An Athens airport transfer is a booked car between Athens airport and a hotel, port or coast town. The airport lies east of the city, on the far side of Mount Hymettus. The ride is one of the Greece Tours on Greece Ville.
This post covers what an Athens airport transfer includes, where it meets arriving passengers and why the airport moved to Spata. It also covers the roads, the Mesogeia towns and the finds shown at the airport.
The ports, the east coast towns, the trains and the express buses follow. Airport traffic and common questions come last. The sections include Athens airport transfers and related Athens transfers that can be booked online.
What is an Athens airport transfer?
An Athens airport transfer is a booked car from the airport to the city, ports or coast. The airport is named after Eleftherios Venizelos, who was prime minister of Greece. It stands beside the town of Spata in East Attica.
Eleftherios Venizelos was born on 23 August 1864 in Mournies, near Chania on Crete. He was prime minister for over 12 years, spread over eight terms between 1910 and 1933.
Each Athens airport transfer begins at an airport with two runways. One is 4,000 metres long, and the other is 3,800 metres long. The airport stands 94 metres above sea level.
Safety agencies in Europe and the United States approved the airport for the A380, the largest passenger jet. The first A380 to visit made a medical emergency landing on 13 April 2011.
Spata belongs to the municipality of Spata-Artemida. Every Athens airport transfer starts in this municipality. It was formed in 2011 from two municipalities, Artemida and Spata-Loutsa. It covers 73.695 square kilometres and had 34,915 residents in the 2021 census.
- Company: The airport company was founded in 1996 as a public-private partnership.
- Concession: Its deal with the Greek state has a total term of 50 years.
- Staff: More than 400 business entities work at the airport and employ about 18,900 people.
An Athens airport transfer is the road step after a flight. Intermodal passenger transport means using two or more modes of transport in one journey. The airport names taxis, ride-hailing apps and a VIP limousine service as its private road options.
Where does an Athens airport transfer meet arriving passengers?
An Athens airport transfer meets arriving passengers at one of two marked pick-up points. One is next to Short Term 1 parking. The other is the pick-up and drop-off zone at the Arrivals level. A waiting area for these vehicles stands in the Retail Park.
An airport has a landside zone that is open to the public. Its airside zone has tightly controlled access. Retractable barriers control access for private vehicles in front of the Departures and Arrivals areas.
At the pick-up points, each driver gets 10 minutes and 2 entries per day. The longest stay in the controlled area is 60 minutes. Cars that stay longer face removal by crane. An Athens airport transfer driver works within these limits.
The Main Terminal Building holds gates A1-A27 and gates B1-B31. Gates C15-40 are in the Satellite Terminal Building. The main terminal has a total floor area of 150,000 square metres.
EU citizens who fly inside the Schengen zone skip passport control. Travellers from non-Schengen countries pass through it before an Athens airport transfer meets them. The airport tells people who wait for an arrival to add time for passport and customs checks.
- Limousines: The luxury car service stands in the inner Arrivals lane, between Exits 3 and 4.
- Help: Information counters stand on the Arrivals and Departures levels, and one stands in the Satellite Terminal.
- Hotel: A 5-star hotel stands just opposite the Main Terminal and has 345 rooms and suites.
The main terminal also has a food court level with a view of the eastern runway. Its South Wing, finished by mid-2019, covers 15,000 square metres on 5 levels. An Athens airport transfer collects passengers once they leave these halls.
Why does an Athens airport transfer start at Spata and not Hellinikon?
An Athens airport transfer starts at Spata because a new airport replaced the old one at Ellinikon. Technical and security issues blocked the growth of the old airport. A state-owned company was set up in 1978 to plan the new one.
The old airport had an official capacity of 11 million passengers a year. In its last year it served 13.5 million. The architect Eero Saarinen designed its East Terminal between 1960 and 1969.
The old airport had two runways, 3,500 metres and 3,148 metres long. In 1988 the Greek government decided not to renew its deal with the United States. The last aircraft to leave Ellinikon was a Boeing 737 bound for Thessaloniki. No Athens airport transfer starts there now.
In 1991 the plan was revived, about a year after Athens lost the 1996 Olympics to Atlanta. The government then ran an international tender, and Hochtief of Germany was chosen. In 1995 land in Spata was set aside for the new airport.
Every Athens airport transfer starts at a 2.1 billion euro project that began in 1996. Hochtief built the airport between 1996 and 2000. Hochtief began in 1873 as a firm of two brothers in Frankfurt.
- Park: The planned Ellinikon park covers 263 hectares, with 100+ hectares more for homes and offices.
- Size: That makes the park larger than London’s Hyde Park, which covers 250 hectares.
- Arena: The Hellinikon Indoor Arena seated 15,000 people for basketball and was demolished in 2022.
Work on the park was first due to start in 2008 and end by 2013. The financial crisis shelved that plan. An Athens airport transfer starts at Spata, not at Hellinikon.
Which roads does an Athens airport transfer follow?
An Athens airport transfer runs on the Attiki Odos motorways and the avenues beside them. The Ymittos Ring, also called the Hymettus Ring Road, opened on 3 September 2003. Four avenues matter as well: Mesogeion, Kifisias, Vouliagmenis and Marathonos.
Work on the A6, the main road of the Attiki Odos, began in 1996. Law 2445/1996 ratified the concession contract. It requires drivers to pay a toll on the A6, A62 and A621.
Nea Attiki Odos now runs the motorways. It replaced Attiki Odos S.A. as the concession holder. An Athens airport transfer on these roads has one operator. Attiki Odos is considered one of the safest motorways in Europe.
The Ymittos Ring runs through the northern part of the Hymettus hills. It bypassed Mesogeion Avenue and linked the airport with the eastern suburbs of Athens. So an Athens airport transfer to those suburbs can use it.
The Pallini exit of the Hymettus Ring Road leads to Marathonos Avenue. Mesogeion Avenue is part of the national road EO54. The EO54 runs from central Athens to Rafina through Stavros, near Gerakas.
- Katechaki toll station: It works for eastbound drivers only on the Hymettus Ring Road.
- Pallini South toll station: It works for westbound drivers only on the same ring.
- Papagou Tunnel: It is 120 m long eastbound and 96 m long westbound.
Kifisias Avenue has three lanes in each direction up to Kifisia. At Marousi a large circular interchange joins it to the Attiki Odos. Vouliagmenis Avenue is 21 km long. An Athens airport transfer to the south can follow it.
Which towns of the Mesogeia plain does an Athens airport transfer pass?
An Athens airport transfer crosses the Mesogeia plain, where Spata, Koropi, Markopoulo and Paiania lie. Spata is the main settlement of the Mesogeia. The plain reaches Mount Penteli in the north and the mountains of south Attica in the south.
An Athens airport transfer passes the Mesogeia, the warmest of the three wine areas of Attica. Sea breezes cool its coastal vineyards. Savatiano is the main grape of southeastern Attica. It ripens quickly. Mesogeia grapes can be very ripe by early August.
The Mesogeia is seen as the leading historic vineyard of Attica. It still has old cup-shaped trained vines. The airport at Spata and the new motorway left historic vineyards lost or inside suburbs.
Six protected retsina names come from the Mesogeia: Koropi, Markopoulo, Spata, Peania, Pallini and Pikermi. Retsina was the traditional cash crop around Spata, together with olives, figs, almonds, pistachios and wheat. An Athens airport transfer passes this farm country.
Spata had 9,453 residents in 2021. The town is named after John Spata, who was despot of Arta in the 14th century. Its church of Saints Peter and Paul dates from about 1450 to 1480.
- Koropi: Its old cathedral of the Assumption holds a wall painting of 1732 by Georgios Markou.
- Markopoulo: The church of Saint Paraskevi has wall paintings of 1741 by Georgios Markou.
- Paiania: The town lies 11 km east of central Athens.
- Koutouki Cave: It has one main room of about 60 by 60 m.
Koropi had 20,152 residents in 2021. The municipality of Markopoulo had 21,722 and Paiania had 28,036. Paiania was called Liopesi before 1915. An Athens airport transfer can pass all three towns.
What do the airport finds show before an Athens airport transfer?
An Athens airport transfer starts where diggers found a long past. The airport exhibition holds 172 objects, from the Neolithic and Early Helladic eras to the Post-Byzantine period. It opened in 2003 in the main airport building, at Departures Level, Entrance 3.
The exhibition covers 200 square meters. It shows finds from the Mesogeia region, mostly dug up while the airport was built. The small Church of Saints Peter and Paul was moved 340 meters west for the western runway.
Stone tools, rough pottery and a model come from a settlement on Zagani Hill. A replica of the Sphinx of Spata, from the 6th century BC, stands among the exhibits.
The finds show the dense road network of Attica in the 5th and 4th centuries BC. Slavs, Latins and Arvanites crossed and settled the area. An Athens airport transfer now crosses the same land.
In the Classical period the Mesogeia had about 47 settlements called demes. The airport used by every Athens airport transfer was built over the deme of Erchia. A sacred law of Erchia lists 59 yearly sacrifices to 46 gods, nymphs and heroes.
- Erchia: Xenophon and the orator Isocrates both came from this deme.
- Myrrhinus: At Merenda, diggers found a temple linked to Artemis Kolainis and a sanctuary of Aphrodite.
- Phrasikleia Kore: Diggers found this statue of 550 to 540 BC carefully buried at Merenda in 1972.
People first settled the bay of Brauron in the Neolithic. It gave contact with the Cyclades and Asia Minor. In the Middle Helladic period, 2000 to 1600 BC, Brauron grew into an organised settlement. An Athens airport transfer reaches a land settled early.
How far is each port on an Athens airport transfer?
An Athens airport transfer reaches Piraeus, Rafina and Lavrio. The suburban rail line from Piraeus to the airport runs 48.23 km. Artemida is the junction between the airport and the port of Rafina. Keratea lies 12 km northwest of Lavrio.
Spata, the town that holds the airport, lies southwest of Rafina and west of Artemida. An Athens airport transfer to Rafina therefore heads northeast. Greek National Road 85, the Rafina to Lavrio road, passes through Artemida.
Athens International Airport lies 4 km north of Markopoulo. Markopoulo lies 5 km north of Kalyvia Thorikou. In 2016 a 32 km rail line from Koropi to Lavrio was announced.
Ferries from Tinos reach Rafina, Piraeus, Mykonos, Andros and Syros. Gavrio, the port of Andros, lies 37 nautical miles, or 69 km, from Rafina. An Athens airport transfer to Rafina ends beside these island links.
The modern town of Lavrio was built from 1865 on a planned grid around its port. The name Lavrio comes from the Greek word lavra, a narrow passage or mine gallery. Agios Efstratios has a year-round ferry to Lavrio.
- Pier: A French mining company built the iron pier of Lavrio, and it was finished in 1888.
- Size: The French Pier is 170 m long with its storehouses and stands 8 m above the sea.
- Rank: With Piraeus and Syros, Lavrio ranked among the three main ports of Greece.
The Lavrion railway closed to passengers in 1957 after lobbying by private bus owners. A suburban rail branch from Doukissis Plakentias to Rafina has been proposed. An Athens airport transfer links these ports with the airport.
Which east coast towns can an Athens airport transfer reach?
An Athens airport transfer can reach Porto Rafti, Artemida, Nea Makri and Schinias on the east coast. The census of 2021 counted 10,526 people in Porto Rafti and 268 in Vravrona. The same census counted 21,924 people in Artemida.
The bay of Porto Rafti holds three islets: Rafti, Raftopoula and Praso. On the larger islet, locals found a huge ancient statue of a seated woman. They called it “the tailor”, which is rafti in Greek.
An Athens airport transfer to Porto Rafti meets a name with two stories. Another view says it comes from the Albanian word rrapthi, which means small plane tree. In 1834 the German archaeologist L. Ross saw that the statue shows a woman, not a man.
In 1962 part of a Mycenaean cemetery was found at Perati, with 21 unlooted and 10 looted tombs. Porto Rafti is no longer a commercial harbour because of environmental concerns. An Athens airport transfer to the town now ends near a marina.
Artemida is the harbour town of Spata, and its harbour is only a fishing shelter. Its old name, Loutsa, comes from an Albanian word for mud. Aircraft fly low over the town.
- Name: Nea Makri was called Plesti before refugees from Asia Minor renamed it.
- Size: Nea Makri has an area of 36.662 km², and its town counted 16,906 people in 2021.
- Base: An American radio base north of Nea Makri closed in 1990 and is now a sports park.
After the 2004 Games the rowing centre of Schinias sat unused for two years. Since 2006 it has been the national training centre. An Athens airport transfer reaches this Olympic site.
Which trains run beside an Athens airport transfer route?
An Athens airport transfer runs beside Metro Line 3 and the suburban railway. The airport part of Line 3 runs in the median of the A6 and A64 motorways. From the airport to Mandra, the suburban line mostly runs in the median of the Attiki Odos.
The airport owns its station and charges the train operators fees for using it. Metro trains have a higher floor than suburban trains, so the central track at the station was lowered.
At first, metro trains to the airport skipped the stations in between. Metro trains began to call at Paiania–Kantza and Koropi on 10 July 2006. These stations stand beside the same motorways as an Athens airport transfer.
Doukissis Plakentias station is named after the Duchess of Plaisance, who owned much of the land there. Just after it, metro trains switch from a 750 V DC third rail to 25 kV overhead wires.
Kiato station opened on 9 July 2007 as the western end of the new line from the airport. An Athens airport transfer is a road trip, but this line reaches Kiato by rail.
- Stations: The 30 km stretch from the airport to the Acharnes Railway Center has 11 stations.
- Old line: Metro Line 3 now uses part of the corridor of the old metre-gauge Lavrion railway.
- Plan: The first plan was an express train from Piraeus to the airport with only five stops.
The metro station at Doukissis Plakentias opened on 28 July 2004. The suburban station opened two days later. An Athens airport transfer, the metro and the trains now serve the airport.
Which express buses run beside an Athens airport transfer?
An Athens airport transfer runs beside the express bus lines X93, X95, X96 and X97. OASA, the Athens Urban Transport Organisation, runs the metro, tram, trolleybus and bus services of the Athens area. A company called OSY runs the bus network.
An Athens airport transfer shares the road with a large fleet. OSY, whose Greek name means “Road Transit”, has 1,897 buses and 4,669 operating staff. OASA was founded on 22 December 1993. The Government of Greece owns it.
The Athens bus list defines an express route as one with limited stops. The airport express lines X95, X96, X93 and X97 have 81, 46, 42 and 21 daily trips. The X95 runs about every 15 minutes by day.
An Athens airport transfer also meets the night network. City bus lines 11 and 040 run all day and night, like the X97 airport express line. Night lines X14, 400, 500 and 790 run after midnight.
- Kifissos: This station opened in 1967 and is the busiest intercity bus station in Athens.
- Liosion: This station in Patisia is the second busiest in Athens.
- Eleonas: A new central bus station is planned there for 15 million passengers a year.
- KTEL: The KTEL intercity bus companies carry 80 percent of all passengers in Greece.
Bus lines 051, 052 and 420 link Kifissos with Metaxourgeio metro, Elaionas metro and Piraeus port. The X97 starts at Elliniko station. That station, the southern end of Metro Line 2, opened on 26 July 2013.
How busy is the airport for an Athens airport transfer?
An Athens airport transfer starts at the second busiest airport in the Balkans, after Istanbul Airport. In its record year the airport welcomed almost 34 million passengers. Of those, 24.4 million flew on international routes, about 72 percent of all passengers.
An Athens airport transfer serves an airport that kept growing. In 2002 it handled 11,827,448 passengers and 159,467 aircraft movements, meaning landings and take-offs. By 2007 it counted 16,538,403 passengers, an all-time high at that time. In 2019 it handled 25,573,993, up 6.0 percent.
In 2020 the count fell to 8,078,394 passengers and 112,415 aircraft movements. Traffic grew 52.8 percent in 2021 to 12,345,786 passengers. In 2022 it grew 84.1 percent, to 22,728,750. The airport also handled 106,813,249 kg of cargo in 2002.
An Athens airport transfer starts at an airport with a summer peak. The third quarter, July to September, carries about 33 percent of the year’s passengers. April to June carries about 27 percent. August is the busiest month with 3,883,627 passengers. February is the quietest with 1,751,939.
- Italy: Outside Greece, this is the top country market, with 2,340,978 passengers.
- Germany: This market follows with 2,181,236 passengers.
- United Kingdom: This market has 2,048,728 passengers.
Aegean Airlines is the national airline of Greece and the largest Greek airline. The airport was named European airport of the year in 2004. The Air Transport Research Society named it top for efficiency in Europe in its category. That came in 2014, 2016, 2017 and 2020.
What do arriving travelers ask about an Athens airport transfer?
An Athens airport transfer prompts six frequent questions. Travelers ask about the distance, the clock and the euro, and the hours of the airport. They also ask about taxi law, road rules and the roads to the rest of Greece.
How far is the airport for an Athens airport transfer?
One reference puts the airport about 35 km east of the city centre. An Athens airport transfer covers that distance by road. Metro Line 3 also runs 47.3 km from Dimotiko Theatro in the west, through Syntagma, to the airport.
What time and money rules meet an Athens airport transfer?
In Greece, times are spoken in the 12-hour style and also written in the 24-hour style. Euro banknotes issued by Greece have a serial number that starts with Y. A number of Greek euro coins of 2002 were minted in Finland, France and Spain.
Is the airport open day and night for an Athens airport transfer?
The airport’s information staff answer travelers’ questions every day, 24 hours. Six car rental companies at the arrivals level operate 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. These services run through the night, so late arrivals still find help.
Which taxi rules sit beside an Athens airport transfer?
Taxis in Athens have had to be yellow since 1987. Law 4530/2018 says taxi-booking platforms must work as transport companies and sign three-year contracts with licensed taxi drivers. The same law asks for the special driving licences of the drivers.
Which road rules meet a passenger on an Athens airport transfer?
Greek rules list a warning triangle, a first-aid kit and a fire extinguisher as safety equipment for cars. A flashing red light also stops traffic when an aircraft crosses the road at low altitude. UN Regulation 44/04 sorts child seats into four groups, 0 to 3.
How do roads link an Athens airport transfer to the rest of Greece?
Motorways carry the letter A and a number, and national roads carry EO and a number. Motorways have no traffic lights, and cars enter only at junctions on separate levels, called grade-separated junctions. Today the E94 follows the A6 motorway between Elefsina and Koropi. It meets the E75 at Metamorfosi.