World Country Guide

Travel - International

Air
Greece’s national airline is Olympic Airlines (OA) (website: www.olympic-airways.com). British Airways make scheduled flights to Greece. Delta Airlines operate daily flights from New York to Athens.

Approximate flight times
From Athens to London is five hours; from Rhodes is five hours 15 minutes; from Corfu is four hours; from Heraklion is eight hours; and from Skiathos is six hours (all flight times include a stopover). From Athens to Los Angeles is 15 hours; to New York is 13 hours; to Singapore is 13 hours; to Sydney is 24 hours 30 minutes.

International airports
Athens (ATH) (Elfetherios Veniselos) (website: www.aia.gr) has been newly constructed, replacing all air traffic from the old airport. Located 27km (17 miles) northeast of the city, there is a six-lane motorway linking the two, and regular airport buses running 24 hours from the centre and the port of Piraeus. Airport facilities include duty free shops, car hire (Avis, Budget, Hertz, Europcar and Sixt), banks, cash machines, bureaux de change, bar and restaurant facilities, post office, business centre and hotel.
Heraklion (HER) (Crete) is 5km (3 miles) from the city. Bus and taxi services are available. Airport facilities include a cafe, bureaux de change, bar and restaurant facilities, hotel reservations and a duty free shop.
Thessaloniki (SKG) (Macedonia) is 16km (10 miles) from the city. Regular coach and taxi services are available. Airport facilities include duty free shops, restaurants, bars, banks/bureaux de change, car hire (Alamo, Avis and Hertz) and a post office.
Corfu (CFU) (Kerkira) is 3km (2 miles) from the city. Regular coach and taxi services are available. There is a duty free shop, cafe and bar.
Rhodes (RHO) (Paradisi) is 16km (10 miles) from the city. Coach and taxi services are available. Airport facilities include a duty free shop, car hire (Avis, Rent-a-car), bank, bureau de change, cafe and bar.
There are also international airports at Chania (CHQ), Kalamata (KLX), Karpathos (AOK), Kavala (KVA), Kefalonia (EFL), Kos (KGS), Lesbos (Mytilini) (MJT), Mykonos (JMK), Preveza (Lefkos) (PVK), Samos (SMI), Skiathos (JSI), Thessaloniki (SKG), Thira (Santorini) (JTR) and Zakynthos (ZTH), most of which serve predominantly summer traffic.

Departure tax
12,15.

Sea
The major Greek ports are Corfu, Heraklion, Igoumenitsa, Patras, Piraeus (Athens), Rhodes, Thessaloniki and Volos. Shipping and ferryboat lines link these ports with Italy, Croatia, Cyprus, Russia and Turkey. Greek ports are used by a number of cruise lines including Celebrity Cruises, Costa Cruises, Crystal Cruises, Festival Cruises, Holland America Line, Princess Cruises, Silversea and Swan Hellenic. The Greek/Hellenic National Tourism Organisation can give full details (see Contact Addresses section). A car ferry links the Italian ports of Brindisi, Venice, Trieste and Ancona with Corfu, Igoumenitsa, Patras and Piraeus. There are also services from from Corfu to Bari, Brindisi and Trieste; and from Rhodes to Marmaris (Turkey). During the summer months there are also services from Ithaca and from Cephalonia to Brindisi.

Rail
The national railway company is Hellenic Railways Organisation Ltd (OSE) (website: www.osenet.gr). A good way to travel from the UK is to take the Eurostar through the channel tunnel, from London to either Brussels or Paris, both of which have onward connections to Greece. For further information and reservations contact Eurostar (tel: (0870) 6000 792 (travel agents) or (08705) 186 186 (public; within the UK) or +44 1233 617 575 (public; outside the UK); website: www.eurostar.com); or Rail Europe (tel: (08705) 848 848; website: www.raileurope.co.uk). Travel agents can obtain refunds for unused tickets from Eurostar Trade Refunds, 2nd Floor, Kent House, 81 Station Road, Ashford, Kent TN23 1PD, UK. Complaints and comments may be sent to Eurostar Customer Relations, Eurostar House, Waterloo Station, London SE1 8SE, UK (tel: (020) 7928 5168; e-mail: new-comments@eurostar.co.uk). General enquiries and information requests must be made by telephone. Rail passes: Inter-Rail tickets, for those aged 26 and under, include rail travel within Greece, but a supplement will be added for couchettes; the ticket does not include the cost of ferries between the mainland, other countries or islands, but certain shipping lines offer a discount to ticket holders. Prices for those aged over 26 are approximately 40 per cent higher. For passengers wishing to make multiple train journeys within Europe, the EuroDomino travel card offers reduced prices on various journeys to the destination of their choice. Other discount fares include air or ferry journeys with rail travel packages. Contact Rail Europe for further information.

Road
It is possible to ferry cars and caravans across to one of the major ports of entry or to enter overland. Points of overland entry are from the Macedonia (Former Yugoslav Republic of) via Evzoni, and Niki; from Bulgaria via Promahonas or Kastanies and Kipi. From Serbia and Montenegro, the route is via Italy (Trieste), Austria (Graz) and Belgrade. The journey from northern France to Athens is over 3200km (2000 miles). For car-ferry information, see details under Sea above. Bus: There are routes from Athens via Thessaloniki to Dortmund, Istanbul, Paris and Sofia. Information and bookings are available from terminals in Athens at 6 Sina Street (tel: (210) 362 4402; 1 Karolou Street (tel: (210) 529 7777) and 17 Filellinon Street (tel: (210) 323 6747); also at Thessaloniki rail station.