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Travelling in Greece: from Piraeus to Athens
If you are taking a trip to Greece and visiting more than one destination, you will find yourself relying on different means of transportation: buses, trains, planes and ferries. If Athens is one of your destinations, and you will be taking a ferry to Athens, you will have to use the port in Piraeus. Here is a piece of advice on how to get to and from Athens through Piraeus.Piraeus is a small city or town in the south of Athens. It is located in the coast and the locals consider it a nice city getaway, but for you as a tourist it will just be the place where your ferry departs or arrives. Piraeus is about 13 kilometers from the center of Athens, and it is well connected with the rest of the city, so it should not be a problem for you.
Most of the time you will not be staying in Piraeus, but travelling to the center of Athens. You may still want to spend the night in Piraeus if, for example, you are not staying in Athens but Iceland hopping in Greece; and you have a ferry arriving late at night in Piraeus, from where you will have to leave early in the morning to your next destination.
The Greek ferry system is very centralized in Athens, so it is possible that you are in an island, can see the next island you will be visiting from your hotel’s window, but still need to go back to Athens in order to catch a ferry to that nearby island. If this is the case, do not worry, Piraeus is prepared for this, with a great variety of hotels and restaurants to cater all needs.
But back to the topic, if you have the time to visit Athens, you can take a metro upon arrival to Piraeus. The metro station is right in front of the harbor, but depending on where your ferry arrives, you may have to take an internal bus from the pier to the metro station. This bus is free of charge and its destination reads “station”. You take the bus and once you get off you have to cross a pedestrian bridge over a busy street and arrive at the metro station.
Train tickets cost 1,40 euros each, and are valid for 90 minutes of unlimited transportation in Athens. The vending machines in Piraeus were taking, as of July 2011, only coins of 1 euro or smaller, although they do give you back change.This is the last station of only the metro line number 1; so do not waste time checking the stops and the different destinations; just get your ticket and hop on the next metro that comes, or the one that is already waiting there if you are lucky. The metro is a regular one, and it takes only seven stops to get to the central stations of Monastiraki (where the famous Athenian flea market is located) and eight to Omonia (a quite touristy but also slightly dangerous district in Athens) before continuing further northeast of Athens all the way to its final destination: Kifissia.
If you need to go to the metro station Syntagma, located right under the main square of the city and next to the Parliament, connect in Omonia with metro line number 2, direction Helliniko. Syntagma will be the second station. You can also get off from line 1 in Monastiraki and take metro line 3, direction: airport, getting off in the first stop.
In the summer months, with the ferries in Greece transporting lots of tourists, the metro might be a bit crowded and air conditioner is not so effective, so make sure to carry some water or soda to avoid getting dizzy with the heat.
For going from the city center –or from anywhere in Athens – to Piraeus, take any metro line that meets line 1 and then connect with metro line 1, direction Piraeus. Upon arrival, walk to your ferry or take the free bus in the harbor. Total travel time to and from the city center by metro does not exceed 20 minutes.
We wish you a pleasant staying in Greece!
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