someone tell me where to go / how to do this? Which do you prefer? Do you know the costs? Where do I find the station from the airport? Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks in advance!

mariha2912

http://www.aia.gr/traveler/access-an...on-with-ports/

Metro costs 8 euro and runs every half an hour from 6.30 till 23.30. It does not run at night. A change from Blue Line to Green Line on Monastiraki is necessary. Airport to Monastiraki is 40 minutes ride, then Monastiraki to Piraeus around 20 minutes.
Bus X96 costs 5 euro and runs day and night,on pick times diuring the day every 20 minutes, on night once or twice per hour. All airport buses depart outside arrivals terminal between exits 4&5.. Duration of trip depends on traffic conditions mainly. 60-90 minutes ride usually.

Personaly I am slightly more fond of the bus because at least you get to see something out of your window and after leaving airport, it collects passengers only by one or two stops near by.Then only dropping off passengers is allowed. So it does not get more crowded along the trip and trip is more pleasant and chances for pick pocketing less. Athens metro is partly on a train route in reality, so for some part of the ride you have views too but as far as it gets down town it serves as a normal metro line, picking up and collecting passengers and it can get extremely crowded along the very city center stops (where pick pocketing action concentrates).

Heimdall

I wouldn't dream of taking the metro from the airport to Piraeus! The Blue and Green lines are on two different levels, so it means negotiating a flight of stairs to get from one to the other, and with the extra time between the 40 minute and 20 minute train rides, in reality the metro usually takes just as long as the bus.

The X96 bus leaves directly next to Arrivals, and there is a ticket booth at the bus rank. Buy your ticket and validate it in the little machine inside the bus. There is an open area inside the bus to leave your luggage. The only people who get off before the first Piraeus stop are normally airport workers, and they won't have luggage. The first stop in Piraeus is near the ferries to Cyclades, and it's easy to spot these huge ships from the street. I believe there are stops further along the docks for ferries to Crete and the Dodecanese.

clausar

There is a brand new service available, that allows the purchase of tickets for the Athens metro/bus system with a mobile phone.

It is necessary to download an application available for both IOS and android mobile phones, which is available for free.

Here is more information about this new service ( unfortunately in greek..... )

http://www.oasa.gr/news.php?id=funk883&lang=en

Heimdall

Thanks for that, clausar! The TFA Ticket pages don't translate into English in the English version of the website, but those of us who aren't fluent in Greek can still read them via Google or Bing Translate. I tried using Google, and the translation was very clear and readable.

The new mobile service may be useful for someone staying in Athens for several days, but it would be nice if there were an English version of the app.

clausar

I downloaded the app , you can choose between greek and english and it gives all necassary information including Q & A's in english

Heimdall

That's great! Thanks again, clausar.

Dreamer2

Excellent information, everyone! Thank you so much for your help.