Hi, I need advice on getting to meteora and then back to athens to catch a flight. At this point. I plan to take a train from Athens city near acropolis to Meteora. Anyone know times or prices of this average trip. I would like to get to Meteora as early as possible. We will stay two nights and then I would like to leave first thing in the morning on a Friday to either train or rent a car to get us to Athens aiprot for a 13:40 flight with Ryanair to Chania, Crete. Is is possible for me to get a train and make a flight this early or will I need to drive or find a later flight? Any suggestions on this? Is a car hire or rental even possible for us to drive one way from meteora to athens airport and drop it off? How much would a car hire be to drive us? I guess my back up plan is to stay in two nights in Delphi instead of meteora to make transportation to airport easier but I would still like to do a day trip to meteora if we did this option. Also please no responses about Covid-19. I am well aware and this trip will happen after all of that and I just need this information please. Thanks!
Posted by
Eastern Iowa, USA
8050 posts
do not have the exact details available, but be aware that there is only one train a day, I believe, between Meteora and Athens, this includes a stop or change along the way. I would also not bet on split second timing for transportation in Greece, including the time to get from the train station to the airport.
I think your best bet is to rent a car at the Athens Airport, and return to there. For a 13:40 flight, you are probably looking at leaving Kalambaka at 8:00 or before, so that day is pretty much just a travel day, no activities.
Posted by
Rick Steves' Europe
16895 posts
Train tickets cost about $30 in 2nd class. See www.trainose.gr. The earliest train is direct from central Athens but there are a few more per day with one connection.
Posted by
CA
2141 posts
I did the early morning direct train from Athens. It’s about a 5 hour trip. I would not try and return on the same day of having to catch a flight.
Posted by
Edmonds, WA 🌨 ☂
11875 posts
I would not try and return on the same day of having to catch a flight.
Make your trip less stressful and heed Diane's advice.
Posted by
Carmel, CA, USA
2456 posts
Have you visited the web site visitmeteora.travel ? They provide a lot of information about visiting the area, including various forms of transportation, tours, etc. I visited the area in 2017 from Athens, booking a package through this site which included: round-trip train to Kalabaka, leaving one morning, returning the next evening; room with breakfast at a nice hotel in Kalabaka; 3-hour sunset tour; 3-hour morning tour; free time in Kalambaka for meals and wandering around the town. This worked fine for me. I found the train ride modestly scenic but quite long and boring, bring some food and a good book; as I remember, the train ride was scheduled for about 5.5 hours each way, but actually took somewhat longer. The evening train did not get back into Athens until after 11:00 pm. The tours were good, with several stops with scenery, and entry into whatever monasteries were open on those days and times. I enjoyed poking around the town, having meals, and visiting an ancient church which was also a stop on the sunset tour. This small church had two rooms, a sanctuary with beautiful ancient frescoes, and an anteroom also with ancient frescoes but this room was quite blackened; I was told the church had been occupied by the Nazis during WWII and they used the anteroom for cooking, thus it was covered with soot. I know there were also ways to visit the monasteries by hiking or biking, either with tours or o your own. Also, there was at least one hotel closer to the monasteries than Kalambaka.
Posted by
Athens
8 posts
The best way is to rent a car and also visit Delphi. You can go to Meteora the first day and sleep there and the next day go to Delphi and sleep there. This way you will be only 2 hours from Athens and you will not have any stress to catch your plane.