Athens Public Transport & Metro

Info about Athens metro, hop on hop off buses and transport

Info and tickets for buses, metro and public transport options in the center of Athens Greece.

Public transport in Athens

The advantage of a Athens city trip is that most Athens sights are within walking distance of each other, so you rarely have to use the Athens 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 Athens hop-on hop-off buses at the most for sightseeing.

^{Metro of Athens}

^{The hop on hop off bus in Athens}

1. Athens 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 Athens 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.

• Metro tickets can be bought at the vending machines (or at some metro stations also a ticket office)
• Don't forget to stamp your metro ticket before boarding the metro!
• A single Athens metro 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)
• Tip: When you buy the popular Athens City Turbopass, you can optional add your public transport ticket
• To and from the airport you have to buy a special ticket for 9 €

2. Tip: Athens Travel Cards

Athens City Pass (Turbopass)

The Athens City Turbopass is the most comprehensive city pass for Athens, which has also optional public transport included. The Athens City Turbopass is valid for 1 to 6 days and gives you access to various museums and attractions. This new tourist card is especially interesting if you stay for a several days in Athens.

The Athens City Turbopass includes the following attractions:

• Admission to the Acropolis (and Parthenon)
• The Acropolis Museum
• Hop-on-hop-off city tour with audio guide
• Various museums such as: Museum of Illusions, Kotsanas Museum and Hellenic Motor Museum
• Optional: Day cruise from Athens to the three famous islands of Hydra, Poros and Aegina
• Optional: Public transport ticket
• More info and booking Athens City Turbopass

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 for transfers from Athens airport to 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 bus ticket, it is important to know that there are two different providers (the blue 'Sights of Athens' and the yellow 'Athens Open Tour' buses), which also have different routes for each company:

• Sights of Athens (blue buses): With a hop on hop off bus 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).
• Athens Open Tour (yellow buses): A ticket for 1 day of the yellow hop-on hop-off buses costs 21 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).