Athens airport to hotel?

I’ve not used them, but I have used Welcome Pickups, and have always been happy with them. I’m guessing booking.com is just the middleman, and will book your ride with a company who does that, so why not go straight to the company that does it? It would probably be cheaper.

Anita above was reading my mind and stated everything I wanted to write.

Isn't Welcome Pickups a middleman too?

Yes, Welcome Pickups is a middleman, but they're based in Athens and their only job is to book taxis and nothing else, taxis that you can easily just grab directly at the airport.

By using Booking.com, you are simply adding another extra middleman since Booking.com won't be in direct contact with the taxi driver but will go through an middleman like WP.

I only use WP in Athens when public transportation schedules don't work out. Otherwise, I've always either taked a cab from the stand or used Welcome Pickups, and everything has always gone smoothly with friendly, English-speaking drivers.

When we flew into Athens last year, we just walked out of the airport and took a cab from the official taxi queue - 3 of us plus luggage, no pre-arrangements and no problems.

We use booking.com to make many of our refundable reservations for accommodations, but I would not use them to book flights - I am too much of a control freak and heard too many horror stories about booking through any 3rd party service—I book directly with airline. HOWEVER, last year when flying into New York, booking.com offered us free transportation from JFK to our hotel in Greenpoint Brooklyn. We booked it with the philosophy of “if it works, great! If it does not, we will take an Uber.” It worked flawlessly, communication with the car service was excellent and while in the car riding to our hotel I checked and the same ride would have cost us around $140.

So, the above was a long way of saying I would book via booking.com if it is free and be ready to take a cab if it does not work out - you then would not be out any money. I would not PAY for it via booking; however, I as illustrated, I am a terrible control freak…

We used booking dot com last May several times and were quite happy with the service including a 5 am pickup from Piraeus to the airport.

What’s up with people here unwilling or unable to use Athens’ excellent metro to get to Athens center from the airport? My wife and I have used it the three consecutive years that we traveled to Athens and it’s been great. Stop contesting the streets and use public transportation.

Place my husband and me in the “unable” category. We use public transportation when we are not dealing with luggage and are not battling jet lag. After having dealt with stairs / broken escalators with our luggage (even just carry ons and a medical bag), we now take a car / cab when toting our luggage. Once we are checked in to our accommodations, we walk or take public transportation until we are checking out. In some areas where we are familiar with our surroundings and the logistics of getting around, we will walk, e-bike or take public transportation - Florence comes immediately to mind.

Not sure why I felt the need to defend our process, but these are changes we have made to continue traveling.

The metro is great, and easy!

If you’re going to use the Metro be very aware of your belongings after a sleep deprived international flight. My husband’s buddy on our RS Greece tour had his wallet taken. Not quite the way you want to start a great tour.

And as the above posted said, no one should have to defend the way they get to their hotel after a long international flight. You do what’s good for you!!!

A couple of months ago we just walked out of the airport and the X95 Express Bus to Syntagma Square was waiting right outside the door. We got on and bought tickets from the bus driver for €6.00. It took under 60 minutes, and we got a tour of the city.

The Metro is fast and goes to Syntagma Square & onwards, and people keep being amazed that some do not take it. There are a number of reasons, which Metro enthusiasts may not have taken into consideration. Here are a few
• Many people have accommodations that are not near a Metro Stop, even if they take the trouble to CHANGE trains -- which may be a challenge at a busy time, with no experience in this system. If you have heavy bags & are tired, it is not fun to walk half a mile.
• Especially from USA, (where public transit has been systematically destroyed in many areas) many people are new to European travel are actually "public transportation virgins". They might manage a bus maybe, but a Metro unnerves them
• The pickpocket peril is real espceially if people are jet-lagged groggy, lugging bulky suitcases, unused to warchful awareness. A Metro car may be empty at the start, but jammed full by the time Central Athens arrives. The door open/shut quickly, newcomers struggle to get thru a crowd to exit, and that's when the thieves strike.
• Even if all goes well & they arrive at Syntagma Square, or Monastiraki Square, its still a hassle to get out... one must take stairs or escalators to reach the surface (a savvy "Greece Vet" I know lost his billfold on th escalator.
• Final reason -- there is ANOTHER really good public transit option, which I've taken whenever arriving alone. Right outside the Airport door 5, is a bus platform wher X95 express bus goes to Syntagma about every 30 minutes. It's cheaper than Metro & you can buy tickeet (half price for senions) at the kiosk there, or just use a Mastercard or Visa onboard. Your baggage igoes right INSIDE the bus in a central pen, right by your seat. On this express run, no passengers admitted after airport, & only 1 exit stop at a highwy hotel I thik, so no grab-and-run. You can sit & doze, or watch for famous landmarks as bus nears city's center. Bus terminates at Syntagma, so no rush-rush to exit... take your sweet time & step out right at the curb. When u calculate the time waiting and time exiting... about same travel-time as Metro. If your lodging is anywhere near there, do consider this.

Was just in Athens last week. Took a taxi from the airport to our hotel in the city center. There is an official flat rate of 40 Euro, which includes all fees, tolls,and baggage. In addition, credit cards must be accepted by law. I knew all of this beforehand. Now for our ride...

A few minutes into the ride, the driver starts talking about "pay cash" in broken English. I kept saying "card, no cash" and eventually he stopped. As we got closer to our hotel he pulled into a gas station. An attendant at the station came to the car with a credit card reader in hand. The two conversed in Greek then the driver told me "Pay him 50 Euro or pay me 50 Euro at hotel you can choose."

I said NFW I'm paying him at a gas station. We finished the last 5 minutes of the ride and finally got to our hotel. Then the dance began. 50 Euro vs. 40 Euro. Cash vs. Card. I made sure to be as loud as possible as we argued and soon some hotel staff came to the curb and did some translating. First he pretended his credit card reader didn't work. "Just pay me cash 50 Euro." NFW. after more arguing he agreed to 40 Euro. I gave him my Mastercard and he pretended to process it. Then came, "No Mastercard, Only Visa" "That's total BS!" I told him (I worked in credit card processing for 15 years). Nice try, but I also carry a Visa card. He finally gave up and processed 40 Euro on my Visa card. I took a picture of him and his license plate to file a complaint later. Another guest at our hotel overheard our little kerfuffle and said their taxi driver wanted 110 Euro for their airport ride and they reluctantly paid 90 Euro.

We used the Freenow app from then on. It hails a taxi, but pricing is locked in, tipping optional. Our airport return with Freenow was 41 Euro, which we were fine with. Our driver spoke decent English and we had a pleasant conversation on the way. I would recommend Freenow. By the way, our hotel offered to hail a taxi for 46 Euro.

@traditravel
Wow - you handled a bad situation very well!

From the airport we typically go to the official taxi queue, but before we load anything into the cab, we confirm price and payment by credit card. Like you reference, we use the common ride hailing app for that area (Freenow, G7 etc.) to schedule any other rides - that way the cost of the ride and the payment process are confirmed before we ride.

We took a taxi upon arrival in Athens because it was after dark . It was a flat rate fair. Would not let the driver charge more. Upon leaving, we took the train as it was during the day. Also had found out our hotel was only 4 blocks away. The bus sounds like a good alternative, but we left from the cruise port in Piraeus. Just had to change train for this move.

110 Euro for their airport ride and they reluctantly paid 90 Euro.

YIKES. I'm familiar with the rules around official rates to central Athens and Piraeus, and while we used to use Welcome Athens or whatever, they do overcharge for the convience, and so this time, as we had heavy luggage and wanted to make a particular ferry to Agistri, we decided to just grab a cab from the airport. First guy quoted us 90 to Pireus. No way! Ended up deciding to go with FreeNow (I prefer to pay using apps anyway) and got it for the "normal" price (60 I think?) plus a small service charge, but it beats that kind of situation.

Took the Metro back, as it's a quite short walk from E8 in Piraeus and we had time to kill. But man is that a long, long Metro ride from Piraeus to the airport

Sorry to hear about the problem with the taxi driver and his "partner in crime" gas station attendant.

While most taxi drivers are honest and won't take advantage of people there are always those who want to rip you off.

I've only taken a taxi a few times and never had a problem.

There are several alternatives to the taxis waiting at the airport.

Book a private transfer with door to door service at a set price.

Take the Metro or Bus while a little more involved is not that difficult and is a lot less expensive.

However, that may depend on where your are staying and how far of a walk it is.

I've walked from Athinas Street to the bus "depot" near Syntagma and it's not that difficult but I have a small suitcase on wheels and a backpack carry on and I made it without much effort.

However, normally I take the Metro to/from Athens and never had a problem with pick pockets but I am aware of what needs to be done to avoid it . . . so far!

Sarah: Yes it's a long Metro ride but the cost is much less expensive and you won't get ripped off.

Obviously a private transfer will be safe, door-to-door service but at a price and probably quicker as many of the drivers tend to exceed the speed limit.

You pay extra for all that but if it's within your budget especially if there are two or more of you may be worth the cost.