Transport & Metro in Athens

Info about tourist buses, metro and transport in Athens

All info about buses, metro and public transport options in the center of Athens Greece.

Transport in Athens

The advantage of a Athens city trip is that most sights are within walking distance of each other, so you rarely have to use public transport. The only location that is too far out of the city center is the port of Piraeus and the other reason you may want to use the metro network is for airport transfers. Probably you will ignore public transport for the rest of your city trip or use the hop-on hop-off buses at the most for sightseeing.

^{Metro of Athens}

^{The hop on hop off bus in Athens}

1. Metro

The Athens metro network consists of 3 metro lines. If you have a hotel in the center of Athens, your hotel is probably near the metro station 'Monastiraki', 'Syntagma' or 'Akropoli'. The metros run every 5 to 10 minutes. Usually the metro runs in the morning from 5:30 am to midnight during the week and until about 1:30 am on weekends. You can see the exact time schedule in this overview.

• Tickets can be bought at the vending machines (or at some metro stations also a ticket office)
• Don't forget to stamp your ticket before boarding the metro!
• A single ticket for a maximum of 90 minutes of travel costs 1.20 €
• A day ticket costs 4.10 €, a 5-day ticket 8.20 € (more info rates)
• To and from the airport you have to buy a special ticket for 9 €

2. Tip: Athens Travel Card

New: There is a new public transport product on the market, the Athens Travel Card. With this card you have the following transport including:

• Private taxi from Athens airport to your accommodation (one way), where the driver will meet you at the airport with a name sign.
• Optional: Athens public transport card for 3 days (EMT metro, bus and tram). You will then receive the metro card from your driver in the taxi.
• More info and bookings.

3. To and from Athens airport

You have a number of options to get from the airport to the center of Athens, namely by metro, taxi or shuttle bus. In this article we will tell you everything about the options between the airport and the city center.

4. Hop on hop off buses

As in any touristic city, you will also see the tourist hop on hop off buses in Athens. When purchasing your ticket, it is important to know that there are two different providers (the blue 'Sights of Athens' and the red'CitySightseeing' buses), which also have different routes for each company:

• Sights of Athens (blue buses): With a ticket you can travel unlimited for 1 day with 4 different lines, namely: Athens (orange line, along sights in the center), Piraeus (blue line, to the port of Piraeus), Glyfada (yellow line, along the Athenian Riviera) and Vouliagmeni (green line, along the beaches, among other things). This is the cheapest of both providers: a ticket costs only 13 euros and a family ticket 32 euros (more info and tickets).
• CitySightseeing (red buses): A ticket for 1 day of the red hop-on hop-off buses costs 20 euros. You can use 3 different lines, namely the Athens route passing most of the Athens tourist attractions, the Piraeus route towards the ports and cruise terminals and the Beach & Riviera route (more info and tickets).