Unexpected trip to Kea/Athens -Sept ‘23

Note that the island of Kea is only accessible from the port of Lavrio located 60 km from Athens.

To reach the port of Lavrio from Athens there are two ways:
The bus (with change of bus in Markopoulo) or the taxi.
It's at least 1 hour ride depending on traffic.

The taxi will cost you between €70 and €80 and the bus around €6 per person.

You can pre-book a taxi with for example Welcome Pickups.

https://www.welcomepickups.com/athens/

They are reliable and efficient. The driver speaks English and the price is known when you book

For ferry departures on September 28 see:

https://www.ferryhopper.com/en/#results?itinerary=LAV%2CKEA&dates=20230928

On September 28 the first ferry leaves at 8:30 am.
This is the Ionis ferry from Triton Ferries (around €13 per person)

https://tritonferries.gr/en/

Buy tickets online on the Triton website (not with Ferryhopper) You will have them on your smartphone.
Your ticket will be scanned (QR code) when boarding the ferry

What I would have done to optimize this trip is, on September 26 when arriving in Athens airport, is to take a taxi or a bus and go directly to the port of Lavrio to take a ferry.
That day there is a ferry to Kea at 6 p.m. (arrival at Kea 7:10 p.m.). And I would have saved the visit to Athens for the end of the stay.

Thanks! The ferry and taxi/bus info is great! And, yes I agree that it would be better to do Athens after Kea. We did look into it, but unfortunately we have to be back home by 10/3 for work obligations, and our friends already had the days set for Kea. So our only option was to either do Athens before Kea or try to make day trips from Kea to Athens, which seemed less than ideal considering the taxi/bus/ferry travel time. We are keeping it in the back of our head that if there is something we desperately want to see in Athens that we don't see in our 1.5 days, we could potentially make a day trip from Kea to Athens, but we likely wouldn't make that decision until we are there and have a first-hand understanding of the logistics involved.

If you wanted to have a rushed "drive-by" experience of Athens landmarks, I suppose you could hire a car service to drive you into Central Athens and whiz by some things (you cannot get close to Acropolis because it's surrounded by no-cars lanes -- along with many of the other famous landmarks) Tthen you wouild have to be driven to Lavrio in Rush hour to make that 6pm ferry -- all at a cost of at least $150-200, and alot of frustration. Athens is not possible for you on this trip -- don't be greedy; you were lucky to be invited to KEA, just take it for what it is and be grateful.. and then plan a trip to Greece for the future.

Regarding Athens:

On September 26 since you are coming from Europe on a short flight you will be ready to start visiting Athens in the afternoon.

During the second half of September the Acropolis, which I assume you want to visit, is open until 7 p.m. By going there around 5 p.m. you will have the evening to see some others parts of the city (Plaka, Monastiraki, etc.) and have dinner. Then all the following day to plan other visits.

I did not understand whether you are returning to Athens on October 1 or 2.

If it's October 2nd, be aware that it is always risky to return by ferry on the day of your return flight. Bad weather preventing the ferries from sailing, ferry breakdown or strike and you miss your flight. Many travelers experience this every year.

He will be wiser to return to Athens by ferry on October 1st and spend one night there.

Great point on the ferry the day of the flight! We’ll definitely have to look into that!

Does anyone have any restaurant or hotel suggestions in Athens? Or restaurants/experiences in Kea?

I have never been to Kea.

In Athens I rent apartments and never go to hotels. I know dozens of recommendable restaurants, it depends on the neighborhood where you will be staying.

The most popular (and touristic) district is Plaka and around Syntagma square but basically anything within 1/2 mi of the Acropolis might work for you.

Avoid hotels around Omonia Square

The Koukaki district south of the Acropolis Museum is quieter and more authentic with a local life but in this area there are mostly apartments. See if there is availability at the Acropolis Hill Hotel if you don't mind the steep streets

https://www.acropolishill.gr/

The Herodion hotel is conveniently located near the Acropolis Museum and Acropolis. The Plaka area is a short walk away. The Temple of Zeus, and the Greek Parliament buildings are also within walking distance. Neither the Acropolis nor the Museum are to be rushed! The Museum has a very nice terrace cafe and is good for lunch with a view. It also is built on top of the remains of Roman Athens and these have now been opened to the public. You could take the metro from the nearby Acropolis stop to the Thisio stop and take a short walk to the archaeological park at the back of the Acropolis which includes the temple of Hephaestus, the ancient Agora and the reconstructed Stoa of Attalos.

I have used Welcome Pickups for airport/city/port transfers and the service has been excellent, thoroughly recommend contacting them for your port transfer.

Thanks everyone for the suggestions so far. As an update - we booked our hotel at the NLH Fix Hotel on the edge of Makriyanni. With less than 2 months to go, some of the most popular suggestions were already full, but this place had a room with a view of the Acropolis that we just could not pass up! Also, we booked our transfer from the airport to the hotel using Welcome Pickups. Great suggestion! We will likely book them for our transfer to Lavrio Port for the ferry to Kea and for the transfer back to the airport from Lavrio. While on Kea, our friends will have a rental car for adventuring there.

With accommodations and transportation set. Now comes the fun part - compiling a list of potential activities and restaurants. At this point, we know we want to spend time on the Acropolis for sure. It's our #1 reason for spending any time in Athens and we'll devote as much time to it as it takes to see everything we want to see. We aren't sure if this would be our first activity after arrival on 9/26, making use of the second half of that day, or if we'll go early in the morning on 9/27. Ideally, I'd like to see the Acropolis first, but I understand crowds and temperatures are better early in the morning. So if we see it on day 2, then we'll need to find another activity for day 1. Aside from the Acropolis, we are floating other possibilities. We're interested in seeing at least one museum, probably either the Acropolis Museum or the National Archaeological Museum. Other ruins, like the Temple of Zeus are on the potential list as well. Any favorites?

For food, we often like to just wander and find something that looks good when we are hungry. But if we have a can't miss spot, sometimes we will make a special effort to work our schedule around that location at meal time. Does anyone have any favorites? Any can't miss dishes? We would like to have either dinner or evening drinks at a rooftop bar/restaurant with a great view of the Parthenon. I understand Monastiraki and Psirri are great places to look for these rooftop bars but if anyone has other information or favorite places, please let me know!

Hi Chris,

I found this because we were thinking of going to Kea ourselves in early September although I think we're leaning towards other destinations now. But I've been to Athens for short visits (except for the 1st one of 4 days) quite often as we do a beach holiday on the nearby island of Agistri nearly every year, and I have to STRONGLY disagree with those who said you won't have enough time to get a taste of Athens. Of course you could spend a week and not do everything there is to do, but that's no reason not to see some of it! Athens is one of my favorite cities and I think it's highly underrated as a destination, and in late September it hopefully won't be too hot to enjoy (perhaps the real reason it gets a bad rap - too many people are visiting in the middle of summer when the heat/humidity is nearly unbearable).

With your first day, I think the Archaeological museum is a good use of your time. It's set away from a lot of the "downtown" sites. Afterwards, you could walk back towards the center via the edgy but colorful Exarcheia neighborhood which is known for it's political graffiti. If the timing works out, there's the great restaurant Ατίταμος well off the tourist track, which serves fantastic food at non-touristy prices. I've gone out of my way to get a meal there. If you finish at the museum before 16:30 you could also check out the central Market of Athens on your way to the center.

Another "must do" for me in Athens is a souvlaki pita or 3 from Kostas - which has a few outlets centrally located. Google is telling me they're temporarily closed and I hope that's just for August holidays because it's THE best fast food you can imagine.

For your full day, I'd hit the Acropolis first, at opening (buy tickets in advance), followed by the Acropolis museum and the Temple of Olympian Zeus. Break for lunch, then head over to the Ancient Agora, tour that and possibly some of the adjacent sites if you're not ruined out. That's quite a lot of the important historical sites of Athens in 1.5 days!

Do come back with a trip report about Kea, I'm very curious as some people seem to love it and others not so much.