Piraeus Port to Athens questions

[new_cruiser_22]

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.

[rsachek]

The operation of the X80 bus will be announced here. For what it's worth, the 2023 service started on June 3 and was announced on June 2.

 

You can also take the green line metro (Line 3) from Dimotiko Theatro station. Depending on whether your ship docks at Terminal A, B, or C, the walk is approximately 1-2 miles to the station.

 

I have no idea whatsoever about the HOHO buses. Hope this helps.

[new_cruiser_22]

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. 

 

[rsachek]

Sorry, it looks like I transposed the blue and green colors, but Line 3 is what you want from Dimotiko Theatro, the closest metro station to the cruise terminals. It's a fairly new station, so older maps may not reflect. You can transfer at Syntagma to Line 2 and get off at Akropoli if you don't want to walk to the Acropolis from Syntagma or Monastiraki station, but everything is so nearby, it might not be worth the hassle to transfer trains.

Edited May 17 by rsachek

[new_cruiser_22]

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. 

 

 

[Hlitner]

If you plan on taking the Metro (Green Line) from the Pireaus station to Athens, you can use the local buses (#843 or #859) to get from the port area (you need to walk out to the main street in front of either port area) to the station.  The problem for a first-timer is knowing when to get off the bus (i.e, in front of the station).  The Green Line (the only metro line running from Pireaus) leaves every few minutes and is a fast way into Pireaus.  You can look at metro maps, online, to research the various stops.

 

We were in Pireaus a few weeks ago, and the X80 bus was not yet running (we heard it would start in May...but who knows?).

 

Hank

[new_cruiser_22]

12 hours ago, Hlitner said:

If you plan on taking the Metro (Green Line) from the Pireaus station to Athens, you can use the local buses (#843 or #859) to get from the port area (you need to walk out to the main street in front of either port area) to the station.  The problem for a first-timer is knowing when to get off the bus (i.e, in front of the station).  The Green Line (the only metro line running from Pireaus) leaves every few minutes and is a fast way into Pireaus.  You can look at metro maps, online, to research the various stops.

 

We were in Pireaus a few weeks ago, and the X80 bus was not yet running (we heard it would start in May...but who knows?).

 

Hank

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. 

 

[Hlitner]

40 minutes ago, new_cruiser_22 said:

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. 

 

Some will get off at the station (it is not a big station) and some will not.  If you pull up a Google Maps screen of the area, the station is on the opposite side of the harbor, from the cruise areas.  You simply take the bus in the direction that goes around the harbor (that would be across the street from either of the cruise port areas) and get off in front of the small station.  DW and prefer to walk (rather than take the bus) but it takes a good walker about 25 - 30 minutes from Terminal A (where two ships can dock).  However, if you are docked in the other location (Terminal B area) it is another 15 minutes distant from the station.  Hard to be sure (in advance) where each ship will dock, but I do know that Celebrity usually docks their ships at the more distant port.  Last month when we docked on the Oceania Vista, we lucked out and had the closer Terminal A location.

 

I should mention that there is supposed to be a free internal port shuttle bus that runs from the Terminal B area (where there is room for several ships) over to the closer (to the station) Terminal A.  We have never seen this bus, but it does exist.  The problem, we surmise, is that if you are at the Terminal B and decide to wait for the shuttle bus. you might be wasting valuable time.  And even getting over to Terminal A still leaves you with an approximate 30 min walk to the station.

 

And finally I should mention that the walk from the Terminals to the station is safe (there is a walkway) and there are some benches along the route.  I always suggest that folks have a working smart phone, and bring up a decent map program (such as Google Maps or Apple Maps) to guide you to the station.  If you are not familiar with this small station (it only has two tracks) you could possibly walk past the building and not have a clue.

 

A basic train ticket (I believe it is valid for 90 minutes) works for both the bus and metro (you can use a single ticket for unlimited trips within that time frame).  A basic 90 minute ticket costs about 1.20 Euros and is all you need to get to Athens.  There is no additional charge to transfer (bus to train to train etc) as long as you are within the 90 minute validity.  We are talking about approximately $2.50 round trip from Pireaus to Athens.

 

Hank

 

Hank

[new_cruiser_22]

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. 

 

[little britain]

I caught an Uber from port gates. Not sure if they will pick up in port ( they certainly drop off in port) 

Uber in Athens are regular yellow taxis 🚕. It’s less than €20 into the city centre. 

[PatMunits]

HOHO bus info as of May 27 (yesterday). Price is 28 Euros per person (for Athens and Riviera), nothing extra mentioned for luggage. The bus driver volunteered a price of 25 Euro per person. We didn't take it as we didn't have much time to use it. HOHO bus was on the big parking lot for buses steps away from the cruise terminal.

We walked for about 12 minutes and took a local city bus from outside the ports gates to Syntagma square. The drive took about one hour twenty minutes. We got to see local streets the ways Athenians do. Local bus drivers don't sell tickets, and neither they accept cash. There's a ticket selling machine (multi-language interface) just outside ports gates. The bus stop is half a block away from there. Buying transit tickets in Athens is a bit confusing. Google for more info and options, as there's no universal suggestion. It really depends on how long you plan to stay in Athens and whether you need to travel to the airport afterwards.

The old Athens is walkable. We're in our forties and didn't use any local transportation to explore the city, but we were there just for a couple of days prior to our cruise.

Many dozens of yellow taxis lined up right by the cruise terminal inside the port on the morning of disembarkation. If you need a taxi is will be very easy to get it without any wait whatsoever. Taxi drivers swarm to the port when ships arrive.

[erby2283]

You can also book a service like Welcome Pick-ups to take you.  I was looking at this option for myself in September.  I believe it was around $20.  I have used this company last time I was in Europe. 

[rsachek]

For anyone interested, the X80 bus service started up for the season on May 25, 2024. 

 

According to the OASA website, "The express bus line X80 route, will link OLP cruise terminal in Piraeus (Xaveriou Coast and Miaouli Coast) with the historic area of Acropolis, the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Centre (SNFCC) as well as the centre of Piraeus with the centre of Athens. The bus line X80 covers, round route, in about 60 minutes, a 27 km distance, meaning that, in just 30 minutes the passengers can get to Athens city center from the Port of Piraeus, and vice versa."

 

At a minimum, a daily (24 hour) ticket is required to ride the X80 at a cost of 4.10€.