Athens Travel Forum

My husband and I will be taking the ferry from Santorini to Piraeus and arriving quite late- around 1 AM. We fly out of the Athens airport the next day at 11 AM, so will only be spending one night in the city. Our options are:

1. Stay at a hotel near the port and take the metro or taxi to the airport in the morning, or

2. Take a taxi directly to a hotel near the airport at 1 AM and spend the night at an airport hotel.

Option 2 is much more expensive. We would prefer to stay near the port if possible, but only if it is safe to spend the night there and arrive at a local hotel that late. We have never been to Greece, but my experience in other countries (including our own) is that the area by the port is sometimes a little seedy.

Has anyone spent the night down there? If so, any recommendations for a safe, reasonably-priced hotel?

Thank you very much.

-Danielle

I wish I wish that new posters would not withhold vital info -- what is your exact date of travel?? Because it affects transport to the airport.... the Metro line to the airport is disrupted starting July 1 -- but u make us guess. Please share!


You are right, a port area can be very "seedy." However, if you could find reliable safe lodgings, it WOULD make your logistics simpler. And I think I hve a recommend for you -- actually direct from an expert, the moderator of "About GReece" bulletin board. It is http://ionionhotel.com/. She says it is clean, safe, a pleasant surprise with a lovely breakfast, and reasonable too!

If you will click on location, you will see it is only half a block in from the big waterfront avenue, one block away from the Metro station, If you aren't overloaded with luggage, you can just roll your bags down the big street, turn and there you are!

In the morning, for an 11 am international flight you will have to be there at 9 am. If your trip is before July 1, you can just take the Metro (Green Line) to Piraeus (25 mins), buy a ticket to airport at window (6€ for 2), 45 minutes on Airport express, blue line. However, may be simpler to take the X93 airport express bus which is on a corner beyond the Metro line. In rush-hour traffic this will take 90 minutes but no changing involved... a taxi will take nearly as long since it uses the exact same route as the bus, and will cost a BUNDLE.

First of all, my apologies for not including all the relevant information about our trip. We will be traveling at the end of May, and the specific night in question is May 30th-31st. So we shouldn't be affected by the disruption in Metro service.

Thank you for the information and the recommendations. Both were extremely helpful. I now have a much better idea of our options.

-Danielle

In my answer i slightly mistyped the Metro directions and also gave (eek) wrong info. Here is the Metro map which makes it all crystal-clear. PRINT AND TAKE.

IF YOU DECIDE ON THE METRO....

Walk to Piraeus Metro station (1st train is about 5:30 but they go every 15 mins or so on weekends). Go to the window. Ask if you can get a ticket there to the Airport. The airport fare is 6€ for 2 people (isn't that cute? they have a "couples" ticket!!). That will save you buying a ticket at the interchange. Take the train (Green Line) to MONASTIRAKI Station. There is a "station strip" overhead in the cars, so you can see when it's coming up. Also, a ton of people get off there. This will take about 25 minutes

You get off, and walk down a hallway to the BLUE LINE. THere will be signs for the AIRPORT train of the Blue Line. Be sure you get that train...there are others that don't go as far. The airport train takes about 45 minutes.

THE BUS OPTION
It isn't much faster than the "quoted" bus times and you are going on a Saturday
so there should not be so much car trafiic, so you may do just as well on the bus. Good luck!

After all that about the Metro I forgot to give you the link to the Metro Map!!
http://www.esmac2007.gr/athensInfo.pdf

I'm not answering your question directly & to the point, and I hope I don't confuse you with more options for what you are asking, but anyway, here is my contribution.
Anyone else reading this please make any corrections in case I have made errors!

Whatever you do, you won't have much time at the hotel overnight. If your flight leaves at 11am, you need to be at the airport around 9am (10am at the latest), and from Piraeus to the airport you should allow an hour for that in the morning.

You have several options
1. hotel near airport
2. hotel in Piraeus
3. hotel in Glyfada or Faliro
4. hotel downtown (see explanation below)

1.
There are two hotels near the airport.
- The Sofitel at the airport itself. This is a more costly option but you are already at the airport, so no hurry in the morning.
- The Holiday Inn at Attica Avenue a few kilometers away, which is accessible from Piraeus by taxi. Don't confuse this with the other Holiday Inn in downtown Athens!

Going straight to the airport area hotels upon arrival may allow you a little bit more time in the morning, as you won't have to rush to get to the airport then. But as you probably know, if you take a taxi from Piraeus to the airport hotels, it will cost you dearly. There is the possibility of taking the express bus from Piraeus to the airport, if you choose to stay at the Sofitel. (See bus timetable details provided further below).

(After writing about how to get to these hotels from Piraeus late at night, I feel that it's just too confusing. I'd skip all the way down to the end of all this to suggestion number 4.)

Some buses from the aiport going downtown (inbound) make a stop at the Holiday Inn, but the express bus from Piraeus takes a different route, so this is the drawback of the Holiday Inn. To get to the Holiday Inn from Piraeus you'd have to take a taxi. What you will pay to get to the Holiday Inn may make it as costly an option as the Sofitel.
The only economical option I can think of is to take the Piraeus-to-airport express bus, and from the aiport by taxi to the Holiday Inn (sounds confusing, but it's the cheaper option than taking a taxi all the way from Piraeus to the Holiday Inn).
Once at the Holiday Inn near the airport, you'll have to figure this detail out: How to get from Holiday Inn to the airport in the morning. The hotel staff or website can clarify this.

2.
If you decide to stay closer to Piraeus when you disembark from the ferry --->
I follow the "About Greece" newsletter also & and can vouch for deTraci Regula's information. She is usually spot on, so do consider her recommendation.

3.
Another option is to take a relatively short taxi ride from Piraeus towards the coastal areas of Faliro or Glyfada and stay at a hotel there. It shouldn't be more than 15 euros even with the after-midnight taxi rates. There are plenty of hotel options in this area, since the old Athens airport used to be in this vicinity. The next day you can take a taxi back to the metro station in Piraeus, or to the Faliro metro stop, if you want to take the metro to the airport. The Faliro metro station may be more convenient as you will be avoiding the hustle of central Piraeus.

From Piraeus to the airport, there is also the X96 express bus schedule -->
http://www.oasa.gr/index.asp?asp=routes/bus_stop.asp&route_id=+%D796&rvariant_id=1&medium=0&s_t=ola
(To read the bus route: "Afetiria" means starting point, in this case Piraeus. The second stop "Stathmos ISAP" is the metro station in Piraeus, and "ISAP N. Falirou" is the metro station in Faliro, onward to the end, when the bus arrives finally at the airport terminus, "Aerimenas Athenon". On the same aiport info page you will see the timetable with departure times from Piraeus. Between 7am and 9am there are 8 buses departing from Piraeus to the airport.

I mention this bus option to the airport because it passes through Glyfada. So if you can figure out a hotel in Glyfada that is next to an airport express bus stop you may find that convenient! The bus also makes a stop in the central Glyfada square, "Platia Glyfada".

4.
Υou are arriving in Piraeus on May 30, which is a Friday.
The metro system on Fridays and Saturdays operates late into the night. You may have enough time to take the metro from Piraeus into downtown, and stay at a hotel close to Monastiraki station.

Here is the link to the last trains departing from Piraeus going towards downtown Athens http://www.isap.gr/pr.detailed.asp?id=80 You will see that the last two metro trains leaving Piraeus are at 2:15am and 2:30am.
If you are willing to take the late night metro from Piraeus into downtown -- the only thing ruining this option would be for the ferry to arrive late in Piraeus and for you to miss the last train at 2:30am -- you can stay at a hotel a short walking distance from Monastiraki train station downtown.
Friends of mine have stayed at the Attalos and the Cecil (both on Athinas street), with the Attalos being the recommended one. There is also the Arion Hotel, but it's slightly further away from the Monastiraki metro station. The next morning you walk to Monastiraki Station and head for the airport via metro. I would not suggest any other hotels further than Monastiraki or Thission stations in the downtown area, since you are on such a short time limit. (Nearest hotel to Thission metro station is the Jason Inn).

Timewise and moneywise, my last suggestion with a stay in a Monastiraki hotel is in my opinion the most convenient option. But, as I said above, if your ferry arrives late into Piraeus and you miss the 2:30am last train departing from Piraeus station, you will have to take a taxi to get to Monastiraki. If it was me, I'd still chance it, because I still think taking a taxi from Piraeus into Monastiraki is still cheaper & less of a hassle than going all the way to the airport hotels late at night, or even staying in the Piraeus / Glyfada / Faliron areas. From Monastiraki (or Thission) it is convenient to take the metro in the morning when you depart for the airport.