Hi all. I'm a 22 years old female and I'm trying to plan a trip to Greece in late April/May. I'll be joining an island hopping tour for the first 11 days but the rest of the time, 17 days, will be my first time traveling completely solo. I really wanted to explore central Greece and places like Delphi and Meteora, and if possible I'd like to squeeze in the island Skopelos. What I'm having trouble with is transport. I don't want to rent a car because of costs, and also they drive on the other side of the road from Australia, so public transport it is. It seems like it's almost impossible to get quickly and reliable from Delphi to Meteora without either a car or a lot of hassle, so does anyone have any suggestions of alternative routes I can take, easy transport options, or even other places I can see? The only place I have to be is Athens a day in advance for my flight back, but other than that I'm easy.
Posted by
Sidney, BC, Canada
1153 posts
Have you found the KTel bus website (ktelbus.com)? Best source of info for long-distance public transport in Greece. Site is available in various languages including English. Have not used them on the Mainland but worked week in. Crete.
Posted by
France Southwest - Occitanie
3569 posts
So does anyone have any suggestions for alternative routes I can take?
No, there is no quickl and reliable alternative route between Meteora and Delphi except returning to Athens.
KTEL buses are operated by regional companies, each with its own bus lines and routes within its own region. All these KTEL regional entities are listed here:
https://ktelbus.com/en/category/ktel/
Meteora and Delphi are not served by the same KTEL company, so there will inevitably be a point where you'll need to find at least one transfer point somewhere between two different regions.
To get to Meteora, you can also take a train from Athens to Kalambaka, then a local bus.
If you don't want to rent a car because of the cost, I suppose it's pointless to mention private drivers or taxis, which cost 10 times more than a rental car.
And if possible, I'd like to squeeze in the island of Skopelos.
Your only option is to take a flight from Athens to the island of Skiathos, then go from the airport to the port and take a ferry to Skopelos
Once in Skopelos, you will need to use the available bus transport. See below:
Posted by
London
1146 posts
Another option for getting to Skopelos is if you can get yourself from Meteora to Volos (which is closer than Athens), you can get a direct ferry from Volos. That was the route we used when we went to Skopelos (ferry from Volos). Once on Skopelos the local KTEL bus makes it very easy to get around.
Posted by
NC
700 posts
Don’t give up on amazing Meteora…absolutely gorgeous and unique.
Posted by
258 posts
Greece has an extensive transport system and plenty of people, on here and elsewhere, manage to get around with no rental car. I’m confused though. You said the car rental was expensive, and yet, every time I’ve rented a car in Greece, whether on the mainland,,larger or smaller islands, it’s been extraordinarily inexpensive. Last year, for example, we rented a car on Rhodes and it cost us €38 per day and that was the total cost. VAT included. When we rented a car in Athens for a couple of days in 2023 it cost us even less, €27 a day.