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Booking train from Athens Airport to Kalambaka

Hi all, my girlfriend and I plan on visiting Meteora from 12th-14th July 2016. We are scheduled to land in Athens Airport on 12th July at 09:30, and intend to head to Meteora directly from the airport.

Looking at the Greek Railways website, we are looking to take three different trains:

Train 4414 from Athens Airport to SKA (Rail center of Acharnes) 12:44 to 13:13
Train 56 from SKA (Rail center of Acharnes) to Palaeofarsalos 14:27 to 18:05
Train 591 from Palaeofarsalos to Kalambaka 18:31 to 19:25

However, trains 4414 and 591 both say "This train does not support seat reservations. You can buy a ticket for this train if and only if you have at least one seat reservation at some other part of your journey."

Does this mean that these trains are completely unavailable to me? Or can I buy tickets in person at Athens? What are the chances of the train tickets selling out if we buy them about 5 days before the trip in person at Athens?

Thanks!

Posted by
16895 posts

Greece is a laid-back place where ferry, bus, and train tickets are commonly bought on short notice at travel agencies. Their railway web site wasn't even really operational for the past couple of years, as far as I could see. Most countries that sell train tickets online definitely prioritize that service for their faster or reserved trains, so it sounds like Greece just doesn't do online sales for the regional trains. Unreserved regional trains technically cannot sell out, even if they get crowded. I would plan to buy the tickets in Athens.