Destination Greece
Below are a few of the many ways to enter Greece.
The purpose of this page is to give people thinking about a trip to Greece the ability to plan their route practically.
You will be able to see more of Greece along the way thus saving time and money.
The very means of transport one uses to enter Greece will influence what you will be able to see and may help avoid unnecessary back tracking to major transportation hubs such as Athens or Piraeus.
Travelers entering Greece via ferry from Italy for example, have the option to go directly to the Greek mainland (either to central Greece from Igoumanitsa near Corfu, or to the Peloponnese from Patras) without going to Athens first.
From Igoumanitsa, there are several major sites you could visit en-route to Athens and beyond. These include Dodona, Meteora, Ossios Lukas and Thebes.
From Patras you could travel to the major sites of the Peloponnese such as Olympia, Epidavros and Mycenaea and then continue on to Crete via Gythion (ferry schedules permitting). From Crete you could fly or ferry to many islands and the mainland.
Travelers heading for the Balkans or Ports on Northern Italy's Adriatic coast might want to explore the ferry, train and bus schedules available to them.
If coming from central Europe and the Balkans overland, explore the car hire options and train routes and tour Northern and central Greece on your way to the islands. From Thessaloniki, one can, in summer at least, ferry to the central Cyclades and from Kavala in near by Thrace reach the islands of Thassos and Samothrace.
Travelers already in Northern Europe and the U. K. have many options to consider as their way to enter Greece. If already in Europe you definitely should consider some of these alternatives to a direct flight to Athens International Airport (ATH). Sooner or later you'll want to get to Athens perhaps, but on the way, why not see some of the ancient treasures of Greece without going to Athens first?
Athens Advantages
Its true that ones finances and time constraints play a big role in these decisions and oft times a direct flight into Athens is the most economical and simple way to enter Greece.
There are many advantages to an Athens arrival point. For example;
- Immediate access to some of Greece's most famous treasures such as the Parthenon and the National Archeological Museum,
- Immediate access from Athens' ports of Piraeus, Lavrion and Rafina to ferry's for Crete, the Cyclades and the Dodecanese islands.
- Immediate access to Greek domestic flights departing frequently for many of the more popular Greek islands and larger cities such as Crete, Rhodes, Mykonos, Santorini, Ios, Kalamata, Volos and many more.
- Athens is also the Nexus of all Greek national train and bus routes. The train runs all the way via Thessaloniki to Europe and has a eastern branch to Turkey as well. An express service was added last year. The train also heads southwest to the Peloponnese and pretty much, where terrain permits attempts to encircles the 'island of Pelops' wherein lie some pretty famous places to visit including Olympia, Sparta and Mycenae.
- Athens also boasts an impressive bus service to just about anywhere on the mainland. Buses are modern, sometimes have TV and most have toilets. They are cheap too.
- Getting to Greece from Turkey
Athens is an ideal choice and very large percentage (14,000,000) of travelers to Greece choose it yearly!
Airports in Greece
Greece has many airports.
- Athens
- Alexandroupolis
- Astypalea
- Chania (Crete)
- Chios
- Heraklion (Crete)
- Ikaria
- Ioannina
- Kalamata
- Karpathos
- Kassos
- Kastellorizo
- Kastoria
- Kavala
- Kefalonia
- Kerkyra (Corfu)
- Kythira
- Kos
- Kozani
- Limnos
- Leros
- Milos
- Mykonos
- Mytilini (Lesvos)
- Naxos
- Paros
- Preveza-Aktion
- Rhodes
- Samos
- Santorini (Thira)
- Sitia
- Skiathos
- Skyros
- Syros
- Thessaloniki
- Zakynthos (Zante)
- For more information on airports in Greece