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Travel from Airport

I suspect this has been covered but I cannot find a reference. We are arriving late in Athens (after 10:00 pm) and will need to travel from the Airport to the Acropolis Select motel. The taxis would be easiest but likely expensive and I'm not sure about the transit time on the metro or arrival at the hotel prior to the metro shutting down for the evening (12:30?). Any savvy travelers advice would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.
John

Posted by
2252 posts

Gosh, John. This was our tour hotel when we were on the RS Greece tour and they sent us directions for travel from the airport to the hotel. Very easy to follow and we had no issues but we were there before your airport arrival time. Of course, I no longer have that info (it was a while ago!) but you can email the hotel and ask them for directions, or if this will be for the RS tour, call the tour office. I have always found them to be beyond accommodating and patient with any questions I have had. Worse case scenario (for you) is to just bite the bullet and take a taxi. You might find it's money well spent.

Posted by
3115 posts

The taxi will cost €38. A company called "Welcome Pickups" charges the same a taxi and is an excellent alternative to a regular taxi. 2 metro tickets will cost €14. If you take the metro you will get off at Syntagma Square and take a taxi the rest of the way to your hotel, a little over a mile from Syntagma. I would expect you to be charged around €7-10 in a metered taxi. The Airport Express X95 also stops at Syntagma and will cost €12 for 2 tickets.

Posted by
22 posts

Thank you for your responses. I think "Welcome Pickups" would be money well spent given the time of our arrival (?) and that we are not too fond of lugging baggage around on the metro, even though we've done it in the past.
Kindest regards,
John

Posted by
2165 posts

I would agree that at that time of night a taxi would be your best bet. We took the metro to this hotel prior to our RS Greece tour but we arrived early evening. The two things that threw us taking the metro were 1) place names can be spelled different ways, so we had to guess when we changed metros at Syntagma and 2) when we climbed out of the metro at our stop, we couldn't tell which direction to go. A lovely gentleman pointed us in the right direction.

Posted by
15560 posts

Here are the directions to the hotel from their website. Note that the hotel recommends using the Singrou-Fix metro station which is closer to the hotel than the more distant Acropolis station. As Patty noted, when you emerge from the Fix station, it is not at all clear which way you need to walk to the hotel. Also, if you take the wrong exit, you'll be on the wrong side of a main road with no crosswalk - and I didn't see escalators or elevators to street level (inconvenient with luggage). If you use the Acropolis station, there are escalators and an elevator to street level and it's much easier to find the hotel and it's a downhill walk on side streets. It's definitely a good idea to become familiar with the Fix station before using it while you're in Athens. And it's better to spend more on a ride to the hotel from the airport late at night. The metro is clean and modern and the area around the hotel is lively until pretty late, but still, after a long flight, at the end of a tiring day, you don't need the hassle of changing trains, trying to find your hotel in a strange city or looking for a taxi in the center of town

Posted by
70 posts

We used a taxi arranged by our hotel. We are pretty frugal travelers but it always seems like a taxi or shuttle from the airport after a long transatlantic flight is a good way to begin a holiday abroad. We travel light, one bag per person on three week trips, but we still book transportation to from the airport. The Athens airport is a long drive from the city; it was nice to spend hear the driver tell us about his country on the ride to our hotel; even nicer for him to get us directly to our hotel, which was a bit of a walk from the nearest subway station.

Posted by
681 posts

We just came back from a trip to Greece and did the Welcome Cabs. The driver was waiting for us, grabbed our bags and off we went. After 27 hours traveling it was great to not have to think about anything. Have fun.

Posted by
2462 posts

I would arrange ahead of time. We went to Athens recently at the end of our trip so did not have jet lag issues. We planned to use the metro for an air bnb not too far from where you are staying. My brother in law actually stayed at Acropolis select so I know where it is.

Anyway, the metro to and from the airport was on strike and the taxi line was a mile long as a result. We ended up taking the bus and then a taxi from syntagma square.

The metro to and from the airport was on strike the next day too.

You don’t want to deal with this possibility after a transatlantic flight.

Beth

Posted by
1350 posts

At that time of night your best bet is to have a prearranged transfer service waiting for you. They charge the same rate as a taxi and greet you at arrivals. There are several companies with good reputations as already noted. We used Athens City cab, booked them on the internet for a 5am pick up to the airport. Good service. And no one has mentioned the pickpockets on the metro. To manage risk we simply take the bus or the transfer service.

Posted by
3311 posts

Andy there are a lot of limo and car services... but to be a useful tip, you need to say what the charge was. Others who recommended "Welcome Pickup" noted that its charge was the SAME as a taxi off the taxi line at the airport.