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Returning a car at Athens airport

Quick question on how much time it takes to return a car and get to the terminal at Athens airport.

We are driving back from Meteora and headed straight to the airport to catch our flight to the islands. I need to know how much time to allot.

First -- for flights to the island, is 1 hour enough time to arrive, or should we arrive sooner?

Second -- Returning the car. In the US, I allot 5 to 10 minutes as this is usually pretty quick (at Hertz). In other countries in Europe, I've seen this take a while. In Paris, we had to park the car in a parking lot, which took us 10 minutes to find a spot, then we had to wait in line at the check in desk. It took forever.

Lastly -- how much time will it take to get from the rental car return location to the terminal? Is this a bus/shuttle/train situation or is it walkable? How much time will I need? No small children or elderly folks with us, so we can move quickly, but would rather not have to sprint to get there.

In case it matters, our car rental is through Hertz.

Thanks in advance.

Posted by
2318 posts

Arriving at the airport follow the signs "Car Rental Park", (as in all airports in the world)
The rental car park is next to the airport. I don't know if Hertz has an office in the parking lot. (I don't think so).
The parking spaces for each rental company are indicated. From the car park you can reach the airport on foot in less than 10 minutes to the arrivals hall where there is the Hertz office.

I don't know the Hertz specific procedures.

Posted by
2783 posts

I always allocate an hour for returning a car just in case.

Do you need to check luggage for your flight? You can’t carry on very much. I don’t think an hour is enough time. I would allot at least 90 mInutes.

I would plan to be at Airport 2.5 hours before flight.

Also it is about a five hour drive from Meteora to the airport. So I would leave Meteora 7.5 hours before the flight.