What is Piraeus in Athens. Where is the cruise port of Piraeus (Athens). What to see in Piraeus (Athens) on a cruise

How to get to the port of Piraeus and get out quickly? The more time you spend in Athens, the more this question torments you. After all, the most interesting places in Greece are not in the capital, but in the interior of the continent or on the islands. And the main port from which you can get to the islands of the Aegean Sea is the city of Piraeus, closely adjacent to the capital. We tell you how to get to the port of Piraeus from Athens airport and the city center.

There are many ways to get to Piraeus from Athens airport, including on foot. Let’s not bother with nonsense and list three main ways – very quickly and briefly, so as not to take up your time: you still have to prepare for the trip.

Method 1: taxi

The fastest, most comfortable, but at the same time the most expensive way to get to Piraeus. However, if comfort is important to you or there are several of you and you can split the costs, a taxi is your option.

A taxi from Athens airport to Piraeus can also be ordered online. This is not only faster and more convenient, but often cheaper than calling a car on site. An ordinary sedan will cost 55-60 euros per car. You can order a taxi from Athens airport to Piraeus cruise port on the Kiwitaxi website:

Method 2: bus

There is a direct bus number X96 from Athens Airport to Piraeus Port. The journey takes about an hour and a half. The bus goes directly to the Piraeus metro station, from there it is no more than a 10-minute walk to the port of Piraeus. Buses run every 20-40 minutes, the stop is between exits 4 and 5. There is also a booth where tickets are sold. When we were in Greece, a ticket from Athens airport to the port of Piraeus cost 6 euros. You can check the latest information on the website Athens public transport system .

How to get from Athens airport to Piraeus? The cheapest way is by direct bus No. 96.

Method 3: metro

To get from Athens Airport to Piraeus by metro, you must first find the metro. To do this, exit the airport building and follow the “To Trains” signs. This will take you to the Airport station. Buy a ticket, take the train and get to Monastiraki station. There you need to change to the green line to Piraeus station. The journey takes about an hour, the fare is 10 euros. You can check the latest prices on the website Athenstransport.com. Don't forget that the Athens Airport metro station is open from 6:30 to 22:30.

How to get to Piraeus from the center of Athens

From the center of Athens to Piraeus is about 10 km. So if you happen to find yourself in the middle of this beautiful city, it’s very easy to go to Piraeus (and from there to the islands).

Method 1: by metro

Everything is as simple as shelling pears here. Piraeus station is the end of the “green” line (aka Line 1). So just get to this branch, change and go to the final one. The price of one trip on the Athens metro is 1.4 euros (check the current prices on the website Athenstransport.com).

We get to Piraeus station, then 5 minutes walk to the port and you can leave this wonderful ancient city.

Method 2: by bus

In the center of Athens there are two main squares - Omonia and Syntagma. From each of them there are buses to the port of Piraeus:

• from Omonia Square to Piraeus – bus number 49,
• from Syntagma Square to Piraeus - bus number 40.

The fare is the same as on the metro. Buses stop at Cotzia Square in the center of Piraeus, and the port is about a 10-minute walk away.

That's all the instructions on how to get to the port of Piraeus from the airport and the center of Athens. As for us, on our first visit to Greece we decided not to stay in the capital at all, but to settle in Piraeus, closer to the port. We will tell you in the following publications which hotel we stayed in and where we went from Piraeus. , the most interesting is yet to come!

Piraeus is the main passenger and commercial port in Greece, one of the largest ports in the world. The area is always bustling with shops, lively bars and restaurants. But by and large, Piraeus remains a transit point for tourists who arrive in Athens or vice versa - depart from Athens to the islands of Greece.

History of the port of Piraeus

Piraeus is located 12 km from the center of Athens. Its name is associated with the words “to cross, to swim across.” Since ancient times, Piraeus was considered a separate port city, but is now part of the Greek capital. The history of Piraeus began in antiquity - 25 centuries ago it coped with the function of the main transit port of Greece. Piraeus laid the foundations for Athenian dominance in the Mediterranean. Soon, from a small village, it turned into a satellite city where traders settled.

In subsequent years, Piraeus suffered a difficult fate: it was sacked by the Romans and captured by the Venetians and Turks. But after Greece gained independence in the 19th century, the port city again flourished - it was inhabited by settlers from the Peloponnese, Chios and the Greeks of Asia Minor.

Now the Athens port of Piraeus serves more than 20 million passengers annually. Its importance for Greece is difficult to overestimate - the geography of departure of ferries from Piraeus is very wide. From the port you can reach Rhodes, Kalymnos, Leros, Kos, Chios, Crete, Santorini, Mykonos, Ikaria. Cruise ships that make voyages around the Mediterranean are based in its harbor. Ferries from Blue Star Ferries, Anek Lines, and Minoan Lines operate to Piraeus.

Infrastructure of the port of Piraeus

The Athens port of Piraeus occupies a large area and has extensive infrastructure capabilities. Shops and cafes line the harbor, and there are entire shopping areas. The port is famous for its large selection of seafood taverns. All necessary services are provided on the territory of the passenger terminals. Here you can buy tickets, have lunch, exchange currency, rent a car, and call a taxi. The port of Piraeus has medical facilities, luggage storage, information desks and Wi-Fi.

There are many hotels located in the port, and most of them are budget and affordable accommodation options. Hotel Anita () is 300 m away. It makes an excellent base for exploring Athens.

Transport connections to the port of Piraeus

Traveling from or to the port will be comfortable due to convenient transport links. The center of Athens and Piraeus are connected by a metro line: the Green Line runs from Kifissia through Omonia directly to the port. Travel time will be 25 minutes, price - approximately 1.5 euros (one-time trip).

By bus you can reach Piraeus from Syntagma (route 040, 24 hours a day) and Omonia (route 049). Cost - 1.4 euros. Sometimes tourists arrive in Athens by air and then travel via Piraeus to the Greek islands. For them, route 96 runs between the airport and the port. A 1.5-hour trip will cost 5 euros. The bus runs 24 hours a day. During the day the interval does not exceed 20 minutes, in the evening - 40 minutes.

Piraeus, one of the three largest cities in Greece, is located 12 kilometers south of Athens, on the Piraeus Peninsula, in the bay of the Saronic Gulf. It is so closely connected with the capital that it is not perceived by the Greeks as an independent administrative unit. For the local population, Piraeus is, first of all, not a separate city, but the largest cargo and passenger port in Europe, the third largest port in the world, and the main railway junction of the country, with the main directions: Piraeus - Athens - Corinth and Piraeus - Athens - Thessaloniki . The port of Piraeus is an economic and financial center with maritime connections to almost all the Greek islands, with the exception of the small islands of the Cyclades, Dodecanese and Sporades. Also, ferries from Piraeus run to the islands of the Aegean Sea. European cruise companies use the port's services year-round, organizing regular cargo and passenger flights with different countries of the world. This contributes to the fact that tourism infrastructure is actively developing in Piraeus with a large number of hotels, restaurants, taverns, cafes, bars, shops, banks, ATMs and all kinds of companies providing a lot of services. At the same time, the city itself is small, with a population of about 200 thousand people.

• Area: 11 km²;
• Time zone: UTC+2, summer UTC+3;
• Population: 163,700.

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Piraeus consists of three ports. In the main, in the west, ferries ready to depart to the islands are lined up along numerous embankments. There is constant activity here, right from dawn, when ships coming from Rhodes, Samos or Crete unload passengers and containers of fruit and vegetables.

Marina Zea, on the other side of the Piraeus Peninsula, where hundreds of sailboats, yachts and speedboats anchor, looks quite modern. Numerous antiquities, once scattered throughout the port, formed a collection for the nearby Archaeological Museum (Harilau Trikoupi street, 31). Go there to admire the huge statue of Apollo, dating back to 520 BC, and the bronze statue of Athena. On the embankment there is the Maritime Museum, whose exhibition is dedicated to Greek maritime history from Themistocles to the present day.

To experience the local flavor, there is nothing better than Mikrolimano ("small port") in the eastern part of the city, with numerous fishing boats. The embankments are full of fish restaurants. Freshness guaranteed!

Ferries in Greece are not just one of the modes of transport. Taking into account the fact that Greece is one of the most “island” countries in the world, sea communications here are provided on a much larger scale than, say, railway ones. With the help of regular ferry routes, you can not only visit certain islands, but also plan your entire vacation, turning it into a full-fledged sea voyage.

There will be a long conversation about ferries, and therefore we will devote several materials to them. It’s better to start the story from the starting point. For most tourists, this is Athens, where the journey begins. Therefore, first of all, we will consider the local infrastructure.

So, the Greek capital has three ports: Piraeus, Rafina and Lavrion.

Piraeus is located southwest of the city center and is the main sea gate of Greece. It is used by most ferries, all cruise ships, almost all routes linking the capital with Crete, and all ferries and dolphins to the Saronic Islands. This port is best to choose if your route lies on Crete, the Cyclades, the islands of the eastern Aegean Sea or the Saronic Islands.

Piraeus was connected with Athens in ancient times by long walls. Now the walls are gone, but there is a separate metro line that runs from early morning until midnight, many bus routes and even a train (from the old Peloponnese station).

The number of transport options is so large that Grekoblog has dedicated a separate article to them.

In addition, it must be taken into account that Piraeus is one of the largest passenger ports not only in the Mediterranean, but also in the world, and therefore a separate article is intended to introduce navigation through it:

Rafina

The port of Rafina is located northeast of Athens. This is the second most important port of the Greek capital and its main destination is the northern Cyclades. This port is better to choose if you are traveling to Andros, Tinos, Mykonos, since this option involves a shorter travel time.

It is also convenient if you arrive in Athens and go to the islands on the same day. If you are traveling by car, the journey from Athens to Rafina will take about 45 minutes depending on traffic, and the journey from the Airport will take 15-20 minutes.

You can find out how to get to the port of Rafina from the center of Athens and the airport.

Cars in the port of Rafina waiting for the ferry

Lavrion

The port of Lavrion is located southeast of Athens. It is best to be careful when selecting routes from this port, since the destinations it serves are very limited. However, if your ferry departs from Lavrion, then you can find out how to get here from Athens and the airport.

Ships in the port of Lavrio

When is it better to purchase tickets: in advance or on the spot?

Early booking is often not necessary: ​​for most ferries, tickets can be purchased at the ticket office even in the last minutes before departure. However, there are a few exceptions when it's better to play it safe:

• Local short routes to Aegina, Hydra and other Saronic Islands, especially on weekends, also on Friday evenings (from Athens) and Sunday evenings (to Athens). If you still prefer to take a risk and buy a ticket at the port ticket office without prior reservation, then it is better to also book a return ticket at the same time.
• The route Santorini-Mykonos-Crete, which is very popular among tourists and is often crowded.
• Almost all routes are between July 25th and August 28th, as this is the holiday season and demand often exceeds supply.
• Almost all routes are between December 20th and 26th, as people are actively leaving for the Christmas holidays.

It will also be useful to know that most companies offering ferry services plan their schedule 2 months in advance. Therefore, do not be surprised if you decide to book a place on a ship in April for mid-August, that a message will pop up saying that there are no available seats or something like that. Just be patient and come back a little later.