new_cruiser_22

We just got back home from our cruise trip. We ended up taking the X80 bus which has a stop with a ticket booth (clearly marked for X80 bus) right in front of the exit from terminal B (the furthest terminal to metro). We bought the one-day tickets at 4.10 euro/pp and waited only a few minutes for the bus to leave. It took about half an hour to get to Acropolis; we were there about one hour before our booked entrance time to the site. It was such a convenient ride! Going back to the cruise terminal, we just waited at the opposite side of the street where we were dropped off - there is a bus stop for X80 marked on the sign. The bus had plenty of seats as we were early (at about 3:30pm for 6pm ship departure). As rsachek mentioned, X80 bus started operating from May 25 - a few days before our ship arrived Piraeus (June 1). This is indeed the easiest and most convenient way to get to Athens - especially if the ship dock at Terminal B. Thanks again for providing the information that helped us greatly!

Information only here for a possibility. We booked a transfer from Katakolon to Olympia with Viator, haven't used them yet. Price is US$24/pp, 5 hours, cancellable up to 24 hours before the departure time.

Thanks for the additional info and helpful tips about getting from cruise terminal to the metro station, greatly appreciated! Knowing that it is safe to walk makes me feel better; and in the "worst" case, we will just walk all the way from terminal to the station, that seems to take under 1 hour (even from the furthest terminal) if we are not lost. I found the locations of both Piraeus station and the new Dimotiko Theatro station (near municipal theatre of Piraeus) on Google Map. I have downloaded the offline Google Map for Piraeus / Athens and hopefully it will guide us to get to the station.

Thank you for the info. If we take a local bus from port area to metro station, I imagine we get off the bus at the stop where most people are getting off, as the bus is from the port and bus passengers are mostly cruisers wanting to take metro. Is this true? Look like we cannot depend on X80 as our ship arrives Piraeus June 1st; according to the link provided by rsachek, it starts running from June 3 last year.

Thanks very much for the clarification, it is very helpful. Metro seems to be the most reliable transport to the city. I think it will be easier to just walk to Acropolis from Syntagma without having to transfer to line 2, as we are going to see the city anyway. I hope we'll be able to make our way to Acropolis before our reserved time slot, and hopefully at an earliest possible time so that we will have a little more time to see Athens.

Thank you very much for the info! It is great to have the link to check on the operation of X80, much appreciated! Just checked metro line map, it looks Dimotiko Theatro station is on blue line and Piraeus station has both green line and blue line; both lines go to city center. If we take blue line from Dimotiko Theatro, I guess we can get off from Syntagma (or Monastiraki?) metro station then walk to Acropolis. Thanks again for the info.

Our cruise ship will arrive Piraeus early June and we will do an independent city tour of Athens. The ship arrives at 7am and departs at 6pm. We have booked Acropolis tickets for 9-10am entry time. Now the question is how to get to Acropolis from cruise port? We consider taking public transportation and would like to know the current situation for that. Is the bus X80 already started running? Someone posted a couple of years ago that X80 did not operate in May (although the website says it runs from May to October); has anyone used this bus this year so far? I cannot find a firm info about its current operation status and nowhere can I find the announcement for its operation this year. If X80 runs, how easy it is to be able to get on the bus from the port of Piraeus (considering the large number of cruise passengers)? What are alternative bus routes that go to Acropolis? I learned that there are HOHO buses going from Piraeus port to the city, but it can be difficult to find the stops in the city to get back to the port (is this true?). Metro can be an option, but it looks like the distance from cruise terminal to metro station can be quite far. Bus X80 seems to be the best public transportation option. Any info would be appreciated.

Thanks for the replies about entrance tickets for the Ancient Olympic. I guess we will just show up to buy tickets at the gate as it does not sound like a very crowed place, and the tickets are non-refundable in case of bad weather etc. Appreciate your input.

Our cruise will dock at Katakolon early next month. We have booked a transfer from Katakolon port to Ancient Olympia (5 hours total) to see the site and museum. I wonder if we can just show up and buy tickets at the ticket office on site? The cruise schedule shows that there are two ships arrival at Katakolon port on the day we are there with total (maximum number of) passengers of 5500. Your input will be appreciated.