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Athens metro line to airport suspends service

Visiting Athens in 2008?  Don’t rely on your guidebook for directions on getting downtown via the metro. The Athens metro connection between Venizelos airport and downtown Athens will be closed from July 1, 2008 to December 31, 2008 due to ongoing expansion work. 

There are options, of course. You will still be able to take the suburban rail line from the airport to the OAKA (New Olympic Stadium) Nerantziotissa station. Here you’ll have to change to the Green line station, which you can take downtown to either Omonia station or Monasteraki station.  You can exit at Monasteraki for the historical center, or transfer to the Red line to continue to Syntagma Square.

(And, not many people know, you can also take the suburban rail like from the airport all the way to Corinth. The trip takes about 90 minutes.)

With three transfers, you probably want to plan on additional travel time (150 - 20 minutes extra) and be sure that you have limited luggage because you probably don’t want to be shlepping too many bags given the number of transfers.

Alternatively, travelers still have the 24 hour airport express bus (x95) which runs every 15 minutes during peak travel hours and every 20 -30 minutes in the middle of the night. The bus stops several places en route to Syntagma, including between the Athens Hilton and Megaron Musiki, the Music Hall on Vas. Sophias Avenue. The trip takes about 70 minutes, although sometimes it can take longer.

Moving on from Athens? Corinth? Delphi?

If your final destination is not the historical center, or if you are planning on visiting areas outside of Athens during your stay in Greece, you might want to consider heading out of Athens immediately and spending the last part of your stay in Athens. This avoids having to have a one night stay in the city, since you will want to be back in the city the day before your departure.

If you are heading to the Peloponnese, you can catch the suburban rail line to Corinth from Venizelos Airport. You can also catch the airport bus #93  bus to the Kiffisou and Liossion KTEL bus stations - travel time about 65 minutes.  You’ll need to visit the Liossion station if you are heading to Delphi on your own.

Heading to the port of Piraeus ? Ferries to the islands?

You can take the same suburban rail line as if going to the city center, but stay on the Green line to go directly to the port of Piraeus if you are headed out to the islands. 

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