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Athens City Buses
Chances
are you won't need to use the Athens bus system except maybe
to get to and from the airport, but even that is easier done
by metro or taxi. But this page will help you to understand
the system just in case. The new buses are modern looking and supposedly eco-friendly and bio-degradable and best of all they are air-conditioned.
Yellow Trolleys and Blue Buses can take you anywhere in the city and in the suburbs. Lately they have installed computerized signs that tell you what time the bus next bus is coming. There are also signs at some of the bus stops that tell you where each bus goes and lists every stop but these are often covered with graffiti and impossible to read. Some of the newer buses have a computerized map that shows the route and where you are and what the nextstop
is going to be. Eventually they will all have this. They have also begun putting computerized signs at many bus stops which tell you when the next bus is coming and where it is going.
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Yellow Trolleys
The Trolleys run on electricity and
the signs for the stops are usually yellow. Tickets cost 1.40 Euros and must be bought from a kiosk or at
special stands in main squares and at some bus terminals. They are sold individually ticket cards and must be validated by a machine on the bus. They can be used for 90 minutes so in other words if you want to connect with another bus or even the metro or the tram you have 90 minutes where the transportation is covered in the price of that ticket. See the new information on tickets and bus passes. Buses and trolleys run every 10 to 30 minutes and can be stopped
by waving your hand. The Trolley buses you may want to know about are the 2,3,4,9,11,13
and 15 which go from Amalias Ave in front of the National Gardens to the National Museum on Patission Street. They return by way of Syntagma. The 13 and 14 Trolly go to Nea Psychico and the 18 and 19 go to Halandri. Not that you will ever need to go to these places, but Halandri has some great restaurants.
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There are some very small blue buses that go through central Athens on the small interior streets. One of my favorites is the 035 which goes from Athinas Street all the way to Kypseli. The 060 cruises between the National Museum and the Koloniki. There are several others. You can find maps on many of the bus stops and you can also get one from the Greek National Tourist
Organization office on Amalias street by Syntagma Square. The 040 bus goes from Syntagma to Pireaus. The 049 bus goes from Omonia to Pireaus. If you want to go to the beach take the A2, A3 B3 or E2 from Acadamias (The University) which go as far as Vouliagmeni. You can also catch these buses on Vas Amalias Street just a couple blocks down from the tram terminal.
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Athens Tram
For going to the beach check out Athens Coastal Tram that goes from Syntagma Square all the way to Glyfada. It is slow but entertaining and it gets you all the way to Voula. From there you can take the 122 which goes along the coast as far as Saronida. It also goes from Syntagma Square to Pireaus or from Pireaus
to Voula. A faster way to go to the beach is to take the metro to Ellinikon and catch the 122 there.
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If you get caught on one of these buses or the metro or tram without a ticket you will have to pay a pretty hefty fine so it is not worth it. Anyway if you can't afford a bus ticket you should probably not be in Greece. A friend of mine told me he was caught on the bus without a ticket and he told the guys he did not have any money and they made him empty is pockets and they found 3 euros and took that. I don't know if I believe him though. Anyway don't get rid of your ticket until you
get off the bus. Most
of the buses stop running at midnight but there are several lines
that go for 24 hours including the airport buses, and the
buses from Syntagma to Pireaus.
Many bus stops have these verticle linear maps of the routes of the buses that stop there and some have a giant map of the whole system though usually it has been so defaced by graffiti that it is impossible to read. Hopefully the new computerized signs will last longer. |
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Airport Buses
There are several bus lines to and from the airport. All buses depart from
the designated area on the inner curbside of the arrivals level of the Main
Terminal Building right outside the Exit (doors 4-5).
X95 Syntagma Square-
Airport Express has its departure point at the center of Athens (Syntagma
Square across the park from the Grande Bretagne) and via Vas. Sofias Avenue, Mesogion Avenue and Attiki Odos terminates
at the airport. Every 10-30 minutes, 24 hours a day
X96 Pireaus- Airport
Express starts from the Northwest Corner of Pireaus main harbor and goes past Karaiskaki Square (which is almost right across from the metro and where the ticket offices are) and via Posidonos Avenue, Varis-Varkizas, and Varis-Koropiou Roads terminates at the airport. Both
the Syntagma and the Pireaus buses run for 24 hours, generally every twenty
minutes but every 40 minutes after midnight.
X93 connects the Airport
(door 5) with the bus terminals at Kiffissou and Lliosson streets. The interval is generally 35
minutes (65 at night).
X97 goes
to the Dafni Metro Station. (Not the Dafni Monastery... this area is on Vouliagmenis Avenue and connects with Line 2 of the metro.
For Express Lines the
ticket costs 6 Euros. You can keep riding on public transport for free for 90 minutes from the time you first stamped the ticket. If you use it again within that period of time you need to stamp it again.
So how much do these tickets and cards cost? Well the 90 minute ticket costs 1.40 euros. The 24 hour ticket costs 4.5 euros and the 3-Day tourist ticket costs 22 euros. See the new information on tickets and bus passes
Click Here for the Airport Bus Map
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X-80 Pireaus-Acropolis-Syntagma Express
This important bus line was started in the spring of 2015 and connects the Cruiseship terminal in Pireaus with the center of Athens and includes stops at some of the most important sites including The Acropolis Museum (a short walk to the Acropolis), the Archaeological Museum of Pireaus, the Planetarium and the National Museum of Contemporary Art. It ends in Syntagma Square and takes about 30 minutes to get there from the cruise terminal. People on
passenger ferries won't find this bus very useful however they have the metro as an option.
For more information on Athens buses see the OASA Athens Transit Website
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KTEL Attika Buses
The Orange Buses take you to the countryside of Attiki outside Athens and it's suburbs. Tickets are
sold on board and don't need to be validated. Prices vary according to destination. The bus-stops are orange and have the initials KTEL. The final destination is written on the front of each bus. They usually leave every hour or so. They are very modern looking now and completely air-conditioned.
Most buses leave from the new bus terminal at the Nomismatokopio Metro Station which is on the Blue Line and go to Marathon, Markopoulo, Venizelos Airport, Lavrion, Nea Makri and Rafina (for ferries to Cyclades).See Rafina-Nea Makri-Marathon Schedules or Lavrio-Porto Rafti-Markopoulo-Airport Schedules
You can also use the buses to Sounion which leave from Pedhion Areas on Alexandras Ave, stopping in Syntagma Square and in coastal towns like Varkiza, Lagonissi, Saronida, and Anavissos where you can swim and go to seaside fish tavernas. See Sounion Schedule. Buses to Oropos and that area also leave from here as to the buses to Ag Apostoli. See Oropos Schedules and Ag Apostolis Schedules
The buses to Megara, Neos Peramos and Elefsina leave from the Thission Train station. See Megera Schedules You can also get the buses to Vilia and Erethres. See Vilia-Erethres Schedules
There is also a bus between the airport and Rafina. See schedules
For more information see the KTEL Attikis website.
There are other light green KTEL buses
that go long distance and leave from two bus stations
in Athens that are kind of a pain to get to and also to get between. The KTEL bus system for Greece is actually a number of private companies and individual bus owners so depending on where you are going getting information can be easy, difficult or impossible. See the KTEL website for the different parts of Greece and hopefully you can figure it out. |
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Hop-On and Hop-Off Tour Buses
There are at least 2 companies running these tours on open roof double decker buses. You pay a certain amount for a 24 hour pass and the buses go to all the important places any tourist would want to see in Athens and even Pireaus. There are stops for them in Syntagma and actually just about every important square or street in downtown Athens and you buy your ticket and get on the bus.
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By the way I almost forgot
to mention that pickpockets work the buses, especially the ones the tourists use like between Syntagma and the National Museum. But if you read my article about How to Protect Yourself from Pickpockets you won't have to ride the buses, trolleys or the metro in terror.
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See Also: Practical Athens Info , Coastal Tram , Athens Metro ,Bus Schedules , Airport
Info , George the Famous Taxi Driver
, See the new information on tickets and bus passes
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