BYoung4u2

Will be arriving in early evening into Athens airport the day after the Olympics and will be taking a taxi into town...does anyone have any idea as to what this might/should cost? thanks...Bob

taggie

Here is what I was told about Athens taxis:
The rates can vary depending on a lot of different things.
There's a cost for each bag or suitcase (over 10kg). The rates inside the city limits and outside are different. If you get your hotel to book one, it costs more.
They charge more for going to/from the airport, the port or train stations.
And the rates are different for different times of the day.
Plus if you flag one down (not if you book it ahead), the driver can pick up other passengers along the way if they are going to the same area.

I did a search on here (Athens taxi) and one thread mentioned the fare as maximum 30 euros, depending on where you're going. M_kingdom was there last month and the fare was 15 euros to the Hotel Grand Bretagne.

Why don't you take the metro?

111op

In a same day round-trip from the airport, within a span of three hours (don't ask why I did this), the trip from the airport was slightly over 30 and the return trip was slightly over 20.

They both used the meter, but I realized in retrospect that when I took the taxi from the airport, the meter was running a lot faster.

I had no luggage.

I'd say that they obviously took advantage of me. Low 20s would probably be the fair rate.

m_kingdom2

The fare was 15EUR on the meter, however, the driver added a "christmas present" of 10EUR to cover luggage etcetera, so budget for around 30EUR, it's cheap - London is around 60GBP for a taxi from airport to centre.

oddy

It might cost between 20-30 euros. However, you will be able to get the bus for 2.90 or the metro for 8 euros. The same price is for the suburban as well.

111op

The Metro is running now? I guess they've finally completed the rail link?

The bus is fine -- I used it last year. You can get off at Syntagma. Quite convenient. That wasn't an option for me this year though.

m_kingdom2

Whilst buses and trains are far cheaper, they don't offer a door to door service. You're far better off with a taxi which will drop you directly where you want to be. If you're not on a tight budget then I wouldn't start with waiting around for buses.

Eleni

I've got to agree with mk2 on this one. We've always taken taxis, but on the last trip decided to see what the bus was like. Well, it was a very long ride that did not take the most direct route from the airport, and left us in an inconvenient spot. Not exactly what I want to deal with after a long airplane ride -- even though we didn't have any baggage with us, the hassle was not worth the cost savings. And the 20-30 Euro estimate for a taxi from the airport to central Athens is dead on.