Athens Hop on Hop off bus

[#1grammy]

I am booked on the Edge June 2020.  Not familiar with Athens and need to know if you can get to all the venues and have time to see everything using the hop on buses, or would it be better to take a tour?  thanks for any information

[chemmo]

7 minutes ago, #1grammy said:

I am booked on the Edge June 2020.  Not familiar with Athens and need to know if you can get to all the venues and have time to see everything using the hop on buses, or would it be better to take a tour?  thanks for any information

 

There have over the last few years been a series of ‘lightning strikes’ involving buses, trains and even some taxis have been caught up. As they are ‘lightening’ you can set off from the ship with everything running then suddenly it all stops...Friends of our (fortunately not on a cruise) were stuck at the Acropolis for nearly three hours last October. They can’t walk too far and there were no buses or taxis to get them back to their hotel.

 

Celebrity usually offer an ‘Athens on your own’ where you are dropped at Plaka in the morning and collected late afternoon...Whilst this is more expensive than some other options it does offer independence and an organised return. From Plaka  you will not get to see everything...but seeing everything in one day is impossible anyway. 

 

Celebrity usually offer a highlights tour too. Similar can be booked privately. If you look at the role call for your cruise see what others are planning it may give you some ideas. You may be able to join a tour someone is organising.

 

Don’t feel you need to book a Celebrity tour but if I was visiting Athens at present I would book something with transport included. We are normally big HoHo fans but in Athens at present there is a risk...Also beware if you book the HoHo that they can arrive at your stop full or only allow on a limited number of people so give yourself plenty of return to the ship time. I am sure that plenty of others will have used HoHo with no issues but if you are unfortunate enough to be there on an action day it could be difficult.

 

Athens is one of our favourite places...make sure that between running from highlight to highlight you find the time to just sit in a bar for a while and just watch the world go by...

[paphoslady]

We were in Athens September 2019 on the Jewel of the Seas, the Hop On Hop Off bus was great. We bought the tickets at the port and were dropped off at the bottom of the Acropolis, we walked to all the attractions that we wanted to see. Be prepared for long queues at the Acropolis.

[4774Papa]

I have been to Athens three times.  The first time before I started cruising.

 

When we visited Athens on a cruise, I found some great advice on cc on how to get from the port of Piraeus to Athens.

You walk about 20 minutes to the subway and take the train into the city, then either walk from Constitution Square or transfer to the stop near the Acropolis.

 

Don't miss the Acropolis and the amazing Parthenon.

Also, near the subway stop is the New Acropolis Museum.  It takes a couple of hours to go through, but it is worth it.

 

At Constitution Square, you can see the changing of the guard.

Walk through the Plaka District as well.  There is more to see, recommend researching what you want to see prior to your trip. You can take a paid tour, but they tend to be very expensive.  With a guidebook you can do it on your own, its is easy.

[#1grammy]

Thank you all.  Great info.

[#1grammy]

Is this a good way to see sights?  Will there be long lines at venues?  Is it difficult to get back to ship if buses are running full?  Anything you can tell me would be appreciated.

 

[paphoslady]

1 hour ago, 4774Papa said:

Don't miss the Acropolis and the amazing Parthenon.

Also, near the subway stop is the New Acropolis Museum.  It takes a couple of hours to go through, but it is worth it.

 

At Constitution Square, you can see the changing of the guard.

Walk through the Plaka District as well.  There is more to see, recommend researching what you want to see prior to your trip. You can take a paid tour, but they tend to be very expensive.  With a guidebook you can do it on your own, its is easy.

I agree the tours are very expensive and it was very easy to do as a DIY port. The New Acropolis Museum is very good, we also walked to the Temple of Zeus

[Jim_Iain]

Hop on Hop on is great if you wan a more reasonable self directed way to see Athens.   I think it really depends on what you wish to see.   On our last trip we chose to walk to the train station and then took trains to see the Acropolis and Pantheon.  Really easy to use and the ticket agent was very helpful.

 

 

[Husky61]

The last time we were in Athens we booked a driver and private tour guide just for the two of us.  We visited all over Athens, including the Acropolis where we did not have to wait for anything.  At the end of the tour we were driven directly to the ship and they unloaded our luggage for us.  For us it was the way to go. A very pleasant day where we saw most of the sights.☺️

[pink845]

Yeah, Athens is very problematic lately with those wildcat strikes affecting transport.  In fact Paris has issues too and we are heading their in May, oh, oh, May Day.    In a perfect world, we would never book an excursion when it is so simple to do everything on one's own in Athens.   To get to the Acropolis, if I recall, we got off very early.  Like the first people off and got a bus directly in front of the pier and it took us to the street at the bottom of the Acropolis in like 20 minutes and we were all done by the time the cruise ship passengers were arriving.  Fabulous!   

 

The very first time we hit Athens and this is years and years ago as newbies, we did take their transport into the city and low and behold there was a civil gathering / riot at the parliament and our bus was four hours late picking us up at the meeting spot.  But the guides had arrived and were in contact with the ship.    Thank heavens we had taken ship transportation as the cruise ship remained in port waiting for us to arrive.  

[mpk]

1 hour ago, Husky61 said:

including the Acropolis where we did not have to wait for anything.

 

What month was that?  We went in June first thing in the morning with a private excursion, and it was very crowded.  My guess is that it is crowded during the summer months, May to August.

[farawayatsea]

3 hours ago, paphoslady said:

We were in Athens September 2019 on the Jewel of the Seas, the Hop On Hop Off bus was great. We bought the tickets at the port and were dropped off at the bottom of the Acropolis, we walked to all the attractions that we wanted to see. Be prepared for long queues at the Acropolis.

Same here.  Worked great.

[Ex-Airbalancer]

I would check to see if the Px80 bus is running 

 

[John Bull]

There are two routes.........

- from port to city (probably Acropolis)

- city route.

 

We used it because there was a general strike on the day we were there (no metro & no service buses).

In recent years an express bus service has been provided, silly-cheap at something like €4 all-day and that would be a better bet.

Hopefully someone can come up with the route number (X44? X43?) and more detail.

 

If it's not too hot, after getting from port to city you can see all the main sights on foot.

Some of the city ho-ho route is devoid of sights.

 

JB 

[4774Papa]

On 2/21/2020 at 10:52 AM, Husky61 said:

The last time we were in Athens we booked a driver and private tour guide just for the two of us.  We visited all over Athens, including the Acropolis where we did not have to wait for anything.  At the end of the tour we were driven directly to the ship and they unloaded our luggage for us.  For us it was the way to go. A very pleasant day where we saw most of the sights.☺️

$$$$$ ?

[Husky61]

If I remember correctly it cost about $350 to $400 for the two of us.☺️